How the Adaptive Training Foundation helps North Texas veterans
CARROLLTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Friday is Veterans Day, a special time to honor and celebrate those who have served our country, but it's a year-round mission for one North Texas organization.
The Adaptive Training Foundation (ATF) helps restore hope to injured heroes through exercise and community.
At ATF's Carrollton gym, there's no excuse good enough to get you out of every rep and set.
"Life isn't over because of what happened to you," said SFC Randy Nantz, who is retired from the U.S. Army. "It's not."
It's a place to prove life goes on even after an explosion that makes your world stop.
"Luckily for me, it just took off my rear end, or half of it," Nantz said. "It grazed me, but then it went through the fuel tank, which sprayed me and set me on fire, which really did the most damage."
A roadside bomb struck Nantz's Humvee in Baghdad in 2006. His injuries were so severe, his left leg ultimately had to be amputated below the knee.
"It's a long journey," he said. "Initially, I thought I was just going to come here and work out and get back into shape like yes, who wouldn't want to lose a few pounds, but I soon learned that the mental aspect of it was the bigger part of the class."
After Nantz completed the nine-week ATF program, which draws participants with physical impairments from around the country, he became a trainer.
"I get a sense of peace from helping someone else get that aha moment of life isn't over, you just have to do it differently," Nantz said.
SSgt. Travis Strong, who is also retired from the US Army, says it doesn't matter whether you're a veteran injured in war or a civilian injured in an accident.
"You still have to push, and you still have to make your life the best life that you can make it," said Strong.
Strong became a double above-knee amputee after his vehicle was hit by an EFP (Explosively Formed Penetrator) while deployed in Iraq in 2006. He also became an ATF trainer after finishing the program.
"I was just tired of being in pain every single day of my life, and I wanted to feel better and get stronger for my wife and my kids," said Nathan Burrow, a veteran who was just a part of the latest ATF class.
The goal is for adaptive athletes to focus on their potential, not their limitations.
"So we're not going to feel sorry for you," Nantz said. "We're going to hold you to a high standard, and we're going to help you push forward."
It's a new form of service for veterans who say they have no regrets about what led them to this point in their lives.
"People always come up to me and thank me for my service, and my response is I wish I could have served longer," said Strong. "I would have done it all the same way, even knowing this was going to happen, I still would have done it."
Nantz says he'd do it all over again too.
"I wish I was still doing it right now," he said.
Veterans from nearly all 50 states have come to North Texas to go through ATF's program. It's free for those who participate, thanks to donations from the community.
