CASPER — Endurance is a big part of what defines Bryan Price. Pushing himself to — and often beyond — his limits has been a theme throughout his 44 years on Earth.
In high school, he enjoyed cardio sports, and after joining the U.S. Army in 2000 he said he would “do road races” for fun.
But since 2006, it’s been his ability to endure that’s been tested as Price has learned to live without the use of his legs after his Humvee was blown up by an IED while on patrol in Iraq.
Now the Casper resident and former U.S. Paralympic Team competitor in Nordic skiing — in Sochi, Russia, in 2014 and Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018 — has endured living in a house with his wife and son that is not designed for someone in a wheelchair.
That’s about to change.
Homes For Our Troops plans to build him a home at Clark’s Corner southwest of Casper. A planned a community kickoff event is this weekend.
“Two weeks ago, they just put in the foundation,” Price said.
Price’s journey that qualified him for the home started with his decision to join the U.S. Army when he was a senior in high school and living on a farm “way out in the middle of nowhere” in Missouri.
“My options as a kid were kind of limited,” he said. “I could do farm work or construction. … I didn’t think I had the patience for college, so I decided to go ahead and go into the military.”
Bryan Price, top left, in the field with a team during his army career. (Courtesy Bryan Price) 
Bryan Price cleans a weapon as a young soldier in the U.S. Army. (Courtesy Bryan Price) 
Bryan Price and his fellow paratroopers. (Courtesy Bryan Price)
‘Triangle Of Death Assignment’
Price trained as a paratrooper and spent most of his Army career in the 82nd Airborne Division, doing a tour of Afghanistan and Iraq as part of that famed division.
In 2006, he was reassigned to the 101st Airborne and was again in Iraq with an assignment that involved training Iraqi soldiers in the area called the “Triangle of Death.”
Price said it was a region of irrigated farmland between Baghdad, Fallujah to the west and Iskandariyah to the south. It was also along the Euphrates River, and weapons that were coming into Iraq would come into that area.
He said he and another U.S. soldier would accompany Iraqi troops on patrol in the Humvees.
The area was noted to be a danger zone for IEDs.
“Basic traveling was unbelievably dangerous, because there were some places that there would be an IED, like every 50 meters, so it would take just days to go anywhere,” he said.
On June 16, 2006, he was in the turret of the Humvee on patrol when he saw the vehicle ahead dip to the left. He bent down to yell to the driver to stop when the explosion happened.
The Humvee lifted from the blast and he was sucked down into the vehicle and slammed into a seat.
Dazed, Price said he checked to see if he had lost his legs when he saw his left foot sticking out of the right side of his body and behind him. He said it was because he had twisted his legs from the impact.
“And then I immediately took my hand and put it on my back,” he said. “I was squirting blood out of my back.”
Spinal Cord Injury
Price said he had taken a large piece of shrapnel that just barely went under the bottom side of his body armor hitting his spinal cord. Meanwhile, his fellow soldiers were in a firefight.
He ended up being sent to Germany for surgery and then eventually to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. From there, he was sent to a spinal cord unit in Augusta, Georgia.
“I couldn't feel anything from the belly button down for quite a while after that,” Price said. “After a while, I started getting a feeling, because your spine goes through like a shock phase when it takes a big impact.
“And so I started getting a little bit of feeling here and there, like I can feel all the way down to my hips now, and I can feel portions of my right leg, a little bit of my left leg.”
Following his treatment, Price was discharged from the Army as a staff sergeant.
Back in Missouri, he became involved in wheelchair sports such as softball and basketball, and someone mentioned that there were National Veterans Wheelchair Games.
Price went, and while there met a coach from the Team USA Paralympics biathlon and ski team who was there to recruit athletes.
Price said he excelled in one of the events, and the coach gave him his card and told him about biathlon. Biathlon involves cross-country skiing and precision shooting.
“I had no idea what it was because I was from Missouri,” he said. “I started doing that after that, after he invited me to try it.”
New Opportunity
Price had never skied or used a “sit-ski” prior to meeting the coach, but the coach lived in Casper. Price went to a camp in California where Paralympic veterans practiced on sit-skis with wheels.
Price invested in all the equipment to do the sport and trained hard on a ski machine in his garage.
That winter, he visited Casper and tried snow skiing.
The coach started inviting him to veterans’ events that involved cross-country skiing and biathlon competitions. At the events, the coach was also scouting for Team USA for people who could train for world competition.
Price then started racing in 2012 and got invited to a national competition in cross-country skiing.
“I didn’t even know I was that fast,” he said. “(That’s) because I was mostly racing against people with legs that were functional all the time.”
After a race at the national competition, Price said he was approached by a program director who told him he was going to buy Price a ticket to the World Cup competition in Germany that next week. Paralympic competitors needed to qualify at a World Cup competition.
Bryan Price shows his mettle during a competition. (Courtesy Bryan Price) 
Bryan Price said a couple of years ago he “blew out his shoulder” ending his years as a competitor on ski and biathlon trails. (Courtesy Bryan Price) 
Bryan Price became an international competitor after learning about cross-country skiing and biathlon. Here he puts in some road work. (Courtesy Bryan Price) 
Bryan Price, a Missouri native, enjoys the Wyoming lifestyle of being outdoors, hunting, and skiing. (Courtesy Bryan Price) 
Following his life-altering war injury, Brian Pryce found sports was a good outlet. (Courtesy Bryan Price)
Olympic Qualifier
He went and qualified for the 2014 Sochi, Russia, games in cross-country skiing.
He said he was competing in biathlon then as well, but didn’t qualify because he didn’t have his own rifle and wasn’t able to train to get to a place where he could qualify.
That’s when Price moved to Casper to train and do some coaching. He has helped train members of the Wyoming National Guard biathlon team.
At the 2018 Paralympics in South Korea, Price qualified for both cross-country skiing and biathlon.
Price said his competing and coaching are now behind him. He “blew out” a shoulder that took him out of competition and he has found that he needs to be home to help his wife with their 5-year-old autistic son.
New Home
After spending his few years in Casper, Price said he knew he wanted to make the city his home.
In his current house, the challenges of trying to help in the kitchen, do laundry and other household tasks are impossible.
It’s hard to be the dad he wants to be, he said.
He remembered hearing about Home For Our Troops and reached out, and his application was approved.
The nonprofit is funded through donations, private and family foundations, and community fundraisers.
Price said his project will include a volunteer day and then special key ceremony when the home is finished.
“I’ve never lived in a handicap-accessible place before,” he said. “So that would be hugely beneficial to me.”
Looking back on how that Humvee mission in June 2006 changed his life brings no regrets for Price, who was awarded the Purple Heart.
“I don’t actually mind being in a chair,” he said. “I loved being in the military. I was kind of upset when the military wouldn’t let me stay in, but I’ve had so many opportunities to do other stuff since I’ve gotten hurt.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
