Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jessica Barnett | Jeff Evans, Capt. Aaron Isaacson and Erik Weihenmayer take a quick pause in the middle...... read more read more
TOPEKA, Kan. - Capt. Aaron “Ike” Isaacson, 33, a member of the 69th Troop Command, Kansas National Guard, and legislative liaison for the adjutant general, is a Soldier driven by challenges. Therefore, it is no surprise to find him competing in an extraordinary reality game show, solving problems and taking on the biggest adventure of his life.
“I wanted to do the television show because of the challenge that I knew it would bring. I love a new challenge,” shared Isaacson.
The new summer reality show, “Expedition Impossible,” premiers Thursday, June 23, 2011, at 8 p.m. Central on ABC television network.
Isaacson, a native of Topeka, Kan., was chosen for the show after completing a mountain climb to Nepal with a team of wounded warriors in 2010.
The show features 13 teams of three players who find themselves racing across vast deserts, over snow-capped mountains and through raging rivers in the beautifully exotic Kingdom of Morocco. Each week, a new stage of the expedition is revealed to the competitors, who must find a way to work together to complete the trip. After 10 legs of competition, one team will cross the finish line. Each winning team member gets $50,000 as well a new Ford Explorer.
Isaacson said viewers can expect a wild ride of physical and mental stress from everyone involved with the show. They worked every day in very stressful situations. They climbed mountains, rafted on rivers, rode camels, swam across rivers, rode horses, jumped out of airplanes ... all while exploring the incredible country of Morocco.
“Expedition Impossible is similar to a couple of other shows that are out there but totally different in every other way” shared Isaacson. “We were not catered to on the show. I didn’t take a shower the entire time I was there. We slept out on the dirt every single night. It was rough. It was way more challenging then I have seen on other television shows.”
Isaacson competes alongside teammates Erik Weihenmayer, 42, speaker/writer and native of Golden, Colo., and Jeff Evans, 41, a physician assistant and native of Boulder, Colo., known as “No Limits.” Weihenmayer, Evans picked Isaacson as their team mate for his hard work and dedication to accomplishing his goals
Weihenmayer became blind at an early age, but didn't let that get him down. In 2001, he reached the summit of Mount Everest. He has also completed the "Seven Summits" (climbing all of the highest summits on all seven continents).
Evans serves as Weihenmayer's "eyes in the field." He has been Weihenmayer's primary climbing guide for over 20 years and is a published author and motivational speaker.
Isaacson is a combat engineer officer in the Kansas National Guard, earning two Bronze Star Medals, a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal, among other awards. He has served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We are a great team of guys that know what it takes to get the job done,” said Isaacson. “We are not afraid of pain and suffering.”
Isaacson has been no stranger to challenges throughout his life, including deployments to Iraq in 2004, 2005 and 2006, followed by a tour in Afghanistan in 2008.
“During those deployments – with any soldier that deploys – you go through rough times where you can’t contact family like you would want to. You are sleeping in an environment that is not friendly. You have a job to do everyday, no matter what you need to do it and work with the people around you,” stated Isaacson. “And that pretty much sums up what happened on the show. You have to work with your teammates. They are all you got. Sometimes you go without sleep and a goal to achieve every single day. So there are a lot of similarities between the show and the Army.”
During these deployments, Isaacson was injured twice, the first time in 2005 by the explosion of a land mine set off by a vehicle as he walked beside it. The explosion damaged his hearing and caused minor head and neck trauma. These injuries resulted in his award of the Purple Heart.
Isaacson’s second major injury was during his Afghanistan deployment. While conducting combat operations along the Pakistan border, he broke his right leg.
However, that hasn’t stopped Isaacson. Just two years later, he climbed to the top of a mountain in Nepal. Isaacson joined a team of wounded warriors from other branches of the U.S. military for a “Soldiers to the Summit” expedition Oct. 2-21, 2010, that took them to the top of Mount Lobuche, a 20,075 foot peak located just 8.7 miles from Mount Everest. From the airstrip in Lukla, it took the group seven days of hiking through the Khumbu region to reach their Advance Base Camp at an altitude of 18,212 feet. Through that adventure Isaacson met Evans and Weihenmayer.
His previous military training proved valuable during the competitions. Training to work with a team of leaders to be successful, land navigation, and just down to earth suffering in order to get the job done was a great help, claimed Isaacson.
“Kansas National Guard training of land navigation came in handy,” shared Isaacson. “We would have to trek for many many miles, and if you went to the wrong spot you were done.”
“The military life style is what helped me the most. There was a lot of training that helped, but the life style helped the most,” said Isaacson. “You’ve got a team that may have differences but the doesn’t matter. You have to come together in order to accomplish the goal.”
| Date Taken: | 06.03.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 06.03.2011 13:18 |
| Story ID: | 71535 |
| Location: | TOPEKA, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 349 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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