morning i think you all know since the early years of our country congress has had to reassess programs created to care for our men and women in uniform our veterans who have concurred courageously answered a call to duty and their families who have joined in the military experience for many service members and veterans who have been severely injured from service to our country their rehabilitation can sometimes be quite disheartening many become concerned about having the same quality of life that they had prior to their injuries this was known to be true in world war two and is held true to today in the midst of our commitments in iraq and afghanistan fortunately this congress stands united in support of our members of the armed forces and veterans who deserve the best resources to succeed in life after their military service i think many of our my colleagues are aware of the history of how paralympic sports have been used in the physical therapy of injured service members and veterans and how it has evolved since world war two as we'll hear from some of our panelists today the issue of paralympic sports being used as a method of physical therapy is not new to them with many sharing strong partnerships with the v a that spanned more than two decades to provide rehabilitation services to our injured men and women who wore the uniform highlighting the need to conduct program outreach to veterans conduct follow up veterans after a flagship event such as the national veterans wheelchair games and the need to implement programs to appeal to veterans seeking to participate in the nontraditional activities such as school with scuba diving today will be needed oversight on the v a s office of the national veterans sports programs and special events that we first authorized in public law one ten dash three eighty nine in october of two thousand and eight arises a secretary of veterans affairs to make grants to the u s olympic committee to provide paralympic a struction competition activities and the training program development activities for service members and veterans of physical disability many of you know that earlier this month we passed an amendment to the v a appropriations bill with the support of both sides of the aisle which ensures it is valuable program is fully funded and capable of providing the support and programs that our veterans athletes require as some my colleagues and in the committee have highlighted the past is important understand the history of this new program so that we have may avoid any pitfalls that have been encountered by similar  programs i look forward to working with all members of the committee to make sure this program succeeds in its mission to provide rehabilitative therapy to our injured service members and our veterans course they deserve it but the inspiration  you provide to all americans is an incredible i guess byproduct of this program and keeps our faith in all of you that you are going to succeed  other days will bear the fruits of victory and general macarthur eloquently conveyed that the value of participation in sports activities can carry over into other areas of life support strengthen individuals physically mentally and emotionally athletes develop so many great qualities of the heart and the mind that when these attributes or trends translate into other areas of life activities it often leads to great success and accomplishments i believe that sports there because among most valuable san diego is a place of i believe joy determination dedication sweat and camaraderie it is a very scenic place with a beautiful lake and landscape another notable feature is that the landscape is d signs reminding visitors of rattlesnakes that are lurking in the shrubbery as part of the natural ecosystem i found it a convincing reason to stay out of the landscape but the real beauty of the site the athletes walking other training centers at the same time i was there the olympic committee was embroiled in a controversy over allegations of corruption and less flattering charges i felt it was a duty to then help the u s olympic committee refocus  athletes and reducing them to reorganize the committee and reduce more manageable board that happened leaner more efficient number of staff now exists includes representatives of the athletes themselves on the board  positive attitudes i saw during my visit made it clear to me that our disabled veterans benefit greatly from their activities and increasing their participation in sports at all levels from the beginner to the expert would help them in their rehabilitation with a bit themselves disabled too if in fact they can aspire to go and find access to the paralympic games as a result of the u s o c began a series of training events a colorado springs for our wounded warriors many of the service members were literally just a few weeks from being wounded in action and the great thing was that every one of them they were smile their injuries and the exertions they were making to restart life all special events programs and expanded for disabled veterans and its co sponsors from the veterans service organizations have put adaptive sports on the map with events such as the national wheelchair games the winter sports clinic the golden program to the full amount of ten million and that was a number that chairman wanted and i applaud and thank him for his for his work i want to make it very clear that this legislation was not about producing athletes for the u s paralympic team  itself it's about increasing the number of disabled veterans who participate in all types of sports at all levels of cooperation with the u s paralympics and their partners such as those of whom are witnesses here today i'm frustrated athlete i would love to compete in the olympics i don't have that ability so everybody will rise to a particular level and that's what's wonderful about the design of the gran's is that is that we're striving to use as a platform of healing and for individuals to rise to their particular level and that's why i want to applaud the chairman for for his work and there's a there's a real journey here in front of us and  in my district it is a great place year round and i think we have at least one of our talents to train there so let me introduce the first panel all of these witnesses  participate in paralympic program and are here to tell us about their experiences courtney clemons is a retired sergeant with the u s army who resides in chula vista california is an election coming up in ten hope you can know who to vote for he was the first iraq veteran in fact to qualify for the u s paralympic games and has are numerous medals in track and field through the paralympic program wayne walden  is a captain with the united states army who lives here in washington captain weldon services and serves as the assistant to the adaptive sports coordinator at walter reed army medical center and captain mark little is in the united states army and currently lives in fairfax virginia is a police officer in virginia and trains law enforcement in the military as he continues to serve the department of defense while completing his recovery from his own war injuries we thank all of you for being here we we will put your written state's statement in the record and would recognize you for a for any or all remarks you would like to make sergeant clements we'll start with you and we greatly appreciate your so you not only your own athletic talents my name is courtney clements i was honored to serve in norman from two thousand and one to two thousand and six and i'm proud to stand before you today as an army veteran purple heart recipient and a parent the  i lost my right leg above the knee to roadside bomb in iraq in two thousand and five i never imagined when i was lying in a hospital bed in landstuhl germany that four years later i would be living and training for a time at the u as a part of the paralympic track unfair resident program i can't thank you enough for all you have done to support the v a the program your support has changed and will continue to change the lives of thousands of injured soldiers community college i served as an army medic in europe it was assigned to the first battalion eighth kerry regiment in baghdad in march two thousand and four eleven and a half months at the se arriving iraq lost my right leg to a roadside bomb i was have been a soldier who had been wounded in an earlier incident the bomb took the lives of three of my comrades i was grateful to have survived but following my injury i struggle with thinking about my life as an amputee when i lost my leg i felt i had lost my identity i thought i'd be in a wheelchair forever i had never been exposed to other amputees prosthetics and certainly not proud that the sports i was i wondered about where i would live how would get around how would i even work i was dealing with  posttraumatic stress coming to terms with my loss of my leg and learning how to walk again was was the last thing on my mind but it was through sports that i found to hold in and found my future to tell them about the u s o sees that the military program i was still learning how to walk by seeing him demonstrate how to run that day changed me forever i knew i could get back to playing a sport and his inspirational message made me realize that sports could give me strength courage and confidence to live a great life is an important outlet for anyone with physical disability i believe it is to be a part of rehabilitation of any interest service member everyone knows it's a benefit from physical and health standpoint but no one really realized the psychological and emotional benefit that it serves as an athlete i've i've had the opportunity to meet many wounded soldiers during a visit to a military hospital is wonderful be a part of to tell them about the military program and how powerful boys can be in their lives i know what it's like to live and believe in their life no they no longer would be normal so it gives me great pride to stand to share my story with the patients and help them see that returning to sports is not only a possibility it will also help them achieve many things in life to me was quality of life it stand completely and what he meant by sharing those feelings i remember first time i walked out the my answer and how awesome it i want to other service members and women to have the same experience