As others have said, walking your bike and getting stabbed while dismounting are 2 different questions. The former is so constrained by common sense that it really is ripe for smart-assism, Really, "walk on the other side" or "hold it further from your body" are the only answers, with no bike experience required to figure out. I actually thought your post was like 50/50 trolling for some humor on a sunday night. Seriously.
Now that you elaborated, in all seriousness, you really should only be putting your foot down in 2 situations:
1) Messing up a corner/hill and dabbing your foot down. This could sometimes grind your leg into the chainring, and is one of the main reasons for a bashguard. Clipless pedals would help too.
2) Controlled dismount. I lean over when I dismount for the most part. With clipless for me it's awkward to dismount over the top-tube.
Putting your right foot down to "push" forward... not being a smart ass, just matter off fact... no reason to do that. Use use your left pedal to apply force instead in that situation, then hop on. It's not a scooter (ok, little smartass but it's all in good humor
)
As scary as being clipped in might sound, clipless pedals really brings a huge amount of control that just isn't possible with platforms, so I would suggest those. Plenty of posts tor read about them. You'll dab less in any event.
And finally, I'm sorry you've had some tough breaks. Kudos for what you've done and your service to our country (my brother has 2 and 1/2 tours). You're going to crash, though. And honestly, going slow, putting your feet down, being timid... those will actually increase your chances of a spill. If you look at that tree and worry that you'll run into it... you'll run into it.
Your comment of "I don't like crashing" just stood out because... all kinds of dumb things happen. My crashes/spills are usually just random pedal strikes or slipping on some pine needles... half the time I'm not even sure what happened. Just have to accept it and ignore it.
Good luck and most of all, have fun!