Lujan grew up in Littleton , Colorado before joining the United States Marine Corps in 1993 and was honorable discharged in 1997 , where he returned to Colorado to become more active in parenting his young daughter Emily . After the attacks of September 11 , 2001 , he re-enlisted in the Marine Corps and was subsequently deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom . During the initial ground war Lujan was injured while riding in the rear of a vehicle and suffered two ruptured discs in his lower back . Complications from the surgery resulted in paralysis of his lower legs . He was medically retired from the Marine Corps in 2006 due to those injuries
attacks of September 11 , 2001
September 11 attacks
Jonathan Lujan