Veteran Cowboy
Adam Rowland
By Kimmie Dillon
C
ourage. Perseverance. Passion. These
are just a few of the words used to
describe Adam Rowland, Arizona’s
ever-popular ranch sorter. We first
introduced him to you in our March 2014
issue. Now a year later he is progressing in
numerous ways. To a casual observer he’s
just another rider sitting on a horse waiting
for his turn in the sorting pen. But when
his name is announced, that’s when an
incredible moment is about to begin.
“Rowland” is a veteran of the US Army.
The 33 year-old comes from a family full
of military servicemen. “Pretty much every
man on both sides of my family has been
in the military” he says. He then painfully
shares with me how his life would change
forever during his unit’s 2nd tour of Iraq.
Located 35 miles northeast of Baghdad and
near the Iran border, Rowland was stationed
at FOB Warhorse. “The guys all called it
Mortaritaville” he says with a bittersweet
tone. It was here that Rowland suffered
blunt force trauma to his head causing a
brain injury and loss of vision in his right
eye. After 30 grueling days in a military
hospital inside of Iraq, he was sent home
to heal and recover. But it was soon after
being back on American soil that he would
experience problems with his left eye. After
a frustrating medical journey seeking help
for unexplained symptoms, Rowland’s
brain injury marched on and cost him the
sight in his remaining eye. The devastation
of now becoming completely blind was
understandably overwhelming.
His road to recovery would be a winding
one as Rowland was facing many new
obstacles. But the Cave Creek resident was
determined to find hope and meaning in his
new life. “I didn’t really know what I wanted
or how I was going to get help but I knew I
wasn’t going to go to some office and have a
doctor lay me on a couch and tell me what
was wrong with me. I was going to do it a
more natural way”. Rowland recalled t