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Wounded Veterans Climb Kilimanjaro in Honor of Injured Comrades - FoxNews.com


Memorializing their fallen and injured comrades never gotten them so high.
Four wounded U.S. soldiers, injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, recently joined some of NFL greats in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s tallest freestanding mountain, to raise awareness and aid for injured service members.
The trek was conducted through the Wounded Warrior Project – a nonprofit that provides a support network for service members injured in combat. But it was also a chance for these wounded warriors to meet the mental and physical challenge of climbing Africa’s highest peak. which lies just 200 miles south of the equator in northern Tanzania.
Spc. Bryan Wagner of Exeter, Calif., assigned to 529th MP Company, lost a leg during his service in Iraq. He joined former Marine Ben Lunak of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, who had his leg amputated below the knee after he was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006. Also on the trek were Sgt. Michael Wilson of Annapolis, Md., who suffers from traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder after his time in Afghanistan, and Nancy Schiliro from Hartsdale, N.Y., who lost an eye during her service with the Marine Reserves in Iraq.
Each one returned home from the battlefield and teamed up with the Wounded Warriors Project.

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, nearly 20,000 feet high, takes physical strength but also teamwork and mental toughness. To help accomplish their goal, the NFL sent three former players to accompany the warriors. They drafted former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi; Tennessee Titans coach and former Chicago Bears player Jeff Fisher and former Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams player Chad Lewis.
The NFL and active clothing brand Under Armour, which also outfitted the climbers, helped organize and sponsor the climb. In order to prepare for an assent up the peak, the group of amateur climbers traveled for practice climbs in Nevada, Colorado and New Hampshire and completed a three-day training session at Under Armour’s IMG training academy


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