COLORADO SPRINGS - Inside the medical office, Army Capt. David Rozelle looked at his new foot lying on a nearby table and remembered when he first saw it in his sleep.

"There was a distinct transition when I physically acknowledged that I was going to be like this for the rest of my life," he said, rubbing the stump of his right leg, just above the place where his ankle used to be, back before he lost it in Iraq.

"(The transition) was two days before my son was born," he continued, nodding to the newborn sleeping next to him. "I had a very vivid combat dream. We were involved in a very intense bayonet charge. And we were doing good.

"And I looked down and I had a prosthetic foot."

The soldier smiled.

"A few days ago, I had another dream. I was snowboarding in deep powder. I looked down and I had a prosthetic foot.

"So yes, I'm proud to say that I'm already adjusting."

On Thursday, at the Audubon Orthotic & Prosthetic clinic, specialist Chris Jones picked up the artificial foot from the table and began adjusting it on Rozelle's leg.

"I actually have a foot again," Rozelle said, catching himself becoming emotional, and covering — as usual — with a joke: "If I get weepy, no pictures. I'm a manly man."

As commander of the 132 men of K Troop of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Carson, Rozelle shipped to Iraq in April and eventually made it to the town of Hit. There, the 30-year-old — who is originally from Austin, Texas — acted as the equivalent of "town sheriff," he said, as he and his men were saddled with bringing order to the town and training a new police force.On June 21 — the first day of the police academy training — Rozelle's Humvee rolled over a land mine.

"There was an instant of smoke and dust and a loud explosion — it was all loud," he remembered. When he looked down, he saw that his left foot was trapped under the Humvee and his right foot was a mangled mess. Days later, military surgeons in Baghdad amputated the damaged foot and sent him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to recover.At the hospital in Washington, D.C., he was enlisted to motivate amputees to get back on their feet. He showed the same enthusiasm he used with his men on the field to urge some of them out of bed so they could go home. But they're not the ones he remembers the most.

"There are guys there who are so severe, they just needed sympathy," he said. "If you ever have a chance to go to Walter Reed, go in and talk to those guys. It'll break your heart."

In the month since the explosion, Rozelle returned home just in time to see his son born, and on Monday he met briefly with President Bush who was in Denver for a fund-raiser.

On Thursday, the roller coaster continued.

"It's like a pair of new shoes," Rozelle said, as his new foot was being adjusted to fit. "You see them in the store and you think about how it's going to fit and it's . . . different."

For Rozelle, the next eight months will mean intense rehabilitation — something he's already begun. To the recommended 40- minute routine, he has added another hour of exercises, yoga, sit-ups and push-ups.

"I used to run every day, and in the afternoons I'd ride my bike, climb, or hike to my favorite fishing hole," he said. "I'm going crazy, man. I'm going crazy. . . . I'm a rugby player. I want to get back in the pitch."

He also wants to get back to his career.

After his injury, the Army transferred his command to regimental headquarters. He plans to take over the troop command there in May. His soldiers are scheduled to return in March or April.

"The plan now is to have me serve here," he said. "But if I get healthy enough, they may send me over."

His wife, Kim, who sat with their child, Forrest, said she'll be ready when Rozelle has to return. By now, she knows change as a constant.

"It's his job, and I know it's where his career heart is," she said. "I expect no less, really."

In the office, Rozelle placed his leg in the prosthetic foot and took his first steps with only a slight limp. A few minutes later, he looked down at his new foot and thought back to the first time he saw it.

"Dreams are a big part of your life," he said. "They reflect on your happiness and your sadness. And this turned out pretty happy."

As he rested, he thought back to a few days ago, when he happened to meet a man in the waiting room who had had his foot amputated in the same place as Rozelle. He was the first person the captain had met who knew just how he felt.

Rozelle told the man how he wanted to run, play sports and climb mountains. He told him how he wanted to get back to go back to work, how he promised to push any prosthetic past the breaking point.

"The first question I asked was, 'What can you not do?' " Rozelle remembered.

"The guy looked over at me and said, 'Nothing.' "

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