Descending slopes, raising spirits

What a fantastic article in today's Globe & Mail:

This week, seven months after a roadside bomb tore off both his legs, Major Campbell felt the whoosh of cold alpine air for the first time since his world blew apart in Afghanistan.

Sure, he didn't barrel down mountain faces the way he once did. But on the bunny hill, sailing low to the ground with his rear strapped into a seat suspended over a ski, he felt an old, familiar sensation.

"When you're balanced and you're carving a turn, it still feels right," he says.

For five days ending today, the 44-year-old and fellow soldiers from across the country have gathered on Mount Washington on Vancouver Island. Each bears a physical reminder of bombs and shrapnel: one lost an eye, several are missing one or more limbs.

Coached one-on-one as part of a new learn-to-ski program for Canada's wounded soldiers, they have fought for balance, gripped alien equipment and tried to make it to the bottom in one piece. "I'm spending as much time sideways as I am upright," Major Campbell joked.

A few points bear mentioning:

• A big BZ to Glen Hooge and Sandy Trombetta who fought to get this program off the ground.


• Congrats to Sgt Andrew McLean, who seems to have a part in just about every piece of good news we hear about wounded soldiers. He richly deserves his recent investiture in the Order of Military Merit.


• It amazes me to read this: '"The program's founder, Sandy Trombetta, says he had to fight for a green light from mountain officials and army brass when it started. "They thought it was a waste of time, money, and [that] I was going to hurt people." Since then, doctors and therapists have realized that sports, art and other forms of recreation aren't just fun. They help reduce stress and anxiety, and give people a sense of possibility, says Mr. Trombetta, a recreational therapist with Veterans Affairs for more than 30 years.' Folks, the paralympic movement started as a way to help soldiers rehabilitate after WWII. Look it up. As I've said previously: "This isn't a new trend, it's a return to the movement's roots." If the brass still don't understand that, it's because they're being willfully blind.


• Good on the wounded guys who strapped on skis and turned themselves into projectiles for a day. That takes guts.

And, like I said, a pat on the back to the G&M for getting the word out about this good news story.