I am new here, and am glad to be here. Although I am not a vet, (when I was 18 I so wanted to join the service,but they did not want me) I became disabled 13 years ago thanks to an er dr who misdiagnosed a small bowel obstruction. Living with only 23% of your intestines is a battle in itself.

Being disabled is not fun, it drains on you physically, emotionally, our relationships suffer, yet we have to keep going. The hardest thing for me was when people said "you don't look sick" or "your just faking"

When I had a salesman at Cabelas talk to me man to man and talked me into a crossbow, that was he best thing to happen for me. I have a mediport in my right upper chest so shooting a rifle and shot gun is out for me.

The salesman didn't feel comfortable putting me in a compound bow because I had precisely had ports in my left arm, the crossbow was a great fit. 3 years now I have yet to take a deer. Been close several times but I made small mistakes. Hopefully I have learned my lesson.

Now if I could find a good inexpensive place for a couple of days to hunt would be great. As you all know though expenses are a big problem.

I keep the faith one day at a time. I know that I will get that big whitetail hunt when the time is right.

To my fellow disabled else. Thanks again for your service, I did get to serve the people of Texas as a Paramedic gorge a number of years, then worked as a medical lab tech for a number of years more. All was very rewarding.

God bless each of you, your in my prayers,

Together we are stronger,

Terry

Terry, thanks for your openness. I run a program taking Wounded Warriors on hunts. Yes with the crap that the Wounded Warrior project has pulled that term is a little tainted, but another word is disabled combat vets. I have seen everything from people like me that have no physical scars that you can see when I have clothes on (which rest assured, I do not run around naked often, LOL) to taking our second triple amputee this year. Although the main focus of our group is getting these guys in a place where they can talk about things that they cannot talk to family about, the secondary goal is getting them a big dear. I have seen many guys get their first buck and the look on their face was priceless. One of our guys last year lost everything but his left arm, did not think he would ever get to to this, but we proved him wrong. What I like about your story is that you did not let a disability stop you and that is awesome. I love hearing these stories. I am happy for you and welcome to the site.