i want them to learn the same thing that television all day looking back now upon those years from a very different perspective i've come to understand that there are a multitude of reasons they want to participate as an activity is something that every child needs an active lifestyle which started in their early age as something that has always been a part of my identity as a person and sports is where i learned so many important life lessons how to be a team player put in a good team and of one's own personal ambition how to communicate or interact with other people from all walks of life importance of hard work nothing's going to come easy to be better you must put into practice to improve mill toughness pushing yourself to always think you're capable of never quitting contents and oneself that you can achieve what you put your mind to humility and both victory and defeat i could continue to list all the values that physical activity has taught me but it's simpler to say as both the reason i'm alive today now is give me hope for my future before i ever applied to college i know on to serve in the army have found schools both academically strong as well as having a good r t c program i decide upon furman university and began in the fall of two thousand during this time physical activity both in the military as well as and from most boards were a wonderful balance all the academic studies were the first things i learned from my first sergeant was the most important an officer lead from the front everything that he does you should always set the proper example i graduated in two thousand and four proceeded to fort benning throughout all the army schools are participated and physical activity them something to be proud of as well on eleven july two thousand and seven we were conducting combat operations in baghdad a plan was mounted in gunshots in the way to conduct it's not a patrolling operations a vehicle hit with an a f p it's an launched an ambush the slope from the  taking a moment to set in i don't have much time to contemplate what situation since arnold gave me to sit up and we were still in the five luckily ever in the truck with on everyone's going about their business or reacting to contact just as we had always trained i was conscious and able to make rational decisions without my training know this would be impossible be in excellent shape kept injuries sustained from being far worse the docs that should take my leg off to the hip just from the force the projectile the side of my physical conditioning is a large part of the reason i did not go into shock or lose consciousness i was transported back to all three army medical center where my surgeries and real to patient again was not a happy time i was in pain i had reason had a life altering experience etc always been very independent self sufficient but now i can't walk away this even worse is that sports was such a large part of my identity i was only focusing on the negative both out that outlet who was i truly felt lost my conditioning as prior conditioning on mitchie the goals  decided to go on this trip all the best decisions i've made is like learning sports as a child all over again i feel like such a fool falling all over the place you want to quit you want to get up there your legs are doing what it wants to do but the lessons and fills a child are still there chairman filner ranking member boyer ladies and gentlemen thank you very much for entertaining our testimony today i personally feel that this is a very very important project for all returning veterans and disabled veterans in particular my name is captain mark little united states army and luckily captain walden story is almost a mirror image of mine so he can save a lot of time here serve four years almost national guard enlisted getting ready to be a lieutenant active duty through george i was assigned also the third infantry division the second brigade combat team first thirtieth infantry and deployed in two thousand and seven with them to iraq similarly while conducting combat operations there i received in  f p which was my third id strike in the last month of the three month tour i had which came in through my door both of my legs off below the knee and similarly luckily accident without injury to any other personnel i was evacuated through germany to wal reed and on september eleventh two thousand and seven began my road to recovery there very similarly also sports was huge in my identity being almost pro roller hockey player player rugby tennis golf soccer football etc i had similar concerns now i'm missing both of my legs how am i going to be an excellent sports star like i always knew i would be and it was as i was expressing those concerns my first day of physical therapy a couple weeks after returning home that gunnery sergeant from the rink or who is a double below the knee amputee walked in with his set of prosthetic roller blade inline skates telling me that they had custom made those for him he was a second person to have received that style and was already skating outside right then and there competitive spirit took over and i knew exactly what i knew before in the military and even prior in sports i have to be better than this man i have to do one more  physical therapist who ironically was also his physical therapist what what records had he said and she said pretty much everything for a double and so after getting a laundry list of those i set out to beat every single one day five walking up the helicopter pad hill on prosthetics five days in beat his six day record and then snowboarding four months after injury about two and a half months after  without any real add to equipment beat his record of about three and a half and continuing on from there not to be immodest person but that's the point i'm trying to convey is what we get through this adaptive sports  program is our competitive nature back which is inherent to pretty much everybody in the military as an alpha type personality we want to be better and the best that we can personally and seeing others that have come before us gives us  just getting around in life had it not been for people like my first snowboard trip captain walden who you may have met earlier teaching me how to properly fit my prosthetic in a snowboard to get down the hill which i did successfully my first time and then going on to be that person there's somebody else out there now telling a story about how captain little showed him how to do that the first time he was out there and he had questions about how do you do x how to  do y and now he is the more driving and better functioning returning disabled amputee in the military and that's what these programs are brass tacks it's how we get back up literally and figuratively and move out with our life and become better and more prosperous personnel both within the military as we still serve and within our communities as i've gone on to be a reserve and volunteer police officer and train fully capable and able bodied personnel with strive to do we don't want to be the target of pity we want to get out there and show you that we can be better and we can do more than you'll ever expect all these organizations like the wounded warrior project they give us those opportunities and without that i don't think i'd be where i am right now literally and figuratively my stuff down the hallway and just being a happy camper as i am if you see me with a frown that's probably the second time since injury because there's only been one and that's  when i fell the first time snowboarding otherwise i really appreciate what you're doing for us and allowing us to help each other and at the community level that's what we're looking to do is keep together and keep pushing forward and again i thank i don't think we've had a more moving panel thank you so much for your testimony  et's it's not often that we see also that you know do we debate stuff and put millions of dollars here or there but to see the the actual results of all that commits us to doing the right thing also and  you will continue to spiral as you do others that you will meet along the way so thank you so much for recommitting us to this struggle that you've gone through and have conquered and going to help others out there can make all the difference in the world to a lot of these individuals and i know life has a lot of up and downs and whatever else you know that you face in life is go be nothing compared to what you've already experienced so it's a piece of cake the rest you know in terms of going through it in the future and so i just want to congratulate each and every one of you  what you're doing and what you continue to do and that is inspire others to to do and go beyond because we have a large number of young soldiers coming back with a lot of difficulties in even outside the military there's a lot of young people out there that feel sorry for themselves for one reason or another in sin and you guys are just a great inspiration and or great role model so i want to just thank you for you know who your and what you've been able to accomplish at such a young age and thank you well thank you chairman and i see the ranking member slipped out but i'd like to thank both of you for your absolutely stalwartly committed to this program and it really set the tone for the rest of us and i will echo to all of you thanks for being here today your stories are absolutely uplifting it's a great example not just for other wounded veterans but for this entire country and captain wald and i i thank you for reminding me of that day almost thirty years ago when i got to do a little bit of physical activity at fort benning in that beautiful resort and competitive sports do and i've been on that and coached the teams that failed to win a game and then three years later coaches same team to win a state championship and that's striving for goals and what i can say is it's a lot more fun to win the state championship but there's also a lot of lessons in that journey and trying to get there and so your story of how you've taken that journey and seen these things as opportunities to overcome instead of obstacles i would echo what the chairman said is that i would i don't think of the money we spend up here we could find a better place to put it but more rewarding place and one that's such an inspirational tone and kept in little i would just say is there