Photo By Gino Mattorano | Master Sgt. Jodi Pyle-VanderSys, a Chemical Operations Specialist currently assigned...... read more read more
Master Sgt. Jodi Pyle-VanderSys is angry. And she's using that anger to fuel her competition in the 2025 Warrior Games, which take place July 18-26 at Colorado College, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The games bring together nearly 200 military service members to compete in adaptive sports as part of their recovery journeys.
Pyle-VanderSys, an Army Reservist and chemical operations specialist currently assigned to the Fort Carson Soldier Recovery Unit, says that her anger started when she fell out of the back of a tactical military vehicle and broke both of her arms during mobilization training.
"At first, I was angry that due to my accident, my orders were not going to be extended,” Pyle-VanderSys said. "I was angry that I was being sent home and I felt that I hadn't completed the mission. I felt that the Army, that I loved, was giving up on me."
As a result of her injuries, Pyle was re-assigned from Fort Carson's 2nd Space Battalion to the Fort Carson SRU, where she began her rehabilitation process, and gradually, she realized that she really wasn't angry at the Army.
"Being in the SRU made me realize that I wasn't angry at the Army - I was angry at myself," Pyle-VanderSys said. "I felt that I had let myself and those around me down."
Pyle-VanderSys says that the SRU staff helped her understand that it was okay to be angry, but not to live there.
"The SRU, my social worker, and the other service members assigned to the SRU, helped me out of the dark place that I found myself in," Pyle-VanderSys said. "I have come out on the other side, and now I try to help other SRU Soldiers who are facing the uncertainty of the future know that there is life on the other side of whatever they are going through."
Pyle-VanderSys, who is competing in recumbent cycling, precision air rifle and air pistol, archery, and seated shotput and discus, says she still gets angry sometimes, but she now uses that anger to prove to herself that she still can do what she puts her my mind to.
"For me, it's knowing that I can do something that I have put my heart and soul into," Pyle-VanderSys said. “Despite my injuries and disabilities, I can still compete. The SRU has given us the opportunity to discover things about ourselves that we didn't think were possible."
Pyle-VanderSys says that her favorite part of the experience so far has been seeing the obstacles that everyone else has overcome to get here.
"We aren't strangers," she said. We are brothers and sisters in arms, and at the end of the day, we are and will always be Team Army."
As a Soldier and competitor, Pyle-VanderSys says she always tries to make an impact.
"Out of all the things, places, and jobs that I have had in my long career, the best experience I have ever had is knowing that somewhere, at some point in that time, I made a positive impact on a fellow Soldier," she said. "I hope by participating in this year's games, that I can do that again."
Competition kicks off for the 2025 Warrior Games on Friday, July 17, 2025 at Colorado College. For more information about the Warrior Games, please visit: https://dodwarriorgames.com/.
| Date Taken: | 07.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2025 17:24 |
| Story ID: | 543256 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 33 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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