WEBVTT

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um , so you were , you're from Greeley .

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Right , correct . Yeah . And where did

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you go to high school ? Um I went to

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high school and really central and

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graduated in 2001 and you joined the

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army right after high school , correct ,

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Correent . Yeah . I joined the army

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straight out of high school , left the

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summer of 2001 . And my first duty

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station was first ranger battalion ,

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which is Hunter Army airfield in

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savannah Georgia . And I served four

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years as a forward observer in the

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range of italian and deployed multiple

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times to Afghanistan and Iraq . And

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then uh , I had a break in service . I

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got out of the military in 2005 and

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after a break in service ended up

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joining the reserves and joined the

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reserves in 2010 was deployed to

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Afghanistan again and was injured in

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2010 . All right .

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And you're injured in Afghanistan ,

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correct . And now you've

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joined the Warrior Games , correct ?

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Yeah . One of the opportunities for

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wounded service members is a program

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called the Warrior Games , which is an

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annual events and it's essentially a

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olympic style competition between the

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different services . So it's the Air

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Force and marines and Navy and Army all

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compete against each other in different

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athletic competitions ranging from

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track and field to swimming and

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shooting and archery . And it's just an

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aid to help wounded service members

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overcome their injuries and rebuild

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their confidence and it helps with

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physical rehabilitation and helps you

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overcome your injury and learn to adapt

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to the new situations and circumstances

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that you have as a result of any

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injuries they may have incurred while

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overseas , That sounds great then ,

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what will you be competing in ? I'm out

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here to compete in cycling and shooting

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and it's a pretty rigorous selection

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process to make the team and so just

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making the team , I was happy and

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coming out here and competing if I won

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one of the medals , I'd be happy if I

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didn't , I was thrilled to just have

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made the team and shooting with my

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primary sport . That's what I was out

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here to really be competitive in and

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yesterday was the cycling event and to

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my surprise , actually took third place

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in cycling home a uh yeah , I

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appreciate that Tacoma bronze medal

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that I had no intention of earning and

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tomorrow I'll try my hand at shooting

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and see how that goes . Oh wow . And so

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have you , were you into cycling before

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this opportunity ? Um , I was just a

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novice cycler , I was , wasn't really

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serious about it and it wasn't until I

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started getting involved in some

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different physical activities as part

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of my rehabilitation and kind of got to

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the point where I was before physically

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and kind of superseded that and just

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kept going and continue to cycle and

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I've done a couple triathlons , I'm

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doing another one next month and I ran

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my first half marathon a few months ago

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and so just trying to stay as

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physically active as possible and

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cycling is one of my new passions ,

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I've really just fell in love with it

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and continue to plan to continue

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pursuing cycling in the future . That's

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great . Um and so is this your first

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year in the game ? It is , yeah , it's

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my first year in the Warrior Games . Um

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I would love to have competed last year ,

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but I had undergone a surgical

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operation kinda just before the

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competition , so I wasn't able to be

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physically ready to compete last year ,

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I was still in the hospital this time

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last year , so this is the first year

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that I was physically able to come out

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and take part in the games and be part

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of the army team , wow . So what a

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difference a year makes , I'm guessing .

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Yeah , yeah , it's amazing . Absolutely

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awesome . And do you think the games

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serve their purpose for helping

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everyone build their confidence and ?

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Yeah , yeah , absolutely . Not only is

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it a huge physical advantage to have

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that initiative to try and train and

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better yourself and overcome your

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injuries , but also just like mentally

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it's hands down one of the most

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advantageous aspects of the recovery

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process is having this opportunity to

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rebuild your confidence , but also just

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get to be part of the team and be part

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of that excitement and just a huge

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morale boost . And the camaraderie

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between the team is just amazing and

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the adrenaline rush of hearing people

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cheer for you and getting to watch your

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fellow teammates competes . It's just

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an awesome friendship building

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experience where you get to get close

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to people and make friendships that are

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probably gonna last forever and be part

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of just this awesome experience in this

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team . It's wonderful and everyone ,

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I'm sure kind of understand each other

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and what you're all going through .

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Yeah , it's nice to have that . It's

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nice to have that common bond because

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like , like you're civilian friends and

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your family , they try to sympathize

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and yeah , relate to you the best they

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can . But unless someone's been through

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a similar circumstance , they really

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just don't quite get it . So to get to

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share experiences like this with other

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wounded service members who have

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similar injuries or know what it's like

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to be hospitalized for months at a time

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and have that time stolen from them and

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just trying kind of recapture their

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life . It's nice to share that with

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someone who knows what you're going

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through and can relate . That's awesome .

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Anything else you wanted to add before

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I let you go . I know you have a lot of

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people to talk to . Yeah , no worries .

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I think that pretty much covers it if

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that's all you have for me . Yeah ,

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that's all . Well , Good luck tomorrow .

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Thank you appreciate that . Thanks have

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a great day by you as well