Scott Winkler has another chance to represent his country.

The former Army sergeant and Grovetown resident will compete in the Paralympic Games, which began Saturday in Beijing.

Winkler drove to Alabama once a week this summer to prepare with coach Chad James. He's watched internet videos of Lakeside High and University of Georgia grad Reese Hoffa, an Olympic shot putter.

In the months leading up to the Games, Winkler often talked of the honor it was to again don a uniform, this time as an athlete competing in the shot put and discus.

A horrific accident in 2003 left him unable to walk and ended his military career, but Winkler has flourished into an elite wheelchair athlete and become an ambassador for disabled veterans.

"Once a soldier, always a soldier," Winkler said at a send-off party thrown by his teammates on the Augusta Bulldogs, a local wheelchair basketball team.

He hasn't talked much about the accident.

Winkler was standing atop an ammo truck in Tikrit, Iraq, when a fellow soldier cut the straps securing the ammo without warning. The load shifted, Winkler's foot got caught, and he tumbled backward off the truck. He was clad in full gear during the fall, which he estimated to be about 6 feet.

He was transported to the Augusta VA Medical Center, where doctors in the intensive care unit tried to reverse the effects of the fall.

Winkler said he felt like he was in ICU only a few days, but was later told he'd been admitted for more than a week and a half.

The doctors could do little to improve his condition. Winkler's fall had paralyzed him from the chest down.

Winkler still receives regular treatment. Dr. Bill Rice, an Evans chiropractor, serves as both the Bulldogs' team doctor and assistant coach.

Rice said Winkler suffered from a decreased range of motion and back pain. He said he's been able to help Winkler improve his range of motion and can relieve back pain and headaches, but that's about it.

"There's only so much I can do," Rice said.

After a period of what-ifs and why-me's, Winkler found an outlet in athletic competition. It started with bass fishing tournaments and moved to wheelchair basketball. When Winkler first picked up the shot, he knew he was onto something.

The accomplishments came in bunches: a world record at the 2007 U.S. Paralympics Track and Field National Championships; and a gold medal and another world record at the Parapan American Games in Brazil later that year.

Then came the recognition. Winkler's face is on a Cheerios box. He's dined with President Bush.

Winkler's fame has led him to become one of the country's premier ambassadors for disabled veterans. He's used his status to become an active recruiter, always on the lookout for potential teammates for the Bulldogs, who are coached by friend Jeff Snover. Snover was paralyzed from the waist down while cutting trees on his Tennessee property. He serves as chairman of Evans-based Champions Made From Adversity.

When Winkler and Snover were shopping one day, Winkler saw a fellow shopper in a wheelchair.

"Scott said 'Hey, go get him,' " Snover recalled.

The shopper ended up joining the team.

At his going away party prior to the Paralympics, Winkler and Snover noted how the Bulldogs have grown since Winkler first started.

"It brings such a positive light," Snover said. "It shows that there is more out there. Because he's a local boy, it means that much more."