Wounded Warriors On Ice
Saw this USA Hockey Magazine story about the USA Warriors Ice Hockey Program via the Walter Reed Army Medical Center fan page on Facebook yesterday – talk about motivational! (Not to mention probably the coolest hockey story I’ve ever seen.)

“I’m probably the only person you’ll ever meet who opted to have their leg amputated so they could play hockey, and that was my whole goal. I spent two and a half years at Walter Reed, and everyone there knew that my first goal in life was to get back on the ice.” – SFC Joe Bowser
Double Amputee Military Veteran Parachutes Into Walter Reed
Don’t really need to say anything about this one – the video speaks for itself.
Read more here:
Double Amputee Skydives at Walter Reed
Dana Bowman
CCI Places First Facility Dog At A Major Wounded Warrior Medical Care Center
I attended the Canine Companions for Independence Southwest Regional Center (SWR) graduation in Oceanside, CA last Saturday, and one of the graduating teams was a Facility Dog, Tommy III, along with therapists from the Naval Medical Center San Diego, Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care, better known as C5.
- L to R: NMCSD C5 therapists April Walter, Jacque Moore, and Kristin Valent; Facility Dog Tommy III; and his proud Puppy Raisers from Denver, Vanessa and Kevin O’Grady. Photo courtesy Carol-Ann DeMaio Goheen.
Just How Big the OEF/OIF Veteran Need for Service Dogs Could Be – And What Will Be Required from Us to Meet It
I can’t give you a definitive answer on how large the potential number of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) / Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veteran candidates for service dogs is – there are just way too many variables.
What I can do, though, is give you the official OEF/OIF casualty numbers and go from there: almost 35,000 wounded warriors with varying levels of injuries, including around 900 amputees.
( http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/gwot_reason.pdf and http://www1.va.gov/vetdata/docs/4X6_fall08_sharepoint.pdf )
Air Force Amputee Reenlists
TSgt Christopher Frost, an EOD guy who lost his right leg to an IED in Iraq, recentIy reenlisted:

Whole story is here: “Don’t Call Him a Hero”.
The hard part for me is there are so many of these tremendous young wounded warriors who’ve given so much that I could never talk about them all or say enough. I still come into contact with a lot of young active duty military people, especially Army troops at Fort Carson, many of whom know I’m an old retired guy and will very respectfully thank me for my service. I’m always really flattered and humbled by that, and I also always tell them the truth – they are doing a whole lot more than I ever did, and are going through stuff that I never had to.







I'm very active with Canine Companions for Independence as a former member of the Veterans Task Force and puppy raiser. Retired US Air Force Chief Master Sergeant with my last assignments at the Air Force Academy as the Fourth Group Sergeant Major and Dean of Faculty Superintendent.