International Paralympic Committee

Competitors roll into the opening ceremonies of the first Paralympics, held in Rome in 1960.

Five U.S. wars and 64 years later, the Paralympics are set to complete a bittersweet roundtrip, in both place and purpose.

The 2012 Paralympics, the planet’s second-largest sporting event, open Aug. 29 in London – where a doctor first imagined that an Olympic-like competition might push paralyzed British fighter pilots to recapture their independence. 

The American team soon bound for England contains 20 athletes who have worn the stars and stripes. They include world-class cyclists, sprinters and soccer players. All are veterans or active-duty service members, six of whom were wounded in combat.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created an unintended byproduct: a growing pack of elite, disabled athletes – men and women who yearn to challenge their battered bodies and, they hope, to outrace and outscore some of the best in the world.

“In our circle, the Paralympics is just as coveted as the Olympics and we train just as hard for it,” said retired Marine Rob Jones, who lost both his legs above the knee after an IED blast two years ago in Afghanistan. He began his quest to make the U.S. Paralympic rowing squad in 2011. “I wanted to compete, you know, do something.

“If you have a goal then you can develop a plan. If you have a plan then you can actually be going toward something, as opposed to just going.”

International Paralympic Committee

Three paralyzed British fighter pilots compete in the javelin toss at the Stoke Mandeville Games, predecessor of the Paralympics, near London, circa the early 1950s.

In two words: forward motion. In 1948, that was the then-radical notion of Dr. Ludwig “Poppa” Guttmann, a neurologist who treated spine-injured British flyers at Stoke Mandeville Hospital northwest of London. He ditched the accepted medical thinking of the day: that paralysis meant a stagnant life and an early death.

On the same afternoon that athletes from 59 nations marched into nearby Wembley Stadium for the opening ceremonies of the London Summer Olympics, Guttmann gathered 16 former service members on the lawn outside his hospital for an archery contest. One year later, more patients from more hospitals participated in the newly dubbed “Stoke Mandeville Games.” In 1952, a military hospital in Holland asked if it could send its own group of veterans to compete, according to the International Paralympic Committee website. By 1954, Egyptians, Australians, Canadians, Israelis and Finns also were vying for victories in table tennis, javelin and water polo.

“Dr. Guttmann’s mantra was: They were going to be productive citizens and they were going to use sport to accomplish that,” said John Register, associate director of community and military programs for the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Paralympics division. He also is an Army veteran of Desert Shield and Desert Storm – and an amputee who swam at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta and who earned a silver medal in the long jump at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney.

“Warrior athletes were at a high-functioning level before they were injured. The fighting soldier is just a person who is extremely professional in what they do,” Register said. “After injury, sports can be a very strong conduit to get back to that active lifestyle.

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“When you incorporate the esprit de corps at military installations where these warrior athletes are healing," Register added, "then they push each other to be better than they were the day before." 

'Who am I now?'
In 1960, 400 athletes from 21 nations arrived for the first Paralympic Games in Rome – held after the closing of the Summer Olympics in that same host city. As with every Paralympics since, the swimmers, racers and ball players used the Olympic venues to claim their own gold, silver and bronze medals.

While the Paralympics have steadily expanded, the wars in the Middle East have slowly nudged the international sporting event back toward its original intent, helping wounded veterans find and reclaim their former identities, Register said. 

London 2012: Who were the real winners, losers?

The 2012 Paralympics – the largest ever – will span 140 countries, more than 4,000 athletes and 20 sports. Ticket sales already have topped 2 million, outstripping the crowds in Beijing. And this year, current and former military members make up nearly 9 percent of the 227-person American roster – almost 2 percent higher than on the 2008 U.S. team.

Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last year. The Navy officer will once again represent the U.S., this time at the London 2012 Paralympics in September.

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That list includes Lt. Brad Snyder, a former Navy bomb defuser who lost his vision after an IED explosion in Afghanistan on Sept. 7. Once a Naval Academy swimmer, Snyder has a chance to grab gold in at least two swimming events, including the 400-meter freestyle – to be held one year to the day after he was permanently blinded.

“Having the Paralympics out there was definitely a kick in my direction,” Snyder said. “It allows people to heal through sport and establish a metric for success. It’s really an awesome opportunity.”

Register has been preaching that message for years in his job at the USOC. He enlisted in the Army in 1988 after an All-American track career at the University of Arkansas. Following Desert Storm, he stayed in the Army, which allowed him to train part-time for a spot on the 1996 U.S. Olympic track team. In May 1994, as he was leaping over a practice hurdle, Register landed awkwardly, severing an artery in his left knee. The injury led to an amputation.

