Coast Guard

The Department of Defense Warrior Games took place June 21-30, in Orlando, Florida featuring more than 200 wounded, ill, and injured active-duty and veteran service members competing in adaptive sports.

This year marks the 14th anniversary where athletes from the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and U.S. Special Operations Command as well as the Australian Defence Force come to compete in the adaptive sports competition.

The games feature 11 adaptive sports including cycling, archery, air precision shooting, swimming, powerlifting, indoor rowing, swimming, track and field, sitting volleyball and the wheelchair events of rugby and basketball.

U.S. Army Master Sgt. Ivan Morera, injured in 2013 in Afghanistan due to a vehicle rollover, sustained a crushed left hand requiring a field amputation to free him from the vehicle. This is his third year competing in the games.

“We will show what we’re capable of doing, where we focus on what we can do and not focus on what we can’t do,” said Morera of the DoD Warrior Games 2024 Team SOCOM.

The Department of Defense Warrior Games, an annual event first held in 2010, celebrates the resiliency and dedication of wounded, ill, and injured active-duty and veteran U.S. military service members.

“Here when we come together, we become a family, we become brothers and sisters, and we just grow very, very close to each other,” Morera added.

The ten-day event is a great chance to bring the competitors and their families together and build camaraderie and is a place where they can reflect on their service to the country.

“For many of our SOF wounded, ill, and injured, military adaptive sports provide a crucial element in the overall process of recovery and rehabilitation. Participating in adaptive sports produces positive outcomes in overall health and quality of life, but sometimes even more essentially, it provides the social connective tissue back to the SOF family when our brothers and sisters are faced with challenges that change the course of their life,” said H. Kelly Ammerman, Director, USSOCOM Warrior Care Program (Care Coalition).

The DoD Warrior Games provide a venue to showcase the efforts of our SOF adaptive athletes as they pursue a new mission of representing SOCOM, strive to achieve new objectives and personal bests, and overcome obstacles so they can celebrate their victories, big and small, with their teammates and their family members who, in many cases, have traveled this difficult journey with them. As a SOF adaptive athlete noted during one of our camps, ‘Connection is the cure,’ he was spot on,” Ammerman said.

The DoD Warrior Games serves to enhance the recovery and rehabilitation of wounded warriors by providing them exposure to adaptive sports. Participation in the Warrior Games represents the culmination of a service member’s involvement in an adaptive sports program and demonstrates the incredible potential of wounded warriors through competitive sports.

Many of the competitors at the 2024 Department of Defense Warrior Games come from a sporting background, but for others, adaptive sports were something they discovered during their recovery process. Adaptive sports are brand new to Yeoman First Class Angela Harris of the U.S. Coast Guard, and she takes on the new challenges as they come.

“I don’t have a sports background,” said Harris. “So, it’s nice that I don’t have a benchmark or comparison to before.”

Harris is competing for Team Navy, while recovering from a 2022 spinal injury. She has been working with the U.S. Coast Guard Wounded Warrior Program and Challenge Alaska, an adaptive sports program in Anchorage, where she lives.

“It’s really fascinating watching the way that sports can adapt to wherever we are in our journey,” said Harris.

A summer event with her adaptive sports program, Challenge Alaska is the first time Harris understood what she was capable of and the opportunities still available to her.

“That was my first real eye opener that things are going to be different, but possible,” said Harris.

Joining Team Navy and meeting longtime adaptive sports competitors has given Harris a community to learn from and grow with.

“You meet people who have been doing this for a while and you can practice in a safe space,” said Harris. “You can share your fears and learn new ways to overcome them.”

Harris is competing in six events and has already claimed two gold medals in the 4-minute and 1-minute rowing events. The mother of four and recent empty nester is already eyeing her next challenge–The 2025 Invictus Games.

“I was not expecting gold,” said Harris. “I feel confident that with great training I may bring home some gold at Invictus, where I’ll be competing in rowing, downhill skiing, swimming, and curling.”

Harris isn’t competing in basketball or volleyball at this year’s Warrior Games, so she’s excited to cheer on Team Navy to return the support they’ve shown her.

“The hearts of Team Navy are uniquely amazing,” said Harris. “Had it not been for our teammates I don’t know if I would be here in front of you.”

Harris is passionate about using adaptive sports for her own recovery and wants others to know that they’re capable of much more than they think.

“It’s overwhelming to watch how smart, passionate, and caring the people and coaches are,” said Harris. “You can do it, no matter what you’re up against, you can do it.”