After Losing an Arm in Iraq, This Veteran Found Her Next Mission

Danielle Green transformed loss into leadership, helping veterans rebuild with strength and purpose

Aaron Kassraie,

AARP

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Published November 07, 2025

Danielle Green was 25 when she enlisted in the U.S. Army, leaving a teaching job in Chicago to fulfill a childhood dream of serving her country. Two years later, while deployed to Iraq as a military police officer, her life changed in an instant. On May 25, 2004, during a rooftop security mission in Baghdad, a rocket-propelled grenade blast tore off part of her left arm.

“As I was about to return fire, something hit me,” recalls Green, now 48. “Later [I learned] it was the blast, the RPG. When I was in the hospital, I decided to look down. That’s when I realized that my left arm, my dominant arm, was shorter.”

After months of recovery at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Green went on to earn two graduate degrees, counsel fellow veterans and speak across the country.

Her story reflects a significant change in America’s veteran community: More than 2 million veterans are women, with a median age of 52, and their share of the veteran population is projected to rise to 18 percent by 2040, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The growing presence of women in uniform highlights how the veteran population is evolving — and how their needs and voices are shaping the future of veteran services.

Chicago roots, military ambitions

Green grew up on Chicago’s South Side and earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, where she graduated with a degree in psychology. She later taught physical education at a charter school and coached high school girls’ basketball before deciding to enlist in the Army.

Green earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.

Courtesy Danielle Green

“My resiliency and mental fortitude was built even before attending the University of Notre Dame — just growing up in the inner city of Chicago and dealing with that daily grind,” Green says. “You learn about survival. At Notre Dame, I learned about a winning culture — that you’re only as strong as your weakest link — and that absolutely transitions very well into the military.”

Green enlisted in the Army’s military police branch with an eye toward a career in federal law enforcement. “I enlisted instead of going to officer [candidate] school because I wanted to work my way up the system,” she says. “When I became a leader, I wanted to understand those enlisted soldiers and noncommissioned officers.”

She deployed to Iraq in January 2004 as her company commander’s gunner, but within weeks she was reassigned to a line platoon. “Somebody decided the commander should have an all-male team,” Green says. “They removed me as his gunner and put me in a line platoon. Nobody ever told me why.”

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Green deployed to Iraq in 2004.

Courtesy Danielle Green

The long march home: Transition and purpose

After the grenade blast, Green was evacuated to Germany and then to Walter Reed, where she spent eight months recovering. “At the beginning, it was tough,” she says. “I had been in the service for 15 months, and just like that, I lose a body part.”

She faced a decision: “I had a choice to be bitter, or I had a choice to be better.” Support came from her husband, who died in 2011, her Notre Dame family and nonprofit veterans groups. “Wounded Warrior Project welcomed me home and provided me with a backpack full of toiletries,” she says. “I never developed PTS [post-traumatic stress]; I would say I was developing post-traumatic growth.”

After first learning to use her right hand, Green earned two graduate degrees, in school counseling and educational leadership, and went on to work in education and sports administration. Later she joined the VA as a counselor, working at a Vet Center and helping veterans readjust to civilian life.

“Vet Centers are storefront facilities embedded in the community that offer individual and group counseling,” she explains. Her first clients were Vietnam veterans.

“They kind of just looked at me, because they never served with females, and I kind of just looked at them too,” she says. “But I told them, our commonality is we’re veterans. And we’re not just veterans — we’re combat veterans, and we have a special bond. I told them, ‘I never served in the jungle. I served in the sandbox.’ ”

Exercise and activity were key to Green's recovery.

Courtesy Danielle Green

Health, caregiving and the practice of resilience

Recovery wasn’t linear. Green rebuilt her strength through movement: running, cycling and, later, softball, golf, fishing and skiing. She even summited Mount Kilimanjaro — proof, she says, that trying something dramatic can unlock new confidence and joy at any age.

For people 50 and older, Green’s message is straightforward: “Embrace the process, don’t be afraid to go to the doctor’s office.… Stay up on top of your annual examinations.” And don’t delay. “If you have the ability to do it now, then do it now, because tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us.”

Motherhood surprised her most. “There is no manual on having a child. This other human is part of you,” she says. Her son has become central to the legacy she’s building: “How are you going to empower your legacy? Influence [people] in a positive way, be impactful. So, when you’re gone, they can carry on that torch. And so that’s my goal for my son.”

The mission continues

Women Veterans by the Numbers

More than 2 million women veterans live in the U.S. today; women are the fastest-growing veteran group.
Their median age is 52, and almost a quarter of them are 65 or older, according to 2023 data from the VA.
By 2040, the VA projects, women will make up 18 percent of the veteran population, up from 11 percent in 2023.
Policies and programs often overlook women veterans’ needs during transitions and later in life, according to the nonprofit research organization RAND, which calls for improving this group's access to health care and tailored support services.

Today, Green travels the country as a speaker with Wounded Warrior Project, raising awareness about its free programs that support the mental, physical, financial and social well-being of post-9/11 wounded, ill and injured veterans and their families. These programs include Warriors to Work, a career development and job placement service; the Independence program, which provides lifelong in-home support; help accessing VA benefits; and adventure-based health and wellness activities.

“The most important thing is that the programs are free,” she says, “and that we rely on the community to support the mission. And the mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors.”

For anyone stuck in the “Why me?” stage after experiencing hardship, Green has advice that extends far beyond the military.

“Turn it around. What now? Maybe I went through this experience because there’s a message to get to others,” she says. “How can you create a ripple effect?”

Green’s ripple is wide — from counseling sessions to podiums, from the rehab track at Walter Reed to slopes and summits she once never imagined. “I don’t know about an afterlife,” she says. “But I do know about this life. So, enjoy it while you still can.”

Where to Find Support

VA Vet Centers: Confidential, community-based counseling for eligible veterans, service members and families (individual, group, marital/family counseling; military sexual trauma (MST) counseling; bereavement; referrals). Vet Center Call Center: 877-927-8387 (24/7). Visit vetcenter.va.gov to find a location.

Wounded Warrior Project: Free programs for post-9/11 wounded, ill and injured veterans and families, covering mental health, physical wellness, career development, benefits access, peer connection and more.

Achilles Freedom Team: A program of the global nonprofit Achilles International, Freedom Team adapts the organization’s work helping people with disabilities build physical strength, confidence and community for wounded, ill or injured veterans, partnering with Walter Reed and other rehab centers on run/walk/roll training and athletic events.

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Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English. 