anything more we can be doing on this outreach i think you had a real moving statement there about talking about how you were touched and now i think it's just a great story for you to know somebody saying captain little this guy showed me what to do and that's being passed down how do we increase that are we doing enough to get to these folks that as we said may not participate in the paralympics but know boarding on the weekends with their families so if you could let me know we would be glad to make sure we're pushing it i can tell you personally moving down to smaller i guess smaller scale i use the term operations so that's what i'm to be a great idea and a great benefit where as a national level program taking guys out to vail or breckenridge for a ski and snowboard event or up to northern new york upstate for you know a summer camp that's wonderful uplifting and inspiring however the first time i ran ever missing both legs wasn't physical therapy and it wasn't at a national level event it was a d s usa in turn invited me out to kickball in the national mall and in order to get to first base i had to move expeditiously and so i quickly taught myself how to run after something a ball with a titanium foot and it's things like that that we need right here in our communities because not everyone stays in d c the fairfax native however if you're out in the middle of green springs idaho no offense to idaho but there's not going to be that program there yet and there needs to be little things like the kickball or like the softball league is what's going to get guys back up and moving mulder starting clemens anything on that too of how we do that how we get this outreach more how we what are i think it's a great point up at the local level how do we make sure we're it just stressing the same thing you know reiterating what mark said the daily community programs just moving it down to a more just like classroom size smaller class and the more personal instruction can be for the students the same thing with the more one  we had a war in the sixty's in vietnam we sort of forgot about our troops for a while i promise you that will not happen here i am going to everyone i've heard everyone speak on this  panel we are committed to be sure that you get the care you need from now on in the year you guys are very young and you don't think you're going to ever be forty or fifty or sixty years old guess what you wait around a few years you will be and those  those needs will change and competitors like you are going to be able to teach us a lot about how because i am an old athlete as i am up done this marathon four times and for my sixtieth birthday of some did we have a v a and ma district back in tennessee and i certainly would like to keep in contact with you all to be able to get ideas that we can take back to our soldiers come there we can take what everyone on this panel i've heard speak now for much are committed to the being sure you get the things you need and we can learn from you all so thank you don't thank us we want to thank you thank you  worthwhile now one thing i noticed in all three of you there was a moment of inspiration that was you came out of the injury you were in the hospital you were depressed and then something sparked o it seems to me that that's the key here is reaching people with with an inspiring story that that can get them going can lift them up out of that depression or or slump that they're in after getting injured and seeing their life potentially change and so what i want to do is encourage you to tell your story and to go out there inspire those guys that need that inspiration but there's only three of you here and you're young and when you saw the inspiration you were young we had a lot of veterans that are young that have life lifelong injuries and what i'd like to know is if you have any idea on how to reach them with an inspiration how to appreciated the only thing i haven't really even looked at from that perspective before totally agree with you i mean things that advance so much of technology as well as i mean even how they conduct the ways to treat your amputation how they are doing just the surger totally different kind of theory and they used to do it i try to keep the most length and now they're actually pad in a certain way things i'm deaf and expert in but what they gave me works out great the only time i really see the people is when way and then they kind of see what is out there at that point and they can get interested but the civic targeting those people is really got to be done more at the v a level in their local communities because i mean we're very fortunate here to read there i've lost my leg i've been through rehab all that sort of thing you know and and yet i got inspired you know and hopefully you can too is that it just seems that that's a critical element for them to see someone that gets to them that says hey we can do this and i can do this i was pretty touched by your story sergeant clements how you saw an individual and you said hey this guy's doing it well you know i can do the same thing know was like so in line for me and it gave me it gave me hope it gave me you know since the ok i can get this done and for those guys there or they may not we may be younger than those guys but it's a way and the way of us can get back in you know and have those guys because those guys invested in our future because the debian guys were better taken care of so i don't think i really feel that it gives us the opportunity i know i would love the opportunity to to go  back in and help those guys so i think the main thing is just getting us together i think we all believe that i'm for one another so give giving you the opportunity to go out there is also important not just not just giving them but gives you an i really don't have any any questions i just appreciate you guys being here and telling us your accounts and i appreciate your courage and the opportunity to play football the university of arkansas just kind of a journeyman guy that was you know whatever but i understand how and athletics are and not just you know athletics at the level that you got your but just competition and you know getting your mind on something else you know and things and appreciate your courage the fact that you're here your achievements really are my can difference it's helping us to push these programs for you know your tremendous examples of what they can do for individuals and so  again i just appreciate you and thank you for your testimony thank you mr teague yes mr chairman thank you and i also agree with the chairman earlier when he said that this was the most moving panel that we had a hand and i don't want to take a long time either but i do want all of you to know that you know we're grateful knowing for what you've done for your country in the past but for what you're doing for veterans that are going back now that so used an example and i want to thank you for the inspiration that you've given to all of us here so that we know that we are doing the right things and working on these programs and once again just tell you that we thank you and i appreciate your  encourage members if you get a chance to go out there and ski with the disabled you know when you're skiing on the slope and you see someone with he has no legs and he's going very well perhaps better than i was as a person skiing without  arms it's an inspiration to see these people and then they have at the end of the ceremony they have awards and things like that so it's it's quite emotional i think those kind of activities that promote the where with all both spiritually mentally physically for that i think things like that program are something to be emulated for all the veterans who are disabled and the question i tell you a lot of the programs right now that are very beneficial are kind of what i mentioned earlier longer programs five six seven days things like that trips out of colorado and as  veterans go back into the workforce you can't just your boss three grades over you on the g s going to cut out for seven days hit the slopes in vale so i can inspire some new guys on how to ski unfortunately that doesn't cut it however things like i'm going to cut out early this afternoon to go to a softball game on a picnic with a bunch returning vets would be more apt to being smiled upon especially within the government and private employers as well so i would have to say distance and length of time that you'd have to take to put an impact out there would be one barrier that i could so that the employer who wants participate still doesn't feel that he is  these programs i mean i was flopping all over the place the first couple days but then the third day the that's when you really start taking it up and the good thing when we're initially there is that you have that extended trip it has the benefit of inspiring you or give you that competitive edge that discouraged you which could also have you know consequences that are not intended that's a thing a lot of have a lot of alumni programs of these groups but if you have other other disabled people that are with you sort of your peer and you do and you don't do well at least when i was in aspen these other disabled veterans came up to the person who had a tough time getting down the slope and say let's try try again like a little training you'll get up the hill  and by the end of the afternoon they were doing things that probably they could have done on their own but through the inspiration of other disabled veterans yes there without a doubt that's why we need to get back to those programs but i mean like you say once you problem this taking off from work and there might be some way to give incentives for employers through tax credits or some kind of promotional that we do for hiring of veterans in the marketplace so that these people can get the opportunity to do this because in the end we owe these that chance this kind of incentive because in a larger sense by then being healthy it's saving the veterans administration from caring psychological caring physical because they taking up on themselves to do rehabilitation on their own and sell it to the government's benefit to have some kind of incentive for employers to allow you to have this extra time off i suspect and that might be an idea will kick around here thank you sharon thank you and again thank you all