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A team of athletes made up of wounded military personnel and veterans crossed the finish line together on a 350-mile bike ride down the east coast Wednesday in D.C.
As the Achilles Freedom Team rode in a weeklong relay across five northeastern cities, memories of the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, loomed large.
WTOP spoke with two service members who were severely wounded in the line of duty — but that hasn’t stopped them. They’re among the dozen or so athletes with the Achilles Freedom Team who arrived at the Kennedy Center midday Wednesday.
“Heck of a long ride,” said retired Army Sgt. Omar Duran. “I was blessed to be offered the position to go.”
The team started in Hartford, Connecticut, visited every chapter of Achilles International, an organization that brings athletic programs to those with disabilities, stopping in New York and Philadelphia before ending in the nation’s capital.
Duran served in both Afghanistan and Iraq and was wounded in combat. He started with the Achilles team in 2012 while he was going through physical rehabilitation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“They kept breaking the bubble to chip away at the anger, to finally get me to join up. I did one event with them, and I met other veterans, and it was a blessing at that point, and I knew this is where I needed to be and this journey still continues,” Duran said.
Fellow athlete Master Sgt. Cedric King also joined an Achilles team while he was in Walter Reed after a double amputation of his legs. He was wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2012.
King said the snow in D.C. is what made him join Achilles, they offered him a flight to Disney World to compete in a marathon so he could get away from the mid-Atlantic February chill.
“It was three feet of snow outside. I wanted to go anywhere, but here,” King said jokingly. “They said, ‘Well, if you like, we’ll give you a chance to run a marathon or hand cycle a marathon.’ I was like ‘I would crawl a marathon to get out of here in D.C. in February.’”
But eventually Achilles International became more to King.
“I got a chance to reintroduce me to me,” he said.
King thanked the The Cigna Group and Achilles International for spearheading this effort to get more disabled Americans active, especially those who were disabled in combat.
“The possibilities of what these guys are doing with their disabilities, it is life changing. It’s life changing. It’s proof that disabilities don’t have to disable you,” King said.
Remembering 9/11
Both men think about the sacrifices and lives lost during the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“The sacrifice I made because of 9/11 … it’s a day of a whole journey,” Duran said. “What my true friends gave up … I have to go visit now at their grave sites or call their family once a year on the day of their passing.”
But Duran said it is now a positive journey because of events like the relay he participated in, conquering a common goal with his brothers in arms.
“I was a young infantryman. I saw the towers go down. I didn’t know that we were getting ready to go into 20 years of combat, but I knew that our name was getting ready to get called upon,” King said.
He called his service a privilege.
“I didn’t realize it then, but I realize it now. It was a privilege. It was a privilege to serve this country. It’s a privilege to lead men in combat. It’s a privilege for you to find out who you really are when the bullets start flying and things get tough. It’s a privilege,” said King. “I’m so proud that I was a part of putting my blood, sweat and tears to keep that flag flying. It counts. Man, I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s the truth, though, man, it’s the truth.”
