Return to Flight After a Broken Back with Lt Michaela Long

MOPs & MOEs

We stumbled onto Michaela's story because of this hilarious video explaining her pretty traumatic experience. We love a good comeback story after injury, especially when it includes a life being saved by strength training.

We won't ruin the whole story, you'll just have to listen to the episode to find out, but there are several valuable lessons in here for both service members facing their own challenges, and for the medical professionals who care for them.

The parallels between Michaela's experience and our previous episode with F/A-18E pilot Kegan Gill are astonishing. They both faced the unique combination of physical injury, brain injury, and mental health issues, and they both describe the mental health recovery as being far more challenging than the physical recovery.

Find her on Instagram @maneuvering_mic where she discusses everything from aviation to outdoor adventures to resilience.