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USA TODAY SPECIAL EDITION
NEWS
GREGG PACHKOWSKI/PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL
Veteran Mary Dague, who lost her arms in an explosion in Iraq, starred in the apocalypse film Range 15, fighting off zombies using knives duct-taped to the remaining parts of her arms. are changing America’s notions of what it attention because people are not used to means to be a veteran and an amputee. seeing female veterans in that way.” Manning, a retired Navy captain, has Ennis lost her leg in 2012 while serving worked with Sen. Tammy Duckworth, as an aerial door gunner in a CH-53 D-Ill., an Iraq War Army veteran who lost Sea Stallion helicopter that crashed in her legs and partial use of her right arm Helmand province in Afghanistan after it when her helicopter was hit by a rocketwas targeted by enemy forces. Six fellow propelled grenade in Iraq. Marines died in the crash. She was just 21. “Tammy Duckworth has Her severe injuries changed Congress in all manrequired more than 40 ner of ways,” said Manning, surgeries and included the who has lobbied Congress on amputation of her left leg a variety of issues on behalf above the knee in 2015. After of female veterans. “It is hard the long recovery, Ennis, a for a guy to say that women longtime athlete, returned to cannot hack it in the military sports, including mountain while sitting across from climbing and snowboarding. Tammy Duckworth. Her mere In March, she climbed Mount presence in Congress has Kilimanjaro, becoming the changed the equation.” first female above-the-knee Also changing the percepamputee to summit the tion of female veterans and mountain. In July, she became amputees is Mary Dague, a the first female U.S. veteran Amputee athlete woman who lost her arms in above-the-knee amputee to Kirstie Ennis poses an explosion while serving summit Carstensz Pyramid on the cover of ESPN’s as an explosive ordnance in Indonesia. She told ESPN 2017 Body Issue. disposal technician in Iraq in Magazine that she hopes to 2007. eventually climb all of the Dague, who lives in Niceville, Fla., is seven summits — the highest mountains on featured in Not a War Story, a documentary each of the seven continents. about the making of Range 15, a 2016 Lory Manning, director of governmental zombie apocalypse movie where she fights relations for the Washington, D.C.-based zombies with knives duct-taped to the Service Women’s Action Network, said remaining parts of her arms. She and her Ennis is among many female veterans who
“These women are doing what they enjoy. The mere fact that they’re out there doing things, living their lives, is physically and emotionally empowering.” — Lory Manning, director of Service Women’s Action Network
fellow veterans take on zombies played by well-known actors, including William Shatner, Danny Trejo and Sean Astin.“I like to break stereotypes, to do unexpected things,” Dague said. Manning applauded Duckworth, Ennis and Dague for their individual contributions to changing the way female veterans and amputees are perceived. “These women are doing what they enjoy,” she said. “The mere fact that they’re out there doing things, living their lives, is physically and emotionally empowering.” And she added that Ennis’ ESPN cover is especially moving. “I find it interesting that back before women were allowed in war zones, people argued that it would be too much for the public to handle seeing a woman who was an amputee as a result of combat,” she said. Ennis wrote on her Instagram account that she cried when she first saw her ESPN Magazine cover photo. “This one’s for every man, woman or
child facing some sort of adversity,” she wrote. “You control your circumstances, they don’t control you. Find your passion, and let it consume you.” To those who have known Ennis for years, her attitude and success come as no surprise. Paula Drinkard, Ennis’ guidance counselor at Milton High School in Florida said Ennis graduated a year early to join the Marines at age 17. “She was very motivated and knew what she wanted from the beginning.” Drinkard said that she and many others in the community were heartbroken when they learned of Ennis’ injuries in Afghanistan. “But I knew she would fight back. I am very proud of her,” she said. Ennis told the Pensacola News Journal in 2015 that her accomplishments are not hers alone: “It’s not just about me,” she said. “It’s my story, but I represent the hundreds and thousands that have service-connected disabilities.”