There's one question that veteran Dan Lasko never tries to answer.
"What's next?"
That's because his life has shown him he has no idea what's in store.
He joined the U.S. Marine Corp. in high school during peace time. The Easton Area High School grad was sworn into the Marines hours before the first plane hit the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Shortly after deploying to Afghanistan, Lasko's convoy rolled over two makeshift bombs and he lost his leg. He endured a year of surgery, rehab and therapies and returned a home a changed man.
With the help of endurance sports and a sweet 2-year-old black lab, Lasko rebuilt his civilian life into something his 18-year-old self couldn't have imagined. He's married his high school sweetheart and they have two beautiful sons.
He's hosted a TV show and starred in commercials. He's run marathons with the aid of a prosthesis and now he's helping develop one for swimming.
"Never would I have thought I'd be standing here," Lasko, of Hanover Township, Northampton County, said Thursday afternoon during a veterans' luncheon at Northampton Community College.
When Lasko was medically retired in April 2005, he was devastated. He loved being a Marine and planned to stay in, but that was blown apart in an instant. Lasko's injuries were both physical -- back and head injuries along with his leg -- and emotional. He was diagnosed with PTSD.
"It was just cut short," Lasko said. "It was just cut off. It took me a long year to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. It was a very, very hard transition."
Finally in August 2006, encouraged by his now-wife Jessica, Lasko enrolled in classes at NCC where he found a community ready to lift him up. Diana Holva helped him get his veteran's benefits in order and in criminal justice professor Vertel Martin he found a mentor and inspiration.
"I loved going to her class," Lasko said. "I came early and I stayed late."
A retired New York City police officer, Martin, who attended Thursday's luncheon, responded to ground zero on the day of the attacks. She went on to lead the police department's World Trade Center Missing Task Force. Martin spent the next months of her life trying to locate the thousands of dead and missing.
9/11 altered Martin and Lasko's lives in a way few can comprehend and it bonded them together, Lasko said.
"We have a connection of service," he said.
Lasko was going to school, but he was still really struggling with persistent anxiety. He did not like to be in crowded places. Loud noises terrified him. But one four-legged creature helped to change that.
In 2008, Lasko adopted his service dog Wally, a black Labrador retriever, through America's VetDogs. Wally proved to be the missing piece in his spiritual and physical recovery.
"People didn't notice me anymore. They noticed my dog," Lasko said.
Lasko joined Team Semper Fi and began competing in marathons, half-marathons, triathlons and the Wounded Warrior Amputee football team.
The Laskos were touched when the college presented them with a $200 donation for the Semper Fi Fund. The fund does such amazing things it inspired his wife to quit her lucrative human resources job to work at the nonprofit, he said.
Exercise proved to be life changing for Lasko's physical and mental health. He went from taking five or six medications for his anxiety and other issues to taking nothing today, he said.
Right before he graduated from NCC in 2009, Lasko discovered the Wounded Warrior Program, which offers two-year Congressional fellowships for wounded or disabled vets.
He became the first Marine to be a part of program and worked as a a veterans' affair caseworker for former U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.). Eventually, he returned to his schooling and earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Kutztown University.
He spent a year as a paid intern in the Northampton County adult probation department learning the criminal justice system.
NCC student Thaddeus Vine, 22, hopped on a bus from Washington, D.C., with a negative bank account balance, drawn to the college's veterans supports.
"The veterans department here takes really good care of you," Vine, an Army reservist, who deployed to Kuwait, said.
Vine hopes to become a teacher to continue service and he was grateful to Lasko for the inspiration, he said.
"It's incredible to see him here," Vine, who ate lunch with Lasko, said.
Today, Lasko is a commercial actor, speaker and veterans' advocate. He was the co-host of Discovery Channel's "Saving Heroes" and appeared in Pedigree Dog Food's commercial.
"The one big problem I have is I never say 'no,'" he said. "I always get myself involved in things. You just never know."
That's how Lasko recently found himself competing in Japan on Team USA in the World Physically Challenged tournament. It's how he found himself playing on Lambeau Field in Wisconsin on Veterans Day with the Wounded Warrior's amputee football team.
Lasko is now the father of Luke, 8, and Ben, 4, who are avid swimmers, something Lasko greatly enjoys but found super challenging. Taking off his prosthetic leg on a slippery pool deck is dangerous.
He's working with Northwell Health to help develop the first 3D-printed, amphibious, prosthetic leg that amputee swimmers can wear on land and in the water.
"It is an amazing feeling to jump in with a leg that gives propulsion," Lasko said. "It felt like I had my leg again."
NCC Student Phuc Nguyen, who is in the Army National Guard, said Lasko exemplifies the maxim that what defines you is how you rise after you fall. He's shown that even if he is not actively serving in the armed forces, he is still a Marine, embodying that tenacious spirit and grit when faced with adversity.
Nguyen himself enlisted while at Easton Area High School and is studying criminal justice at NCC. He feels his service to his country is just beginning and Lasko is a major inspiration, he said.
Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.