Steve Abel

Thomas Krause, a former Marine sergeant, is now a sophomore at Rutgers University. He credits the school's veterans-support program for keeping him enrolled.

Without the veteran-support hub on his campus, former Marine sergeant Thomas Krause can quickly calculate the odds that he long ago would have dropped out of Rutgers University.

"If this service was not provided for me, there's probably a 1 percent chance I would still be here," said Krause, a pre-business sophomore. He volunteers as well at the Rutgers Office of Veteran and Military Programs and Services, which supplies returning service members with academic tutors and advice on how to socially blend into university life. After starting classes last September, Krause walked into the veterans' office two months later and immediately — finally — connected with fellow students. He spoke from that office on Wednesday. 

"Here, I met a bunch of guys who had also served and who were going to school, the same age group, the same mentality," said Krause, 24. "Because I'm in class with 18 year olds, it's a weird transition. So I go out with my friends here, and I currently even live with one of the guys I met here. It's pretty much: This place is my Rutgers life."

Rutgers is often cited by groups that aid college veterans as one of the nation's top schools for helping ease former military personnel into and through the rigors of higher education. 

On Wednesday, a new survey of 690 U.S. colleges was released showing that 62 percent of those schools offer programs and services specifically designed for military service members and veterans — up from 57 percent in 2009, when the same survey was previously conducted. 

The survey, "From Soldier to Student II: Assessing Campus Programs for Veterans and Service Members," was completed via a partnership between the American Council on Education (ACE), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and NAVPA, the National Association of Veteran’s Program Administrators.

Other key findings showed across-the-board improvement since 2009, when the post-9/11 G.I. Bill went into effect, massively boosting available financial aid for homecoming veterans: 

• Seventy-one percent of institutions that offer programs and services for military and veteran students have a dedicated office serving those students, up from 49 percent in 2009.
• Eighty-four percent of the institutions that offer services for veteran and military students provide counseling to assist with post-traumatic stress disorder, compared to 16 percent in 2009.
• Fifty-five percent of the institutions that offer services for veteran and military students have staff trained to assist with physical disabilities, up from 33 percent in 2009, and 36 percent have staff trained to assist specifically with brain injuries, up from 23 percent in 2009.
• Forty-seven percent offer a veteran student lounge or gathering place, up from 12 percent in 2009.

Steven Harriott

Thomas Krause during his days with the U.S. Marine Corps.

“It is very encouraging," said Young M. Kim, a research analyst at the Center for Policy Analysis and one of the study's four authors. 

"But while there are areas of improvement, I don’t think everything we’re sharing today is, by any means, close to indicating that everything is very well off," Kim added. "There are places where there are still gaps.

"One that comes to mind is the transitional issues — veterans coming back from combat theaters really can be (better) helped by faculty and staff members on campus with their transition on campus. And for service members who get redeployed, and that happens quite frequently with a lot of men women, they sometimes struggle with re-enrollment when they come back from military services." 

The authors received survey responses from 262 public four-year colleges, 238 public two-year schools, 164 private not-for-profit four-year schools, but just 26 for-profit schools. A few dozen for-profit colleges were openly chastised earlier this year for hawking their campuses as veteran-friendly yet failing to meet that sales pitch. Returning servicemen and women on the G.I. Bill make attractive enrollment candidates for many schools because their G.I. tuition reimbursement is paid directly from the federal government to the colleges. 

Related: Company accused of deception turns GIBill.com over to Veterans Affairs

"We were somewhat disappointed to get so few responses from for-profit institutions," Kim said. 

At Rutgers, veterans freshly back from Iraq, Afghanistan or other service locales can turn to the military-support office for almost any question they have about launching or maintaining a college career, Krause said. Even better, it allows veterans to mingle with similar people. Another key: that center is run by a former Army officer, retired Col. Stephen G. Abel. 

"They make everything so easy for us. They make everything flow," Krause said. "Any problem we have, they can guide us in the correct manner or they can take care of it themselves." 