you've you've helped us all understand your situation but you know thousands of others and you have made sure that we will as i said we commit ourselves to making sure that these continue we thank you all so much and we'll look to the next panel to also help us thank you again me thank all of you for being here we have adrian the assistant national legislative director for the disabled american veterans carl blake the national legislative director of the paralyzed veterans of america julia re the manager of the wounded warrior disabled sports project of disabled sports usa david stringer is representing a national recreation and park a so behalf of richmond county south carolina parks and carlos leon is a member of the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america and paralympian also we thank all of you for being here and the written statement will be made part of the record and will look we look forward to your  sharman members of the committee i'd like to thank you for inviting the da the organization of one point two million services to have a better and to offer our views and experience with the disabled veterans rehabilitation through sports the mid winter the national disabled veterans winter sports clinic and any and anticipated impact public law one ten three eight nine may have first i'd like to note that research indicates that rick racial therapy offers a diversity of rehabilitation benefits addressing the needs of disabled veterans with a range wide range of disabling conditions for example where creation therapy is an effective means for improving physical cognitive social emotional functioning it helps develop skills needed to enhance functional independence in for community living and to promote a higher quality of life for veterans and their families recreational therapy prevents a decline in physical cognitive and psycho social functioning and results in reduced need for health services it also reduces secondary disability and associated higher health care costs and through the winter sports clinic veterans are able to reap the rehabilitation benefits of recreational therapy through adaptive sports d a b recognize the benefits on the lives of disabled veterans at the winter sports clinic has and we have been a co sponsor of the event along with a number of other generous corporate and individual donors the clinic has grown tremendously over the past twenty three years it has the largest it is the largest annual disable learn to ski clinic in the world and as a leader in promoting rehabilitation well it is geared to first timers of which there were one hundred fourteen new participants this year twenty nine attendees were women  over a third of the total participants were service members and veterans from the wars in iraq and afghanistan now in addition to dad the sports and educational instructional titties are also available at the clinic the u s secret service teaches a self defense course of participants are in wheelchairs or visually impaired which medic brain injury peer support group meeting was again on the agenda this year where veterans suffering from t b i participated as well as their families and their caregivers v pass national commander chad calling his wife betty and hosted a discussion with the participants entitled veterans not just about you and this couple spoke at this event but relationship between disabled veterans and their spouses and offered what we believe a sage advice on maintaining relationships and marriages if it's not already apparent as the chairman the winter sports clinic is a rehabilitation program that is open to veterans of all ages all levels of ability and impairment some of these veterans have never skied before but they do learn otherwise and the thrill of victory at the clinic is not over an opposing team but rather on one's own disability and perceived impairments last  congress i know the da view was intended it was invited to testify in h r twelve forty two twenty five which is now contained in title seven of public law one ten three eight nine the intent of this title we believe is laudable and it has obviously shown its positive impact as indicated by the first panel however section seven zero two of the law may have an impact on the winter sports clinic which would i'd like to discuss right now it requires an apple and the application for by the u s paralympics to include partnerships for adaptive sports at the national and local levels and to do so with other organizations such as the da v a currently our organization does not have a relationship with the u s paralympics but we are going to be meeting with them here shortly this section also allows for individuals with disabilities who are not veterans or members of the armed forces to participate in sports programs that receive funds there originate from v a grants as an organization devoted to improving the lives of our nation's war time table veterans we are concerned about any shift in v a s mission personnel or resources away from the intended community moreover section seven zero three requires a director of v a office of national veteran sports programs and special events to seek sponsors and donations from private sector to defray costs for the programs that oversees this provision may and i say may have an adverse impact on our organization's ability to discharge responsibilities contained in the memorandum of understanding with the at the winter sports clinic davey is deeply committed in achieving each year a successful winter sports clinic and we value our responsibility to administer the corporate sponsorship program as well as other mutually agreed upon activities mr chairman this concludes my statement that i'd be happy to answer any questions you or of the members of me again thank you so much mr blake  for members of the committee on behalf of paralyzed veterans of america i'd like to thank you for the opportunity to testify today for begin my formal remarks i'd just like to say that i don't think that anything we could say on this panel would better reflect the importance of these programs than the stories that the gentleman on the first panel told if that doesn't make a case for why these programs are important and the nothing could a since its inception in one thousand nine hundred six has recognize important role in sports and recreation play in the spinal cord injury rehabilitation process in fact it was paralyzed veterans who return injured from world war two who started playing pickup games wheelchair basketball in v a hospitals this really marked the birth of wheelchair sports p v a sponsors a wide array of sports and outdoor activities to improve the quality of life and of veterans with severe disability most notable of these is the national veterans wheelchair games which recently concluded and marked the twenty fifth year of the partnership between p v a and the department of veterans affairs as you know we also run a number of other sports now the recreation religious disabled veterans of all those include a shooting sports program a boating and fishing program a program in association with a national will chair plus players association as well as a program run in conjunction with the american wheelchair bowling association the v a was pleased to support the provisions of public law one ten three eighty nine the veterans benefits improvement act two thousand and eight section section seven of the law authorize the v a provide assistance to the  program and expand sports recreation opportunities available to severely disabled veterans the intent of the law is consistent with the mission of p v a sports and recreation program which is to expand the quantity and quality of sports and recreation opportunities especially those that promote a lifetime of fitness and a healthy lifestyle for p v a members and other people with disabilities p v a was also pleased to see that law creates an office of national disabled veterans sports programs and special events and a director position to oversee this office however we remain concerned that the office is required to report to the veterans benefits administration we believe that this office would be more appropriately placed under the veterans health administration given that rehabilitation is a part of the mission of the ha and what we also believe  that fundamental mission of this new office we believe that much progress and enhanced cooperation has resulted from the paralympic military program under this program p b s witnessed improve coordination between our organization u s o c p alympics and other veterans and community based sports organizations that has it enhanced existing programs advance development of new programs in communities that previously had not been served previous chapters have recently expanded specific opportunities paralympic military program these opportunities including include partnering with p v a to implement a new hand cycling program in four strategic locations throughout the united states these are in chicago illinois san antonio texas san diego california and the washington america chapter has partnered with the u s o c paralympics to coordinate a multi event sports camp hosted by the university of central oklahoma which will be held in august of this year at lake arcadia oklahoma as part of our testimonial sports recreation opportunities offered last year we've made several recommendations that we believe would expand veteran participation in those programs administered by the v a one of our principal concerns was to remove barriers to participation are concerned then was that newly injured veterans should be provided timely access to education and training regarding sports and recreation opportunities furthermore we believe then that the v a and d o d should facilitate outreach efforts of legitimate organizations promoting sports and recreation opportunities by improving their access to newly injured veterans we believe that the paralympic military program has helped alleviate some of these concerns and we look forward to continued progress as a result of this program mr chairman i'd like to thank you again for snow skiing rock climbing kayaking sailing and many others which i went on through all of them today the issue is a the emphasis is on sports rehabilitation and recreational activities that lead to an active and healthy lifestyle we also offer sport competitions and