Capt. Dan Berschinski
Biography
Capt. (Ret.) Dan Berschinski graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2007 with a commission in the infantry.
In the summer of 2009, then Lieutenant Berschinski and his men deployed to Afghanistan’s Arghandab River Valley. On August 18th, Dan was severely wounded while leading his platoon on a dismounted patrol. He triggered an improvised explosive device, which instantly severed both of his legs above the knees, broke his jaw, and shattered his left arm.
After being medically evacuated out of Afghanistan, Dan underwent four months of inpatient surgeries and hospitalization at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He then spent the next three years undergoing daily physical therapy and prosthetic limb training. He has since become the military’s first above-the-knee and hip-disarticulation amputee to walk on a daily basis. While in therapy, Dan served as a certified peer visitor, frequently visiting and counseling other wounded service-members and their families. He has also been an advocate for improved bomb-blast protective equipment for troops currently in combat, as well as an advocate for patient care and improved rehabilitation practices at Walter Reed.
Dan graduated Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2015, now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and has started a small business. Captain Berschinski’s awards and decorations include the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, and Purple Heart medal among others.
Areas of Expertise
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All volunteer force / Civil-military relations
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Afghanistan War
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Counterinsurgency operations and practice
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Wounded veteran experience (injury, surgery, recovery, military medicine, prosthetics and advanced rehab)
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Veteran’s Affairs (VA) issues
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West Point military academy culture / education / training
Recent News
- Dan Bershinksi: KZFR RadioRather than celebrating Veteran’s Day, I wish we could celebrate Armistice Day or, you know, the end of all war as we know it. That would be wonderful. I would much rather like to live in a world without conflict. The unfortunate truth is that we don’t.
- Dan Bershinksi: WBAI NewsWe have not rid the world of war. It continues in its small scale fashion at this very moment in conflicts all around the world.
- Algeria to Afghanistan: Our reporter’s dispatches from the front lines of the 9/11 warsAm I angry that my fellow soldiers gave lives and limbs for an effort that is clearly ending in defeat? Of course. But I am even angrier that our nation’s leaders ignored reality and insisted for two decades that the war was headed in the right direction. Nearly a score of different generals in charge of the war effort, and three presidential administrations, chose to extend an unsustainable status quo rather than acknowledge hard truths. None of them faced any consequences.