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Panetta: Transition system for vets is 'overwhelmed'
• Gun owners: 'We are your neighbors, co-workers, friends'
• Pentagon launches 'Stolen Valor' website for military medals
• Teen charged with murder in Bronx playground shooting
• One in six sex offenders lives undetected digital double life, study finds
• Video: Killer whale tries to drown SeaWorld trainer

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

ABC Music and Photography

Nate Zelinsky, pictured on his wedding day two years ago with his wife, Mandi, has a collection of 20 guns.

DENVER — Fishing guide Nate Zelinsky tallies the firearms in his personal collection: six hand guns, eight shotguns, four rifles and one “home-defense shotgun.”

That’s 19 — and 20, if you include the 9-millimeter weapon carried by his wife, Mandi.

“I have a firearm close at all times,” said Zelinsky, who lives near the foothills town of Conifer, Colo., 30 miles southwest of Denver. “A gun is a part of my life. As an outdoorsman, it’s something I have as a tool.”

On the plains below, in a suburban home not far from the site of Friday’s Aurora theater shootings, certified public accountant Stephanie Lidke watches her infant daughter while she lists her guns: there are at least 10, she says, including the two .40 caliber pistols that she and her husband, an HVAC technician, are permitted to carry and conceal.

“When we found out we were pregnant, we bought a crib and a stroller and a gun safe,” Lidke said. “We don’t have guns to kill human beings. That’s not our goal. It’s a privilege to be able to protect your family.”

These are two faces of America’s gun owners, and they happen to live in Colorado. They span white collar, blue collar — and, in Zelinsky’s case, camo collar.

Courtesy Stephanie Lidke

Stephanie Lidke, an accountant who lives near Aurora, Colo., and her husband own at least 10 guns.

“We're your neighbors, your co-workers and your friends,” Lidke said. “We’re moms and dads. We're responsible, ethical and educated.”

They're also fed up with the way some gun-control advocates and media members clump all firearm owners into a single, fringy-sounding “gun culture” — which is like saying, Zelinsky adds, that every person who owns a motor vehicle is part of a homogenized, think-alike, drive-alike “car culture.”

And now, interest in guns is expanding — swiftly. In the three days following the Friday's mass shooting at a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises," nearly 3,000 Colorado consumers were approved for gun purchases after passing instant criminal background checks — 39 percent higher than Colorado's rate of firearm purchases during the two previous weekends, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"Foot-traffic wise, we've had a lot more people in the store who are interested in looking at what’s out there, considering their options," said Brad Lightner, general manager of the Firing-Line, an Aurora gun retailer that offers more than 1,500 firearms plus a practice range. "Many are here for home defense."

For some Americans who have never owned guns — or who haven't fired or even touched one — there is a deep cultural chasm when it comes to understanding why anyone would seek to possess a single firearm, much less 10 or 20. That gap, widened as well by sharp philosophical and political differences, is hardly a new phenomenon. 

But ask Zelinsky or Lidke to break down the various facets of their ample gun collections and you'll hear rational purposes that stretch from sport to safety to a simple appreciation of vintage handicrafts. 

"I have a .45 (caliber) handgun and a shotgun for home protection," Zelinsky said. "I hunt with a long-range rifle, a 300 Ultra Mag. The biggest one I carry in the woods, for bears, is a .454 Casull (handgun). The shotguns are probably the most important becauseI have many more situations with wildlife than I do with people. Every single night, we have this young bear that's been tearing up the neighborhood. When I leave for work, probably 50 percent of the time I walk to my truck, it's me and the bear, and we come to terms every morning." 

Down in the city, Lidke explained: "We have 12- and 20-gauge shotguns for bird hunting plus a 30-aught-six (rifle) and a 7-millimeter (rifle) for large game — those are tools to help feed our family. We have a Taurus .41 (magnum revolver), which is our bear gun for protection in the woods when we're backpacking or camping. We have antique guns handed down from my husband's great-grandfather, all hand-carved from sitting around a fire at a hunting camp."