His physical therapist suggested Register add swimming to his exercise regimen. He was so fast in the pool, however, that he snared a spot on the 1996 U.S. Paralympic swim team.

After devastating injuries of that sort, especially after people lose parts of their bodies, they often ask: “Who am I now? Am I still that husband to my wife, or that wife to my husband? Can I still be employed?" Register said. "Those are the questions. Through, sports, they search for the answers.

“What sport does is show that person, individually, that they can accomplish a lot more than they think. They realize: I can get back to the lifestyle that I thought I had lost. And in time, they come to the realization that they haven’t lost anything.” 

Dan Koeck for msnbc.com

Blind swimmer Tharon Drake, right, seeks the hand of fellow swimmer Lt. Bradley Snyder to congratulate him on winning the 400-meter freestyle event in record time on Thursday at the 2012 U.S. Paralympics Swimming Trials in Bismarck, N.D. Snyder earned a spot on Team USA's swim team for the Paralympics later this summer in London.

London is calling for Lt. Brad Snyder.

The former Navy bomb defuser, who last September lost both eyes in an Afghan explosion, formally gained a roster spot Sunday on the U.S. Paralympic team bound for England, after swimming what he agreed was the race of his life.

“I’m super excited,” said Snyder, 28. “Normally, I’m a little too prideful to admit I am nervous before a race. But I was a little nervous. There was a pretty sizable uncertainly” that he would swim well enough to qualify.

To earn a ticket to London later this summer, Snyder needed to swim at least 41 seconds faster than his previous best in his top event, the 400-meter freestyle. In competitive swimming, where outcomes usually are measured in tenths of seconds, 41 seconds is an eternity.

But Snyder didn’t simply meet his goal. He demolished it, going 54 seconds faster than he ever had since losing his sight. Snyder clocked a 4:35.62 – now the current, world-best time at that distance for fully blind swimmers.

Need more context? That time was just 1.5 seconds behind the mark he posted at that distance while swimming for the Naval Academy seven years ago, when he could see the lane lines, the competition and, most importantly, the wall.

Editor's note: This is the third installment that chronicles Lt. Brad Snyder's efforts to earn a spot on Team USA's roster for the 2012 London Paralympics. Read the first story here and read the second story here.

Lucky No. 12
Still, he had to wait until Sunday morning when the U.S. Paralympic swimming coaches announced the 14 names on the American men’s roster. To hear the news, hundreds of athletes, family members and coaches packed an academic hall at Bismarck State College, host of the meet. Dozens more people couldn’t be seated and waited for news while standing in a nearby hallway. Eleven names already had been read before Snyder finally heard his.

He stood, felt a massive wave of emotion rising in his throat and then walked, led via one arm by his brother, Mitchell, toward most of the rest of the men’s team already gathered at the front of the room.

Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last September. The Navy officer is now training to represent the U.S. at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Launch slideshow

“As I was walking him over, I was just staring down at the floor. I didn’t want look at anyone because I thought I was going to cry,” said Mitchell Snyder. “I was mostly thinking how far he’s come since September. I couldn’t have been prouder.”

At the swimming trials, Mitchell served as his brother’s “tapper” – a person assigned to touch a blind swimmer on the head or shoulder with a walking cane to warn him or her that the wall is near and that a flip turn or a finishing kick is needed. No other communication is allowed between the tapper and a swimmer.

“The moment his name was announced everyone erupted and I guess he got a standing ovation,” said Mitchell Snyder, 25. “He couldn’t see it. And I didn’t want to see it because I thought I was going to lose it.”

Snyder joins a rising corps of wounded U.S. servicemen and servicewomen who will again battle for their nation overseas – this time as Paralympians vying for gold medals in track, cycling, archery, wheelchair tennis and an array of other sports. More than 30 active-duty and retired soldiers and sailors are expected to make the 2012 American Paralymic team – double the number that competed for Team USA at the Beijing Paralympic Games four years ago.

Golden favorite
“You can look at it and say, unfortunately, we’re having a lot of guys hurt. But at the same time we’re having a lot of guys hurt who are finding relevancy in going out there and succeeding post-injury,” Brad Snyder said. “We’re finding a way to get past, finding a way to strive for success just the way we were in the military.

“After joining the military, you want to be the best in the world at your job because it means life or death. (After injury) we’re stripped of the ability to do that the way we used to do. But we can still find an avenue through elite competition.”

This week, Snyder will return to his intern job at a Baltimore software company. And he will continue training at a Baltimore aquatic center with his coach, Brian Loeffler, in preparation for the London Games. At the 2012 Paralympics, he also will be considered a front runner for a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle. At the Bismarck trials, Snyder swam that event in 57.75 seconds – now the current, world-best time for blind athletes.

