Rangers pay visit to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed

A group of Texas Rangers players and coaches spent part of their Friday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, Md., and seemed to get as much out of the visit as the patients at the hospital.

Manager Jeff Banister and right-handers Matt Bush, Austin Bibens-Dirkx and A.J. Griffin were among those who visited with Wounded Warriors, heard their stories and thanked them for their sacrifices.

Bush said that he shared his personal story of alcoholism and spending more than three years in prison for nearly killing a man while driving drunk. Now that things are trending upward for Bush, the Rangers’ closer, he said that the plight the soldiers are going through served as a reminder of the many blessings in his life.

Seeing how well they were dealing with the hand they’ve been dealt was inspiring.

“It was a great experience,” Bush said. “Everyone that I met there today seemed to be doing well and in very good spirits. That was really uplifting.”

Most patients the Rangers met were amputees learning to use prosthetics. They were severely injured putting their lives on the line for each American, Banister said.

“You don’t have to imagine when you walk through those doors to see what a real hero looks like,” Banister said.

This story was originally published June 9, 2017 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Rangers pay visit to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed."