Photo By Staff Sgt. Leon Cook | A runner in a bomb suit nears the final stretch of the AUSA EOD Warrior 5K Oct. 25....... read more read more
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OLYMPIA, Wash. – Do you think you’re good at video games? How good do you think you’d be if you couldn’t use your arms?
Mary Dague, a former explosive ordnance disposal technician and fan of games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, had to learn to do just that.
Dague lost her arms in Iraq in 2007 to an improvised explosive device blast. She was devastated.
“I thought it would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me before it happened,” she said.
Dague lost her arms while helping others, and fortunately help was available for Dague too. She received help from the EOD Warrior Foundation.
The EOD Warrior Foundation is a charity that provides financial assistance and support to wounded, injured, or ill explosive ordnance disposal technicians, both active-duty and veterans, and their families.
Recently, Dague joined approximately 200 current and former service members, spouses, children, and pets for the Association of the United States Army EOD Warrior 5K on Oct. 25. The run was organized by the 3rd EOD Battalion from Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Runners ran two laps around Capitol Lake, in the shadow of the state capitol building. A few hardy individuals strapped themselves into 75-pound personal saunas known as bomb disposal suits.
Race entrance fees went to the foundation, which also seeks to educate the public about the realities of the challenges facing the EOD community.
At the movies, audiences rest easy knowing that whenever a bomb threatens the hero, he’ll get out safely somehow. John Mclane will dive into an elevator shaft and narrowly escape death by clinging onto the side. Keanu Reeves will evacuate the bus before it explodes, and James Bond will successfully cut the right wire with only seven seconds left on the clock.
But that’s only fantasy, and the reality is something EOD technicians know all too well. Not all of them make it back home. Others make it back home, but not in one piece.
The EOD Warrior Foundation shows the public that EOD technicians risk life and limb on every mission, and those who are injured need support.
After Dague lost her arms, she said life seemed hopeless for her.
“I didn’t think I could do anything,” she said. “Everything is designed for people with arms.”
With support from the foundation and her EOD family, she came to grips with her new situation. Slowly, she accepted that her life was different, but far from over. She relearned how to do everyday activities.
“It’s completely changed me. Everything I do is modified,” she said. “I’ve had to adapt to everything.”
Dague says adaptation is an ongoing process, but with practice, she can still do most of the things she used to do. In a few cases, she can do things she couldn’t do before.
“I learned to play video games with my feet,” she explained, “and I can eat pizza while I play. I just balance a slice on my stump and eat.”
Now, seven years after her life-changing event, Dague walked the course. Not to win any medals, but to give back to a foundation that has helped her, and by extension, to help other EOD technicians.
“I will do anything I can to help them, as long as I’m breathing. They have been amazing in the community,” she said. “These are the people I bled for. We’re a family, but it’s not a family of blood; it’s a family of loyalty.”
| Date Taken: | 10.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.30.2014 19:58 |
| Story ID: | 146625 |
| Location: | OLYMPIA, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 374 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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