Resource Guide

Three wounded warriors participate in Air Force Association Cycling Classic

  • Published
  • By Janis El Shabazz
  • Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas --  Three Air Force wounded warriors shared their journey from injury to recovery during an Air Force Association discussion panel and then participated in the AFA Cycling Classic held in June in Arlington, Virginia.

The AFA event hosted cyclists of all abilities for two days of riding and racing, from professionals to amateurs and enthusiastic adults and kids. A portion of the funds raised went to the AFA Wounded Airman Program. The program supports the work of the Air Force Wounded Warrior office and helps seriously ill and injured Airmen and their caregivers with financial shortfalls, adaptive equipment and lifestyle items.

"These brave Airmen had the chance to give first-hand testimony on how cycling and other adaptive sports are helping them to heal holistically, embracing the mind, body and spirit," said Steve Otero, Air Force Wounded Warrior Program communications and marketing coordinator.

"I felt incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to compete in the AFA Cycling Classic with my fellow wounded, military and community of supporters," said Capt. Mitch Kieffer, panelist, cyclist and Purple Heart recipient. "Programs like the AFA Wounded Airman Program and the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program have supported me and improved my quality of life in ways that modern medical treatment could not."

Kieffer is still on active duty at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, serving as an operations research analyst for Air Combat Command. He was injured when he volunteered for a joint-service mission deploying to rebuild Iraq. One day while on a routine mission, Kieffer's vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device, rendering him unconscious and leaving him with a traumatic brain injury. In 2013, after battling years of ongoing medical treatment, he became the first Air Force service member named Warrior Games ultimate champion.

Kieffer was joined on the discussion panel by Staff Sgts. Daniel Crane and Melissa Garcia.

Crane joined the Air Force in November 2007 and graduated from security forces technical training in April 2008. In 2011, he was assigned to the contingency response group at Andersen AFB, Guam. Nine months into his assignment, he was shot in the arm during off-duty hours by a local citizen who was anti-American military. Crane had numerous surgeries to save his arm, but he was medically retired in February 2014 because of the loss of function in his right arm and hand. He recently elected to have his limb amputated below the elbow in order to gain greater function and use of his arm with prosthetics. In the 2013 Valor Games Southwest, he earned a gold medal in air pistol and archery, and took silver in air rifle.

Garcia is an independent-duty medical technician at the Davis-Monthan AFB Flight Medicine Clinic in Tucson, Arizona. While assigned to Lackland AFB, Texas, she was assigned to the plastic and neurosurgery clinic, working with breast cancer survivors during their reconstruction surgery, as well as with military members who were disfigured in combat. She was assigned to Davis-Monthan in February 2012. During a deployment supporting the Navy as a medic in Spain, Garcia was herself diagnosed with breast cancer. For her work helping other warriors heal she has twice earned the Air Force Commendation Medal; first in 2001 and again in 2013.

To learn more about the AFA Wounded Airman Program, visit www.afa.org/WAP.

For more information on the Air Force wounded warrior program, visit www.woundedwarrior.af.mil.