Iraq vet battling PTSD pedals his way to recovery

Iraq vet battling PTSD pedals his way to recovery
By Matthew Hansen
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
April 26, 2012

Marine Sgt. David Wright of Omaha will climb on his mountain bike today in northern Texas, take a couple of deep breaths to calm his nerves, and begin to pedal through the second-largest canyon in the United States.

He'll be pedaling away from a past of daily roadside bombs in Fallujah and then the daily drinking binges to numb the panic attacks and the flashbacks.

He'll be pedaling alongside former President George W. Bush, who was Wright's commander in chief during two tours of duty in Iraq. Wright is one of 20 Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans picked to participate in the second-ever Warrior 100K, Bush's three-day, 100-kilometer ride through the picturesque Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo.

The ride is meant to honor those injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. It serves as one of the former president's most public events — Bush has remained generally out of the public eye since ending his second term in office.

For the 32-year-old Wright, the ride through the largest U.S. canyon not named the Grand Canyon serves as another milestone in his recovery from a traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

That recovery had been slowed by misdiagnoses and his long-held belief that Marines don't ask for assistance, Wright said before leaving for Texas.

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