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Snyder, Brad, and Tom Sileo. Fire in My Eyes: An American Warrior’s Journey from Being Blinded on the Battlefield to Gold Medal Victory. Perseus Books, 2016.

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Brad Synder was born on February 29, 1984 in Reno, Nevada. He used to live in the Weeki Wachee Springs Florida with his Grandparents.

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When Brad first started practice for his swim team when he was young, his team was not very good. However, his Dad gave him the advice to start to work hard everyday no matter what anyone said.

Quote 1

"I started making progess. Striving to continually improve then became almost addictive in nature"(11).

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When he was 17 years old in high school, he loved the Navy. One day he got an envelope that asked him if he wants to join the Navy. Shortly afterwards, he announced to his friends and family that he was joining the Naval Academy and was mentally preparing for the Navy.

Quote 2

"Every day for three months. I worked out even harder than I was already training as a swimmer"(15).

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Synders' high school teammates wanted him to be swim team captain because he was the most confident and best on the team. At the time he was thinking about quitting the swim team, but the thought of him becoming team captain encouraged him to stick with the team.

Quote 3

"They had chosen me as their leader, and I couldn't let them down"(21).

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#5- Becoming the new Naval platoon commander

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#5- Becoming the new Naval platoon commander

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After high school, he joined the Naval Academy. One morning he got the really good news that he was going to be the new platoon commander, but he didnt feel worthy enough. He knew he had big shoes to fill.

Quote 4

"Needless to say, he left tremendously big shoes to fill, and I didnt' feel worthy"(44).

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#6-Saying goodbye to family before going to war

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#6-Saying goodbye to family before going to war

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He went to his family's house to say goodbye and to get encouragement from all of his family. His dad gave him advice that was inspirational to him.

Quote 5

"Dont be a hero, he said. You just come back . . . you hear me"(47).

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In October 2008, he was deployed to the war in Iraq. He was scared and very nervous about the bullets whizzing past him. He was always thinking ahead to how he was best going to lead his team.

Quote 6

"Would I be crippled by fear, or would I be able to rise to the occasion and lead my troops"(51).

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#8- Ex-girlfriend Tara welcoming Synder home

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#8- Ex-girlfriend Tara welcoming Synder home

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After Synder came back, he decided to go catch up with his ex-girlfriend that he had stayed in touch with over time. They had a nice talk with each other.

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#9- Tyler J. Trahan made the ultimate sacrifice on April 30, 2009

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#9- Tyler J. Trahan made the ultimate sacrifice on April 30, 2009

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Synder got a call from one of his friends, Caleigh, that seemed to go well, but at the end of the call he informed Synder with the news that his best friend, Tyler J. Trahan had died from a roadside bomb.

Quote 7

"Tyler was killed in Iraq yesterday, Caleigh quietly replied. We just found out this morning"(68).

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Synder vaguely remembers the street lights looking funky and when he woke up he felt cold steel hand cuffs on him. The police officer told him that he was being arrested for a DUI.

Quote 8

"I had all but thrown away a life and career that I had spent nearly a decade building"(83).

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Synder was thinking about a good dream he had had recently until he felt a nudge that made him go back to reality. Then he saw a MPC, (multi purpose canine) German Shepard named Max.

Quote 9

"Max was a trained attacked dog"(109).

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He was with his platoon discovering a new town area. They came upon on a sleeping man that they though may have some important details. They woke up the man and asked for details around the area.

Quote 10

"When Ray checked with the interpreter and the group interrogating the man"(115).

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At nighttime they heard news that Osama Bin Laden died but they went to go check it out on their computers that had trouble connecting to internet to see if the news they were being told was truthful. After a while they found that it was true, that Bin Laden had been killed. They also figured out that he died 200 miles away in Pakistan.

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Synder was in his room changing when his boss came in the room. Brad's boss told him that he had unfortunate news, he told him that his dad had passed away. All the emotions started to kick in and all he wanted to do was cry, but he called his mom to see if he needed to come home.

