For Marine Corps Veteran Mark Stulz, it was his recreational therapist, Janelle Gustafson, who convinced him to get on a plane and go to the National Veteran Wheelchair Games in New Orleans in July 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe kept twisting my arm. Then she twisted both legs. She said you\u2019re going,\u201d Stulz shared.<\/p>\n
Gustafson helped him get a bike so he could virtually compete in the 2023 Wheelchair Games. \u201cI rode 60 miles in four days and sent in a picture of my speedometer at the beginning and end,\u201d he said. She also helped him participate remotely in air rifle shooting, a sport he does in his backyard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey sent me the targets. I shot them and sent them in. And I thought I did pretty good until I saw what these other guys do. I could not shoot what they shot if I held the gun right above the target.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stulz served in the Marine Corps from 1968-1974 and saw combat in Vietnam. \u201cI started out carrying an M16 but got rid of that and got a 45. We got a little less weight on my back. We radio operators had about 120 pounds with the radios and the batteries and stuff, plus your own gear.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The weight of the gear wasn\u2019t the worst of his tour. \u201cI was in a helicopter crash off Hill 950. I medevacked everybody but myself off the hill, including the two pilots.\u201d<\/p>\n
He got to safety, replaced the mic because it had ripped off in the crash, and called in the medevac.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![<\/a>\u201cI shot the targets and sent them in.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\u201cShe kept twisting my arm. Then she twisted both legs. She said you\u2019re going,\u201d Stulz shared.<\/p>\nGustafson helped him get a bike so he could virtually compete in the 2023 Wheelchair Games. \u201cI rode 60 miles in four days and sent in a picture of my speedometer at the beginning and end,\u201d he said. She also helped him participate remotely in air rifle shooting, a sport he does in his backyard.<\/p>\n\u201cThey sent me the targets. I shot them and sent them in. And I thought I did pretty good until I saw what these other guys do. I could not shoot what they shot if I held the gun right above the target.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nStulz served in the Marine Corps from 1968-1974 and saw combat in Vietnam. \u201cI started out carrying an M16 but got rid of that and got a 45. We got a little less weight on my back. We radio operators had about 120 pounds with the radios and the batteries and stuff, plus your own gear.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nThe weight of the gear wasn\u2019t the worst of his tour. \u201cI was in a helicopter crash off Hill 950. I medevacked everybody but myself off the hill, including the two pilots.\u201d<\/p>\nHe got to safety, replaced the mic because it had ripped off in the crash, and called in the medevac.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nNo need to get on a plane for 2025 games<\/h2>\nGetting care at Minneapolis VA<\/a> is where he met Gustafson. \u201cShe knew a little bit about me and helped get me back to trying to get back to where I was with balance, walking and everything like that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nPreparing for the Wheelchair Games not only helped in his recovery but has given him the determination to compete again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nThis summer, Gustafson won\u2019t have to convince him to get on a plane for the games. The National Veterans Wheelchair Games, co-presented annually by VA and Paralyzed Veterans of America, will be held in Minneapolis July 17-22, 2025.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nLearn how you can be a volunteer or register to be an athlete<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Marine Corps Veteran Mark Stulz, it was his recreational therapist, Janelle Gustafson, who convinced him to get on a plane and go to the National Veteran Wheelchair Games in New Orleans in July 2024.\u00a0 \u201cI shot the targets and sent them in.\u201d \u201cShe kept twisting my arm. Then she twisted both legs. She said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":362295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1441,1291],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-362293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-national-veteran-wheelchair-games","category-visn-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=362293"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":362299,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362293\/revisions\/362299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/362295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=362293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=362293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=362293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Fires-gun_r1-2.jpg\"){kind=link}