In 2006, Stein was driving a Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Taji, transporting service members to an Easter Mass, when an explosively formed penetrator hit. Doctors managed to save his arms. He lost both legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The previous December, Frustaglio and a handful of fellow Marines rushed to assist when the vehicle behind theirs in a convoy in Ramadi was disabled by an improvised explosive device. A follow-up explosion cost him his legs; he was one of five Marines to lose limbs in the blast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both men have been through multiple surgeries and rehabilitation processes \u2014 ride organizers said Stein wasn\u2019t available for an interview because of his latest procedure. Years after their injuries, both were selected by Homes for Our Troops to receive a free house with modifications to allow for their mobility. They flew to Boston as part of the announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe met on that trip and got to talking,\u201d Frustaglio said. \u201cWe had a lot of common interests. Our wives got along great, and we realized we only lived a mile and a half from each other [in Texas]. After we came home from that, we started hanging out regularly. \u2026 Our families have been close since then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making the trip<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Veterans Charity Ride founder Dave Frey said picking the winners for the \u201cHero\u2019s Ride of a Lifetime\u201d contest is \u201cthe hardest part of my job. \u2026 I want to take them all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frey, a former Army paratrooper, put together the first ride to Sturgis as a way to introduce \u201cmotorcycle therapy\u201d to service members returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 20 riders participate, with some returning to act as support staff and mentors for new riders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat was happening to them was so much more than I had been through,\u201d said Frey, a rider his entire life. \u201cI was in the service back in the early \u201980s. There wasn\u2019t really anything going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The VCR group organizes smaller rides and motorcycle safety courses, and began its annual trip to Sturgis in 2015. That year, the rally had nearly 740,000 attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Few groups stand out in such a throng, but Frey\u2019s riders \u2014 with an assist from sponsor Indian Motorcycle and Sturgis\u2019 Buffalo Chip Campground \u2014 are the exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe city of Sturgis has just been phenomenal,\u201d said Frey. \u201cWe stage up at the elementary school outside, and we\u2019re the only group that gets a Sturgis Police escort down Main Street. People hear about it, so it\u2019s just lined with flags, and they come out, they have signs. \u2026 We\u2019re extremely well-received. The guys, it blows their mind. Sturgis, the biggest motorcycle rally in the world, is there to welcome our crew, our veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s extremely emotional and satisfying. I\u2019m getting goosebumps just describing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The riders, the ride<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Frustaglio\u2019s no stranger to this particular trip: He rode solo to Sturgis last year on his Harley-Davidson trike, he said, including a \u201cbrutal\u201d day spanning West Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He and Stein will split time in the driver\u2019s seat and the sidecar of the modified Indian, which has a similar setup to the modified rides they\u2019ve already got. Right-hand controls allow for acceleration and braking, and left-hand controls work the clutch and the shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Support staff will be on hand if there are any problems, and so will Stein, a recent graduate of the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s where our military experience and our skills can come in and excel,\u201d Frey said of the ride-planning process. \u201cJust bringing the military training and structure and what we\u2019ve all been trained to do. \u2026 We become a unit, unify very quickly. We\u2019re crossing the Mojave Desert at 115, 116, last year it was 118 degrees. We\u2019ve got cooling vests. We\u2019ve got other apparatus. \u2026 It\u2019s a quest, it\u2019s an adventure, but it\u2019s also a mission. We treat it like a mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a mission with benefits far beyond the completion of a long journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI tell a lot of guys who are looking into getting into riding that \u2018wind therapy\u2019 is a real thing,\u201d Frustaglio said, using another term for motorcycle therapy. \u201cFor me, just hopping on my bike, even just going on a ride for a couple of hours, getting out on my road, clearing my head, whether it\u2019s listening to music or just listening to the bike, just enjoy it. You see some scenery. Just getting away from the norm \u2014 it\u2019s really an opportunity to get everything else out of my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MIL-VET-RIDE-P2-073117.JPG.jpg\")
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