But he’ll never forget, he said, his very first race in Bismarck – the chase that offered Snyder his first solid proof that he could, once again, be the best in the world at something.

With an entry time of 5:29, Snyder wasn’t fully sure he could finish close to the 4:43 mark held by Spaniard Enhamed Enhamed – formerly the holder of the record in the 400-meter freestyle. Among blind swimmers, Enhamed has been a giant for years, collecting four gold medals at the Beijing Paralympics.

Unforgettable performance
Last Thursday morning, amid the preliminary heat for that same event, Mitchell Snyder glanced at the pool clock several times from his tapper position as his brother churned his arms and kicked his feet. 

“But I was at the finishing end, so I had to make sure he was going to hit the wall safe and I couldn’t watch the clock when he touched,” Mitchell Snyder said. “Earlier in the race, though, it became abundantly clear during the first hundred meters, and the second hundred and the third hundred that, unless something drastically wrong happened, we had a No. 1 time in the world on our hands.”

“They’re strict in what the tapper can or can’t say,” Brad Snyder added. “So when I finished, I didn’t know what my time was. I can’t look at the scoreboard. And none of the people in front of the (starting) blocks can tell me. But I was fortunate that the announcer of the meet – and only by virtue of the fact that I was the first one to the wall – announced the time, 4:39. I kind of heard it. And I thought, 4:39, wow that’s kind of fast.”

Knowing he had a world-best time already tucked away in the prelim, Snyder said he was able to relax and swim the event’s final race that night much more freely.

But again, after he touched the wall at the finish, he didn’t know how he had fared.

Then somebody – somebody who was sitting behind the blocks – and I don’t even know who it was, whispered to me, “4:35!” I had shaved four more seconds off my time. They weren’t supposed to tell me. But I could definitely hear the excitement in their voice.”

Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com and author of “The Third Miracle.” 

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Lt. Brad Snyder slices through the watery warmth with powerful movements and methodical rhythm. Each arm stroke is tallied, each breath measured as he glides forward in a sharp, precise line. He knows that a coach is watching, that a big clock is ticking, that a concrete wall is looming.

He sees none of it.

But away from the hard edges and surprise bumps of his dark, new world, Snyder senses, finally, he is gaining some serious ground.

“In the pool, I feel efficient, comfortable, like I know what I’m doing. Such an amazing feeling,” he said. “Everything else, I’ve had to figure out all over again — like being a child again, and you suck at everything. It’s so refreshing to be good at something.”

Blinded last September by a dirt-cloaked bomb in an Afghan ditch, Snyder, 28, slowly is creating a fresh vision for a life once blazed at high speeds and even higher tension. The former bomb defuser is, for now, interning at a Baltimore software company, staying at a corporate apartment and navigating with a cane. He also is logging 4,000 yards per day at a local pool and — this week — dreaming of London.

Amanda Lucidon / LucidPix for msnbc.com

Brad Snyder laughs with co-workers of RedOwl Analytics during their lunch break. Snyder, blinded last September by an IED blast in Afghanistan, is competing for a spot on Team USA for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

On Thursday, Snyder competes at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials in Bismarck, N.D., aiming to capture one of the 14 spots allotted for American male swimmers. A quick time in the 400 meter freestyle — about 4 minutes, 48 seconds, he and his coach estimate — will earn him a ticket to Great Britain this summer for the Paralympics, an international sports festival for disabled athletes held after the closing of the London Summer Games, using the Olympic venues.

No sure thing
Based on his practice times, Snyder believes he has strong shot at hitting — or nearing — his 4:48 goal on Thursday.

“I’m very hesitant to say,” Snyder said. “I don’t want to jinx myself.”

Snyder is quick to emphasize, as well, that he is in no way a lock to make the American team. Unlike the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, where roster slots are handed to swimmers who win their designated distances at that critical meet, Paralympic spots are determined by how a swimmer’s personal best ranks against the top international times recorded since Jan. 1, 2011 at that distance — and within each disability category. That’s literally a world of pressure: the Navy officer versus the best blind swimmers on the planet.

Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Dan Koeck for msnbc.com

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last September. The Navy officer is now training to represent the U.S. at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Launch slideshow

One byproduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is a deeper talent field among American Paralympic hopefuls. Consequently, the competition to make Team USA is tighter in 2012 compared to prior years. About 220 athletes will comprise the 2012 U.S. Paralympic team roster bound for London. About 15 percent of them (roughly 33 men and women) will be military veterans and active-duty soldiers — most of those in track and field, said Beth Bourgeois, associate communications director for U.S. Paralympics.

At the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, Team USA sent 16 athletes with military backgrounds, spanning wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, track, rowing, archery, sitting volleyball, and cycling. Just one was a swimmer.

