thedrifter
04-05-06, 05:53 AM
‘Every day is different’
Winter Sports Clinic allows veterans to push their limits
By By DAVE BUCHANAN The Daily Sentinel
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
SNOWMASS — Wearing a new insulated jacket and a bright red ballcap emblazoned with “Marines” across the front, 22-year-old Matt Schilling rubbed the stump of his right leg and pondered his immediate future.
Like strangers in a strange land, Schilling and his wife LeighAnn, 23, fresh from Washington, D.C., were quietly wondering Monday what to do next in what’s been a hectic week of preparation and travel in preparation for the 20th annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic being held through Friday at Snowmass Ski Resort.
Want to try downhill or cross-country skiing? Snowmobiling? Maybe even fencing or indoor golf, scuba diving or scaling the 30-foot high climbing wall? There’s all that and more for the veterans to try this week, but right now, the most important thing for the Schillings is to relax.
This, after all, is their first trip together outside the confines of the military hospitals treating Matt for his injuries suffered during combat in Iraq.
“I’m still at Walter Reed (Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.)” Matt said, “and I’m still trying to catch up a bit. I’m glad we’re here, but ...”
His words were interrupted when LeighAnn pushed on Matt’s wheelchair.
“You need to get in line, they’re loading the vans,” she said, and Matt rolled toward the white van awaiting the Schillings and several other disabled veterans eager to catch a gondola ride to the top of Aspen Mountain.
Riding a gondola into Colorado’s columbine-blue sky is one of the nearly endless activities offered this week, all part of the rehabilitative nature of the Winter Sports Clinic that attracts disabled vets from around the country for a week of outdoor activities and forging new friendships.
Approximately 155 of this year’s 341 or so participants were injured during combat, including 55 recently injured Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Along with veterans of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and other military invasions and conflicts, there are 180 or so veterans injured during non-combat situations.
Thirty-six of the participants are women.
On the other side of the breezeway that leads from the parking lot to the ski slopes, 26-year Marine veteran Jesus Pintos of West Palm Beach, Fla, is being tucked into his mono-ski by volunteer instructors Beth Barry, executive director of Grand Junction-based Colorado Discover Ability, and Jim Morris, a New York tax attorney and adaptive ski instructor.
A mono-ski is little more than a padded fiberglass bucket seat mounted on a single ski. The skier turns by leaning and using short outriggers to steer.
Pintos said this is “about my sixth Winter Sports Clinic,” and it isn’t enough simply to return each year to see friends from the years past and enjoy a couple days of spring skiing. It’s seeing the young vets that keeps his mind fresh and inspired.
“I really enjoy watching the young kids and what they can do, they’re the ones who really inspire me,” said Pintos, 48, a combat veteran who served in Lebanon, Haiti, Panama and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and avoided serious injury before contracting Parkinson’s disease, possibly a reaction from the anti-nerve gas vaccinations given U.S. troops during the Persian Gulf conflicts. “I come here for the camaraderie and the friends I’ve met, but seeing how these young guys push themselves offers me inspiration, too.”
And there’s Mike Brickert, an Army, Navy and Air Force combat veteran of Vietnam, the Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm) and Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom.
He’s also a former Air National Guard world-class biathlete who was the body guard and driver for Gen. Charles Horner, air commander for Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom and was serving in Afghanistan when he became a paraplegic three years ago.
Today, Brickert, 58, lives with his wife on an isolated ranch near Wise River, Mont., and says the Winter Sports Clinic is more than simply enjoying winter sports.
“When you first get out of the hospital, you really don’t know a whole lot but you learn so much more talking to the people who have been there,” said Brickert, an avid hunter who last fall killed an elk and mule deer while hunting from his specially-modified ATV.
“The (Veteran’s Administration) therapist in Seattle really encouraged me to attend my first (winter clinic), to learn how to push our limits. I’ve learned so much from all the people here.”
The theme of being about people, not just sports, reverberates around the Winter Sports Clinic.
“All this helps us get ready for everyday life,” said Jim Gerloff of Rifle, an outgoing 58-year-old Army vet who lost his left leg in Vietnam in 1971 and a year later was active in wheelchair sports.
A few years ago, he completed a 300-mile, 10-day wheelchair road race from Fairbanks to Anchorage.
In addition to Gerloff, other local vets participating in the Winter Sports Clinic include Dana Liesegang, Doug Little, Randy Sirbaugh and Michael Warick, all of Grand Junction.
A part-time cross-country skiing coach, Gerloff’s boisterous voice can often be heard “coaxing” other skiers to do better.
“Every day is different and you have to be ready for that,” he said. “I try to get these guys excited about being here, and carry that excitement into their everyday lives.”
Dave Buchanan can be reached via e-mail at dbuchanan@gjds.com.
