USAMU competitors also served as shooter clinic instructors at the 2010 Dixie Double. From the left are SSG Hank Gray, SFC Josh Olson, 1LT Chris Abalo and SFC Jason Parker.

At the Dixie Double, essentially a practice match for him, he quietly fired the highest aggregate score in the event.

While on a routine patrol in Tal Afar, Iraq in October 2003, SFC Josh Olson and his squad were ambushed by insurgents who fired rocket propelled grenades into his squad’s vehicles. This patrol photo from Tal Afar was taken in 2005. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army.

SFC Olson hasn’t lost his drive to be the best soldier he can be, he just doesn’t kick in doors looking for enemy insurgents for a living anymore. Instead, Olson now helps improve the marksmanship skills of fellow soldiers and represents the Army in high profile rifle matches at home and abroad.

Though he didn’t realize it at the time, SFC Olson was set on a career-altering path that horrible day in the congested arid city of Tel Afar, 40 miles west of Mosul and a couple hundred miles northwest of Baghdad. It was a path that began with basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, followed by two years at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, six months in Kosovo and a year in South Korea.

SFC Olson was deployed to Iraq early in 2003 and found himself leading a squad with the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, riding in the lead vehicle when ambushed. He left the vehicle to return fire when an RPG rocked his truck and blew his leg out from under him.

“I took an RPG blast pretty much to my entire right thigh,” he said. When his comrades got things under control they picked him up and loaded him onto a truck for emergency medical treatment.

“I was in pretty bad shape. I was med-evacuated and woke up about eight days later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center,” he explained.

Like this medical evacuation photo from Tal Afar, Iraq, SFC Olson was flown by helicopter to Mosul, Iraq and then transported by airplane to Landstuhl, Germany prior to his return to the U.S. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army.

During his blackout, SFC Olson was flown by helicopter to nearby 21st Combat Support Hospital in Mosul and prepped for airlift to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and lastly to Walter Reed AMC in Washington D.C. In the care of the Amputee Patient Care Program at Walter Reed, he was in and out of the hospital for a total of 18 months due to a number of complications.

SFC Olson received 18 months of inpatient and outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. prior to reactivating with the Army, eventually assigned to the USAMU.

“During my time at Walter Reed, a lot of the physical therapy and occupational therapy events we did involved shooting. I always loved to shoot growing up but nothing competitive,” he said. “It was with a BB gun in the backyard and occasionally I got to take a .22 out.”

“When at Walter Reed, we were actually shooting sporting clays and I shot really well. One of the occupational therapists said AMU was looking for amputees who wanted to stay on active duty and possibly try out for the Paralympics.”

“I jumped at the opportunity and was able to stay on active duty. It took the paperwork about seven months to get straightened out, but I finally got down to the unit and started shooting,” he said.

SFC Olson credits his coaches, facilities and teammates for his marksmanship development.

“I’m shooting with some the greatest shooters in the world so it’s really hard not to do well,” SFC Olson added.

He began shooting competitively in June 2005 and went through a ‘baptism of fire’ at Camp Perry and in international competition, he said. When he’s not shooting a precision air rifle, SFC Olson competes in .22 caliber international rifle. Following the CMP Dixie Double, he participated in the Championship of the Americas (CAT Games) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the prone able-body event. He also plans to shoot in the USA Shooting Winter Airgun Championships (formerly known as 3X Air) at Colorado Springs in December.

SFC Olson is looking forward to the possibility of competing in the Paralympic Games or Olympic Games in London in 2012. He will try out for both, and would fire as a disabled shooter in the Paralympics or as an able-bodied competitor on equal terms with other world-class shooters in the Olympics. He said if he doesn’t make the Olympic team, he’ll know he’s done his best to get there.

When not competing, SFC Olson helps train National Guard and Reserve soldiers prepare for combat prior to deployment.

“If I can help one person learn skills that will save their life or that of a buddy, it will be well worth it.”

According to LTC Dan Hodne, Commander of the USAMU, the Army is looking for wounded warriors like SFC Olson to represent the Army as Paralympic shooters, serve as marksmanship instructors, and exhibit the notion of "Army Strong."

To view SFC Olson’s official results at the CMP’s Dixie Double Event, log onto http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=6204. To view additional photos from the event, log onto http://cmp1.zenfolio.com/p228719287. For more information about the USAMU, log onto http://www.usaac.army.mil/amu.