By Lt. Cmdr. Jenn Womble

Commander Navy Installations Command

U.S. Navy Master-at-Arms, Senior Chief Petty Officer David Mills, who currently resides in Suffolk, will join more than 250 seriously wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans at the 2018 Department of Defense Warrior Games June 1-9 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Mills will be competing against athletes from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Special Operations Command, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

“Participating in the Warrior Games is a very humbling experience for me,” Mills said. “I am not only representing myself and 39 other people on Team Navy, I am representing the Navy as a whole, and those who served before me. I constantly think of the brothers and sisters that are not with us anymore, more specifically my wife, who passed away in 2007 from a service connected condition. At the games, I will be carrying the flag that was draped on her casket and presented to me.”

During the nine days of competition, Mills will compete in shooting, archery, field and wheelchair basketball.

“Our Navy Wounded Warrior athletes have shown incredible resiliency in their personal roads to recovery through Commander, Navy Installations Command’s Adaptive Sports Program. The actions of these athletes demonstrate the Navy’s core attributes of integrity, accountability, initiative and toughness,” said Vice Adm. Mary Jackson, Commander, Navy Installations Command.

“The Chief of Naval Operations has said that we will remain the world’s finest Navy only if we all fight each and every minute to get better. There is no better example of this performance than what our sailors and coast guardsmen in the Navy Wounded Warrior Program do each and every day.”

Mills was selected for team Navy after the competitive Wounded Warrior Trials in February at Naval Station Mayport in Mayport, Fla. Team Navy includes service members and veterans with upper-body, lower-body and spinal cord injuries; traumatic brain injuries; visual impairment; serious illnesses; and post-traumatic stress.

“Adaptive sports gave me the push I needed to see that my body can still perform no matter how mentally and physically impaired it may be,” said Mills. “I have seen some amazing people in the program, people that inspire me every day. I have befriended a lot of these amazing people and the network has strengthened me emotionally, which has been a vital part of my recovery.”

These games provide an opportunity for athletes to grow physically, mentally and spiritually from the sportsmanship and camaraderie gained by representing their respective service teams in a friendly and spirited competition. It is an opportunity for athletes to showcase their enduring warrior spirit in the presence of their families and grateful nation.

“Adaptive sports has been a tool that has helped me in many ways,” Mills said. “The camaraderie and network is probably the biggest thing I got out of the Adaptive Sports Program.”

The Navy honors the sacrifices of wounded warriors from the Navy and Coast Guard by providing them top-notch non-medical support through Navy Wounded Warrior — Safe Harbor. All enrollees in NWW are encouraged to make athletics a key component of their recovery efforts. By promoting wounded warrior participation in competitions like the DOD Warrior Games, Navy Wounded Warrior helps enrollees heal through adaptive sports.