training camps that provide a pipeline for imagining athletes who want to train for the summer and winter paralympic games since two thousand and three disabled school she was saying partnership with his local community based chapters and the wounded warrior project has conducted wind worried several lodging and training by experienced adaptive sport instructors family members also paid for participate in order to keep the family unit intact by sharing positive healthy experiences with a wounded warrior programs are offered at the major military medical for injured service members with traumatic brain injury paralysis and multiple other injuries it's inception of the twenty five hundred severely wounded service members family members and hostile stuff has been through more than three hundred fifty currently the issue is they u s paralympics and other disabled community based organizations are contributing more than forty million dollars in private resources to help rehabilitate the severely wounded three sports however the current economic climate and an air ever increasing community level recent studies have demonstrated that disabled veterans have increases thoughtful respect as in areas such as suicide homelessness divorce and lost all diseases such as heart disease obesity and so on the introduction of sports in the rehabilitation process and continued participation in sports ought to discharge from the hospital will have a direct and positive influence on prevention of these conditions in two thousand and eight the issue is a commission to survey conducted by harris interactive in title schools and employment among americans with disabilities unemployment write the survey confirmed how important it is for wounded warriors to stay active in sports utilizing all the tools possible to gain employment and involvement in their careers participation in community recreation programs provided on the on to the proposed legislation will enable the disabled veteran to participate in sports alongside his or her family and friends which will help to maintain current family cohesion and support the veteran this will be critically important to those disabled veterans who transition from the hospital to remote communities which may not have the resources currently to adequately serve them this network will encourage regular exercise a healthy lifestyle making activities available on a daily weekly basis close to home the long term legacy of this will be healthier happy more active disabled veteran who due to these preventative measures measures will have less health care social support needs the new generation of disabled veterans will be the most equipped informed and empower group of disabled veterans this country's ever had ready to teach and several others in this in the footsteps i also just want to mention in conclusion the younger generation has new individualized interest we all have the expertise of community programs to respond to provide extreme sports insurance events along with a high level coaching that they are demanding there are those that require support an unprecedented level therefore this legislation comes at a more important time ever before thousands of severely injured veterans return time to work alongside the love wants to rebuild their lives we know that adaptable is a critical to this process allowing disabled veterans to choose to leave an active and healthy lifestyle which in turn leads to employment good mental physical health where it's most needed that high and i encourage you to look at some of the quotes that we have included with our testimony from when you worry a little tell a story a lot better than i have today thank you member and members of the committee my name is david stringer and i work with the richland county recreation commission in columbia south carolina behalf of the national recreation and park association  lot to thank you for allowing us the opportunity to provide testimony at this important hearing addressing the needs of injured service members and the paralympic military and veterans program as you may know that the n r p a is a national nonprofit five hundred one c three organization dedicated to advancing parks recreation and conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life of all people more than thirty one thousand military personnel have severely injured while serving our country during the conflict in iraq and afghanistan and there are now more than one point three million disabled veterans in the united states these individuals want to be physically active but to do that they must have access to close to home places and spaces and opportunities for physical activity that are able to made the need and aid in their rehabilitation the paralympic program for injured service members that was authorized in two thousand and eight is big getting to do just that in communities around our country and i have seen firsthand the difference paralympic sports programs are making i applaud this committee for recognizing the importance and the role of boards and recreation and rehabilitating those who were injured while serving our country and for your leadership in passing legislation that will ensure their improved quality of life by their physical limitations unfortunately those returning from duty with debilitating injuries face a host of challenges as they try to integrate back into their community and family life i faced similar adjustments as a teenager trying to cope with a disability at the age of fifteen the world as i had known it completely changed in a in an instant as the result of a traumatic diving accident i went from being your typical teenager without a care in the world to a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair so i can relate to the challenges that are that are newly injured service members and disabled veteran space imagine being a strong healthy competent person to one lying in a hospital bed unable to move uncertain about the future and thinking about all the things you'll never be able to do again and then add to that the emotions and adjustments that your family is experiencing fortunately for me there was a wheelchair athlete paramedic paralympic gold medalist his name was he came to my hospital room with a videotape on wilshere paralympic sport and after watching that i couldn't believe all the possibilities that were out there basketball tennis track and field even swimming soon after getting out of the hospital i helped start the first ever will chair basketball team at a local park and rec disability in charleston south carolina and thirty two years later that team is still going participation in adaptive boards changes the focus from the things that cannot be done to the things that can be done and it helps the who once felt helpless due to their disability realize the possibilities of what they can do and those possibilities are endless as a public servant i have seen many disabled service members and their families from the nearby fort jackson army installation directly benefit from the programs provided by the richmond county recreation commission wounded service members who are on home are now out of the house leading physically active lives again participating in community service and support services programs and those also support family members and they're once again able to reconnect with their friends an this is the wonderful work that is being done in washington state here metro tacoma park and r p a and the u s paralympics have organized a task force utilized on the utilization of sports and recreation in rehabilitation of service members as a result of the task force fort lewis began a recreation and sports program for four hundred fifty injured service members stationed there a sports camp on post and therapeutic recreation programming as well as family integration opportunities another example comes from sacramento department of parks and rec who is working locally there in california to introduce paralympic sport the impact of this work can be summed up by the comments made by a soldier who attended the event i want to let both you know the experience i had at the camp was one of the most memorable i have ever had i'm alive i've learned a lot about myself and about life i think the most important thing i learned however is that no matter what stumbles life may throw at you if you have the determination they will not stop you i would say that as a soldier of the united states army all of our soldiers could somehow take the determination and positive attitude of these individuals that i've met and bottle it into a formula we would have the most unstoppable force in the world the national parks and recreation association has the ability to reach into each local community to reason to assist the recovery and rehabilitation of those injured service members and veterans and r p i provides a tremendous network around the country to provide opportunities for physical activity in addition they have the ability to fish and really try and park erect professionals and provide technical assistance to the field these assets along with the u s paralympics expertise prominence and distinction creates  significant partnership has the potential to impact the lives of injured service members veterans and their families around the country in closing i think we can all agree that serving our country can be hard at times the coming home injured is even harder these innovative partnerships help our servicemembers regain their quality of life while improving their mental and physical health as they face a challenging return in adjustment thank you for your leadership and passing legislation and vocal support of your congressional colleagues to help our men and women of the arm for the armed forces services confront the challenges they face thank you thank you so much  chairman filner ranking member but we are thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america i v a is a nation's first large nonpartisan nonprofit organization representing veterans of the wars of iraq and afghanistan chairman filner and chairwoman hertha sablon i am expression be grateful for the both of you for the work you and your committee did last year in support of the military paralympic program america's newest generation of heroes are surviving injuries unthinkable in previous conflicts and as a result are facing challenges