DOD
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 11, 2010 – A soldier whose leg was amputated below the knee carried the torch into the Olympic Training Center here yesterday during opening ceremonies for the inaugural Warrior Games.Awesome! Good luck to all participating.
Army Sgt. Robert Price was the first servicemember to carry the torch before handing it over to representatives from each of the other services. Hall-of-Fame football player, U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Vietnam veteran Roger Staubach completed the short journey and lit the Olympic flame.
Price, who remained in the Army after losing his right leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq, is a cadre member at the warrior transition battalion at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He was given the honor because he made sure other soldiers had the opportunity to compete as well.
“I helped out quite a bit [with] other posts that don’t have the training materials or for people to … get them out and do their training at my post,” he explained. “I just took the initiative [and] took over the BAMC part of it for the Warrior Games [to], get these guys to come in and start doing it at Fort Sam Houston.
“I was actually very surprised,” he continued. “I didn’t even expect [to carry the torch].”
He was happy to do it, though, especially because sports helped to keep him in the military. In fact, one of the reasons he decided to stay in the Army after losing his leg was to show other soldiers that they could, too.
God Bless him and all of our troops serving, served and those who gave all. You are my heroes.
Related:
Olympic Path Marks Troops' Journeys to Fulfilled Dreams
Related sites:
Special Report Warrior Games
Defense Media Activity
Rolling Thunder
Previous:
Warrior Games
Cross posted at the Jawa Report
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