Afghanistan Vet Tours US Before Returning To Med School

By Daniel Gilbert
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: May 30, 2008

BRISTOL, Va. – It sounds like an implausible summer project: tour the country in a gas-guzzling Chevrolet Suburban, blog about the trip with one hand and write a book.
But Daniel McConnell, a 30-year-old Army veteran and medical student at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn., is crafting a story out of adversity.
The way he tells it, the story began long before gas prices hit $4 a gallon and before he lost his dominant right hand in a 2006 helicopter crash in Afghanistan. It goes all the way back to adolescence, in Martin, Tenn., when he barely graduated high school.
His trajectory – from more than 11 years in the military to medical school – has constantly altered his perspective on life.
Crashing an Apache helicopter – while attempting to avoid a Black Hawk helicopter that turned suddenly left, crossing his flight trajectory – instilled in him what he calls a “life-is-short” mentality, he said in a Thursday interview, outside Starbucks at Exit 7, where he stopped for an iced coffee.
McConnell is fresh off his first year at the Quillen College of Medicine, studying to be an emergency room doctor, and making his debut on the blogosphere – danielsbigtrip.blogspot.com – tapping out posts at 25 words per minute.
“There is no better time for me to do this,” he said of his trip, which officially began on Wednesday.
Until he graduates, he calculates the rest of his summers will be spent doing research.
The long odds of his trip have generated some online buzz and may work in his favor as he makes his way across the country.
Though he doesn’t have – or want – a sponsor, he advertises for donations on his Web site and on the back of his Chevy. A few hundred dollars have trickled into his Paypal account, and a Johnson City pet store donated chow for his dog and co-pilot, a boxer named Rocky. While talking about his journey Thursday afternoon, a Starbucks customer slipped McConnell a $20 bill.
He also has received a number of e-mail invitations for places to stay over the course of his trip.
He plans to rim the country, heading north, west, and around the southern U.S. by Aug. 1, when classes start.

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