Starship Troopers Review, by Edith Hansen
Perhaps you’ve seen on this web site that a recommended reading is the Sci-Fi novel, “Starship Troopers” by Robert A. Heinlein; well after a careful read, to understand They Shall Walk founder Monty Reed’s vision, this book may be a good reference into his inspiration to build the LIFESUIT! This gun to the hip, one idea after the next text, is a tale written, as Heinlein states so frequently through out, “on the bounce”... Mostly a didactic, tongue-in-cheek moral lesson on military life with historical and sociological anecdotes spattered through out, the story has one section that describes prophetically the formation and structure that closely mimics the design put forward by the They Shall Walk team. To quote the main descriptive passage of what Heinlein terms as “armor”, “...The inside of the suit is a mass of pressure receptors, hundreds of them. You push with the heel of your hand; the suit feels it, amplifies it, pushes with you to take the pressure off the receptors that gave the order to push... Controlled force...force controlled with out your having to think about it...”
Now I’m no engineer and Monty keeps me so busy I’ve had no time to see the suit in action myself! (We recommend you do!) But I see how hard his team toils on all fronts, always trying new things. Like the communicators in Star Trek the first Generation (“Kirk to Enterprise!”) that we routinely think of now as cell phones, and the writings of Jules Verne that gave way to the German U-boat, this science fiction seems so close to happening for those trapped by paralysis in a body with restricted movement ( and often loss of sensation). Their having spent their lives in the confinement of uncomfortable and awkward wheel chairs, suddenly- to be given the liberation of free movement and unrestricted access to areas both in public and private that before would have been completely inaccessible to them will be nothing short of miraculous . Imagine! This possibility is so near to completion!!!
If you or anyone you know knows of someone who has to struggled through their days by a lack of maneuverability due to a spinal injury or some other condition, it may be that you can give them a special gift to provide hope and inspiration toward their future, by making a tax deductible donation or pledge to TheyShallWalk.org and mail that person a copy of your receipt in a holiday or birthday card, letting them know, that it is in your heart that one day, they too, will walk again....