Photo By Robert Hammer | Dr. Stephen Ferrara, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, thanks...... read more read more
“Your mission is vital. I think you're going to see in my story that I'm alive here, up on this really high platform, because of the Military Health System. This is a success story.”
That’s Dan Cnossen, a seven-time Paralympic medalist, former Navy SEAL and keynote speaker at the 2025 Military Health System Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cnossen delivered his powerful story of perseverance and overcoming extraordinary challenges to nearly 2,000 conference participants, inspiring the audience with his captivating ability to set goals and shift perspective—even when it feels impossible.
In September 2009, Cnossen led a platoon in Taliban-controlled Helmand Province in Afghanistan. As he and his team moved into position on top of a hill overlooking the platoon’s target compound, everything changed in a flash of an instant.
“We got to the designated point and proceeded up the hill. It was about a 20-minute walk. We got to the top. I remember taking a step, and cautiously taking another step. I paused. Next thing I know, I saw a flash of light under my goggles,” he said.
Cnossen stepped on an improvised explosive device. “I needed my teammates. I remember feeling a rising sense of internal panic. I couldn’t do anything,” he said.
The details, he recalls, are few and far between. “It’s steep, it’s too dark, it’s too rocky. I remember landing on sharp rocks. It was slow and damaging to my body. [My team] dragged me by shoulder straps, rocks cutting into my body like knives. The medic was telling me to stay awake. That was my personal fight. I lack the words to describe this experience in detail. But for my teammates, it’s very tiring to do a body drag. It’s like a 60-second sprint.”
‘I Owe Him More Than I can Say’
As his teammate dragged him down the hill and into a helicopter, Cnossen blacked out. Thanks to the fast action of his team in Helmand, Cnossen was airlifted to Kandahar where a team of U.S. military doctors were ready to act. One of those doctors was Dr. Stephen Ferrara, now the acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
Eleven days later, Cnossen awoke from a medically induced coma at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland, now known as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. His legs were gone, but he was alive.
Speaking on how Ferrara saved his life, Cnossen said, “I owe him more than I can say. He could have gone anywhere in the world to serve, but he accepted the call to serve in Afghanistan.”
A National Hero
A testament to his character, Cnossen recalls the worst part of his experience. Even after losing his legs, shattering his pelvis, and enduring seven-to-10 hours of painful surgeries week after week throughout his two-year recovery, the worse thing, he said, was “dealing with lying in an ICU bed, stuck. The platoon is going to deploy. I’m not there to share the risk. I’m here in this bed and I cannot get out. That was corrosive.”
Cnossen’s inspirational character and commitment to his team and mission were not lost on Ferrara. “We have a national hero and all-around amazing person here. A true American hero in every sense of the word,” said Ferrara of Cnossen during his opening remarks at the conference.
Enduring two years of pain, rehabilitation, and emotional distress, Cnossen did not give up. He made a conscious effort to change his mindset and overcome what many would consider unbearable.
"There’s this notion of perspective,” he said. “The way you look at a moment, there are many angles to look at a scenario. Ultimately, I had to look at the totality of the situation. Challenge yourself—there’s at least one good thing to find. My arms could work. My legs were long enough for prosthetics. My limbs were long enough. Maybe, I’ll get to run. That’s another thing I can look forward to. That was motivating.”
Bringing humor to his story, Cnossen shared that, as a double leg amputee, he would finally be over six feet tall. “Humor can really help,” he said.
Unparalleled Care, Perspective, and Focus
Recalling his experience under the compassionate care of the doctors and nurses throughout the MHS, Cnossen wouldn’t have wanted to receive care anywhere else. “All this care I was getting, this is the best place to be. The prosthetics I’m going to get, they’re the best. There’s no better place to be in this condition,” he said.
By intentionally shifting his perspective and focus, Cnossen found a path forward, first in rehabilitation at WRNMMC and eventually as a Paralympic athlete representing Team USA. He shifted his focus from what was lost to what remained: his functioning arms, his gratitude, and his life. This generated psychological momentum, driving him toward recovery and eventually, athletic excellence.
He also focused on making small steps: getting out of bed, meeting visitors, getting his wheelchair and eventually prosthetics, and just making it through the day. This gave him renewed purpose.
“That bomb in Afghanistan took my legs. Ultimately, it had to be up to me if it would take my life,” he said.
Cnossen was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with Valor from the Secretary of the Navy. He is currently training to compete with Team USA in the 2026 Paralympic Games.
His captivating speech kicked off the four-day annual MHS Conference, hosted by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, which convened to share knowledge, advance innovation, and highlight new initiatives within the MHS. In his closing remarks on May 1, Dr. Ferrara emphasized the quality of the stories and information shared to improve the health care of the warfighter, saying the conference was “moving and inspiring, and helped bring us back to the center of what the nature of our mission is all about.”
| Date Taken: | 05.16.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.16.2025 11:38 |
| Story ID: | 498184 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 55 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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