Calhoun proud to represent USA once again

Heath Calhoun's recollection of the day he lost his legs in Iraq is sparse, made up of moments of shock and mental blackouts.

But, at the Opening Ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, he will have memories for a lifetime.

Staff Sgt. Calhoun's story of recovery toward becoming one of the country's best Paralympic skiers will be highlighted this weekend as he leads his country into the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games as the U.S. flag bearer.

On Thursday, captains from each U.S. sport participating in the Paralympic Winter Games selected Calhoun to be Team USA's flag bearer. He will compete in the super-G and slalom races at these Games.

"To represent my country again, I'm absolutely thrilled and honored that I was selected," Calhoun said.

The last time the Bristol, Tenn., native represented his country was in the first year of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. His enlistment to the U.S. military in 1999 was an act of following family tradition. His father served in the Vietnam War, and his grandfather did so in World War II.

He saw the military as a possible career.

That possibility turned out to be fleeting.

"It was taken out of my hands," Calhoun said.

Calhoun, a squad leader, remembers marching with his squad from the famed 101st Airborne Division to an observation post in an area of Mozul, Iraq, where U.S. soldiers had been hit with improvised explosive devices the previous week.

He was walking at the rear corner of a Humvee as he watched members of his convoy run into the observation post that Friday morning, Nov. 7, 2003.

As they ran back, insurgents set off a grenade launcher, which ripped through the taillight of a Humvee beside him and exploded. The blast killed one fellow soldier, whom Calhoun memorializes with a bracelet adorned with the soldier's name and date of the attack on his right wrist.

At the time of the explosion, he remembers looking up from the ground and seeing his torn and bloodied uniform.

"I knew I was messed up," Calhoun said.

Then, he remembers the screams.

"I screamed a couple of times before my mind kicked in and realized that wasn't of use to me," Calhoun said.

He called for medical help and briefly blacked out. In a subsequent moment of shock, he tried to get up and walk.

"I tried to walk out with one leg mostly detached," Calhoun said.

His fellow infantrymen held him down and put tourniquets around his legs to control the bleeding. Calhoun remembers blacking out, waking up to tell them to loosen the tourniquets, and then blacking out again.

The next time he woke up, a surgeon told him he had lost both of his legs above his knees. His life as a disabled war veteran and out of the service had begun.

Sedated with several doses of morphine, he joked about his predicament with his doctor, family and friends. Even after nine months of rehabilitation at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he thought his life would go on as it had before.

"Initially, I was told about prosthetics and that I would be able to do things I did before, and I honestly thought that life was going to be like that,'' Calhoun said. "Instead of putting my shoes on in the morning, I would be putting on my legs. I found that completely false."

When he first flew back home to Tennessee and tried life on his own with his prosthetics, he realized his journey back to things as normal would be harrowing. The prosthetics weren't as easy to use as he had thought.

His dream of living a military life had ended, but oddly enough, the accident in Iraq opened up new dreams.

"I kind of had a brain meltdown the first time I flew back home and experienced what life was going to be like as a disabled person,'' he said. "I hadn't really expected the challenges. When I first experienced them, I kind of melted down for a few days.''

He continued to rehabilitate at Walter Reed and relied on the support of his family and friends, especially his wife and three children.

Early in his recovery process, he found a new passion during a trip offered to him by Walter Reed: skiing.

"I fell in love with skiing," Calhoun said.

And he was also equipped with different prosthetics with computerized knees that allowed him to run, jump and do other physical activities more freely. His first competitive race was in New Hampshire four years ago, when other Paralympians were competing in the Torino 2006 Winter Games.

In 2008, he committed himself to making the 2010 Paralympic U.S. Ski Team.

He moved to Aspen, Colo., to train with Challenge Aspen, one of the nation's top ski racing programs. At the 2009 U.S. Paralympic Alpine National Championships, Calhoun earned second in the men's sit-ski slalom and gold in the sit-ski super-G. He also was named Ski Race Magazine's "Role Model of the Year" the same year.

Getting disabled people-war veterans or not-engaged in physical activity again is vital to proper physical and mental recovery, said Charlie Huebner, the U.S. Olympic Committee's Chief of Paralympics.

"Returning to something simple-skiing with your buddies or playing basketball with your friends-is not only important from a physical rehabilitation standpoint, but also from a mental rehabilitation (one)," Huebner said.

Calhoun is gone half of the year training in Colorado, which means he is away from his family in Tennessee.

"I really enjoy (skiing), and the experience has been amazing, but I'm missing a lot of soccer games and wrestling practices," Calhoun said. "I honestly couldn't do it without my wife."

His wife, Tiffany, carries a full-time job while caring for the three Calhoun children and working as her husband's assistant, booking his travel and coordinating his correspondences.

"Me coming to (the Paralympic Winter Games) almost became her dream, as well,'' he said. "She's given so much for it.''

The war veteran's ability to balance his family and pursuit for Paralympic glory serves as example for his fellow countrymen, regardless of disability, Huebner said.

"All the things Heath is doing as a father and as a husband is a great test to any American that faces obstacles and challenges,," Huebner said. "I think the American people can look at a young man like him and find an incredible role model.

"Just being the person he is, he creates a good platform for the disabled and Americans. It really drives home the message of what the Paralympic movement is all about."

The accident almost seven years ago not only left him with a life of difficult physical and mental rehabilitation. He was also left with a feeling of incompleteness.

Now, his new assignment to represent his country as a flag bearer and in competition will provide closure for the career he never got to finish, he said.

"Being able to get back into a role as someone who is able to represent my country on the world's biggest stage as a Paralympian is a huge honor for me," Calhoun said.

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Katy Yeiser is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.

Tags: Heath Calhoun, Katy Yeiser, Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games