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One day Synder was walking and stepped on a land mine. He got severly injured and went to the hospital with all of his family around him. They played games for a while and he got news that the last major surgery is going to affect both of his eyes. He was going to have less than 1% of being able to see light in his right eye. Then everyone realized he will probably be blind the rest of his life

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One day this girl named Lindsey suggested that Synder try to find a new hobby outside and he decided to try running. He started training to run a 5K race with his friend Lindsey. Once the race started, he felt like he was doing amazing but he asked Lindsey "How many people are behind us?" she responded, "Don't worry about it." Then Lindsey saw his Mom and they ran over to her. Synder realized that he was towards the end of the group of runners and asked his Mom to finish the race with him. His mom finished the last quarter mile of the 2011 Creaky Bones 5K with Synder.

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When Synder met up with his friend Rich, he explained to Synder all about the Paralympics, which is a modeled after the Olympic games and is different from the Special Olympics. The Special Olympics features athletes with physical disabilities like missing limbs or blindness but Rich told Synder that he would be more eligible to compete in the Paralympics. The next event for the Paralympic Games was set for London in 2012.

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#18- Invited to throw out the first pitch at a home game against the New York Yankees

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#18- Invited to throw out the first pitch at a home game against the New York Yankees

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Before the special game Snyder started to practice his throws for a few hours with his friend Bob. He had one issue, he didn't want to end up on SportsCenter's funniest moments. People started to cheer for him to throw the first pitch and his sister told him to just to throw the ball. She told him that he threw over the plate and he was so excited.

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Brad Synder being able to throw the first pitch at the Baltimore Orioles game vs the New York Yankees

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Brad Snyder, who took home three swimming gold medals from the Rio Paralympic Games, threw the ceremonial first pitch at the Baltimore Orioles game on Sunday.

Snyder, who lost his vision while serving in the U.S. Navy in Afghanistan by stepping on an improvised explosive device, is a native of Baltimore.

He pitched alongside fellow Paralympic swimmer McKenzie Coan, who also claimed three gold medals in Rio.

The Orioles honored two more Paralympians, track and field sisters Hannah and Tatyana McFadden, before Saturday's game.

Tatyana won six medals in Rio, which tied her with swimmer Jessica Long for the most for a U.S. athlete.

MORE: Katie Ledecky helps Bryce Harper celebrate NL East title (video)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKzKtRLA56N/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKy0-HBhZfu/

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Blind Paralympic champion Brad Snyder throws ceremonial first pitch (video)

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McKenzie Coan and sisters Hannah and Tatyana McFadden also threw ceremonial first pitches

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#19- Winning the gold medal at the Paralympic games in London in 2012

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#19- Winning the gold medal at the Paralympic games in London in 2012

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Brad Snyder completed the 400m freestyle race and got a Gold medal for winning it. He did this in front of a crowd of 18,000 people, including his family, friends and his community. Synders favorie part of winning the gold medal was him waving the fans for supporting him of what he has done.

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#20- November 1, 2013 retiring from naval service

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#20- November 1, 2013 retiring from naval service

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Brad Synder's family gathered with him to annouce his retirement in the historic Memorial Hall in Annapolis. The Navy waved off his DUI and by doing this, it allowed him to get medically retired with honors. After this, he shared his favorite stories with the Navy and also shared the stories with his family that supported him from the beginning.

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Information about Brad Synder achieving gold medals in his lifetime.

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Brad Snyder Wins Para Triathlon PTVI Gold | Para Triathlon | Tokyo 2020

Brad Snyder wins the gold medal in the men's para triathlong PTVI event during the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. Video...

Brad Snyder Wins Gold in the Men's 400-Meter S11 Finals | Para Swimming | Rio 2016

Brad Snyder wins gold in the men's 400-meter S11 finals at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016. Video supplied by the Inter...

Brad Snyder Secures Gold in the Men's 400-Meter S11 Finals | Para Swimming | London 2012

Brad Snyder secures gold in the men's 400-meter S11 finals at the Paralympic Games London 2012. Video supplied by the...

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Brad Snyder wins the gold medal in the men's para triathlong PTVI event during the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. Video... Brad Snyder wins gold in the men's 400-meter S11 finals at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016. Video supplied by the Inter... Brad Snyder secures gold in the men's 400-meter S11 finals at the Paralympic Games London 2012.

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Information about how he went to the hospital.

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For retired Navy explosive ordnance officer, two-time Paralympian, and current Princeton Ph.D. student Brad Snyder, adjusting to life with blindness required him to draw on resilience ingrained during his time in the Navy.

