Injured veteran from Everett competes in Marine Corps Trials
Published 1:30 am Friday, April 21, 2017
CAMP PENDLETON, CA — The 2017 Marine Corps Trials was held March 4-15 at Camp Pendleton, California.
The Trials are an adaptive sports event open to recovering service members and veterans. More than 325 wounded, ill or injured Marines, sailors, veterans and international competitors took part in a variety of events, including archery, cycling, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, track and wheelchair basketball.
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Daniel Erlandson, a veteran who was born and raised in Everett, placed third in archery. He also competed with a seated volleyball team.
Erlandson, a 2002 Marysville Pilchuck High School graduate, joined the Marine Corps in 2008 and did three tours of Afghanistan before being medically retired in 2015. He was shot in the shoulder during his second tour in Afghanistan, just weeks after suffering a mild head injury when the truck he was in hit an improvised explosive device.
Still, after his recovery he wanted to go back, and he completed a third tour before leaving.
“It’s tough being over there. But at the same time, you want to go over there. … If I had a chance, I’d go back there now,” Erlandson said. “It’s a double-edged sword.”
Erlandson spoke to The Daily Herald by phone from Ohio, where his wife has family. The couple moved there last year for school. In May, Erlandson will start training at a firefighter paramedic program. He hopes eventually to join a city fire department, perhaps back on the West Coast.
“It’s been hard transitioning out of the Marine Corps and missing the camaraderie and brotherhood of the Marine Corps. I’ve heard a lot of firefighters say you get that when you join a fire department,” he said.
In the meantime, Erlandson continues to keep connections to his military service. It was his first time competing at the Marine Corps Trials. He looks forward to competing again next year.
The Trials serves as the primary venue to select Marine Corps participants for the Department of Defense Warrior Games in June.
To submit news for In Uniform, email mslager@heraldnet.com.
