FORT MEADE, Md. (Army News Service, April 29, 2015) -- The crowd went quiet as the female Soldiers raised their compound bows, pulled their bowstrings back to their anchor, took aim and released their arrows during the Army Trials on Fort Bliss, Texas.
For Spc. Laurel Cox, a Patriot missile specialist assigned to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, this is the best kind of therapy and only the first step as she prepares for her first 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, June 19-28.
Throughout the games, wounded, ill, and injured Service members and veterans from the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard will compete in track and field, shooting, swimming, cycling, archery, wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball.
Cox joined the Army to follow the footsteps of her brother, who is also stationed on Fort Belvoir. She said she hopes her family will travel to the games to watch her compete.
"My brother is very proud of me and has been following my competitions," she said. "Since my entire family is in Virginia, I'm hoping I can get everybody to make the two-hour trip to Quantico."
During the Army Trials, March 29 - April 2, she took a silver medal in the women's compound archery, a silver medal in women's seated standing air rifle, and fourth place in women's seated shot put and seated discus.
Cox said her favorite sport is archery, because it helps her in her recovery from a physical injury to her back and leg she received while working on a piece of equipment during training May 2013, as well as with her post-traumatic stress.
"Archery got me out of my room," she said. "I was very isolated and would only go to my doctor's appointments. I wouldn't really socialize with anyone. Archery forced me back into society. I'm so thankful for all of my coaches who introduced me to the sport and the personnel back at my unit who encouraged me to pursue it."
Her coach, John Fuller, said she showed a marked improvement during her time at the Army Trials.
"She showed a marked improvement, even with us changing her equipment during the Army Trials," he said. "No matter what we changed, she worked hard to improve, and she did. I was very impressed with how hard she worked to improve, and I was very glad to see her medal at the trials. She puts her heart into it, and I wish her the best of luck at the 2015 DoD Warrior Games."
Cox also credits her squad leader, Staff Sgt. George O'Neal, with her recovery.
"We went through the entire healing process together," she said. "He was my rock. He got me through every bad day. He got me through every doctor's appointment, and he helped me to pursue everything I ever wanted to pursue."
She recommends to anybody, who is still recovering from an injury, to be patient.
"Take it one day at a time, that's what got me through my 15 months at the Warrior Transition Unit, one day at a time," she said. "Every morning, I woke up, got out of bed, put my uniform on, forced myself to do the things I didn't want to do, and it helped. You're not the only ones going through what you're going through; there's always support. There are always alternate pathways to every option out there."
Cox said working through her injuries with adaptive sports for events, including the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games, have shown her that she is resilient.
"If people knew where I was eight months ago and saw me today, they would understand that Warrior Games really does work miracles," she said with a big smile. "Resilience, to me, means that I'm able to overcome anything and that there is no challenge too big to be conquered.
"Warrior Games is my main motivator to make it from day to day right now, and it's giving me something to look forward to," she said. "Warrior Games has introduced me to so many wonderful people, and it's introduced me to other veteran and military-friendly, Olympic-style games, like the Valor Games and other opportunities, that I can have so I don't have to go home and sit on a couch for the rest of my life. I'm 24 years old. I'm too young for that."
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