upon returning home thankfully members of congress have been for thinking and supported and funding programs like the military paralympic program that can give these heroes hope and help through athletic training and competition thousand year old marine when i deployed to iraq after returning home from a successful tour i would had a chance to relax a little while before moving to camp pendleton i was stationed in kanye bay hawaii where i took advantage of the beaches and the weather while we stayed there on june eighteenth two thousand and five i was at the beach a day that would change my life forever i was the first to go in the water while my friends remain on shore i jog slowly into the water and turn to them to tell them to hurry before turning back i forward it had a rock head on my neck broke instantly and i remain immediately motionless in the water i received a laceration across the top of my head that needed fifteen staples to close soon thereafter in the hospital i got the news from the doctor and i was paralyzed from the neck down i stayed in hawaii until i was stable enough to fly and then chose to have my therapy at the v a medical center in miami florida where i was close to my family early in my therapy one of my phenomenal therapists came in my room and started to talk to me about sports i did not think that playing sports is something that i could have done again i thought it was beyond my new life in a wheelchair but learning that that may not be the case early on in my injury was key to my recovery after learning about this opportunity i signed up for the military sports camp in san diego california the program was a week long and they showed us different sports we can play from our chairs it was more than a positive experience it opened my eyes to a different world one that i wanted to be a part of i was told i needed to train in order to qualify for a competition early the next year i couldn't wait to get started when i got home i was ready to get started but had absolute you know idea how to start the best i can do with just to make sure i was at least fit so i began working out at the local gym at the same and as the time went on i noticed that i was getting stronger and stronger not only did going to the military paralympic program give me something to shoot for it made my quality of life much better instead of being at home bored i was out and about living my life again there are great benefits to the military paralympic program health is especially important to a wheelchair user if i gain weight it be harder to move around or push myself around in my wheelchair not only did i'm sorry began excuse me it was always it was always or i'd always be sick or in and out of the hospital so training gave me something to shoot for not only being paralympian but to improve my physical and mental health after training for a year was finally time to compete and unbelievably i was named to the u s track and field team that summer i traveled to beijing where i where i was proud to represent my country on the playing field again as one of the first military vets to compete in the paralympic games my story is now being included in the upcoming documentary called where champions if it wasn't for the military paralympic program i wouldn't be here today or have accomplished my proudest feat the program saved my life but there are still more things we can do to pave the way for newly injured vets not all injured veterans have access to the resources i did depending on where they live they may not have access or resources to go to a local gym or who to turn to after being invited to testify i learned that this committee has done things to support the military paralympic program and i am grateful that this committee was responsible for fasting the passing the law to create the v a grants specially for this program i was also encouraged to learn that the vietcong fund a grant program for six point five million starting in two thousand and ten this money will go a long way towards reaching out to the disabled veterans that are involved in this great program this money can also be used toward recruiting supporting any quitman a new generation of paralympians last summer i had a chance to be a coach at one of these military sports camp and i remember parents of one veteran who was recently paralyzed came with me with many questions about equipment and training yet i felt powerless that i didn't have very many answers  there is there is no good place for me to direct these parents or where they where they live did not have access to these let alone gyms that would understand the modifications needed to train a handicapped veteran this money we with this money we can build more centers for veterans to train and resources for them to train with i was lucky i found out about the military paralympic program soon after my injury and i was able to start training quickly for physical and emotional strength and not all handicapped veterans are are that lucky i know that the new v a grant program will make it easier to reach out for vets sooner and their injury introduce them to veterans like me start their training and give them hope thank you for all you have done and will continue to do for injured veterans ask you to see if you can have any recommendations as to what else we might be able to do to make things happen but i also want to ask in terms of the piece of legislation that we did with  process and how we might be able to also make some things happen in addition to what has already occurred in your lives because i'm sure that there are some that have fallen through the other young people out there that might be out there i think that's almost an impossible question to answer but i'll take a shot at it i think access is the key no matter how you look at it the first panel mentioned some of the barriers i wholeheartedly agree that employment is one of the barriers because because of the time involved but we've also found that access is the key and i was taken by the gentleman from sac a lot of testimony we worked on a number of occasions to increase recreation opportunities at without access they can't get to the programs that would most benefit them so we would take an active approach to educating communities on accessibility needs and then ensuring that they provide those accessible but still it is that are n t we also leverage our chapters around the country to talk about our programs and encourage them to conduct their own sports programs to reach out to members in their communities because while we run things like the national veterans wheelchair games and it is a national focus alternately what happens at the community level will dictate whether these folks are able to come in and participate and ultimately go up to either be a leader athletics or just participation for the fun of it we are pleased that it wheelchair games we had over one hundred new participants many of whom were vietnam era veterans which is amazing that they could go that long in their life and not know that something like that happens but it all starts that learning about at the community level and working its way up so i would also agree with local local community access is the key where in the past you may have had to travel hundreds of miles to find a program that there are now that you are beginning to see programs in individual communities and that that's really the key instead of having to travel miles to find one of these programs there's now programs in in your community and i think one thing that that everybody that has pointed out is the need for mentors  that that person that that that that encourages that tells you about about all the opportunities out there because when you when you first get hurt everybody diversity and what the needs and interests are it's not your classic disabled sports that we began with back at the of in the vietnam era era skiing and so forth and their wanting to do iron man in hawaii they all wanted to compete and train alongside the community people without within without disabilities all kinds of different things and that kind of support needs to be individualized it needs to be adjusted according the type of injury probably trauma we're seeing the effects of traumatic brain injury multiple amputations and very severe injuries that require very individualized attention and all of this of course requires a great deal of investment financially as a nonprofit organization i can certainly speak to the fact that these recent times are becoming harder and harder we want to make sure that we can continue our programs that the level we have and also expand them to the veterans in the communities and do these five k runs and compete in the local golf tournament and all the things that they want to do you know this legislation is going to be really vital to helping us continue doing what mr rodriguez might add to the idea of mentoring is really not unlike what goes on with the v a vet centers the reason that the that program is so successful is because of the the shared experience of veterans as a counsellor and a veteran who needs the counseling and i think the very same thing holds true in sports and recreation opportunities i think nothing has nothing is more inspiring to to get up and do something then have someone who has who has shared your experience and when it comes to disabled and a disabled veteran is not while it is about being a veteran and veterans all can sort of relate one of the gentlemen on the first panel mentioned about having a double amputee come in and and rising to the challenge i mean though that is the type of thing that really makes this prototype program work that's why our programs are so successful across the board because it's our members out there participating and encouraging younger veterans older veterans whoever it may be to get out there and dissipate as well veteran to be eligible for to be a good candidate for paralympics we don't have a relationship with them but we don't have a lot of interaction with them at this point but as i said we're open to change out here in the near future  the way it's structurally set up is not very conducive for any disabled person to go out and even just walk along the paths along the community much less hand cycle i think if community leadership were aware of the issues that a disabled veteran whether they're they want it whether