The article below is worth quoting in full. It's not long. But it's wonderful.
Oo-rah, Gunny. Semper Fi!
Gunny makes daring swim blindfolded and cuffed
Retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jay Platt was blindfolded, handcuffed and shackled this past Veterans Day. Then he jumped into the Mississippi River. In 50-degree water and high winds, he swam 1.88 miles to the other side.
“I do not recommend it,” he said with a laugh.
Platt made the swim to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity for military men and women injured in the line of duty.
“Though I’m not combat-wounded, I know what they must feel like. Mentally, that can play a big negative role in your life if you allow it to,” Platt said.
In 1998, Platt was forced to medically retire after 15 years, having lost an eye from Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, which caused brain and spinal tumors, as well as kidney cancer.
Just 32 at the time, doctors told Platt that the best years of his life were behind him. Platt said he made the decision at that moment that he wasn’t going to give up.
About halfway through the Mississippi swim, Platt, 45, began to think he may have bitten off more than he could chew. But focusing on war veterans helped him calm down and push forward.
“ ‘I’m giving these men and women hope,’ ” he told himself. “I said, ‘I’m not going to give up. I’m going to keep fighting this.’ ” It wasn’t the first time Platt performed a feat to help wounded vets. In 2005, he swam from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco with his feet and hands tied, becoming one of three people to make that swim in such a way. He said the swimming style looks something like that of a dolphin.
Platt’s next goal: Climb Mount Everest for his 50th birthday.
And should he ever feel a lack of confidence, he just repeats an old mantra: “Like we say in the Marines: Never quit, never die, always Semper Fi.”
How did he navigate? How long did it take? Where on the Mississippi was this? He must have landed pretty far downstream from where he started. From the photo, it looks like he's wearing a wetsuit and neoprene cap, right?
Posted by: Katie | 26 November 2011 at 02:24