U.S. Army Spc. Brent Garlic at MacDill Air Force Base during the 2019 Department of Defense Warrior Games, conducted by Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida (U.S Army photo by PFC Dominique Dixon).
There are also specialized versions of weight lifting and rowing, among other individual sports that can be adapted for those with disabilities and contribute to their quality of life. Many of the efforts are aimed at getting servicemembers "off the couch."
Transitioning out of the military is especially life-changing for these types of athletes because that is not how they imagined their life to be, Mason said. "Naturally you will encounter some folks with depression and / or any other mental health issues. This is one way to keep them involved, and keep them focused on what is that next chapter in their lives."
Family members and caregivers contribute to the effort as well, Mason said. Participants who don't return to their units often find careers outside the military in adaptive sports, she said, as trainers or coaches. Some dedicate themselves to their sports to such an extent that they become Paralympians.
Intra-service camaraderie
Johnson was in the Navy for four years, from 2012 to 2016. Since leaving the service and getting more involved in the Warrior Games program, Johnson said she's established relationships with people from all the services, and has competed against teams from Australia, Great Britain, Canada, and other international squads. Once, while still on active duty and stationed in Hawaii, she traveled to West Point, New York, for the 2016 games.
Johnson later became a surfing coach with another veterans' service organization. She said she is inspired watching other athletes with lower-limb loss, blindness, or people with "paralysis who are out there crushing it on hand bikes."
And she very much agrees with Mason about the camaraderie shared.
"Many will tell you about just how having that opportunity to develop a skill in a sport that they once thought they'd lost, or the camaraderie of being with other individuals," is lifesaving, Johnson said. "Even with competing service members, there is still a very large camaraderie among the military services."
Her initial, strong performance in her first Warrior Games "showed me that I'm strong, and showed me that if I work hard and consistently, that I can do things that I didn't think I could a few years ago," she added.
"It's a really, really empowering feeling, especially when I felt so down and so broken when I was going through my sexual assault process in the military."
For extra support for her condition, Johnson also has Kona, her golden retriever service dog. She got Kona out of desperation, and before her involvement in adaptive sports. "He was kind of my lifeline for a while," she said.
She calls her long runs "very meditative," and her other training to be something of a substitute for the many years of training to be a musician playing the flute and piccolo. Going through the worst of her PTSD, she experienced breathing difficulties and panic attacks. It was then that she truly started to lean on her Wounded Warrior community.
"Having somebody reach out to me that could help me when I was really suffering ... having these programs in place when people are kind of at their worst, when they need the most help, is really important," Johnson said.