they want to be at the lead level or just as a recreational and never to get into sports but i think  the local leadership in the communities were aware of that the barriers which i'm sure there are not because i was around thinking like a disabled person if there if one is not i think will go a long way because not every disabled veteran wants necessarily be  a couple years ago couple of winter sports clinics ago i was reading through a newspaper about this young iraq veteran who said to the news reporter his first thought after waking up not seeing his his legs gone was that how's he going to snowboard again and i had asked the folks in our organization to come to track this guy down and see if we can get into the winter sports clinic so it's things like that i think that require a certain amount of awareness from all of us whether it's in the details that are in community or in the private sector to not only be aware of what's available out there not only with v a but with paralympics and even at the you think anyone else you have missed a bill or i guess that's a that's the challenge is finding finding the people in columbia south carolina we have for jackson and we have a few dorm veterans hospital but it's just by chance that i ran across two veterans that are now playing bass will hear about the ball with me so finding them it is a challenge and it and have maybe have been some kind of system where where we can make have be made available the names of the people in the area that there is a system for doing that and there may be that i don't know of that but getting the people involved is a real real challenge finding out to get them involved mr bill rocks let's say that that's where the is key because ultimately the sort of a quick question better answered by them i know with what it takes to be a paralympian that's why we partnered with them for the wheelchair games and a number of our other principle sports recreation events where those events would t that is a choice they have to elect into the sports programs rather than always being completely mediterranean fortunately the major military medical centers have been extremely supportive of these rehabilitative sports programs and is seen the benefit of encouraging people to speak to us and to sign up for the programs but i think certainly this legislation in the partnership will help and improve that communication and national awareness to the general public as well about what it is we're all doing and hopefully that will reach out to all the people that count to need us that's a very good mr a you mention that there is a local chapter the sports usa in the in the tampa  area there isn't a local chapter in the temporary there is not not not not in tampa but we have one hundred community by stan chapters but just not in the tampa area we have national staff that guy down to the tampa v a and talk to the patients down there about that unity's about ok i'd like to work with you on that maybe we can set one up i participated in a golf tournament charity golf tournament with the v a recently it was a demonstration on a special golf cart to help out can you can you tell me about that and then also if you're for mayor but the availability of the car veterans how we can help with that because it was fascinating to see how that worked and for me with that i myself haven't had much experience with the golf cart but i've seen it and i've spoken with other veterans that have have have used it and it's it's it's pretty it's pretty amazing you just you sit in the golf cart and when you're ready to tee off is it stand you up and you're strapped in and then the veteran or you know can just have swing and then you know they move on and i think that's incorrect i think that's amazing you know and it's just it's more it's incredible what it does to you and to your to your mindset because when you're out there playing golf you're not a disabled person you're out there playing golf and that to give someone like you're getting your dignity back it's incredible what sports do from anything from shooting to golf and i myself don't don't play golf  i practice track and field so when i'm out there and i'm competing i'm not a quadriplegic i'm competing i'm an athlete so i think things like that are extremely important and i but you know back to the golf cart again i don't have much experience with golf but i have seen it in it and it's incredible what i can do my opinion we need to make it really a level two or to our veterans there actually i can just say that i believe they're available in public golf courses now thank you very much appreciate it thank you thank you mr chairman mr patrick sponsorships to help reduce the need for funding through taxpayer dollars that's a great question and it's not so much that we're concerned about raising we're seeking out corporate sponsorship but the problem is to seek out the same source of funds you can cause some conflicts give you an example sprint has been a long time supporter very generous supporter and if one were to go out and say perhaps find  corporate sponsorship or donor that is in competition you know these things are much like politics you have to treated with the same kid glove to sustain that relationship and ensure the viability of the objectionable to you i think i thought you know at the local level are you really just talking about national big corporations i'm just talking in general and i guess in more specific with the winter sports clinic i mean these you know there is no i don't think there is a handbook out there on how to actually be competitive without with other organizations or other entities that seek out corporate donors and very much an art and  like i said if you have two competing and of these in the same arena you can be you know you can hamstring the entire but yet the local level i think it's a much different ballgame there is no pun intended  thank you for that clarification my next question is for ms ray what percentage of veterans leave sports therapy because they live in rural areas and how can we address that i'm afraid i can't give you an exact statistic on that leave unfortunately we're just doing everything that we can to ensure that they leave the hospital well educated about  the opportunities that are available to them they've tried a great variety of activities because the sports that they may have been interested in as a non disabled person often can change and they respond to what the veterans want to do once they've returned home stay in touch with them provide regular communication especially for those in very remote rural communicate communities because you're not going to have a full wheelchair basketball team in every community it's just not realistic and so we need to empower those individuals educate them from the moment they leave the hospital so they feel that they can go home go out cycling independently or be inspired to start a team themselves or do whatever's necessary so it's going to be a lot of work and a lot of coordination between all the entities the idea about if you build it they will come a lot of our chapters have taken to getting involved more in the small communities and even in a rural setting something as simple as say an accessible trail in a park somewhere makes a big difference and it might be on the middle of nowhere particular to go in places like the desert southwest or if you go up into the upper midwest the dakotas and places like that it's mostly just country there are plenty of parks and things like that and if the access is there people will go there once the access  developed we leverage our own chapters and our local folks to put the word out through magazines through the media i mean nothing gets people more interested than seeing something on t v or hearing about on the radio whatever with regards to the v a involvement i think we talk about v a and its outreach to veterans in general and obviously i think the outreach to the rural veteran is the difficulty i mention the bet centers earlier and we've sort of taken to the idea that the vet centers and particularly as it's expanded this mobile vet centers has become the outreach tool of choice for the rural setting and maybe this is just a other component that has to be added to that is if there they don't have a pretty have to load already but i think it's probably something else that to be shared that really drives the sports programs and helps veterans who come to their facility to be educated on what's available because that can be patchy in our experience anyone else mrs patrick that's what that's why i think partnering with the community parks and recreation agencies is so important there's probably over twenty thousand of these individual agencies throughout the country and local areas so partnering with them they already have  you know there is a common theme here in the first panel talk and second also about you know the community community resources have to be there in local communities and i'm sure mr stringer when you  started the the wheelchair basketball i suspect the gyms weren't right they were not adapted to that you know there was a handicapped parking spaces at that point was no but has out of doors w adaptions that are necessary but if nobody goes there and tries it out and they don't know that adoption is needed i mean it seems to me as you said with the twenty thousand different agencies that there ought to be some place where they can to for these to make their facilities adaptive it's a chairman might address that just briefly also p v a is now one of the leading advocates as it relates to the eighty a we were involved from it's very permissive pastors in the very beginning and i would suggest that one of the one of the issues remains in force of what is in the idea i think it's telling that in nearly twenty years after the passage of the a b a just last year there was they had that congress had to pass the eighty amendments that clarify a number of things that are in a grant to be able to adapt his or her living i wonder if you can you know say he or she also lives in a community that needs adaptations and i'm going to apply that you know maybe that you know i veteran could make you know in colombia can say hey i go to this gym where this is i want to play tennis here or whatever and needs this or this or that i mean is that have any legitimacy anyway i think what