CASPER, Wyo. - Army veteran Bryan Price glides gracefully across the snow on Casper Mountain.
His ski poles dig into the deep powder and then, using nothing but his upper body strength, he quickly lifts them out of the snow and plants them firmly into the ground again. He repeats this cycle, building momentum as he flies down the cross-country ski trails at the Casper Mountain Nordic Center. Price is an elite athlete of world-class caliber.
But, Price cannot use his legs. The retired Army staff sergeant was wounded in Iraq in 2006 after being hit by a roadside bomb on a routine patrol.
A broken back left him paralyzed, but not defeated.
On the ski trails Price is strapped into a seat that is attached to two cross-country skis.
On his sit-ski, Price represented Team USA at the Winter Paralympic Games last held in Socchi, Russia.
Price said he didn't expect to make the Paralympic team. "It really surprised me," he said. "I was just going out there to learn as much as I could about racing and after the races the coaches came up to me and told me that I had made the team." Price epitomizes the Warrior Ethos, "I will never accept defeat. I will never quit." He has his sights set on competing in the next Paralympic Games scheduled to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018.
Recently, members of the Wyoming National Guard Biathlon Team had the opportunity to train with Price and other athletes on the U.S. Paralympic Biathlon Team during a training camp in Casper, Wyoming. Biathlon has been called the most challenging of all Olympic sports.
Even for an able-bodied athlete it's difficult to combine the strength, speed and endurance of cross-country skiing with the quiet, Zen-like focus of rifle marksmanship.
But adaptive athletes on the Paralympic team, like Price, don't seem to mind the challenge. "I absolutely love biathlon, it's really changed my life," he said.
Of the 13 adaptive athletes at the training camp, 12 of them were military veterans.
According to Wyoming National Guard Biathlon team member 1st Lt. Ken Miech, the experience of working with athletes who were missing an arm, paralyzed from the chest down, or blind, hit home, especially those who were wounded in combat.
"As a medevac pilot it helps to be able to see these guys after we've taken care of them," he said. "We see them in their darkest hour and it's nice to see them again." Just the fact that the team is able to call Casper Mountain home is significant. In many ways that can be attributed to retired Col. Harry Brubaker, who skied on the Wyoming National Guard biathlon team from 1978 to 1996.
Thirty years ago he had a vision to work with the community to build a world-class Nordic ski and biathlon facility on the mountain. According to Brubaker, having the Paralympic team on the mountain with able-bodied athletes skiing alongside adaptive athletes is really the essence of the sport. Wyoming National Guard biathlete Chief Warrant Officer 4 David Roberts agrees.
"This week, skiing with the Paralympic team has changed my life," he said.
"Each one of them is determined not to let their disabilities stop them."
A unique partnership has formed between the Paralympic team and coaching staff, as well as athletes on the Wyoming National Guard Biathlon Team. A partnership where National Guard members are able to give back to the wounded warrior community and in return are able to learn more about the sport from their adaptive biathlon counterparts.
"We hope to be able to get out to more of these training camps and support athletes like Price in their quest to make the next Paralympic team," said Roberts.