EXCLUSIVE: with US Marine Corps veteran training in Teddington for the 2025 Invictus Games
TW: This article mentions rape and suicide
Christopher Bryde had both his legs amputated after surviving an IED explosion during his deployment in Afghanistan in 2007.
The 36-year-old grew up in rural Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula and now currently lives in Twickenham and is studying for a PhD at St Mary's University.
He's been a student at St Mary's for six years, having also done his Bachelors and Masters degrees there.
In an exclusive interview with Teddington Nub, Bryde said that he joined the US Marine Corps when he was a teenager and did five years before he was blown up by an IED in Afghanistan.
Speaking about how he came to be an amputee, he said: "I was in Afghanistan on a mission to train the Afghan police and seven months in, I got blown up."
Bryde explained that he was a gunner in a turret in a Humvee.
He said: "One night, my driver drove over an IED, and it exploded, and I got blown up, landed on my legs in the desert.
"The other three service members in the vehicle didn't make it. They all died pretty instantly.
"I then spent just over four years at a military hospital, going through a lot of rehabs, and trying to do limb salvage, and I had my left leg amputated there."
A couple of years after Bryde retired from the US Marine Corps, he had his right leg amputated as well.
He moved to Twickenham to study at St Mary's University shortly after he retired from the military.
Speaking about why he decided to join the US Marine Corps, Bryde said that he "didn't really grow up in a military family or anything like that."
He continued: "Coming from Alaska, you don't really have that American patriotism. Culturally, it's not at all similar to classic American culture.
"I always tell people I'm Alaskan American."
Bryde instead joined the US Marine Corpse because "the country was in the time of war".
"I felt like it was my duty to do it because I knew I was physically and mentally able to do it," he said.
"So, I thought I might as well do it. I didn't want someone else taking my place, basically."
Bryde is currently training for the upcoming 2025 Invictus Games after being hand-picked to compete and is training at The Lensbury in Teddington where he is a member.
He hadn't always been into sports per se, but after having "many, many" surgeries and therapies over the last 16 years following the explosion, he dedicated a lot of his time to charity work.
Bryde first got into sport when he moved to Twickenham.
He said: "It wasn't really until the year I moved over here, when I really started getting involved in more adaptive sports.
"That's the year I went to the Marine Corps trials, which is a preliminary for the Invictus Games, and I was hoping to go to the next Invictus Games or the one after that.
"But Coronavirus sort of paused everything and I had a load of surgeries in 2020 as well, and I just got out of shape."
But this didn't stop Bryde from continuing his sports training and he started training at The Lensbury because he "love[s] the pool there".
Speaking about why he enjoys training at The Lensbury, Bryde explained that he often reads in the news about people stealing amputees' legs in public pools.
"But I don't have to worry about that at The Lensbury," he said.
"For IED victims in general, high intensity sports are usually not very good. So, swimming is just generally good for health.
"The Lensbury also has a really nice steam room and sauna, and the steam room helps with recovery a lot.
"So, I did quite a bit of swimming. I stayed at The Lensbury for about two weeks, and I was like, you know what, just become a full member and I'll just give it one more go. That sort of sprung me into the whole thing, really."
Bryde said that sport isn't hugely popular in Alaska, with hunting and fishing being preferred, but his father-in-law is Ray Blackhall, who was previously a professional footballer for Newcastle.
He met his wife while living in Twickenham.
Speaking about why he is competing in the Invictus Games, Bryde said: "My primary interest in getting involved with this is because we have a huge suicide problem in my unit, and not just in the American military, but in America in general.
"And I just kind of wanted to set a good example."
Bryde sees many benefits in his training and keeping fit.
He said: "I've probably lost about 50kg during my training, and I've put on a bit of muscle.
My energy levels are better. My diet is better, and especially training at this level of intensity, you have to kind of take it pretty seriously if you want a medal, which I have been."
While this will be Bryde's first Invictus Games, he has already done two Marine Corps Trials.
Bryde's main sport is archery, which he won a gold medal for at the Marine Corps trials, but archery isn't included in the Invictus Games, so he's hoping to win a medal in wheelchair rugby.
He said: "Wheelchair rugby has become a big thing for me in the last year especially.
"I started with a wheelchair rugby league with Kevin Rudd, who was a big rugby league coach, at Saint Mary's University.
"We're the first university to do it, which has been very good.
"More recently, I joined the Harlequins wheelchair rugby team as well, and they've been incredibly supportive and provided some really excellent training."
Bryde expects he will get a medal in wheelchair rugby because of this.
He will also be competing in skiing and rowing.
Bryde has done a lot over the years to help support veterans including publishing his first novel Upgunner, which is a fictional, anti-war story based on his time in Afghanistan, in which he said he is using the proceeds to pay for retreats and reunions for other disabled veterans.
On Thursday, 23 January, Bryde flew out to Oregon in the United States for a weekend retreat he organized for "some of the guys" from his unit.
Speaking about Upgunner, he said: "A lot of people don't realise how bad war can be, like certain levels, for example, most people don't know that the Afghan police quite regularly would interrogate people by raping them.
"There's a lot of horrific stuff going on at war that just doesn't make it into most books etc because most people are selling war novels.
"It's all about like the American hero going in and shooting everyone, but that's just not the reality of it. So, I just wanted to be like, 'hey, this is what it actually is like'."
Bryde is currently working on the sequel to Upgunner as part of his PhD portfolio.
The sequel "kind of" expands on the first novel, but with more of a focus on his recovery in hospital.
He said: "People don't realise how bad that is and how much abuse there is of recovering patients. It's quite bad. At least it was when I was there. I hope it's improved, but I doubt it."
This year's Invictus Games will take place in Vancouver in Canada from 8 – 16 February.
The event will bring together up to 550 competitors from 25 nations to compete in adaptive sports, including the new winter sport Alpine skiing.
New teddington Jobs Section Launched!!
Vacancies updated hourly!!
Click here: teddington jobs
Share:
