Eagle resident Devyn Kammert, a physical therapist with Howard Head Sports Medicine, joined the Air Force Thunderbirds’ 9G club ahead of the Great Colorado Air Show in Loveland on Sept. 19.

“I can’t even say (it was) a once-in-a-lifetime experience, because I never thought I would get the opportunity to do that,” Kammert said. “The whole experience is still very surreal.”

Joining the club meant Kammert rode in an F-16 plane, or Thunderbird, a plane that can hit a G-force of 9, strong enough to make some people faint.

Just keeping one’s eyes open might be a challenge on that kind of ride, but Kammert did more than sit in the passenger seat.

“The pilot let me fly the plane,” she said. “He said, ‘fly it like you stole it.'”

Tactical Optimization Program 

Kammert has worked at Howard Head’s Vail clinic for eight years as a physical therapist and sports residency coordinator. She is also a driving force for a very specific project: The Tactical Optimization Program (TOP).

Launched in 2019, the Tactical Optimization Program is a twice-yearly, two-week-long comprehensive health care retreat for active-duty special operations members of the U.S. Army and Air Force.

The donor-funded program includes physical therapy, sports psychology, nutrition, massage, audiology, concussion treatment and more.

It is “a full health and wellness program for these active-duty service members,” Kammert said. “It’s how to optimize their lives for the time that they have left in the military.”

The upcoming session in October will be the program’s 10^th, with about 60 individuals receiving treatment so far. Kammert already has a waitlist for this year’s May session.

“A lot of these guys have been in for 10, 15 years. They’ve been beat up along the way and just really need some extra TLC,” Kammert said.

Kammert specializes in treating post-concussion patients.

“We can actually do a lot” to help people with traumatic brain injuries and concussions, “which a lot of people don’t realize,” she said.

“A lot of these guys, they’ve had frequent blast trauma, and so what we’ve found is even though they’re not overtly displaying concussive signs and symptoms, they’ve having some compensation patterns,” Kammert said. “Their bodies really fought hard to compensate around it just to be able to complete the work that they need to get done.”

During the Tactical Optimization Program, participants are assessed for neck-related issues, eye tracking and more to see if and how their bodies are compensating for blast-related trauma to their brains. Then, they receive treatment.

“The research is coming out that physical therapy, especially early physical therapy, can really get people back to doing what they love a lot faster and in a way that then they won’t have those lifelong effects,” Kammert said.

“We do notice about a 15% improvement in their cognition. The decrease in errors that we’re measuring as far as concussions and TBI assessments that we do pre- and post-(program),” Kammert said.

‘Hometown Hero’

Kammert connected with the Air Force Thunderbirds through a former Tactical Optimization Program participant, who nominated her for a “Hometown Hero” award.

“I’m still mind-blown that I was picked,” Kammert said.

The Thunderbirds went out of their way to celebrate Kammert even before she set foot in the plane, including her in their daily operations briefing, presenting her with a plaque and painting her name on the side of the plane.

Two former Tactical Optimization Program participants, one from the first iteration in 2020 and one from the most recent round in May, attended the event to support Kammert.

Before her flight, Kammert met with a flight surgeon to talk about breathing at 9Gs because at such high gravity, blood accumulates in the lower extremities, which can cause people to faint. The special suit Thunderbirds wear helps prevent this blood pooling, “but that only gets you up to 7Gs, so you have to do a breathing technique to try to not pass out at 9Gs,” Kammert said.

Flying in the plane was “the most spectacular, amazing part,” Kammert said.

Joining in on the Thunderbirds’ practice ahead of the weekend’s Great Colorado Air Show, Kammert got to fly in formation with the other pilots

“We were doing barrel rolls and big loops,” she said.

The experience also gave Kammert some insight into her Air Force patients’ lives.

“As a physical therapist, you can see what they have to undergo as far as a physical and mental standpoint to do that every day,” Kammert said. “I was sore in very different ways, (after) only doing it for about an hour or so of flight time.”

“What is astounding to me is even in the briefing room, how efficient they are at their job,” Kammert said. “They appreciate, acknowledge and see everyone during the process.”

Additionally, the Tactical Optimization Program is entirely reliant on donors.

“I think a lot of funding gets to veterans, which is amazing, but also, there are people in the military that don’t get the medical help that they need, and I think that this is a niche that we’ve found,” Kammert said. “I just want to get the word out there, because I can only help so many people at a time, and it would be amazing to help more of these special operations men and women.”

To contribute to the Tactical Optimization Program, visit Donate.VailHealthFoundation.org. Donations can be directed to the ‘Tactical Optimization Program at Howard Head Sports Medicine’ in a drop down box.