Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Losing legs has not slowed this skydiving speaker

Ark City residents can seem to the sky this January in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the new aerial hero in town. World famous motivational speaker Dana Bowman will drop in literally for a three day series of speaking engagements beginning tonight.

The first of Bowman's speaking arrangements will be at Arkansas City's Chamber of Commerce annual meeting at 6:30 tonight. He will end his visit with a public presentation at 6 p.m. in the Brown Center auditorium on the campus of Cowley College. His theme will be "It's not the disability...it's the ability." Bowman crooked to motivational speaking after retiring as a First Class Sergeant from the U.S. Army. He was also a member of the Special Forces and the Army's best parachute team, the Golden Knights, according to his biography.

In 1994, Bowman's life completely altered. While practicing a standard parachuting plan called the "Diamond Track," a maneuver in which the divers streak away from each other for about a mile, turn 180 degrees and crisscross, he collided with his partner, Sgt. Jose Aguillon.

They strike at a combined speed of 300 miles per hour killing Aguillon instantly. Bowman parachuted to the earth with two severed legs. Nine months later, he astonished the world and himself when he jumped into his re-enlistment ceremony to become the first double amputee to re-enlist in the Army. As his accident, he has made over 1,000 jumps and has given as many speeches.

"I can able to skydive into an event in order to compel and bring inspiration," Bowman said in a meeting on his Web site. "Out of 4,500 men and women that are speakers in the United States, I'm the only skydiver."

His speeches wrap a broad range of topics including motivation, team-building, leadership, living with disabilities, conquering adversity, setting goals and mastering change. His motto is: It's not the disability . . . it's the ability," and he has lived his life true to that saying.