Chief Warrant Officer (Ret’d) Junior Gosse

Following his service, he found the adjustment to life outside of the military to be a challenge for quite some time from moving across the country for a new job, to the differences in the environment from a military to civilian workplace.

Gosse also realized that he had changed. Although there were no visible physical injuries, he faced a variety of challenges that impacted his day-to-day routine. “There is certainly a lot of invisible injuries that people have, I guess I’m an example of that. If you look at me I look like I’m a fairly healthy person, but I have a number of non-visible injuries that have been holding me back.”

“Through getting involved with the Invictus Games and Team Canada, I am able to breakdown some of those barriers, move on and adopt a better, healthier lifestyle.”

To help combat these challenges, Gosse became involved with Soldier On, which he had heard about from a fellow military member, and the Invictus Games.

“Having talked to fellow military members, there was always good things said about Soldier On,” says Gosse “I felt compelled to join. Through getting involved with the Invictus Games and Team Canada, I am able to breakdown some of those barriers, move on and adopt a better, healthier lifestyle.”

Gosse was set to compete at the Invictus Games in The Hague this past May, but due to the COVID 19 pandemic the international competition has been pushed until next spring. He says that preparing for the Invictus Games, and being involved in the Soldier On program, has helped him overcome the physical and mental health challenges he has faced in his post-military life.

For Gosse, seeing fellow service members and Veterans competing in sports and recognizing that they too had their own challenges to conquer to become competitive is what inspired him to strive for the opportunity to represent Canada at the Invictus Games. “I thought, wow, what an opportunity to try to improve some of your injuries that you may have that are holding you back,” he says.

Gosse found the team’s training camp in preparation of the games to be an exciting experience – especially knowing that he was a member of a team once again. He credits his coaches for their approach to training individuals who have varying injuries, helping them overcome their own challenges and learn new skills for their respective sports.

“Leadership is by far the best technique they have,” Gosse says “Being supportive and identifying potential in people and getting them to do their best.”

“I have little, very little experience with cycling and swimming and none with wheelchair basketball,” Gosse says. But his inexperience with the specific sporting events did not stop his drive to compete. “The days were long and the nights were short… I took what information that the coaches had to give and in no time I was heading back home to train with the new skills I learned.”

He started out only being able to swim with one arm, because of a shoulder injury he sustained, but after three months of therapy, strength training and motivation he overcame that injury, and now uses both arms to swim.

“At the training camp in Pendleton one of the athletes from another country, he had no legs and he jumped off the board at the swimming competition and swam the competition very well,” Gosse says. “I have all my limbs but to see somebody competing and doing well with no legs is just truly motivation.”

“When you’re part of such a great team and have the fantastic teammates and coaches like I do, it certainly inspires you and makes you feel like you’re on easy street.”

With the games originally scheduled for 2020 having been postponed, Gosse continues to train, biking as often as he can – both at home on his bike trainer and outside.

“Barriers can be broken and it’s certainly not easy,” he says. “When you’re part of such a great team and have the fantastic teammates and coaches like I do, it certainly inspires you and makes you feel like you’re on easy street.”

As we highlight Canadian Veterans and Armed Forces members who will represent Canada at the Invictus Games in 2021, Chief Warrant Officer (Ret’d) Junior Gosse is this week’s Face of Freedom.

Listen to Junior Gosse on our Faces of Freedom Podcast.

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