The two .40-caliber Springfield XD handguns that Lidke and her husband are permitted to conceal and carry "are more for personal protection. I had a little girl in February so it just became even more important to us to protect her, if necessary."

The need to pack extra security seemed to be feeding the recent sales spike in Colorado, according to firearm retailers like Lightner. The day after the midnight cinema shootings that left 12 people dead and more than 50 people wounded, 1,216 Coloradans were approved for gun purchases following background checks — 880 more than the number approved on the same day one week earlier, according to CBI data. The Firing-Line also offers classes that help qualify gun owners to apply for conceal-and-carry permits in Colorado, one of 49 states that allow guns to be covertly toted by licensed individuals. 

"Sign-ups indicate we'll have a few more people taking the training course," Lightner said. "If you’re going to carry concealed on the streets, that is another level of responsibility. It’s a big step. Obviously, I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone and we don’t. But for somebody who is interested in being able to defend themselves if an emergency should arise, that will give them at least some of the tools to do it with.

"For myself, I don’t carry 100 percent of the time. It’s a problem — I mean as far as comfort goes. When you go certain places, it’s not practical. (Colorado movie theaters don't allow permitted carriers to bring guns onto the premises). For most of us, we don’t want to be heroes. In fact, you don’t even want to put yourself in that position. But I’ll tell you what: if you are in that position, for whatever reason, you can try to better the situation."

Long before the mass tragedy in Aurora, gun sales were soaring nationally. In 2011, federal investigators performed a record 16.4 million instant criminal background checks on potential gun buyers — 14.2 percent more than 2010, FBI figures show.

Many gun owners, including Zelinsky, sniff the strong scent of political panic in that retail rush — namely that if President Obama is elected to a second term, his administration may push legislation to limit or restrain firearm ownership. 

"I would say 80 percent of the people I know own way more (firearms) than me," Zelinsky said. "I mean, you walk into their gun-safe rooms or their garage, you really think they’re going to some kind of war. But it’s not for crazy reasons. They’re just worried it’s not going to be around.

"Get them while you can, buy them while you can, that's the thinking behind it."

And that fear, Zelinksy says, has truly revved the market for used guns — often weapons without attached ownership records, meaning authorities don't know who currently has them or where they're located.

"People just don’t want anything with paperwork so if there ever was a crazy situation where somebody is saying: 'Hey, we’re taking away the guns,' (many used-gun owners) want something that’s non-traceable," Zelinsky said. 

"It’s unbelievable, the sale of used firearms just in the market, and not retail. You can have an older, beater pistol and you can sell it (privately) for more than what it costs on the shelf just due to the fact that you have no paperwork behind it." 

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Pentagon launches 'Stolen Valor' website for military medals
• Teen charged with murder in Bronx playground shooting
• One in six sex offenders lives undetected digital double life, study finds
• Video: Killer whale tries to drown SeaWorld trainer
• Tragedy compounded: Killers' parents become instant pariahs

• Chicago's big school deal: Longer days for kids, hundreds more teachers

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Dan Koeck for msnbc.com

Blind swimmer Tharon Drake, right, seeks the hand of fellow swimmer Lt. Bradley Snyder to congratulate him on winning the 400-meter freestyle event in record time on Thursday at the 2012 U.S. Paralympics Swimming Trials in Bismarck, N.D. Snyder earned a spot on Team USA's swim team for the Paralympics later this summer in London.

London is calling for Lt. Brad Snyder.

The former Navy bomb defuser, who last September lost both eyes in an Afghan explosion, formally gained a roster spot Sunday on the U.S. Paralympic team bound for England, after swimming what he agreed was the race of his life.

“I’m super excited,” said Snyder, 28. “Normally, I’m a little too prideful to admit I am nervous before a race. But I was a little nervous. There was a pretty sizable uncertainly” that he would swim well enough to qualify.

