Sgt. Dana Bowman triumphs over loss of legs

Dana Bowman says he is not special, and he is not different from anybody else. He is just an ordinary guy without legs who jumps out of airplanes.

This past Thursday, retired U.S. Army Special Forces and U.S. Army’s elite Golden Knights Parachute
Team member Sgt. Dana Bowman came to speak at Five Points in Washington as part of the Honor America’s Heroes series. The hour long presentation was based on the accident which redefined his life, and his speech was centered around overcoming great adversity with drive, determination and the will to succeed.

“My message I have is for everyone, for old, young, physically challenged, disabled, able-bodied, you name it,” said Bowman. “It is about focusing on what we can accomplish and achieving our goals, no matter how large or how small. If I can do it, anyone can.”

On Feb. 6, 1994, Bowman and his teammate Sgt. Jose Aguillon were practicing the “Diamond Track” maneuver during the team’s annual training, which called for both jumpers to streak away from each other for about a mile, turn 180 degrees and fly back toward each other, criss crossing in the sky. Instead, they collided midair at 300 mph, instantly killing Aguillon and severing both of Bowman’s legs, one above, the other below the knee.

“My life changed in an instant, but I was given a chance to live,” said Bowman. “I was 31 at the time of the accident and just at the beginning of my life. Three months after the accident, my wife decided to leave our marriage. What are you going to do? What was going to be next?”

Bowman had been a member of the special forces in the military, working on the ranger, halo, scuba and the sniper teams and, becoming bilingual, helped stop the drug flow from Central and South America from coming to the United States. Now confined to a wheelchair, he could only watch his former teammates as they performed their duties.

“There was no place for someone like me in the military. They did not want me to stay in the Army, they wanted me to take my disability and get out. I was called a Gimp,” said Bowman. “But I let it go in one ear and out the other, and I told them what I was going to do.”

Five months after his accident he received a weekend pass from Walter Reed Military Hospital and showed up for a previously scheduled jump. He coaxed someone into giving him a parachute and went up in the next airplane.

“I jumped, came down and landed on my feet, and they saw that I could do it,” said Bowman. “It really freaked a lot of people out, but that was the momentum I needed to keep going.”

Nine months after losing both of his legs, Bowman passed the Army’s physical fitness test and became the first double amputee to re-enlist in the United States Army. To make his dream a reality, he sky dived into the ceremony with his commander.

He became the U.S. Parachute Team’s lead speaker and has performed more than 1,000 jumps.
He has since remarried and has five children. After retiring from the Army in 1996, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in commercial aviation from the University of North Dakota and is a pilot for airplanes, seaplanes, helicopters and hot air balloons, and he is an instructor in all of them.

“I barely made it out of high school, I was a below-average student more interested in motorcycles. Now I am the first one in my family to have a college degree, with honors.”

And he is a motivational speaker. In the 15 years since his accident, he has traveled the country telling his story,  having been in 18 states last month alone, and has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles and more than 250 television programs. It is something, he said, that lies close to his heart.

“My story gives hope and it shows a sense of success,” said Bowman. “Terrible things happen to people all the time, whether you are disabled or are a mixed-up teenager. I talk about refusing to give up when something gets in your way. It’s not the disability, it’s the ability. I want people to see how limitless their lives can be.”