Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Adrian Borunda | Jace Badia, a retired U.S. Army staff sergeant, came to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo...... read more read more
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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba made their 10th appearance at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, this week, giving former service members the opportunity to spend five days diving in the surrounding tropical waters.
One of the divers, retired Staff Sgt. Jace Badia, United States Army, has been diving with SUDS since 2010.
“Tampa was where I enlisted in the Army and where I spent my youth into minor adulthood,” Badia said. “I shipped out from the military entrance processing station in 2005.”
While on deployment in 2006 Badia’s unit came under attack during a route clearance mission, it started with an improvised explosive device that hit his vehicle.
“We were on patrol conducting route clearance and we got hit by a roadside bomb,” Badia said. “The blast was an incredibly large blast and threw the M2 Bradley several feet in the air. It weighs 40 tons; it takes a lot of power to do that.”
He lost his left leg that day and nearly his right as well. While recovering at Walter Reed Hospital he came across the SUDS program and eventually rehabilitated enough to earn his open water divers certification in St. Johns.
“Yes, we focus on diving but that’s not what it’s all about, it’s about helping them recover and getting their self confidence back up,” said John Thompson, SUDS founder.
Thompson moved to the Washington, District of Columbia, area in the early 2000s and started volunteering at the hospital, focusing on aquatic therapy given he was a dive instructor.
“I went to the Red Cross at Walter Reed to volunteer and they put me in the aquatic therapy pool ... after I while I realized here’s a pool, I’m a dive instructor and we have young men and women, why don't we see if diving can help with their rehab,” Thompson said.
The group of seven wounded service members spent five days here at GTMO where they did boat and beach dives almost every day.
“It blows my mind every time I go down there and watch whatever is down there,” Badia said. “As it is right now, my goal is to become a wreck diver then a master diver as soon as I get done with this rescue diver. Maybe down the line I will get a job as a master diver.”
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.19.2015 18:04 |
| Story ID: | 154906 |
| Location: | GUANTANAMO BAY, CU |
| Hometown: | AUGUSTA, GA, US |
| Hometown: | TAMPA, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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