To earn a ticket to London later this summer, Snyder needed to swim at least 41 seconds faster than his previous best in his top event, the 400-meter freestyle. In competitive swimming, where outcomes usually are measured in tenths of seconds, 41 seconds is an eternity.

But Snyder didn’t simply meet his goal. He demolished it, going 54 seconds faster than he ever had since losing his sight. Snyder clocked a 4:35.62 – now the current, world-best time at that distance for fully blind swimmers.

Need more context? That time was just 1.5 seconds behind the mark he posted at that distance while swimming for the Naval Academy seven years ago, when he could see the lane lines, the competition and, most importantly, the wall.

Editor's note: This is the third installment that chronicles Lt. Brad Snyder's efforts to earn a spot on Team USA's roster for the 2012 London Paralympics. Read the first story here and read the second story here.

Lucky No. 12
Still, he had to wait until Sunday morning when the U.S. Paralympic swimming coaches announced the 14 names on the American men’s roster. To hear the news, hundreds of athletes, family members and coaches packed an academic hall at Bismarck State College, host of the meet. Dozens more people couldn’t be seated and waited for news while standing in a nearby hallway. Eleven names already had been read before Snyder finally heard his.

He stood, felt a massive wave of emotion rising in his throat and then walked, led via one arm by his brother, Mitchell, toward most of the rest of the men’s team already gathered at the front of the room.

Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last September. The Navy officer is now training to represent the U.S. at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Launch slideshow

“As I was walking him over, I was just staring down at the floor. I didn’t want look at anyone because I thought I was going to cry,” said Mitchell Snyder. “I was mostly thinking how far he’s come since September. I couldn’t have been prouder.”

At the swimming trials, Mitchell served as his brother’s “tapper” – a person assigned to touch a blind swimmer on the head or shoulder with a walking cane to warn him or her that the wall is near and that a flip turn or a finishing kick is needed. No other communication is allowed between the tapper and a swimmer.

“The moment his name was announced everyone erupted and I guess he got a standing ovation,” said Mitchell Snyder, 25. “He couldn’t see it. And I didn’t want to see it because I thought I was going to lose it.”

Snyder joins a rising corps of wounded U.S. servicemen and servicewomen who will again battle for their nation overseas – this time as Paralympians vying for gold medals in track, cycling, archery, wheelchair tennis and an array of other sports. More than 30 active-duty and retired soldiers and sailors are expected to make the 2012 American Paralymic team – double the number that competed for Team USA at the Beijing Paralympic Games four years ago.

Golden favorite
“You can look at it and say, unfortunately, we’re having a lot of guys hurt. But at the same time we’re having a lot of guys hurt who are finding relevancy in going out there and succeeding post-injury,” Brad Snyder said. “We’re finding a way to get past, finding a way to strive for success just the way we were in the military.

“After joining the military, you want to be the best in the world at your job because it means life or death. (After injury) we’re stripped of the ability to do that the way we used to do. But we can still find an avenue through elite competition.”

This week, Snyder will return to his intern job at a Baltimore software company. And he will continue training at a Baltimore aquatic center with his coach, Brian Loeffler, in preparation for the London Games. At the 2012 Paralympics, he also will be considered a front runner for a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle. At the Bismarck trials, Snyder swam that event in 57.75 seconds – now the current, world-best time for blind athletes.

But he’ll never forget, he said, his very first race in Bismarck – the chase that offered Snyder his first solid proof that he could, once again, be the best in the world at something.

With an entry time of 5:29, Snyder wasn’t fully sure he could finish close to the 4:43 mark held by Spaniard Enhamed Enhamed – formerly the holder of the record in the 400-meter freestyle. Among blind swimmers, Enhamed has been a giant for years, collecting four gold medals at the Beijing Paralympics.

Unforgettable performance
Last Thursday morning, amid the preliminary heat for that same event, Mitchell Snyder glanced at the pool clock several times from his tapper position as his brother churned his arms and kicked his feet. 

