Navy Chief Petty Officer Mike Carrol deployed to Iraq in 2007 and remains on
active duty today, at 53, to train fellow reservists.
Mike Carroll couldn't touch his knees together. Couldn't play basketball with
his children. Couldn't walk other than taking "a big limp," he said.
The former Navy SEAL wasn't going to let those limitations drown his dream of
returning to the special-warfare compound in Coronado to help in the war effort.
At age 49 in 2006, Carroll wasn't the oldest SEAL to re-enlist after an absence.
But he was certainly not the usual face in the recruiter's office.
Adding to the odds against him, he was packing two artificial hips.
Even with that weighing down his résumé, the Alpine resident deployed to Iraq in
2007 with his special-warfare team and remains on active duty today as a trainer
of fellow reservists.
It was a long shot, Carroll is the first to acknowledge.
"If the dream's big enough, there's nothing that you can't overcome, especially
with technology," said Carroll, now 53.
Being a SEAL, the Navy's elite sea-air-land combat force, is usually a young
man's game.
The age ceiling for entry is 28. Highly sought-after candidates can get an age
waiver up to 30. An enlisted SEAL looking to become an officer may receive a
pass up to 33.
Carroll remembers seeing a Navy doctor a few weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks. Angered by the terrorist action, he wanted to get back on a SEAL team
and use his 16 years of military experience.
Carroll, who ran a computer-based business after leaving the Navy, kept in shape
over the years. He was roughly 6 feet and 183 pounds.
He told the physician that his joints felt fine. Then the doctor asked him to
perform a few side lunges and knee bends.
"I couldn't do it," Carroll remembered. "The doctor said, ‘We can't take you
Mike, you'd be a liability.' "
So Carroll basically gave up. Surgeons said he was too young for a hip
replacement, which is usually reserved for older people because of the chance
that the artificial parts will break down over time.
Carroll, a former senior chief petty officer, felt deflated. He had wanted to
serve as an example of patriotism to his young sons. They knew he had been a
SEAL but had never seen him go to work in combat boots.
Then one day a buddy called to point out an article about a new hip procedure.
Carroll bought the magazine immediately.
By March 2004, he was on an operating table in Los Angeles. The treatment
replaces only the outer part of the hip joint with metal. It can be a place
holder for a future total hip replacement or, if it works, a permanent fix.
Carroll's surgeon, Dr. Thomas Schmalzried, said the former SEAL was basically
the prototype for the procedure - someone still young and fit whose joints just
gave out too early.
"Mike is a special person. I was proud that he was able to continue as a SEAL
with two artificial hips," Schmalzried said.
After the surgery, Carroll managed to get age and medical waivers from the Navy,
though he had to drop a rank.
His return took some convincing of re-enlistment officials, so he called on his
former teammates. One of them was Cmdr. Roger Meek, who had become an officer at
the special-warfare base in Coronado.
The higher-ups largely foresaw that Carroll's role would be training younger
SEALs, which is what special-warfare veterans switch to as they finish their
careers. But Meek said he wouldn't have recommended Carroll if he didn't believe
it was safe to place another sailor's life in his hands, as SEALs do in the
tight corners of combat.
"He's a very thorough and squared-away guy with a good reputation for getting
things done," Meek said. "In our community, reputation is everything."
The surgery left Carroll with two hockey-stick-shaped scars on his hips, but no
complications so far. He now leads daily fitness workouts for his unit.
Sure, the younger SEALs call him "grandpa." In Iraq, the second-oldest SEAL in
Carroll's unit was only 36. Another sailor teases him that this story will
appear on the cover of AARP magazine.
Carroll said he is living the dream, with a year to go until retirement.
"I think there's a little bit of respect there from the younger guys," he said.
"When they ask me how old I am, they can't really believe I'm that old - at
least that's what they say. Maybe they are just being nice."
He adds, grinning, "I feel like a 25-year-old man."
