PORTSMOUTH, Va. -- Combat Engineer Sgt. Alex Nguyen from Fremont, Nebraska, spends his days in and out of Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia. He routinely goes from physical therapy appointments to doctor’s appointments and back to physical therapy. In between his medical visits, however, Nguyen has developed a hobby that defies the limitations of his injury – he plays basketball.
Nguyen joined the Marine Corps in 2007 and has had three combat deployments since. On September 28, 2011, he was in Afghanistan when he and his team went over a remote controlled improvised explosive device. Nguyen broke his left leg and shattered his right ankle.
“Up to that point in my life I had never broken a bone,” Nguyen said. “On that day, I had broken a crap ton of them and it was an overwhelming pain.”
Two years after the incident, Nguyen was still in recovery and trying to save his right ankle from having to be amputated. He was in a lot of pain and constantly on pain medication so he wasn’t really participating in sports.
Despite his best efforts, the doctors eventually had to amputate his right foot from just above his ankle.
Approximately two months after the amputation, Nguyen found out about the warrior games through the old athletic trainer at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center.
He decided to go compete in the Marine Corps Trials at Camp Pendleton, California, to see if he liked rehabilitative sports.
“Until that point it was never… I’m going to play sports as an amputee now,” Nguyen said. “I thought I was going to be amputee get better and move on with the rest of my life, but I got into sports. It has changed me and made me a lot happier, so I’ve stuck to it.”
Nguyen says he has put in a lot of work. He had a difficult time in the beginning because he had never played basketball in a wheelchair. However, Nguyen says the guys on the team helped him out a lot.
Marines have to change and adapt their lives to whatever illness or injury they endure. In many instances, they can’t do their jobs like they used to in the fleet Marine Corps.
The esprit de corps, brotherhood and support from fellow Marines throughout the rehabilitative process can make all the difference to recovering Marines.
“It’s nice to see someone that is just rooting us on and pushing us to make it,” Nguyen said. “We still have brothers going overseas, and they’re coming back behind us and backing us up regardless of us not being in a combat zone, but on a basketball court instead.”
“The support of the Marine Corps is awesome and we just want to let everyone know we’re still Marines here.”
Today, Nguyen is a wounded warrior preparing to compete in the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games. He’s participating in wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball and track and field events.
The games are an annual sporting competition bringing together wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans from across the country. There will be eight sporting events with about 200 athletes representing teams from the Marine Corps, Army, Navy and Air Force.
“It’s the friendship and brotherhood you get out of everything that makes it that much better,” Nguyen said.
The 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games is scheduled for June 19-28 at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.