“But I was at the finishing end, so I had to make sure he was going to hit the wall safe and I couldn’t watch the clock when he touched,” Mitchell Snyder said. “Earlier in the race, though, it became abundantly clear during the first hundred meters, and the second hundred and the third hundred that, unless something drastically wrong happened, we had a No. 1 time in the world on our hands.”

“They’re strict in what the tapper can or can’t say,” Brad Snyder added. “So when I finished, I didn’t know what my time was. I can’t look at the scoreboard. And none of the people in front of the (starting) blocks can tell me. But I was fortunate that the announcer of the meet – and only by virtue of the fact that I was the first one to the wall – announced the time, 4:39. I kind of heard it. And I thought, 4:39, wow that’s kind of fast.”

Knowing he had a world-best time already tucked away in the prelim, Snyder said he was able to relax and swim the event’s final race that night much more freely.

But again, after he touched the wall at the finish, he didn’t know how he had fared.

Then somebody – somebody who was sitting behind the blocks – and I don’t even know who it was, whispered to me, “4:35!” I had shaved four more seconds off my time. They weren’t supposed to tell me. But I could definitely hear the excitement in their voice.”

Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com and author of “The Third Miracle.” 

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Prosecutors may use unaired portions of NBC's Sandusky interview
• NJ cop surrenders after 10-hour standoff with fellow police
• Rodney King found dead in swimming pool
• 20 years after L.A. riots, 'Can we all get along?'
• Search ends for 4 Japanese climbers on McKinley
• Video: A father's fury ends in death

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

Dan Koeck for msnbc.com

Lt. Bradley Snyder, swimming his preliminary 400-meter freestyle heat at the 2012 U.S. Paralympics Swimming Trials in Bismarck, N.D., is about to be "tapped" by his brother, Mitchell.

Even in the water, amid a furious race to win back his confidence, the blind swimmer needs a cane.

Actually, Lt. Brad Snyder relies on two canes to avoid the sort of ugly collisions he has suffered repeatedly on dry land.

At one end of the pool, his swimming coach stands above Snyder’s starting block, clutching a walking cane affixed with a tennis ball. As Snyder nears that hard edge, his coach leans down, extends the cane and taps the Navy officer on the back of his head with the ball, alerting him to abruptly finish his stroke and execute a flip turn. At the opposite end of the lane, Snyder’s brother, Mitchell, is armed with the same device and the same task.

“Any communication between the tapper and the swimmer is illegal -- other than: ‘You’re close to the wall!’ ”said Mitchell Snyder, 25, a former college swimmer. “Of course, you’re natural instinct is to tell him how he’s doing. You’re the one who can see the clock and see the whole pool. You want to tell them where they’re at in the race. But I don’t give him any extra signals.”

The tap is merely one of the tactics and tools that Brad Snyder -- blinded last September by an Afghan bomb blast -- now uses to swim competitively in utter darkness. During each length of every race, he silently tracks his stroke count to hold a steady clip. He occasionally brushes a finger or shoulder, lightly, against the lane marker to verify his location. And, oddly, he must wear blacked-out goggles, by rule, over both of his blue prosthetic eyes. 

Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last September. The Navy officer is now training to represent the U.S. at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Launch slideshow

Through Saturday, the former Naval Academy swimmer is vying for one of 14 roster spots at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials in Bismarck, N.D. If Snyder, 28, equals or nears a current world-best time in one of his five events, he’ll join the American team bound for the 2012 London Paralympics, held later this summer.

Wearing one of his old college caps with the Navy emblem on one side and the American flag on the other, he’s racing to again represent his country, this time on the international sports stage. He’s racing to help restore his self-image as a fully capable man -- a sacred piece of himself he lost when the IED detonated in his face. He’s racing to deliver a deeper message about thriving amid life’s occasional rough waters. 