we've found is what often occurs particularly small towns and local communities is the veteran goes to access something particularly but that's a really disabled veteran most notably in a wheelchair and they discover i can't get to this i can't get to that and they affect  change from their end whether it be through legal means or otherwise and some cases legal is the only way to get it done but in many cases it's just a matter of opening the eyes of the community who there are many there are plenty of people out there that never think about what you know people with disabilities see as everyday necessities and until they become educated these things these changes don't occur again we thank you all for your contributions both your local communities  actually and we look forward to working with you in the future thank you so much panel three  electronic combinations program with the office of the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs mr hume there is a chief of paralympics with the u s olympic committee and hartman is the director of the office of national programs and special events with apartment veterans affairs  technology has been identified cap provides free of charge to that service member during their medical recovery and rehabilitation services for our service members are pretty clear active duty captain smiley is blind captain smiley uses technology so he can hear everything on his computer screen so he has a speech output program that allows him to hear what's on his computer screen and burned he's able now to talk to his computer using assistive technology he's able to hear back what's happening on his computer using jaws voice output when i first met him he was very detached he wasn't talking  he was very depressed because he says what can i do now as he held his twins were born during deployment months later thanks to the people down and broke army medical center i found out i went back and i said how you that transition and how does that work i'm very proud to say that we have a truly seamless transitional program we work closely with the v a in all their rehab facilities to make sure that the provide during the time there is the same equipment that they would  so they get to hold on to technology even upon separation so they don't have to wait until the v a can chime in but when they need upgrade when they need new technology when they need a new version the v a can provide it and they do the same types of assistive technology so it makes it very easy when we were discovering what would be the best technology for our men and women with traumatic brain injury we spoke on our conference call to make sure that we were putting a feel free if you need to depart mr hume no thank you i just want to personally thank you in mr crane you took it upon yourselves in the last few years to educate us all about congressman salazar for their continued leadership because of this leadership paralympic military program has accomplished the following in two thousand and nine we provided free training to more than twelve hundred community military and veteran leaders on how to implement a local community based program we provided services to more than six thousand injured military personnel and veterans distributed more than forty five organizations created paralympic programs and ninety nine communities to support injured service members and veterans this includes providing technical assistance and training with mentors for military medical centers eleven warrior transition units and that's something i want to emphasize that was part of the question earlier and hopefully at the end of my testimony i can address some of the earlier questions and some of the earlier panels with these programs are very critical part of what we are collectively doing with all the other organizations that are here has already begun to draft regulations for the payment of allowances and other policy guidelines necessary to achieve the full implementation of title seven the is collaborating with united states olympic committee to develop a certification process and we have identified a payment system within veterans benefits administration that can be used to process and authorize the monthly assistance allowance we are now beginning to develop a grant approval and review process in one thousand nine hundred ninety a establish the office of national programs and special events to oversee highly successful and well attended national rehabilitative programs for disabled veterans the national disabled veterans winter sports clinic the national veterans wheelchair games the national veterans golden age games and the national veterans creative arts festival the i currently has memorandums of understanding is with partner organizations that co sponsors these programs disabled american veterans paralyzed veterans of america veterans canteen service help us flies veterans and the american legion auxilary last year the office of national programs and special events began the summer sports clinic which is specifically designed for recently injured veterans with amputations traumatic brain injuries brain injuries or post traumatic stress disorder the national veterans t which is training exposure and experience tournament will be elevated to a national program this year under the office of national programs open to veterans with a wide range of disabilities these events are open to all veterans in rolled a health care system each event encourages first time participation however able bodied and disabled veterans who meet the eligibility criteria can participate each year thousands of veterans who participate in  programs have the opportunity to further their self development through these national rehabilitative events in two thousand and five the entered into m o u with the united states limpid korean community to increase interest in and access to paralympic sports committee's paralympic program on february twenty third two thousand and nine the secretary of veterans affairs redefined the functions of the office of national programs and special events to include carrying out the new requirements of section seven zero two ten three eighty nine and he realigned the new office of national veteran sports programs and special events directly under the office of the secretary the medical staff is currently supporting veterans participation in paralympic sanctioned events by accompanying better and to such events and assisting with the chairman a specially adapted equipment for these veterans at this time we do not have an assessment on the impact on a local medical services the a has made great progress towards implementing the provisions of public law one tenth or eighty nine and enhancing its partnership with the united states olympic committee although work remains to be before us we have developed a spirit of cooperation and teamwork with the u s o c and i am confident that we are moving in the right direction thank you again for the opportunity to come before you and i'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have thank you  american communities i just want your thoughts on how we can expand outreach to those communities we have so many veterans up there who just do not have service well it's an excellent question and it's one of the things that keeps me up at night but we have don't have is expertise we have twelve hundred community leaders military leaders and veteran leaders that's a role we are playing the training is providing a rural area especially if one veteran returns home to a rural area or  t plus up with the funding what's significant there is it allows us to expedite immediately the opportunity to reach more communities with that type of training and community service so that is that is our focus with what we're trying to do we don't implement programs we work with organizations that i mentioned earlier to implement the programs provide the technical assistance and training to allow them to do it at the local level so if it's a rural area the need can be met and that veteran can integrate into existing programming whether it's a parks and rec organization or a paralympic organization or we can provide the training to allow them to do that and it's a major emphasis and the other key is flexibility talk a little bit about the impact on local possibility are have their priorities in their mission and taking on additional programs might not be realistic in tampa the tampa parks and rec organization in the community is providing the expertise as requested by the tampa bay to meet the need there so it's a real cost efficient model that's flexible we can go into the v a facility and provide expertise we can do it in the community or we can just provide equipment and coaching i mean we're flexible in terms of how to deliver the service based on the local community need out of time so i thank you i want to thank you all for an incredibly informative and moving morning we have the federal agencies working in cooperation with the u s olympic committee  working with the stakeholder organizations at a local level and of course the proof i guess is how the the individuals have and have responded to that we have to do more but the communities and make things adaptable you're helping all disabled people not just disabled veterans and i think that's that's an important side of benefit of what you all do every day  and especially american people don't want to think about war after children and yet we have people with injuries while they were doing what they wanted to do are considered right to do their duty to do and  we have to i think take care of things after war we we cannot lose track of the people who have given you given so much and this is one way that has become it's very effective it's very important it's very it inspires all of us to do better according to you sitting there so i mean when i watch you try to running there you know inspires us to do our jobs that are because we know you know that pain of that first thing that was shown in the in the video how hard i mean how many months and years you had to do to get into condition i mean all that is as incredible incredible work that inspires us to say hey you know we can do better for you and we can do better in anything we do so again thank you all for giving us teaching us so much and we're looking forward to supporting you in the future of this meeting is a