Fighting for wounded warriors

Michael Steigerwald could have left the Air Force Reserve’s 327th Airlift Squadron after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Having served six years in the reserves, he had fulfilled his obligation to the military.

But Steigerwald, now 49, of Bucks County, Pa., didn’t flinch when his unit was activated in the fight for Afghanistan, which began on Oct. 7, 2001, and continues to this day. Steigerwald heeded the call of duty in 2002.

“It was the right thing to do,” he said.

And so, Steigerwald, who had been an international airline pilot for Trans World Airlines and American Airlines for eight years before he was activated, went to Afghanistan, and later to Iraq. In all, he served six tours of duty from 2002 through 2010, when he was honorably discharged.

Steigerwald flew a C-130 Hercules cargo plane in and out of combat zones, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel and earning the Meritorious Service Medal, the Aerial Achievement Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal and five Air Medals. In March 2007, he was shot down in a rocket attack outside Baghdad as he ferried vital supplies to U.S. troops, and he broke his leg and dislocated his shoulder in the crash. But he recovered and continued to fly missions.

Cumulative injuries eventually caught up with him, though, and he could no longer fly, ending the career that he had enjoyed as a commercial airline pilot, which he had put on hold to take part in the U.S.’s overseas missions.

Upon leaving the military, Steigerwald, who is married and has two sons, might have had a hard time finding work –– or might have even been jobless –– if he had not heard about the Wall Street War Fighters Foundation from an Air Force friend. The nonprofit organization trained him to work in the financial-services industry. Now Steigerwald is a vice president of sales at Drexel Hamilton, a privately held institutional investment firm.