Editor's note: This is the second installment that chronicles Lt. Brad Snyder's efforts to earn a spot on Team USA's roster for the 2012 London Paralympics. Read the first story here.

Racing the clock
“All sorts of people have contacted me on Facebook, or by e-mail, or they come up to me in person and say, ‘You really inspired us, just by the fact that you’ve moved forward, that you don’t let this thing slow you down.’ I want them to see that, hey, you can go out (despite this type of wound) and excel at something -- become a really good writer, or a good cook; it doesn’t matter,” Snyder said. “Hopefully, we can utilize this as a platform.”

That platform, he understands, will become far larger if he makes the 2012 U.S. Paralympic team. But getting to London is all about minutes, seconds and tenths of seconds -- the fewer of those during his heats, the better. And as a swimmer without sight, ensuring a brisk time is all about maintaining tight direction: the straighter he goes, the quicker he touches the finish line.

But, much like his delicate job in Afghanistan and Iraq -- dissecting and dismantling homemade explosives -- haste in the pool can be Snyder’s enemy.

When he swims fast and tries to increase his (arms’) turnover rate, he ends up almost pin-balling in the lane -- one side to the other, one side to the other -- ricocheting off that lane line,” said his coach, Brian Loeffler. “If he gets going too much and crashes into a lane line, he can just be stopped in the water and lose all forward progress.”

When he swam for Navy in the early 2000s, Snyder’s initial style was to dive in and sprint -- no other strategy, no clean technique, just winning on pure guts. Eventually at the Naval Academy, he began to hone his strokes, evening his pace and becoming more efficient. Now, he and Loeffler are focused on keeping each 50-meter race length (or “split,” in pool jargon), as even as possible to all other trips up and down the pool -- both in terms of his times and his stroke counts.

That physical symmetry allows Snyder to better hold his course and avoid side-swiping the lane markers.

“When he can keep a long, steady stroke, he has a real good rhythm,” said Loeffer, the head swimming coach at Loyola University in Baltimore. He also will serve as one of the assistant swim coaches for the U.S. Paralympic team. “We’ve got to find a balance between that kind of speed but also being able to be real straight in the water.”

Golden vision
Snyder’s best shot at making the American team, he believes, will come in the 400-meter freestyle. At the Bismarck trials, he’ll also aim to notch qualifying times in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle heats as well as the 100-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley.

For each heat, he’ll don special goggles – not, however, to boost his pace. Swimmers competing in the Paralympics’ fully blind division must wear the black, plastic eye covers to ensure that they can’t see even a glimmer of light. That would give those swimmers an advantage in a sport that takes itself as seriously as any Olympic endeavor.

“When I swam in my last Paralympic-sanctioned meet, every time I got out of the pool after racing, an official came over and looked at my goggles to make sure he couldn’t see through them,” Snyder said. “But there’s another reason for them. If one of the prosthetic eyes comes out, my goggle would catch it. I wouldn’t have to ask someone to go search the pool for my eye.”

But behind those artificial eyes, Snyder has begun to visualize a blissful finish – especially if he makes the U.S. team. The final men’s Paralympic swimming roster will be announced on Sunday.

“I really hope to bring attention to the wounded warriors (fellow servicemen and servicewomen hurt in Afghanistan and Iraq). And I hope my story maybe gives people some perspective,” Snyder said.

“You know how people get upset about silly things, like they get all fired up in rush hour? Well, let’s give them a story they can rally behind and say, hey it’s not that bad, maybe I should probably calm down a little bit.”

If Snyder earns a Paralympic slot, his best race – the 400-meter freestyle – is scheduled in London for Sept. 7. That means exactly one year to the day that the U.S. sailor lost his sight after stepping on a battlefield bomb, he’ll be wearing American colors, swimming for gold. 

COMING MONDAY: Did Lt. Brad Snyder make the U.S. men’s Paralympic swimming team? 

Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com and author of “The Third Miracle.” 

