Anyone who’s been following me these past few years (has it really been that long?), knows that my favorite topics are triathlon and, well, me! Today isn’t all that different. I want to tell you about my recent experience with Team Red White and Blue.
This is my second season racing with them. I’ve tried to represent as best as I could, and I’ve told people about the team and our mission whenever I’ve had the chance. Honestly though, there was something missing. I didn’t really feel like I had any skin in the game.
I got a chance to change all of that last week, when I signed up to volunteer at their triathlon camp for wounded veterans. If, after reading this, you don’t feel differently (maybe a lump in your throat, or a call to help) then either I’m a lousy writer or you’re a heartless and selfish bastard. Sorry if I offended you, but that’s how I feel!
I had no idea what to expect, so I signed up for everything I could. My first step was to pickup a retired Vet (Jamie) at the airport. We chatted for a while driving around looking for a place to eat and I discovered that he was not only more experienced than I, but significantly faster. I thought to myself that this was the caliber of vets I was going to be working with, and they certainly wouldn’t be needing my help.
One thing I should add before I go too far is that Team RWB provided a complete beginner’s triathlon kit to every veteran that needed it, including bike, helmet, wetsuit, shoes and uniform. All they really needed were running shoes and swim goggles. Not a bad was to get into the sport!
It wasn’t long before we were at the meeting place, and other vets and volunteers started showing up. I sat down to install water bottle cages, put cleats on their shoes, and quickly fell into the old military banter. I was sitting around with two Army/Airborne guys and one Marine. Guess who we ganged up on! After that day I didn’t pick on him again until the last day when we were fast friends.
Some of the vets brought their own bikes, and some of them were VERY nice. A couple of the other guys looked like they hadn’t ridden a bike since childhood and certainly had never used clip in shoes. Watching them ride in the parking lot made me nervous for their safety and vowed to keep a special eye on them. Note to self, it takes more than just an eye!
I have to tell you something that struck me deeply. We’ve all seen the news about the wounded soldiers, the amputations, PTSD, etc.. That doesn’t prepare you for the impact of meeting with these guys face to face. Suddenly the news reports take on a whole new meaning.
From what I can remember there were 13 wounded veterans there. I spent more time with the guys I met early that day, so let me tell you a bit about them. One thing I didn’t do was ask them about any injuries or how they got hurt. I felt if they wanted to talk about it they would. Some did, some didn’t. But this is what I got:
- Yogi – I didn’t discover until I got home that this wasn’t his real name. Hopefully he was ok with the nickname people gave him. He is a younger guy, one wife and two children (I still chuckle when I think of him saying this), and was a member of the 82d Airborne. He was injured, spent 1+ months in a coma and came out with a rod in his leg and some brain damage. He was the nicest guy, so thankful and appreciative, yet constantly apologizing for the most trivial of things.
- Serge – a retired Marine and the guy I was picking on at first. He was either a combat medic and/or a door gunner. Either way he was struggling with thoughts of suicide (one of his friends was successful) and some doctor suggested physical activity might help. One day, he was out on a long group ride of 70+ miles when he was pulled from the course by medical personnel. Subsequently he went into convulsions, fell, and broke his back and damaged his shoulder. This camp was his first time back on the bike!
- Adam – An Airborne soldier with the 173rd in Italy. He was on patrol when his buddy tripped an IED, which blew off his legs and severely injured Adam. It was hot outside, so I ripped off my shirt, and several others, including Adam, followed suit. I saw a scar that made me think of what they must do to perform an autopsy. I’ve since seen pictures of his scar and it is nothing like I remember, yet it still gives me pause. He has a matching scar on the back of his neck and several near his eye, which I didn’t notice until he mentioned his lack of peripheral vision on that side. Most of these guys suffer from insomnia, including Adam. He casually mentioned one afternoon that he hadn’t really slept in over a year. Despite all of this, he is eager to get back to his unit.
- Doc – a Navy Corpsman. He’d brought his own bike so I didn’t pay much attention to him at first. When I started to say something about him being a squid Adam shut me up by saying that a corpsman had saved his life and he loved them all. Doc was a pretty solid triathlete already, and I didn’t think he needed any help from me. I later read an article about how he is doing some 100K mountain bike ride on GW’s ranch next week. In the story it said how he had worked on over 1200 wounded before being diagnosed with PTSD himself and sent home.
- Jamie – my airport pickup, a retired Army guy who spent most of his time in the 82d or in Iraq/Afghanistan. He kept being passed over for promotion until it was time for him to get out. They offered him an E-7 slot on the front line, which he passed up. He’s about 10 years younger than I and is shooting for a 5 hour half Ironman in Florida in a few weeks.
- Larry – I didn’t get to spend that much time with Larry and still haven’t figured him out. He was very nice, yet quiet. He had his own bike that had an interesting aero setup. It turns out he doesn’t have an elbow in his left arm, which allows him to, among other things, swing his arm backwards and hit himself in the back of the shoulder.
- Dan – didn’t even make it on my radar until the next to last workout. I watched him swim, and it was the most amazing thing ever! He was barely working, yet was leading the pack. Long story short, he is an active duty Navy Seal who spends about 35 hours a week training. Had I known that up front I would have spent much more attention to his swimming!
So, that’s some of the gang. Most of them are on medication of some sort – many for insomnia and/or headaches. Two are stationed at Walter Reed. Every one of them was as nice as could be, and none of them displayed the “why me” syndrome.
The camp itself was 3 1/2 days, way too long for me to cover in a single entry. I’m going to take a few days so I can cover it all. The last thing I will talk about today is the trip to the shoe store. Two of the vets, Serge and Yogi, had forgotten running shoes. Ever the volunteer I went with them to the shoe store and then got them to the welcome dinner. It was the trip to the shoe store that really touched me and told me I’ve got to do more and get more people involved.
As we were walking to the store, Serge was complaining about his shoulder, and popping it in and out of socket. It reminded me of that Mel Gibson movie, except that for Serge there was no screaming in pain and it was as easy as cracking my knuckles. I wasn’t sure how this would hold up for a couple of hours on the bike!
When we sat down at the store, with a wonderful salesman, Yogi told him not to bring out a bunch of shoes. “Only bring a couple” he said, “any more would be too hard to choose”. It took me a while for this to register, but I think at times he has the mental capacity of a teen or pre-teen. I don’t mean this in a mean spirited way, and Yogi if you read this I hope you don’t mind my honesty. When he put on his first pair he stood up, jumped around, and struck several ninja type poses. It reminded me of the story my parents tell of how I would run around the house in my new shoes. He wanted those shoes, and the next pair, and the next. The salesman was very diligent in making sure they were the right size (we started with the 9 Yogi said and ended with a 10.5), and putting him on the treadmill to watch his gait. Because of the rod in his leg, and that leg being significantly shorter than the other, he has a funky running style. I didn’t think he would be able to run 1/2 mile!
As we walked back to my car from the shoe store, they kept thanking me for my patience. They were so excited about their new shoes, I made it a point to ask them about them after every run workout.
As I sit here, thinking about that first day and how I felt, I have only one life experience that can even closely relate – being a foster parent. Suddenly I had inherited 13 kids, who through no fault of their own had suffered something no person would ever want to experience, yet all they wanted was to look forward. These guys are my hero’s, and I think about them every day!
Watch for more to come soon: The Bike!
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