Wounded veterans bike against the odds in endurance-testing race

Juan Carlos Hernandez was a crewmember on a Chinook helicopter with the 101st airborne in Afghanistan, and everyone on board knew they couldn’t dodge danger indefinitely. 

“It wasn’t a matter of if it would happen, but when. Something was going to happen,” he said. “You already knew that. We never let it keep us from what we were doing.”

He was right. A rocket-propelled grenade hit his aircraft. It came up through the floor and damaged Hernandez’s foot so badly, a battlefield decision was made to remove most of his right leg below the knee. 

“I’m missing my foot, but I’m still alive.” Hernandez said after waking up in Bagram. “I was able to see my friends. It could’ve been worse.”

“I’m missing my foot, but I’m still alive.”

- Juan Carlos Hernandez, wounded in Afghanistan

Jim Penseyres was with 2nd battalion 3rd marines in Vietnam. He was hit by an artillery round and went back into combat. Then he stepped into a booby trap packed with just enough C4 to remove his left leg. 

“Because they could use less explosive, it was efficient,” he said. 

Ken Butler was with the 82nd airborne East of Baghdad when his vehicle was hit with a combination of 3 Explosively Formed Projectiles. 

“Everything looked fine because my arm was there, I just thought it was numb,” Butler said. 

Everything was not fine. He had severe injuries including a bilateral sucking chest wound. There was no medic with them. Paratroopers from his platoon dug into their emergency kits and stuffed Butler’s wounds to stop the bleeding.  

“If they didn’t do it the way they did, I’d be a goner,” he said. 

The next time he was conscious, Butler was in Bethesda and his arm was gone. 

“The first time I knew something was wrong was when I felt my shoulders were uneven,” he said.

This is a group of guys who honored a commitment to serve and paid a heavy price.  They have earned the option of self-pity, self-indulgence, depression even…dare I say…weakness.

They’ve opted otherwise.

On Saturday morning, at 6:30 a.m., these veterans will join nearly 2,000 athletes and take on a challenge that makes the Boston Marathon look brief and oxygen rich.  They are on a team of five wounded vets and two supporters that will line up for the Leadville 100, the highest altitude 100-mile mountain bike race in the world.  

The gruelling race through the Colorado Rockies starts at 10,000 feet. The course

To read the whole story, visit here: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/08/10/wounded-veterans-bike-against-odds-in-endurance-testing-race/

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