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Paralyzed teen walks at high school graduation
• Bringing our daughter back from brain injury: A father's story
• Yosemite National Park closes sites over falling rock danger

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

Lt. Brad Snyder slices through the watery warmth with powerful movements and methodical rhythm. Each arm stroke is tallied, each breath measured as he glides forward in a sharp, precise line. He knows that a coach is watching, that a big clock is ticking, that a concrete wall is looming.

He sees none of it.

But away from the hard edges and surprise bumps of his dark, new world, Snyder senses, finally, he is gaining some serious ground.

“In the pool, I feel efficient, comfortable, like I know what I’m doing. Such an amazing feeling,” he said. “Everything else, I’ve had to figure out all over again — like being a child again, and you suck at everything. It’s so refreshing to be good at something.”

Blinded last September by a dirt-cloaked bomb in an Afghan ditch, Snyder, 28, slowly is creating a fresh vision for a life once blazed at high speeds and even higher tension. The former bomb defuser is, for now, interning at a Baltimore software company, staying at a corporate apartment and navigating with a cane. He also is logging 4,000 yards per day at a local pool and — this week — dreaming of London.

Amanda Lucidon / LucidPix for msnbc.com

Brad Snyder laughs with co-workers of RedOwl Analytics during their lunch break. Snyder, blinded last September by an IED blast in Afghanistan, is competing for a spot on Team USA for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

On Thursday, Snyder competes at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials in Bismarck, N.D., aiming to capture one of the 14 spots allotted for American male swimmers. A quick time in the 400 meter freestyle — about 4 minutes, 48 seconds, he and his coach estimate — will earn him a ticket to Great Britain this summer for the Paralympics, an international sports festival for disabled athletes held after the closing of the London Summer Games, using the Olympic venues.

No sure thing
Based on his practice times, Snyder believes he has strong shot at hitting — or nearing — his 4:48 goal on Thursday.

“I’m very hesitant to say,” Snyder said. “I don’t want to jinx myself.”

Snyder is quick to emphasize, as well, that he is in no way a lock to make the American team. Unlike the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, where roster slots are handed to swimmers who win their designated distances at that critical meet, Paralympic spots are determined by how a swimmer’s personal best ranks against the top international times recorded since Jan. 1, 2011 at that distance — and within each disability category. That’s literally a world of pressure: the Navy officer versus the best blind swimmers on the planet.

Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Dan Koeck for msnbc.com

Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last September. The Navy officer is now training to represent the U.S. at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Launch slideshow

One byproduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is a deeper talent field among American Paralympic hopefuls. Consequently, the competition to make Team USA is tighter in 2012 compared to prior years. About 220 athletes will comprise the 2012 U.S. Paralympic team roster bound for London. About 15 percent of them (roughly 33 men and women) will be military veterans and active-duty soldiers — most of those in track and field, said Beth Bourgeois, associate communications director for U.S. Paralympics.

At the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, Team USA sent 16 athletes with military backgrounds, spanning wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, track, rowing, archery, sitting volleyball, and cycling. Just one was a swimmer.

Finding his groove
“Part of getting an injury like this is the idea that you’ve lost a part of you, and now you are — for lack of a better word — weird. I can’t do things the way I used to do,” Snyder said. “It’s a hard hit to your confidence, a hard hit to who you are. So being able to excel at something, to do it very well, is huge in gaining your confidence back, and gaining back that piece of you that you lost.”

It’s quite natural, actually, for Snyder to dive into the water to find himself. Back in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla., his father first coaxed him into a pool at a young age, back when Snyder’s smarts left him bored with schoolwork, often too chatty in class, and perhaps a bit directionless.

“Brad was a little bit of a trouble maker when he was a kid and our dad was just looking for something for Brad to put some energy into, instead of just wandering on his own,” recalled Mitchell Snyder, the Navy officer’s 25-year-old brother.

At first, the rigid discipline of swimming intrigued Brad Snyder. Soon, the sport consumed him. In high school, he helped his team capture conference and district championships, finishing second in the state of Florida during the 2000 and 2001 seasons.

