Photo By 1st Lt. Antonia Elena Pearse | Army Sgt. Jodie Lemons, Warrior Transition Battalion, Bethesda, Md., lines up her...... read more read more
FORT BLISS, Texas – Sgt. Jodie Lemons is a Soldier with a long history of defending and protecting the people of the United States. A native of Danbury, Connecticut, Lemons began her public service in 1991 as a firefighter and member of the Emergency Medical Service team in New Fairfield, Connecticut. In 2000, she transferred to Danbury, which is where she was the day everything changed.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the world was forever altered, as the realization struck that terrorist groups were willing and able to implement attacks on American soil. Most adults American knows where they were, and what they were doing, when the attacks happened on 9/11. Lemons knows better than most because she was among the first to respond to the attacks with Engine 10 out of the Danbury Fire Station.
The attacks motivated many Americans to enlist in the U.S. military to do their part in defending freedom including Lemons, who enlisted in the Air Force in 2006 as a firefighter.
“I was drawn to the military all my life, but Sept. 11 was the final push. I had been a civilian fire/emergency medical services for a number of years and loved it, but I felt that there is no greater honor than to serve your country,” she said.
Lemons was also following a family tradition of military service that includes two of her great–grandfathers, one who served in the Army in both World War I and World War II and the other in a Navy submarine in Russian water, her grandfather, who served in the Army in Korea, and her father, who fought as a Marine in Vietnam. Two cousins, a Navy SEAL and a Marine infantry instructor, serve on active duty.
In 2010, Lemons was offered a position with the 126th Aviation Regiment out of Westfield, Massachusetts, in the Army National Guard as a flight medic.
In September 2011, the 126th Aviation Regiment deployed to Al Asad, Iraq. Lemons was scheduled to join them, but misfortune struck, and she never made it. While performing her pre-deployment training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, she was in a training accident that dislocated her left knee laterally. She received medical care at the Warrior Transition Unit, West Point, New York, until the unit closed in 2014, after which she transferred to the Warrior Transition Brigade in Bethesda, Maryland. Her husband Joseph, also an active duty Soldier, transferred from his previous unit in order to support his wife in her recovery at Walter Reed.
Lemons was devastated by her injury, but she didn’t let it keep her down for long. She started competing in adaptive sports, starting with air rifle, and then branching out to archery and seated volleyball. With her perseverance she excelled, and it became her passion. This led to her being chosen as one of the 80 soldiers from Warrior Transition Units all over the United States to compete in the 2015 Army Trials at Fort Bliss, Texas. She vied for one of the 45 spots at the June 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games at Marine Base Quantico, Virginia, and has made the team as an alternate. Lemons was rewarded for her passion and dedication, winning a silver medal in air rifles, and the bronze medal in the recurve archery competition. Although her family was unable to watch her compete at Fort Bliss, she thanks them for their continuous love and support.
Adaptive sports provide a refuge for injured military, giving them a way to focus on something other than their injuries.
"Following my injury and multiple failed surgeries, I initially struggled with letting go of how I thought my life was supposed to have been. Adaptive sports and being surrounded by such amazing and beautiful people has shown me that there is so much more to life after injury and even more to be blessed and thankful for," Lemons said.
| Date Taken: | 03.31.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2015 14:44 |
| Story ID: | 162427 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Hometown: | BETHESDA, MD, US |
| Hometown: | DANBURY, CT, US |
| Hometown: | NEW FAIRFIELD, CT, US |
| Web Views: | 844 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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