COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- His condition; critical. Recovery; unlikely. Master Sergeant Anthony Dunn, 51st Security Forces Squadron, superintendent Osan Air Base, South Korea, passed his fitness test with ease, but without warning he would wake up in a hospital bed fighting for his life, not even knowing why.
“I became seriously ill when I was stationed at Osan Air Base, South Korea in November of 2022,” said Anthony Dunn, retired United States Air Force Master Sergeant. “They didn’t expect me to survive, they thought I was going to die. My leadership enrolled me in the Wounded Warrior program in the event that I did survive because it is designed to provide care and services specialized to assist with the road to recovery.”
Recorded deaths in South Korea due to COVID-19 reached approximately 29 thousand in November of 2022, while the total number of reported cases reached approximately 34,571,873 to date according to published data.
“I was still in disbelief, I just passed my fitness test, and everything was fine, the next thing I know I’m waking up in the hospital with a bunch of tubes in me trying to understand what happened,” he said.
Dunn required urgent specialized medical care and needed to be relocated to a military hospital.
“I was medically evacuated from Osan to Hawaii and that’s where I met the Recovery Care Coordinator, the regional representative for the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program, he put me in contact with a mentor to help me cope with what was happening,” he said.
Dunn would eventually recover and return to duty to be medically retired, but during this time he sought out ways to become involved with the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program (AFW2).
AFW2 provides adaptive sports opportunities for recovering service members and Veterans who have been out of the Air Force for no more than a year. These sports give them more tools to use as part of the recovery process, with the goal of helping them find what they can do instead of what they “can’t.”
“I participated in the Adaptive Sports program and provided mentorship to Airmen and Marines recently diagnosed with physical and mental disabilities,” said Dunn. “I engage with the Veterans to build resiliency to overcome whatever obstacles they may have.”
Dunn recently participated in a Wounded Warrior Caregiver Support, Adaptive Sports and Ambassador Workshop, Recovering Airman Mentorship program, Resiliency Programming and Empowerment in Transition, CARE event at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington in August.
“Resiliency is just one phase of recovery, it teaches you how to cope and provides you with different outlets like the adaptive sports program,” he said. “I knew then, I wanted to be involved with this program so when the opportunity came up, I applied to join the mentorship program. Wounded Warrior looks for individuals that have unique stories and experiences.”
Through a holistic approach the AFW2 combines mental, physical and social aspects to create supportive environments for veterans.
“It’s really all about the continuity of care, to get the Airmen to recover past the point of acceptance and into building resiliency, ultimately to some sense of normal,” said Dunn.
AFW2 offers peer support groups and activities for recovering service members to find connection and camaraderie. Dunn described his role as a mentor and his hopes for other Wounded Warriors.
“When I mentor Wounded Warriors, they just know me as Tony,” said Dunn. “You want to be personable, we’re just here to have a conversation, it’s not about me, I’m there to listen and take in what they’re saying. They want someone to listen and that’s what I do. I want to help them get to a place where they can feel normal again.”