But his dad, Michael, had other lessons waiting for the oldest of his four children. The father routinely preached motions such as “leave something better than you found it” and “everything is about service to something bigger than yourself.” Snyder remembers how his father once spied a stray hamburger wrapper drifting through a McDonald’s parking lot. He instructed his son to pick it up simply because it was the proper thing to do.

Those bits of parental wisdom ultimately inspired Snyder to seek to serve his country. He applied for an appointment to the Naval Academy. The coaches there were equally interested in the talented prep swimmer. Snyder was accepted in the fall of 2001 and by late 2002 he was swimming for Navy.

American bad ass
His initial pool style in college matched his high-octane personality: Storm off the blocks as hard and fast as possible and dare the other swimmers to try to keep up. He didn’t know how to pace himself — in the water or when it came time to choose a Navy career following his 2006 graduation. For active duty, he opted to become an explosive ordinance disposal officer, or EOD. Defusing bombs appealed to his problem-solving nature, and the job allowed him, occasionally, to swim.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, where the anti-American weapon of choice often was and is an improvised explosive device, EODs were in high demand. Snyder was deployed to Iraq in October 2008, staying until March 2009. He was redeployed to Afghanistan in April last year.

“The [EODs] are really the front line,” Mitchell Snyder said. “They might trip wires. Or, when trying to defuse a bomb, it might blow up in their face. Knowing that he was the first man to go and check things out really frightened me. His uniform had some extra level of protection but there was nothing on his face but sunglasses.

“Every person on his team, from tip to toe, is a bad ass. And he fit right in with them.”

The bomb that took his vision, however, was not one Brad Snyder ever saw. While rushing to help two Afghan soldiers wounded in an initial IED blast last Sept. 7, Snyder stepped on a second, hidden device in an irrigation ditch spanning a farm field.

“My right eye was effectively popped, like a flower almost, and there were pieces of fragmentation that had gone into my left eye,” Snyder said. His face was burned and lacerated from chin to hairline. The rest of his body, however was untouched. He had one final moment of vision before the world permanently went pitch black. In that second, he looked down and saw that his arms and legs were still attached.

Lucky to be alive
A little more than a week later, at Bethesda Naval Hospital near Washington, D.C., doctors told Snyder they could do nothing to salvage his sight, not even restore a faint sense of light. His damaged eyes were surgically removed and replaced with prosthetics.

“I knew the risks I was assuming. I knew I was very fortunate to be in that hospital bed and not in a coffin in the ground.  And I knew I could not control the past,” Snyder said.

“At that point, I made a decision: OK, so now we move forward. How do I start to gain my independence back? How do I get to the bathroom? How do I feed myself? Where is the fork and spoon? I had to figure out how to eat spaghetti out of cup. That was the only way I knew how to eat it. But I was adamant: I want to do this myself.”

By late October, Snyder needed a refuge of sorts from the walls he repeatedly smacked with his body and face while learning to walk with a cane. He stepped back into a pool and swam, pounding out a few hundred meters.

The water and the strokes felt so natural, so normal, he ached to race. He playfully challenged non-competitive swimmers — yet opponents who nonetheless could see. He beat them. Next, Snyder wanted to take on other blind swimmers. The Paralympics, he knew, could offer him that chance. In Baltimore, he began training with a coach. He began kicking again.

“I’m going to show people that I’m not going to let this beat me. I’m not going to let blindness build a brick wall around me. I am going to find a way forward.”

COMING FRIDAY: How do you swim — and challenge world records — when you can’t see the lane dividers, your competitors or the finish line?

Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to MSNBC.com and author of “The Third Miracle.”

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• White student returns college scholarship meant for blacks
• Miami face-eating attack victim awake and talking, doctors say
• Border Patrol agents accused of sex act at Cirque du Soleil
• Video: Man with no hands banned from roller coaster

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook