SURFING USA

Our surfing adventure for 14 wounded Soldiers and Marines began at 0345 August 15th when we met our wounded and amputees who are recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center, to go to the airport for our journey to "Pismo Beach, The Amputee Surfing Capitol of the World"

We arrived in Pismo Beach and were met by Rodney Roller, an amputee himself and director of "Amp-Surf," along with many well wishers and volunteers from the Pismo Beach community. We were transported to Pismo Beach's own Pancho's Surf shop where we were greeted by the owner, Pancho. Pancho presented Derek McGinnes, a Navy Corpsman, who lost his leg in Fallujah, a long board and a wet suit. Derek, needless to say, was so surprised. Pancho also donated a Pancho's T-Shirt and cap to our wounded men and women.

A little background of how we came to be surfing in Pismo Beach begins with Derek, who came to me and said that he had surfed most of his life and now he had lost his leg in Iraq and wanted to keep surfing and would Operation Comfort take the amputees surfing. I said, "Derek, do you want to surf on one leg?" and he said "yes m'am I do" so I said "Ok, if you can find someone who can teach you how to surf on one leg, then Operation Comfort will raise the money to take you." Derek then found Rodney Roller and the ball started rolling. we set the date for August 15-20th. So here we are in Pismo Beach.

After our arrival at Pismo Beach, we were transported to the Sea Adventure Resort where we were warmly welcomed. The Sea Adventure Resort held a welcoming reception for us at 1900 in the hospitality room overlooking beautiful Pismo Beach. People from the community joined us and were delighted to meet our wounded.

Early next morning, we met on the beach at 0700 for surfing lessons by the Billabong Surf School. Rodney Roller and Billabong had our wounded lie on their surfboards and showed them surfing techniques. They then went out into the water and before you knew it our amputees were up and surfing away. They surfed for several hours and then everyone had lunch on the beach and then retired to their rooms to clean up and get ready for golfing at the Blacklake Country Club where they had lessons from the Pro's at the club. Our one armed men golfed like a pro. It took them a bit to get the swing of swinging with one arm, but they did it and did it like a pro. The Blacklake golf pros were the greatest and really enjoyed interacting with our wounded. We had dinner at the country club and then returned to the Sea Adventure Resort.

What an adventure and rehab experience for America’s finest!

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Updated November 13th, 2007
Association of Amputee Surfers Copyright 2008