|
Iraq war verterans send MyHandyNet your news, create your user profile and tell us about your experiences, share you photos and drawings, let us read your stories and poems, describe your challenges in Iraq and when you returned home. The world needs to hear from you and learn your point of view. The more you present to others the better educated we become and with that we can make better choices in life and in our government. Let us know what we can do for you. Joining together increases our odds of improving our world and day to day life.
This page is dedicated to Iraq War Veterans.
We appreciate your patience as we continue to add info to this page.
Brew Angels: demo for feature film about disabled Iraq vets
Injured Iraq Vets Gain Hope On The Slopes
For Some Who've Lost A Limb, A Ski Program Restores What Was Lost On The Battlefield
BRECKINRIDGE, Colo.
 Spanky Gibson, an Iraq war veteran, has learned to ski again after losing his leg. (CBS)
Quote
"I've got two roads that I can take. I can loathe myself in self-pity and do nothing and not walk again and not do anything like this again, or I can be positive and I can do everything that I think is possible to do." Spanky Gibson
|
|
(CBS) When you've been a Marine for 17 years and go by the name "Spanky," there's probably not a lot you haven't been through, CBS News' Harry Smith reports.
So learning to ski with one leg didn't scare Spanky Gibson. He knows a little about fear — and a whole lot about courage.
"It could always be worse. I've known that from the beginning, the first time I saw I didn't have a leg at the end of my stump, under my covers, I said 'that's life, let's start moving forward,'" Gibson says.
He lost his leg to a sniper in Iraq. Since then, he's learned to walk again, and bike and even golf. The week before he came to Colorado to ski, he was in a triathlon.
Gibson is one of dozens of disabled Iraq war vets who came to Breckenridge at the invitation of the Wounded Warrior Project and Disabled Sports USA. It's a way to restore some of what's been lost on the battlefield.
Gibson says when he's coming down the slope, it feels like "freedom."
Many of these vets have spent more than a year in hospitals and rehabilitation. Even with an army of volunteers and the best equipment available, falling and failure are real possibilities.
"I think this is the first mountain for them," says John Melia of the Wounded Warrior Project. "This is the first mountain in their next step of recovery, and I can tell you they're scared."
Natasha McKinnon, an Iraq war veteran, was coaxed into coming to Breckinridge by the staff at Walter Reed Army Hospital.
"This is my first time, my first time skiing, so I'm enjoying myself very much," McKinnon says.
|