"I've been able to figure out a lot of crazy things, from jumping out of aircraft to scuba diving and all of that stuff I used to do in the Navy," Snyder told The Daily Princetonian. "I can figure out blindness."

Deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the midst of the War on Terror, Snyder's daily operations primarily revolved around being a part of the Navy's "bomb squad." On Sept. 7, 2011, Snyder stepped on an improvised explosive device and sustained a complete loss of vision in both eyes and significant facial damage.

Now living with prosthetic eyes, Snyder has not merely learned to live with blindness - he's reached the pinnacle of athletic achievement as a Paralympian.

Snyder made his Paralympics swimming debut at the London 2012 Paralympics, which occurred only a year after his injury. Winning gold in the 100-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle events, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle event, Snyder's London 2012 experience was extraordinary both in and out of the pool.

"It was very inspiring to be around all these athletes who had major life challenges - disabled athletes and wheelchairs, paraplegics, people missing hands, missing limbs - and it is not a defining characteristic for them. It's merely the way they compete," Snyder said.

"To be able to compete and win was [another] thing," Snyder continued. "There was a feeling of realizing that childhood dream of being on the Olympic team. I was on the Paralympic team, but the feeling was very much the same."

That transition - from his recovery at a Veteran Affairs facility near his hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla., to winning five Paralympic gold medals - would not have been possible without his strong support system, including his mother Valarie.

"I actually gave one of my gold medals to my mom. We had survived this major traumatic transition. My mom was there almost every step of the way," he said.

In fact, his mother presented the idea of swimming in the Paralympics to Snyder in the first place. It was never Snyder's immediate goal after becoming blind to return to the swimming pool (he was a collegiate swimmer at Navy), but rather an idea that some friends presented to him a few months into recovery.

"I recognized that [swimming] was my opportunity to sort of go back to normal, show everyone everything's going to be fine, give people a sense of peace and confidence in my new reality," Snyder said of his first few times back in the pool.

"More than doing a job, much of our identity revolves around what our profession is, what our contribution to society is," Snyder added. "I knew all of those things were really dramatically changing in a short amount of time, it's a lot to deal with. And so as a way to sort of begin that process, sports was a way for me to sort of reclaim my identity and start from the beginning."

As he reentered the pool, Snyder received a call from a friend at the United States Association of Blind Athletes in Colorado Springs, Colo. The organization works to recruit blinded veterans to compete in sports and was able to arrange for Snyder to leave the recovery hospital for training opportunities, in preparation for Paralympic qualifying meets. After a few months of training, while simultaneously completing vision rehabilitation, Snyder flew to Colorado Springs for a meet, where he qualified for the 2012 Paralympic U.S. National Swimming team.

From there, Snyder has gone on to win six paralympic golds, including a paratriathlon gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Snyder also has three gold medals in International Paralympic Committee World Championships, winning all three in freestyle swimming events in 2015.

Past the Paralympics, Snyder's ultimate commitment to service has motivated his next career move - pursuing a Ph.D. at Princeton as part of his goal to become a professor at the Naval Academy. After teaching as a fellow in the leadership and ethics department at the Naval Academy, Snyder knew that the classroom could be a potential career option.

"What I saw when I went to the Naval Academy was twofold," he said. "One, [teaching] was a job I could really effectively do, as my constraints as a blind person are really not as relevant in the classroom as they are in other places. I also felt like at the Naval Academy, I'm serving this really important population of people, who want to be leaders in the U.S. Navy."

Now, as Snyder has met all the requirements for a Princeton Ph.D., Snyder, his wife Sara, and their one-year-old daughter Rooney are eyeing a move to Annapolis, Md., where Snyder will write his dissertation from the Naval Academy. Once that is complete, Snyder will apply for a faculty position at the Naval Academy where he hopes to teach for the remainder of his career.

As for the 2024 Paris Paralympics?

"I'm taking a sabbatical," Snyder joked. "I had every intention of competing in Paris, but it's gotten to be too much doing dad duties and a Ph.D., so I'm going to sit out the road to Paris."

"But my intention is to come back and compete for a spot on the Los Angeles team for the 2028 games, and that will certainly be my last go around," he added.