Finding his groove
“Part of getting an injury like this is the idea that you’ve lost a part of you, and now you are — for lack of a better word — weird. I can’t do things the way I used to do,” Snyder said. “It’s a hard hit to your confidence, a hard hit to who you are. So being able to excel at something, to do it very well, is huge in gaining your confidence back, and gaining back that piece of you that you lost.”

It’s quite natural, actually, for Snyder to dive into the water to find himself. Back in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla., his father first coaxed him into a pool at a young age, back when Snyder’s smarts left him bored with schoolwork, often too chatty in class, and perhaps a bit directionless.

“Brad was a little bit of a trouble maker when he was a kid and our dad was just looking for something for Brad to put some energy into, instead of just wandering on his own,” recalled Mitchell Snyder, the Navy officer’s 25-year-old brother.

At first, the rigid discipline of swimming intrigued Brad Snyder. Soon, the sport consumed him. In high school, he helped his team capture conference and district championships, finishing second in the state of Florida during the 2000 and 2001 seasons.

But his dad, Michael, had other lessons waiting for the oldest of his four children. The father routinely preached motions such as “leave something better than you found it” and “everything is about service to something bigger than yourself.” Snyder remembers how his father once spied a stray hamburger wrapper drifting through a McDonald’s parking lot. He instructed his son to pick it up simply because it was the proper thing to do.

Those bits of parental wisdom ultimately inspired Snyder to seek to serve his country. He applied for an appointment to the Naval Academy. The coaches there were equally interested in the talented prep swimmer. Snyder was accepted in the fall of 2001 and by late 2002 he was swimming for Navy.

American bad ass
His initial pool style in college matched his high-octane personality: Storm off the blocks as hard and fast as possible and dare the other swimmers to try to keep up. He didn’t know how to pace himself — in the water or when it came time to choose a Navy career following his 2006 graduation. For active duty, he opted to become an explosive ordinance disposal officer, or EOD. Defusing bombs appealed to his problem-solving nature, and the job allowed him, occasionally, to swim.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, where the anti-American weapon of choice often was and is an improvised explosive device, EODs were in high demand. Snyder was deployed to Iraq in October 2008, staying until March 2009. He was redeployed to Afghanistan in April last year.

“The [EODs] are really the front line,” Mitchell Snyder said. “They might trip wires. Or, when trying to defuse a bomb, it might blow up in their face. Knowing that he was the first man to go and check things out really frightened me. His uniform had some extra level of protection but there was nothing on his face but sunglasses.

“Every person on his team, from tip to toe, is a bad ass. And he fit right in with them.”

The bomb that took his vision, however, was not one Brad Snyder ever saw. While rushing to help two Afghan soldiers wounded in an initial IED blast last Sept. 7, Snyder stepped on a second, hidden device in an irrigation ditch spanning a farm field.

“My right eye was effectively popped, like a flower almost, and there were pieces of fragmentation that had gone into my left eye,” Snyder said. His face was burned and lacerated from chin to hairline. The rest of his body, however was untouched. He had one final moment of vision before the world permanently went pitch black. In that second, he looked down and saw that his arms and legs were still attached.

Lucky to be alive
A little more than a week later, at Bethesda Naval Hospital near Washington, D.C., doctors told Snyder they could do nothing to salvage his sight, not even restore a faint sense of light. His damaged eyes were surgically removed and replaced with prosthetics.

“I knew the risks I was assuming. I knew I was very fortunate to be in that hospital bed and not in a coffin in the ground.  And I knew I could not control the past,” Snyder said.

“At that point, I made a decision: OK, so now we move forward. How do I start to gain my independence back? How do I get to the bathroom? How do I feed myself? Where is the fork and spoon? I had to figure out how to eat spaghetti out of cup. That was the only way I knew how to eat it. But I was adamant: I want to do this myself.”

By late October, Snyder needed a refuge of sorts from the walls he repeatedly smacked with his body and face while learning to walk with a cane. He stepped back into a pool and swam, pounding out a few hundred meters.

The water and the strokes felt so natural, so normal, he ached to race. He playfully challenged non-competitive swimmers — yet opponents who nonetheless could see. He beat them. Next, Snyder wanted to take on other blind swimmers. The Paralympics, he knew, could offer him that chance. In Baltimore, he began training with a coach. He began kicking again.

“I’m going to show people that I’m not going to let this beat me. I’m not going to let blindness build a brick wall around me. I am going to find a way forward.”

COMING FRIDAY: How do you swim — and challenge world records — when you can’t see the lane dividers, your competitors or the finish line?

Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to MSNBC.com and author of “The Third Miracle.”

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