Army Master Sgt. Luis Morales was shot in the thigh and ankle when his 10-man Special Forces team of Green Berets was greatly out-numbered by enemy forces during a fierce ambush in Afghanistan in 2008. He defied the long odds then, and will be doing so again when he competes in the "Quantico Tri" aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico on Sunday.

When Morales’ leg was amputated in 2010, he set out on a mission to not let his disability hinder his active-duty service, weight or active lifestyle. This year alone, he has competed in two sprint-distance triathlons, making the Marine Corps Marathon’s triathlon the third. Morales is among more than 500 athletes who will take on the 400-yard swim in the Quantico 50M Pool, 8.3-mile bike course and 5K run.

His goal is to work up to "The Nation’s Tri," in September, which is an Olympic distance triathlon that includes a 1.5K swim in the Potomac River, 40K bike course and a 10K run through Washington, D.C.

Several times throughout the week, Morales, a Stafford resident, can be found biking along roads on the westside of Quantico.

"I started doing triathlons because I wanted to set a goal for myself," Morales said. "I’ve always been active, so after being injured, walking with a cane and being reduced to the couch, I didn’t feel like I was contributing as much as I could. [Racing] is difficult with a prosthetic leg but I want to be good example for my soldiers."

Although Morales anticipates challenges during Sunday’s race, he is no stranger to overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

"I learned in Ranger School that your mind is weaker than your body," Morales said. "I’m never quitting."

He recalled an April 2008 mission when he and his Special Forces team planned to scale a steep mountain in Afghanistan to surprise and capture a high-level terrorist leader. Upon landing, the team came under heavy fire in a deadly ambush. The soldiers fought for hours as heavy machine-gun fire and rocket propelled grenades showered down on them. Discounting their own safety, Morales and his team tended each other’s wounds and kept fighting.

"One of my teammates, [Staff Sgt.] Dillon Behr was shot in his hip," Morales said. "He was just laying there. At first, I didn’t even really notice who it was, I just knew it was one of my guys, so like I dragged him as far a I could and instinctively began treating him, putting gauzes on his wound and trying to talk to him. I was then shot in my thigh and ankle."

The ten soldiers survived the battle and earned Silver Stars, which is the military’s third highest military award for heroism in combat. The team made history, after earning the most Silver Stars awarded to any military unit in a single battle since the Vietnam War.

Morales admits that he didn’t always have an optimistic view.

"At first, I was emotionally upset," Morales said. "I had 24 surgeries [to salvage my leg]. I went to several surgeon specialists and was told there was nothing they could do, but fuse my ankle together, which meant I could never bend it."

After making a decision to have his badly battered limb amputated, Morales refused to look back.

"I want to do my 20 years in the Army," Morales said. "I’m a third generation soldier and my grandfather fought in Vietnam and Korea."

With 18 years under his belt, Morales continues to serve on active duty as an intel instructor for the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C. He hopes his story will inspire other Wounded Warriors to stay in the fight.

"You have to think past your injury and set goals," Morales said. "You have to put in hard work and know it’s going to get worse before it gets better, but it’s going to get better."

Morales combat story is detailed in "No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan," written by Mitch Weiss and Kevin Maurer.