A record-setting veteran amputee
Air Force veteran Adam Popp became an amputee during a deployment to Paktia, Afghanistan. Since then, he has thrived as an endurance athlete and shares his story on this week’s American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast.
Popp is a 12-year combat veteran of the Air Force with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team leader. “I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into by choosing EOD,” he says.
In 2007, Popp was wounded by a secondary IED, which resulted in the amputation of his right leg above the knee. “My wound is very visible,” he said. “While we talk about invisible wounds, there’s no way that you can go into that environment and think you are going to be unchanged by those events.”
Since then, he has transformed into an athlete, setting seven Guinness Book of World Records.
His athletic achievements include:
• Becoming the first above-knee amputee to complete a 100-mile ultra within the 30-hour cutoff, just eight years after losing his leg, and a year and a half after his first run as an amputee.
• Lowering his 100-mile trail personal record to a blistering 18:52:12 at the 2021 Tunnel Hill 100-miler.
• Placing second at the 2021 Boston Marathon’s inaugural Para Elite division (T61-64), running a world best time for the T63 category of 3:13:25.
• Completing the JFK 50-miler in 2017, the first for an amputee.
• Setting the men’s overall course record for the trail marathon at the Colorado Kickers for Kids Endurance Run, finishing first against able-bodied athletes, in 2019.
Popp understands that his achievements reflect not only his physical fitness, but his strong mental state. He admits that in the aftermath of his injury, he did not seek out such challenges.
“It’s about seeking out selective struggles, some type of challenge, and then coming out stronger on the other side, whether that is through physical activity or education or personal struggles that happens in anyone’s daily life,” he says. “Is that going to beat us down or lead us to a more fruitful and productive life?”
For Popp, it took him years to learn that. But now, it’s what drives him. “I see those big running challenges that I set myself up for now as opportunities to put myself out there and working through physical pain, mental pain and try go figure these things out. And you come out better on the other side.”
Also in this episode, co-hosts Stacy Pearsall and Adam Marr:
• Reveal the identity of a Coast Guard veteran, famous athlete and namesake for a popular drink.
• Remember a late Pearl Harbor survivor.
• Address one of the “biggest takeaways” in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Check out this week’s episode, which is among more than 240 Tango Alpha Lima podcasts available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play or other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available at the Legion’s YouTube channel.