A wind-chill well below zero can’t keep America’s bravest off the slopes of Vermont.
Disabled veterans from up and down the east coast braved a frosty weekend on Bromley Mountain proving that physical challenges can’t limit fun.
[fnvideo3998468]
After receiving crushing injuries in 2004 when the five ton truck he was driving in Iraq was hit by an IED, war veteran Thomas Green III spent 13 months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Then the Wounded Warrior Project offered him yet another challenge- skiing.
Green flew up from Fayetteville, North Carolina to strap into a chair based mono-ski and tackle the slopes.
“Pushing myself to the limits, knowing that I can accomplish anything regardless of my injuries,” is what the ski weekend represents, said Green. “It’s been a tremendous experience for me. I’ve done a lot of things that I never did when I was healthy and definitely didn’t think I could do when I got injured.”
Now Green is an author and motivational speaker, publishing a book called Sometimes We Fall as Boys but Rise as Men: The Healing of a Purple Heart Iraqi Veteran. It’s his way of uplifting and inspiring people facing struggles.
It’s clear watching the wounded warriors zip across the mountain, physical challenges can be overcome with a little ingenuity and team work.
The Bart J. Ruggiere Adaptive Sports Center at Bromley Mountain has been hosting an annual “Wounded Warriors Weekend” for five years and the program is growing.
“The first year we had it, we had one soldier and now we’re at about 9 to 10,” said Joe Hurley, Director of the Bart Center. “They have anything from a loss of limb, to crushed bodies to some hearing impairment, some traumatic brain injuries and what we try to do, by doing the adaptive sports, we offer different ways to get them out skiing.”
The program also offers soldiers a sense of community and a chance for veterans to reconnect.
David Brousseau from Vermont and Mike Stafford from Mississippi faced a tragic night in Iraq in 2005 when Stafford, leading a convoy, was hit by an IED and lost a leg.
“After the injury we was separated that night. There was no good-bye, there was no see ya later,” explained Stafford.
“He had to get on a chopper and head to north of Baghdad on a chopper so I hadn’t seen him… it had been about 2 and a half years since I’d seen him,” Brousseau added.
They reunited on Bromley Mountain and have come back year after year.
“If I can do this, I can do anything- and they’re not lying. This is… I believe this is a challenge of all challenges,” Stafford said.
For more information on the Wounded Warrior Project head over to:
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/