Ellie
Winter Sports Clinic allows veterans to push their limits
By By DAVE BUCHANAN The Daily Sentinel
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
SNOWMASS — Wearing a new insulated jacket and a bright red ballcap emblazoned with “Marines” across the front, 22-year-old Matt Schilling rubbed the stump of his right leg and pondered his immediate future.
Like strangers in a strange land, Schilling and his wife LeighAnn, 23, fresh from Washington, D.C., were quietly wondering Monday what to do next in what’s been a hectic week of preparation and travel in preparation for the 20th annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic being held through Friday at Snowmass Ski Resort.
Want to try downhill or cross-country skiing? Snowmobiling? Maybe even fencing or indoor golf, scuba diving or scaling the 30-foot high climbing wall? There’s all that and more for the veterans to try this week, but right now, the most important thing for the Schillings is to relax.
This, after all, is their first trip together outside the confines of the military hospitals treating Matt for his injuries suffered during combat in Iraq.
“I’m still at Walter Reed (Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.)” Matt said, “and I’m still trying to catch up a bit. I’m glad we’re here, but ...”
His words were interrupted when LeighAnn pushed on Matt’s wheelchair.
“You need to get in line, they’re loading the vans,” she said, and Matt rolled toward the white van awaiting the Schillings and several other disabled veterans eager to catch a gondola ride to the top of Aspen Mountain.
Riding a gondola into Colorado’s columbine-blue sky is one of the nearly endless activities offered this week, all part of the rehabilitative nature of the Winter Sports Clinic that attracts disabled vets from around the country for a week of outdoor activities and forging new friendships.
Approximately 155 of this year’s 341 or so participants were injured during combat, including 55 recently injured Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Along with veterans of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and other military invasions and conflicts, there are 180 or so veterans injured during non-combat situations.
Thirty-six of the participants are women.
On the other side of the breezeway that leads from the parking lot to the ski slopes, 26-year Marine veteran Jesus Pintos of West Palm Beach, Fla, is being tucked into his mono-ski by volunteer instructors Beth Barry, executive director of Grand Junction-based Colorado Discover Ability, and Jim Morris, a New York tax attorney and adaptive ski instructor.
A mono-ski is little more than a padded fiberglass bucket seat mounted on a single ski. The skier turns by leaning and using short outriggers to steer.
Pintos said this is “about my sixth Winter Sports Clinic,” and it isn’t enough simply to return each year to see friends from the years past and enjoy a couple days of spring skiing. It’s seeing the young vets that keeps his mind fresh and inspired.
“I really enjoy watching the young kids and what they can do, they’re the ones who really inspire me,” said Pintos, 48, a combat veteran who served in Lebanon, Haiti, Panama and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and avoided serious injury before contracting Parkinson’s disease, possibly a reaction from the anti-nerve gas vaccinations given U.S. troops during the Persian Gulf conflicts. “I come here for the camaraderie and the friends I’ve met, but seeing how these young guys push themselves offers me inspiration, too.”
And there’s Mike Brickert, an Army, Navy and Air Force combat veteran of Vietnam, the Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm) and Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom.
He’s also a former Air National Guard world-class biathlete who was the body guard and driver for Gen. Charles Horner, air commander for Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom and was serving in Afghanistan when he became a paraplegic three years ago.
Today, Brickert, 58, lives with his wife on an isolated ranch near Wise River, Mont., and says the Winter Sports Clinic is more than simply enjoying winter sports.
“When you first get out of the hospital, you really don’t know a whole lot but you learn so much more talking to the people who have been there,” said Brickert, an avid hunter who last fall killed an elk and mule deer while hunting from his specially-modified ATV.
“The (Veteran’s Administration) therapist in Seattle really encouraged me to attend my first (winter clinic), to learn how to push our limits. I’ve learned so much from all the people here.”
The theme of being about people, not just sports, reverberates around the Winter Sports Clinic.
“All this helps us get ready for everyday life,” said Jim Gerloff of Rifle, an outgoing 58-year-old Army vet who lost his left leg in Vietnam in 1971 and a year later was active in wheelchair sports.
A few years ago, he completed a 300-mile, 10-day wheelchair road race from Fairbanks to Anchorage.
In addition to Gerloff, other local vets participating in the Winter Sports Clinic include Dana Liesegang, Doug Little, Randy Sirbaugh and Michael Warick, all of Grand Junction.
A part-time cross-country skiing coach, Gerloff’s boisterous voice can often be heard “coaxing” other skiers to do better.
“Every day is different and you have to be ready for that,” he said. “I try to get these guys excited about being here, and carry that excitement into their everyday lives.”
Dave Buchanan can be reached via e-mail at dbuchanan@gjds.com.
Ellie