"There is an internal desire to reclaim for myself the agency I had towards making the life I wanted," Snyder said. "I'm an ambitious person, and I'm not going to hide from that. I want to make an awesome life for myself and for my family."
Cole Keller is an associate editor for the Sports section at the 'Prince.' Please direct any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

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From the pool to a Princeton Ph.D.: the path of Brad Snyder

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Since being blinded by an improvised explosive device in 2011, athlete and Princeton Ph.D. student Brad Snyder has won six gold medals across multiple Paralympic Games.

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Snyders best friend information about his death.

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WARWICK, R.I. - An American hero and patriot, who said he wanted to fight in defense of the freedom he enjoyed growing up, returned home Saturday to a solemn military ceremony on the tarmac at T.F. Green Airport.

Freetown resident Tyler J. Trahan, 22, a navy explosive ordnance disposalman 2nd class and a third-generation serviceman, was killed in action in Fallujah, Iraq, on April 30.

The 22-year-old Trahan was one of three soldiers killed when a bomb he was disarming exploded. He was working with a Navy Seal team when he died.

His remains were lowered to the tarmac Saturday from a chartered jet as his family watched.

An honor guard, consisting of six bearers and a ranking officer, from Naval Station Newport carried the flag-draped casket to a waiting hearse.

Navy personnel and Rhode Island and Massachusetts state police stood at attention and saluted as the casket passed.

Family members huddled and embraced for several moments after the rear door to the hearse closed.

Also present were members of the Explosive Order Detachment, Newport, the same type of unit to which Trahan was assigned.

"When they received word about Tyler, they mobilized immediately to see the family through this whole ordeal," said Lisa Rama, public affairs officer for Naval Station Newport. "Tyler's body at no time has been left unattended by Navy personnel."

She added that Navy personnel are "very touched with the love that has been shown by the community to the family."

Rama said the airport ceremony was the first of its kind that the Navy has dealt with in Rhode Island in more than 10 years.

"The Rhode Island National Guard gave phenomenal support to the Navy through this," she said.

A procession then was escorted from the airport to the Perry Funeral Home in New Bedford. Three motorcyclists from the national organization Patriot Guard Riders also were present. They keep antiwar protesters away from the family and military funeral proceedings.

Rama said she had second-hand information that the funeral would be well-attended, and "loads of sailors would be flying in," she said. "The funeral will be a sea of blue."

Rama said the family was not granting any interviews to the media.

Trahan was assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit TWELVE, Norfolk, Va., and was temporarily assigned to a SEAL Team based out of Virginia Beach, Va.

"Petty Officer Tyler Trahan was an exemplary leader and exceptional EOD technician," Cmdr. Joseph Polanin, commanding officer of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit TWELVE, has said. "His supreme sacrifice will not be in vain."

Trahan was a former National Honor Society member, carpentry major and star quarterback at the Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School, where he graduated in the top 10 in 2004.

After high school, Trahan attended Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne for a year, then volunteered for the Navy.

"I want to go and fight for the freedom that I enjoyed growing up," Trahan told The Herald News before leaving for basic training in 2006. "Growing up, I heard my dad and uncle tell me what they did. Everybody who has made it back has said it has been the best years of their life."

His father, Jean-Pierre Trahan, a former member of the Freetown Conservation Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board, is a retired Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War, as did Tyler's two uncles. Trahan's grandfather, John J. O'Malley Jr., served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Trahan enlisted in the Navy on May 16, 2006, and graduated from boot camp at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill., that July. He then attended the Center for Naval Engineering in Great Lakes before reporting to Naval Dive and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Fla.

He attended Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida from November 2006 to October 2007.

His next duty station was Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit ONE in San Diego in November and December 2007, and then on to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit TWELVE in Norfolk, Va., in December 2007.

Trahan's awards and decorations included the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" (Valor) Distinguishing Device, Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal and Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

His wake will be held at the Perry Funeral Home, 111 Dartmouth St., New Bedford, Tuesday from 3 to 8 p.m.

The funeral will be held Wednesday, with a procession from the funeral home to St. John Neumann Church on Middleboro Road (Route 18), East Freetown, for an 11 a.m. service. Burial will be in the National Veterans Cemetery, Bourne.

E-mail John Moss at jmoss@heraldnews.com.

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An American hero and patriot, who said he wanted to fight in defense of the freedom he enjoyed growing up, returned home Saturday to a solemn military ceremony on the tarmac at T.F. Green Airport.

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Hearing about Osama Bin Laden death.

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Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed thousands of Americans, was killed in an operation led by the United States.