ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — Army veteran Ryan Kules rows inside his Severna Park home not for competition, but for purpose. Every pull on the rowing machine carries the weight of two decades and a memory that changed his life forever.
"I was coming back with my unit from an early morning raid on a house, coming back into our installation, and we drove over a very big improvised explosive device, cut my truck in half," Kules said.
The explosion in Iraq in November 2005 killed two of his soldiers — Sergeants Hasse and Mills. Kules was thrown nearly 100 feet from the vehicle, losing his right arm and left leg instantly.
Hear from Kules on the importance of overcoming the rowing challenge
"My family was flown to Germany to really have an opportunity to say goodbye," he said.
Kules woke up weeks later at Walter Reed, surrounded by his wife and parents, missing two limbs but alive. Veterans call this an "alive day" — a date that marks not the moment they were injured, but the day they survived.
"This year is my 20th alive day, and so November 29th, but it's also a day that is very much bittersweet as well, because it's the day that two of my guys died and didn't make it home," Kules said.
"For me, it's a day of celebration but then also a day of remembrance to remember Sergeant Mills and Hasse and their families as well."
To honor that milestone, Kules is setting out to do something no double amputee has ever done before — row the distance of an ultra-marathon, 50,000 meters, inside M&T Bank Stadium.
He's training five to six days a week, building endurance and mental toughness one stroke at a time.
"I'm ready to sit on a rowing machine for 4+ hours, which is not the most exciting thing in the world to do, but I'll be ready for it," Kules said.
As a husband, father and veteran, he hopes to inspire others not to be defined by their injuries.
"At the end of the day we have one shot at life and an opportunity to be able to make the most of it," he said.
In December, Kules will row in honor of the men who didn't make it home and for every veteran fighting their own battle to keep going.
"The thing that kind of really drives me as well is my two guys that didn't make it. They don't have that opportunity. Their families don't have that opportunity," Kules said.
"So if I can be here and be pushing as hard as I can, I'm kind of doing that for them."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.