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For his climbing, Brian Doyne had an arm specially made, including three different grips. He uses it here to scale a wall at Sportrock in Alexandria during a recent workout. |
By CATHY DYSON
Brian Doyne scales the four-story wall like a spider.
His body is tight against the rock facade, not dangling by a rope, out of control. His moves are so fluid, it's hard to tell which he uses more--arms or legs--to propel himself.
He's not like some of the buff guys nearby, whose biceps look like Popeye's. They rely on their upper bodies to get them up the wall.
Doyne doesn't have that kind of power anymore. He left a lot of his physical strength, along with an arm and an eye, on a roadside near Tikrit two years ago.
But the 27-year-old didn't lose his tough attitude or his wicked sense of humor. His new favorite tattoo shows a fearsome grim reaper holding an hourglass.
Below the ripples of the reaper's robe is a tiny stick figure representing Doyne. The left arm is severed, on the ground.
The right hand is giving the death-bearer the finger.
That pretty much sums up the Army sergeant who specialized in explosive ordnance disposal.
"It definitely takes a different kind of sense of humor to laugh at everything, which is pretty much what I do," said Doyne, who lost his arm below the elbow.
Consider the way he smirked when asked if the mortar blast, propelled by 22 pounds of explosives, caused any brain damage.
"That's debatable," he said. "I took apart bombs for a living, and I had one explode in my face--and I'm still doing the same thing. These aren't the actions of a sane person."
Sanity aside, Doyne said he's become a different person since February 2005, when he got hit 10 days after arriving in Iraq.
He's not angry, like in the days after his body was mangled. He's not about to become a poster child for the Iraq war; in fact, he can't stand it when people act like his opinion should be more meaningful than anyone else's.
But he does believe he's found his purpose.
"I'm content with where I am and what I'm doing," he said. "Realistically, I lead a blessed life. It could be so much worse. I'm at peace with myself for the first time, and I've quit looking for a purpose. My purpose in life may be just to live."
And that brings Doyne to the things he enjoys most.
He's an analyst with A-T Solutions Inc., a veteran-owned business in the Bowman Center in Spotsylvania County. He helps train civilians on the same kind of explosive devices he scoured the desert for, both in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was 26 when he was retired on disability after 10 years with the Army.
His office is 8.5 miles from his White Oak home and his Staffordshire terrier, Cheri, whom he cradles like a baby.
"She's all the female I need right now," he said.
When he's not on the job or with the dog, he's in the gym. He works out everyday in his basement or heads to the Sportrock Climbing Center in Alexandria.
Doyne had a special hand made with devices that look like the pick axes ice climbers use.
He is training for an extreme games competition in Florida for people who have lost limbs. (See sidebar.) The constant workouts hurt, but Doyne said he would feel worse if he didn't stay active.
"It's almost like a part-time job for him," said Jason Montecalvo, a gym manager. "He climbs some really hard grades for his amputation, and we're all kind of in awe."
Montecalvo believes Doyne likes being seen as just another climber. He's no longer the guy with the fake arm, who amazes anyone who sees him.
He's simply another veteran who got hurt in Iraq, Montecalvo said.
During Doyne's recent workout, his black shirt about Operation Enduring Freedom--"Been There, Done That"--was drenched in sweat. He joked with other climbers as Rob Skelding of Arlington, his coach for the night, told him to get his butt up the wall for another lap.
What impressed Skelding the most--beyond Doyne's prosthetic arm and his will to keep going--is the lack of two good eyes. Depth perception, and being able to see the next foothold, is crucial to climbers.
"One of the things we tell the newbies is watch where you're putting your feet because your feet are what's going to get you up the wall," Skelding said.
Doyne knows that lesson well. He realizes he can't rely on upper-body strength, like many men, so he minds his footwork, the way females tend to do.
"As the saying goes," Doyne said, "good feet make up for crappy hands."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425| Brian Doyne of Stafford County will compete in the O&P Extremity Games, extreme sports for amateurs 13 and over who have missing limbs or have limited use of them. WHEN: July 19-21 WHERE: Orlando Watersports Complex in Florida WHO: About 300 competitors--three times more than 2006, the inaugural event. One-fourth are wounded veterans; others have lost limbs through disease, accidents or birth defects. SPORTS: Biking, kayaking, rock climbing, skateboarding, wakeboard and surfing. Doyne will compete in the advanced toprope division. extremitygames.com |
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He's got eight prosthetic arms, and each handles a specific task, such as rock climbing, swimming, biking, lifting weights or doing routine tasks.
Enough with the politics. He's tired of people asking his thoughts on the war, the president or the state of military hospitals when they learn he lost his arm in Iraq. Sometimes, when asked about his arm, he makes references to a shark attack in Florida or how you shouldn't wear loose clothing around a wood chipper. Either ends the conversation. The explosion that mangled him killed his best friend, Staff Sgt. Daniel Gresham of Illinois. Doyne wears a silver bracelet in his memory. Their team responded when an explosion went off outside Tikrit and members scoured the site for secondary bombs. Two more devices were detonated about 25 feet from Doyne, and his injuries were massive: both legs shattered below the knees; right ankle broken; throat slashed by shrapnel; powder burns and embedded fragments on his face; collapsed lung; left eye socket fractured and optic nerve severed. Doyne remembers every detail in the moments before the medics reached him, including his first reaction to his amputated arm: "Oh, s---, that was my favorite tattoo." He has 13 others. The one he lost was a grim reaper wearing an Explosive Ordnance Disposal badge. His goal: "To get a sponsor and be a climbing bum for the rest of my life." |
