“My story did not end with paralysis – it began a new mission to help others find their strength after hardship, as it was these community and Veteran support organizations that saved my life and gave me new vision, purpose, and community.” – Tanner Courtney, U.S. Navy Veteran, Hospital Corpsman (2017-2022)
At the 2025 National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic in San Diego, a sense of new possibilities hummed among enthusiastic disabled and injured U.S. Veterans invited for a week of energizing adaptive activities and experiences.
Held August 24-30, disabled and injured Veterans attended the unique event to try new adaptive activities such as cycling, surfing, kayaking, yoga, and more, aiding their ongoing rehabilitation and recovery.
As an annual event sponsor, TriWest Healthcare Alliance (TriWest) attends the clinic each year to support inspiring Veterans and discover their personal journeys of remarkable resilience, determination, and perseverance.
This year, TriWest had the privilege to meet one inspiring Veteran with a newfound mission to help others find their strength and purpose after adversity and hardship.
Committed Navy Service, Intensive Marine Corps Training
Tanner Courtney, 32, a San Diego, California, U.S. Navy Veteran served as a hospital corpsman from 2017-2022, primarily alongside U.S. Marine Corps commands.
As a Navy corpsman, Tanner’s service soon became a unique opportunity to bridge his medical training with Marine Corps warfare readiness operations. He first served in the Naval Medical Center San Diego emergency room, then completed combat medicine training at Camp Pendleton, California, to serve in Marine units.
Tanner joined his first Marine unit at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. Serving as the unit’s corpsman, he provided medical care and trained Marines in combat lifesaving.
Tanner then returned to Camp Pendleton, starting in a new Marine unit as a line corpsman. Soon, he completed Marine Corps Cold Weather Medicine Training in Bridgeport, California.
Following the challenging training Tanner participated in intensive Mountain Warfare exercises, and Integrated Training exercises at Twentynine Palms, California.
Completing the exercises, he volunteered for yet more intensive combat training through Marine Scout Sniper Platoon Indoctrination.
Demanding Duty in a Marine Scout Sniper Platoon
After the rigorous Scout Sniper training, Tanner was assigned to his final – and favorite – duty station, Platoon Team One, serving alongside exacting Scout Sniper Marines.
“Serving with a Marine Corps Scout Sniper platoon was an honor that tested every skill I had physically, mentally, and emotionally,” Tanner notes. “My role was to ensure the unit’s medical readiness and provide trauma care in the field during reconnaissance or precision operations.”
“What made it so rewarding was the brotherhood and professionalism of those Marines,” he explains.
“They demanded the best out of themselves and everyone around them. The intensity of that environment shaped how I approach everything in life today with discipline, accountability, and quiet confidence. I continue to remain very close with the scout sniper community, and we mutually support each other in any way we can,” he adds.
After his Scout Sniper platoon role Tanner transitioned out of active duty, receiving a commission into the Navy Chaplain Candidate Program. However, to accept his commission, Tanner needed a master’s degree in theological studies to return in uniform as a Navy chaplain.
“My time in uniform profoundly shaped my purpose and perspective, giving me a lifelong commitment to serving others beyond the military,” Tanner explains.
Service with Devotion, Then a Disabling Collision
As Tanner transitioned to pursuing his education, he also considered different roles that fit his passions for activity, the outdoors, and helping others.
“I got out of the Navy in 2022, and I became a park ranger in East County, San Diego,” Tanner proudly shares.
At the adaptive cycling activity at the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic, Tanner offered more on his story and how a nearly fatal vehicle collision instantly changed the active lifestyle he led.
“Essentially a year-and-a-half ago I was on my way to work, and I was in a head-on collision with a semi-truck on the highway,” Tanner shared.
Tanner has no recall of the oncoming semi or the 55-mph impact of the collision – just leaving for work in the morning and waking up in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU) that evening. When he awoke, he learned the devastating results of the collision.
“The collision caused a severe spinal cord injury, so I learned I was paralyzed from the waist down,” Tanner explained.
