Marine veteran Josh Burch adapts on the court, the job site and the city streets
Every Nov. 10, Josh Burch’s fiancée, Anna Broshkevitch, gets a wake-up call she didn’t ask for.
She rises much earlier than he does, so Burch sets her alarm to make sure she’s up. On the Marine Corps birthday, he swaps the usual tone for the Marines’ Hymn.
“It just blasts early in the morning,” Burch said. “And she’s like, ‘What is this?!’ And I was like, ‘Oh, it’s Marine Corps birthday.'”
It’s a small prank with a larger point. More than a decade after a spinal cord injury (SCI) ended his career, the 31-year-old former corporal still carries the Corps with him in how he competes, how he works and how he shows up for other veterans.
Burch, who has a level C8 complete SCI, has lived in Baltimore for two years. During wheelchair rugby season, he’s at a tournament or training camp about twice a month. He has competed at every National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG) since 2017, except 2020, when the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic canceled the in-person event. He flips houses with his younger brother, mentors newly injured service members and recently began volunteering at a shelter for homeless veterans.
Running through all of it is one skill: finding another way.
Following His Brothers
Burch grew up just south of Richmond, Va., as one of seven children. After high school, his mother gave the kids a choice: college or the military.
“I wasn’t really the school type,” he said.
The branch was never in question. Two of his older brothers had served as Marines.
“I just felt like I had to join the Marines at that point,” Burch said. “And I felt like they were the coolest.”
He enlisted at 18. After recruit training at Parris Island, S.C., and Marine Combat Training at Camp Lejeune, N.C., he trained in aircraft rescue and firefighting in San Angelo, Texas. His first duty station was Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, where he lived on the airfield and responded to aviation emergencies.
“I always felt like firefighters were cool and Marines were cool,” he said. “And then being able to do both at the same time, I felt was pretty awesome.”
His favorite memory comes from temporary duty in Thailand, where he worked alongside Thai firefighters. The two crews traded methods, and Burch saw how differently they approached the job. He planned to make the Marine Corps his career.
Guam
In 2015, Burch, then a lance corporal, was on a monthlong temporary assignment in Guam supporting the Air Force. There, Marine firefighters responded to building alarms and airfield emergencies.
One night, after an evening out with friends, he returned to his hotel. He says that is the last thing he remembers. He woke up outside the hotel with a spinal cord injury.
“I don’t like to say too much because I don’t know what happened, and I don’t want to spread misinformation,” he said.
Guam had no neurosurgeon, so Burch was flown to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii for surgery. After two weeks, once he was stable, he transferred to the spinal cord injury center at the Richmond Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, about 20 minutes from his family’s home.
His family filled the room.
“I was never really alone,” Burch said.
His mother, a nurse, was there often.
“I felt more comfortable, like someone I know trying to help me get through things,” he said.
His older brother, Travis, made the trip from the Virginia Beach area whenever he could.
“He was there as much as he could be,” Burch said. “He was a great help.”
Members of the the Paralyzed Veterans of America Mid-Atlantic Chapter visited him in the hospital. He has been a member ever since.
Chevrons And Research
In February 2016, Travis pinned corporal’s chevrons on his younger brother. Burch wore a robotic exoskeleton, which helped him take the steps for the promotion.
The device was part of research led by Ashraf Gorgey, then a physical therapist and SCI researcher at the Richmond VA who’s now the director of SCI research there. Burch credits Gorgey with teaching him to use the device safely.
Burch was medically discharged in August 2016. He later joined another of Gorgey’s trials and had an epidural stimulator implanted. The goal was to produce voluntary movement below his injury level. That didn’t happen, but the stimulator has helped with his blood pressure and spasms. The results may also guide where researchers place the leads for future participants. Burch sees the setbacks as part of the process.
“Technology is improving every day,” he said. “It’s a work in progress. It’s just fine-tuning it and figuring out what works, what doesn’t.”
Family Business
Burch’s father taught all seven children to work with their hands. Around 2017, Burch started flipping houses with Travis.
“I used to do it with Travis,” Burch said. “But then once he had passed away, my younger brother wanted to get into it.”
Since 2023, Burch has partnered with one of his younger brothers, Anthony, who lives in Richmond and handles most of the heavy labor. The brothers do about 90% of the work themselves, hiring out only major HVAC and electrical jobs.
Their current project is about 70% finished. It isn’t wheelchair accessible, so his brothers lift him up the steps and carry him inside.
“I feel like I’m very good at adapting to situations, or just figuring out a different way to do things that still works,” Burch said. “It’s not just in the house-flipping, but just doing daily things.”
The siblings still share the same tools.
“We’ve all learned from each other,” he said. “All the tools and everything were all of ours. So, it’s like we still remember them as we reconstruct these houses.”
Hooked On Rugby
At his first NVWG in Cincinnati in 2017, Burch hadn’t signed up for wheelchair rugby. He didn’t know about the sport. A friend he met there noticed he was a quadriplegic and told him to check it out.
A week after the Games, he was at a camp with the Oscar Mike Militia team.
“Since then, I’ve been hooked,” he said.
Burch describes the Militia as “the only all-veteran rugby team.” Its players live across the country, so the team gathers at least three times between October and April for weeklong camps. At home, Burch practices weekly with the Maryland Mayhem.
At the Games, he has competed in the obstacle course known as “slalom,” swimming, discus, javelin, shot put, archery, wheelchair pickleball and, this year, cornhole. The “slalom” is a favorite because it mirrors real life.
“It’s basically things that you would encounter just going through the neighborhoods of the city,” he said.
In Baltimore, where many routes aren’t accessible, that practice pays off.
Paying It Forward
Burch mentors newly injured service members at the Richmond VA. His advice doesn’t sugarcoat anything.
“It sucks. It does, but keep pushing forward,” he said. “It gets better. Not everything is easy, and Marines especially should know that. But there’s an end in sight.”
He offers his own life as proof.
“I had met my fiancée after I got hurt,” he said.
Broshkevitch is a Johns Hopkins resident whose work includes street medicine for people without housing. Burch learned about a homeless veterans’ shelter a few blocks from his home from her, and he began volunteering there.
“I enjoy helping people,” he said.
The shelter offers coffee breaks, meals and skills training. For the veterans who come through, Burch said, “It’s nice to give them a sense of security.”
Celebrating 251
Asked how he still feels like a Marine, Burch doesn’t point to a uniform.
“How I hold myself, how I take care of myself, how I treat other people,” he said. “I guess how I hold myself accountable for things.”
This year, Burch attended the Oscar Mike Ball in Chicago. The organization’s founder, Noah Carrier, is a Marine, and the evening carries on the tradition of the oldest and youngest Marines cutting the cake.
“It’s basically the Marine Corps birthday at the ball,” Burch said.
Some traditions don’t change. Every Nov. 10, the Marines’ Hymn still wakes the household.
