Amputated veterans take on Mount Kiliminjaro Kirk Bauer doesn’t need two legs to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Dan Nevins and Neil Duncan don’t even need one.
Among the three men, they’ve got one good leg and more than 19,000 feet to climb.
On Monday, the three men embarked on a journey to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in 10 days or less.
Sgt. Bauer, 62, of Ellicott City, Sgt. Duncan, 27, of Denver, and Staff Sgt. Nevins, 39, of Jacksonville, Fla., are veterans of the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars, respectively. They emerged from their service missing legs, Duncan and Nevins as double leg amputees and Bauer as a single above-knee amputee.
It was a situation that, in 1969, left 21-year-old Bauer with little hope for the future.
“Instead of thinking about something positive, I was thinking about the things I could no longer do,” he said.
His salvation came in the form of a pair of skis and a snowy mountain. Jim Winthers, a World War II veteran of the Army’s 10th Mountain Ski Division, taught Bauer how to ski.
“It really turned my life around,” Bauer said.
Disabled Sports USA
Founded: In 1967 by Vietnam War veterans to serve those injured in war. DSUSA now serves anyone who has a disability.
Headquarters: Rockville
Members: DSUSA serves more than 60,000 youth and adults a year.
Chapters: There are more than 98 community-based chapters in 38 states.
Activities: DSUSA allows members to get involved with 20 kinds of sports.
From that point, Bauer developed an urge to push himself to participate in sports he loves, a list that includes cycling, mountain climbing, golfing, swimming and hiking. Winthers was one of the founders of Disabled Sports USA, then an upstart organization to get people with disabilities involved in sports. Bauer became involved as a ski instructor and eventually went on to become executive director, a post he has held for 28 years.
The idea to climb Mount Kilimanjaro was born simply out of a challenge.
In December 2005, Duncan lost both his legs in Afghanistan after being injured by an improvised explosive device. While undergoing rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he learned how to cycle, golf and sail through Disabled Sports USA. He also learned to monoski, or sit-ski, in which he sits on one ski and uses two outriggers to control movement.
He tried to scale the mountain alone last year, but failed to reach the summit. At an event in December, Bauer introduced Duncan to a crowd of about 500 people, after which Duncan publicly challenged Bauer to team up for a second attempt.
Bauer, as director of DSUSA, wasn’t going to say no.
“If you’re the director of an organization, you have to lead by example,” he said. “I got that in the military.”
Bauer, Duncan and Nevins, or “Team Missing Parts in Action,” have trained for the climb by participating in several hikes, like a trek up Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland.
Another test of endurance was the Bataan Memorial Death March.
The annual march is held in memory of American prisoners of war who died while being marched through the jungles of the Philippines during World War II. It’s a 26-mile trek through the harsh conditions of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
It’s the kind of event that Bauer said can push one’s endurance and served as a good indicator as to whether or not they were in shape for Kilimanjaro.
“It’s a very grueling 26 miles,” he said. “We made that our first test event.”
Duncan says they are ready to reach the top.
“Since coming off the mountain, I was determined to achieve my goal and trained diligently to prepare for this climb,” he said. “As a team, I know we can make it.”
The trek up the African mountain will take them up 19,340 feet through four climates zones. Bauer said the height will be challenge, as none of them has ever felt anything higher than 14,000 feet.
But the team says is prepared mentally, physically and prosthetically.
“We’re all taking extra legs, just in case,” Bauer said.
