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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - When James Stuck regained consciousness in a
military hospital in late-2005, he realized something was wrong even
before he looked down at the stump where his lower right leg had been.
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A day earlier, the Army infantryman, then 21, had been driving a
Humvee outside the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk when it was hit by
three rounds of artillery buried under the road. The vehicle flipped,
knocking Stuck out and smashing his leg.
Much of the leg was quickly amputated, and Stuck wondered how he'd
carry on. The answer came from a U.S. Olympic Committee program that
has turned hundreds of disabled veterans into athletes.
This week, Stuck and three other Iraq war veterans are in Rio de
Janeiro as part of the U.S. delegation to the Parapan American Games,
which has drawn some 1,300 disabled athletes from around the
hemisphere to compete.
For Stuck and other Iraq war veterans, the thrill of athletics has
brought both physical and mental healing and given them something to
think about other than their often painful memories of the war.
Stuck is a member of the U.S. sitting volleyball team. He uses his
arms and torso to move around the court and hit the ball over the
nearly four-foot-high net. On Wednesday, the squad beat Canada . The
team plays Brazil Friday for their division title, then moves on to
the overall semifinals.
"Once I got into sports, I realized I could continue doing what I love
to do and that amputation is not the end of your life," said Stuck,
who lives in Edmond, Okla. , with other members of his team.
"It's like being reborn because you have to learn to do everything
again."
The Olympic committee's veterans program so far has helped about 400
people, including more than 200 who've fought in the current Iraq war,
said John Register , associate director of outreach and development
for the committee's Paralympic branch.
Some veteran athletes are seeking slots in next year's Paralympic
Games in Beijing , the biggest event in the disabled sporting world.
Register served in the 1990-91 Gulf War, but he lost his left leg in a
freak hurdling accident in 1994. He said getting into swimming and
track and field after the accident helped him carry on with his life.
"It's about accepting the injury and moving past that," he said.
"Sports doesn't allow a person to feel sorry for themselves,
especially when they're around other people in exactly the same
situation they're in."
Veterans have long used sports for rehabilitation. In fact, the
international disabled athletics movement was started by a group of
World War II veterans in the United Kingdom who organized the first
disabled games in 1948.
Veteran Scott Winkler , of Augusta, Ga. , said he discovered his
"hidden talent" as a shot putter and discus thrower after falling off
an ammunition truck in Tikrit, Iraq , in May 2003 and injuring his
spine so badly that he was paralyzed below the waist.
Back in the United States , he first took up fishing and won second
place in two disabled veterans tournaments. That led to wheelchair
basketball and then, after taking part in a 2006 event organized by
the U.S. Olympics Committee, track and field.
Winkler won the gold medal in the shot put Thursday and set a world
record in his injury-level category, throwing the 11-pound ball nearly
34 feet while strapped into a special throwing chair. Lightly built
before his injury, the 34-year-old now has hulking shoulders and
bulging forearms.
"It's given me an outlet in life, and everybody needs an outlet,"
Winkler said. "It's given me something to focus on and get better at."
It's also helped Winkler take his mind off memories of the war that
are still so painful that he was pushed to the verge of tears when
asked about them.
"You try to block things out, and it's hard," he said.