On Jan. 31, 2007, Stengel was a U.S. Marine corporal serving in Iraq when the Humvee he was traveling in was struck by an improvised explosive device. The blast threw Stengel 25 yards. He lost his left leg, suffered severe damage to his right leg and was in a coma for two months. He has since been rehabilitating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. In June, he and 21 other wounded warriors began competing in virtual workout exercises with members of the New Orleans Saints.
How’s recovery going?
I’ve gotten over that first hump when you’re an amputee trying to trust your new leg to do daily activities. … Rehabbing is going as good as it gets and I have gotten back into pretty good shape.
What’s “Rehabbing with the Troops?”
It’s a 10-week program sponsored by Armed Forces Insurance that offers wounded service members the chance to work out with each other and professional sports players on the Nintendo Wii console.
How does it work?
There are two teams. There are the service members, we are called the G.I. Joe’s, and then you have the professional players called the Pros. It’s a competition to see who is toughest and to see who does the most. When we first had our orientation in Jacksonville, I thought to myself, “It’s just the Wii, how hard could this be?” But the workouts on the Wii are no joke.
Do you work out with the players?
Well, the computer images on the Wii do represent the players, so I guess the answer would be that we work out against the players as their computer images. In Jacksonville, at the Wounded Warrior Project’s track facility, we worked out with the real Saints who were video-conferenced onto large screens. We had a great time throwing challenges back and forth. We are going down to New Orleans this weekend for the awards ceremony and to watch the Saints preseason game.
Who’s tougher?
Well, my views might be a biased, but I would have to go with the G.I. Joe’s. – Scott McCabe