“The head-on semi-truck collision in 2024 changed my life in an instant. I woke up in the ICU to learn that I had survived a near-fatal crash. Those first moments were surreal, filled with pain, disbelief, and a wave of emotion that words can hardly capture,” Tanner notes. “But I also felt overwhelming gratitude. I was alive,” he emphasizes.
Regaining Physical Activity, Fitness, and Confidence
Tanner’s severe collision and paralysis dramatically changed his life beyond deep gratitude for his survival. He had to face a new reality where he was limited from the vigorous, active lifestyle he had previously led.
“I used to be a big runner
before my accident, big fitness in general,” Tanner emphasized while awaiting his Summer Sports Clinic adaptive cycling ride.
Tanner explained how exploring new adaptive sports has become essential to maintaining his physical fitness and mental wellness.
“I haven’t been a huge cycler, but now it’s one of the only things I can do. I can’t run,” he openly shares.
In characteristic military mindset, Tanner has not dwelled at length on his severe physical setback and limitations. He has focused on new adaptive sports and purpose to meet his need for vigorous activity, fitness, and renewed confidence.
“Just a month ago (in July 2025) I cycled with Adaptive Sports Iowa Team across the state of Iowa for the world’s longest touring event – 400 miles across my home state,” Tanner says proudly.
“Cycling is giving me the chance to set a goal – a physical goal – and achieve that,” Tanner emphasizes. “I go through the whole process of training and struggling and striving and doing the event itself which has the camaraderie, the competition I enjoy. It brings all of those things I was missing back to my life.”
Through ongoing rehabilitation, including with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Tanner’s spine injury has dramatically improved, allowing return to activity that has been demanding and fulfilling.
Tanner says he can now move on his feet, but his return to walking has been more of a hobble than an easy-going stride.
“The recovery process was long and grueling,” Tanner notes. “Learning to adapt to my new reality, regaining strength and movement in my lower body, and adjusting to life in a wheelchair, walker, and now back on my feet required a level of focus and faith I did not know I had,” he emphasized.
As a Community Care Network Region 4 beneficiary through VA, Tanner also offers credit to convenient access and his TriWest network providers for their physical and mental health support.
“My experience with TriWest getting community care has been fantastic,” Tanner says. “I’ve had no issues getting community care and every provider that I’ve had from mental health therapists to other providers has honestly been very impactful and life-changing,” he shares.
Throughout Tanner’s ongoing rehabilitation, he has celebrated every step of progress with gratitude while maintaining focus on his most important motivations.
“Every small milestone, from sitting up independently to transferring and performing basic functions on my own, became a victory,” he shares. “My faith, my family, and my two rescue dogs, who also survived the accident with me, became my anchors.”
From Rigorous Recovery to Discovering New Commitment
It was a deeply personal and challenging rehabilitation from Tanner’s head-on collision to participating in the 2025 National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic in August. Tanner emphasizes it hasn’t been easy, but worth the journey to a new mission and purpose.
“I attribute my recovery to hard work, belief, and a positive mindset,” Tanner explains.
“That season of recovery gave birth to my purpose today – starting ‘Ready & Forward Camp Lockett,’ a nonprofit dedicated to creating a healing community for Veterans, first responders, and families through service, recreation, and unity,” Tanner shares.
He notes the military term “Ready and Forward” not only describes the nonprofit – it is the historic motto of the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers. The proud legacy of committed service from the segregated Black regiment of U.S. Army soldiers spanning the Civil War era still lives on in Campo, California, Tanner adds.
“The mission is to embrace that legacy of committed service, carrying forward the heritage of the Buffalo Soldiers for the promise of renewed purpose for Veterans, families, and first responders,” Tanner explains.
“Over the past year, I have immersed myself fully into rebuilding my life through service and involvement in the Veteran and local community. I became active in multiple organizations, volunteering anywhere and everywhere I could.”
“My story did not end with paralysis – it began a new mission to help others find their strength after hardship, as it was these community and Veteran support organizations that saved my life and gave me new vision, purpose, and community,” Tanner emphasizes.