Maimed soldiers recruited for US Paralympic Team

Glad if it helps the wounded soldiers <in short and long terms> but the spokesman's words: “This has been a shot in the arm of the Paralympic movement and an immediate boost" could have been worded with a little more sensitivity, IMO.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1900371,00.html


The unprecedented number of troops missing limbs that are returning from Iraq has given the US Paralympic Team an unexpected recruitment boost and the chance to become “unbeatable” at the next Games in Beijing in 2008. More than 60 potential recruits have already been identified in sports as varied as powerlifting, archery and table tennis.

John Register, a veteran of the Gulf War in 1990, who manages the US Paralympic Academy, said: “This has been a shot in the arm of the Paralympic movement and an immediate boost. The Paralympics is a huge motivating factor for injured service members. It exponentially increases the individual’s idea of what is possible.”

Mr Register has contacted almost 200 of the Iraq amputees and identified 61 with the potential for the Paralympic squad. He has run two training events in California so that veterans can try out sports, and another is planned next month in Georgia. None of his funding comes from the Pentagon but he refuses to be critical of the Government. He says that he prefers his Paralympic military training programme to be independent and paid for by the US Olympic Committee.

His next battle is to ensure that military Paralympians can join able-bodied Olympic hopefuls in the US Army World Class Athlete Programme. This will enable them to stay on as fully-paid members of the military rather than have to retire on benefits. The necessary legislative change has been attached to a Bill going through Congress.

they don't get sent back in country and slaughtered before '08!

Seriously:

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_rehab_112004,00.html

WASHINGTON - A state-of-the-art rehabilitation center opening next year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center seeks to return more amputee soldiers to a place once thought impossible: the battlefield....

"If there's somebody who drove a tank, we can build a simulated vehicle and actually allow them to drive that," said Lt. Col. Paul Pasquina, medical director of Walter Reed's amputee program. "We look at the controls and figure out how they can operate it with either an upper extremity prosthesis or lower extremity prosthesis."...

"What we're finding in each subsequent conflict is there is an increased percentage of upper extremity amputations," Gambel said....

He does not plan to return to active duty, but at least 10 amputees treated at Walter Reed have returned or are planning to return to their units, hospital officials said.

So much for the old shoot-off-your-toe trick, I guess. Good thing OxyRush still has his anal cyst! :sarcasm: