Carnival of the outdoors
Daniel Dudek suffered a spinal cord injury five years ago while serving in Iraq, as sports quickly took a back seat to survival. He was paralyzed below both of his knees as a result of an improvised explosive device that hit him in the back, killing one of his comrades.
At first, Dudek, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, could walk with crutches. Then he was confined to a wheelchair. Then came spells of never-ending pain, especially in his nerves.
When Dudek swung a golf club and muscled out some shots, he started living again. “A lot of the obstacles in front of me were just illusions I had put in front of myself,” he said.
Accelerating the recovery process through the benefit of sports is the point of the Warrior Games, the third annual event for 200-plus wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans from all five branches of the U.S. military that kicked off Tuesday at Air Force.
The Army-operated Warrior Transition Command features 10,000 soldiers at 29 locations across the country, most of whom are involved in adaptive sports during six-plus months of rehabilitation. Since 2007, there have been 22,000 soldiers sent back to the Army, with a majority having recovered from traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Warrior Transition Command head Daryl Williams, a brigadier general in the Army, tells recovering soldiers, “Your life is upside down, but you need to get off the couch and get after it and focus on your ability.” Williams dubbed the Warrior Games “not some sorry story that’s happening this week. This isn’t a bad-news story. … None of these soldiers want anybody feeling sorry for them. This is about them seizing the day and celebrating and being the best. They signed up to be Army soldiers, and they are still Army soldiers.”
A Warrior Transition Command branch chief in charge of plans, policy and procedures, Dudek is competing in swimming and track and field at the Warrior Games, and he also has dabbled in cycling, skiing and triathlon. “A lot of things that I used to do, I could still do,” Dudek said. “I could just do with an adaptive piece of equipment.” And Dudek has regained his confidence. “We want everybody to excel with whatever injury they have,” he said. “But when they’re in the pool against me, it’s me who is going to get the gold.”
Adaptive sports initially weren’t attractive for Jasmine Perry, an Army specialist whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 2006 after a 2005 training accident at Fort Carson. “The word adaptive makes me feel different, and I didn’t want to feel like I was different than my friends,” said Perry, now stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
Some success in wheelchair basketball gave Perry reason for hope, and she prevailed in seated shot put last year in her Warrior Games debut. “It’s just another opportunity to compete,” said Perry, who has added swimming to her resume. Her advice to others? “Just get out and try,” she said. “You never know if you enjoy a sport until you try it.”
WARRIOR GAMES SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY
Archery, indoor track at Air Force, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wheelchair basketball, Cadet Field House and Cadet Gym at Air Force, 5-6:30 p.m.
Sitting volleyball, East Gym at Air Force, 7:30-9 p.m.
THURSDAY
Shooting, Olympic Shooting Center at the OTC, 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Wheelchair basketball, Cadet Field House and Cadet Gym at Air Force, 5:30-7 p.m.
Sitting volleyball bronze-medal match, East Gym at Air Force, 7:30-9 p.m.
FRIDAY
Track and field, outdoor track at Air Force, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wheelchair basketball bronze-medal game, Cadet Field House at Air Force, 3-5 p.m.
Sitting volleyball gold-medal match, Cadet Field House at Air Force, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Wheelchair basketball gold-medal game, Cadet Field House at Air Force, 8:30-10:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Swimming, natatorium at Air Force, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Contact Brian Gomez: 719-636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazettedev.gazette.com. Facebook: Brian Gomez. Twitter: @gazetteskysox. Google+: Brian Gomez.
Photo by
Army competitor Anthony Robinson (right) raises his bike Tuesday after a third-place finish in the handcycle event of the Warrior Games at Air Force. His Army teammate, William Longwell (left), won the competition, beating Justin Gaertner of the Marines. Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE
Navy/Coast Guard team member Jim Castanada gets a hug from his coach after finishing the Men’s Recumbent Bike event at the Warrior Games Tuesday, May 1, 2012, at the United States Air Force Academy. Casaneda blew a tire on the first turn but finished the Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE
Scott Meenagh of the British Armed Forces competes in the men’s handbike competition at the Warrior Games Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at the Air Force Academy. Meenagh finished ninth. Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE