Warfare hero Jason Redman prepares for New York City SEAL Swim 2025

His motto is to only maintain swimming.

Jason Redman was at demise’s door following an al Qaeda ambush in Iraq in 2007, throughout which he was shot eight instances, sustaining extreme accidents to his face, arm and physique.

However, towards all odds, the embellished Navy SEAL made it out alive, incomes a Purple Heart for wounds sustained throughout the assault.

Now, nonetheless bearing the facial scars of that fateful day within the desert, he’ll defy the percentages as soon as once more with one other crucible — Saturday’s New York City SEAL Swim 2025, a grueling, 3½-mile slog throughout the Hudson River, the place he and others will battle the damaging currents to lift cash for charity.

“It’s a tough swim, it’s a real gut check — we have to rescue people every year,” Redman, 50, who will full the occasion for the third time, instructed The Post. “Even Michael Phelps couldn’t swim against that current.”

The navy man shall be joined by tons of extra former SEALs, veterans, cops, firefighters and different first responders who will make the aquatic trek from New Jersey’s Liberty State Park to Lower Manhattan — the place they’ll take part in an “in formation” flag run, close to the 9/11 Memorial.

Along the way in which, rivals will make pit stops on the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island — finishing 100 pushups and 22 pull-ups every time.

Talk about an endurance check.

“I’ve done quite a few hard things since I was wounded, but I mean, this was probably one of the bigger things that I’ve done,” Redman confessed.

Nonetheless, he believes within the significance of the trial by water, which was began by former Navy SEAL Bill Brown in 2019 to honor fallen heroes, together with those that misplaced their lives on 9/11.

It additionally raises cash for the Navy SEAL Foundation, which advantages vets and their households — and financially supported Redman by his restoration.

While solely 35 SEALs confirmed as much as the inaugural occasion, this weekend’s swim is anticipated to attract 375 rivals — and lift a lofty $700,000 on prime of the over $1 million raised so far.

“It’s an additional goal to keep me in shape and be involved in something that’s fun and makes an impact,” mentioned Redman, who begins coaching no less than six months out from the occasion and endures weekly exercises that embody a mile-long swim, tons of of pushups, a lifting routine, and rigorous outside and treadmill runs.

It marks an unimaginable, ongoing comeback for a person for whom survival — not to mention distance swimming — as soon as appeared not possible.

Redman’s journey to the Hudson started Sept. 13, 2007, towards the top of a “highly impactful” deployment to western Iraq, the place his colleagues ran quite a few missions “to go after mid-level and high-level al Qaeda and insurgent leaders,” he mentioned.

“My team and I walked into a very well-executed ambush,” Redman recounted of his life-altering, raging firefight, “and several of us got shot up by multiple machine guns.”

The lieutenant took two rounds within the elbow and a number of rounds off his helmet, along with his evening imaginative and prescient tube “shot off.”

When he turned to maneuver towards his group, Redman “caught a round in the face,” he mentioned.

“It hit me from behind right in front of the ear, stabbing through my face, took off my nose, blew out my right cheekbone,” mentioned Redman. “It broke all the bones above my eye, broke the head of my jaw, shattered my chin, and it knocked me out.”

His group was rescued after an emergency strike from a gunship, and crews evacuated Redman and two wounded teammates to a hospital in Baghdad, the place his situation was stabilized — however his battle was removed from over.

“It would take four years and 40 surgeries to put me back together,” mentioned Redman, who teared up whereas recalling his vital accidents and lengthy highway to restoration.

Due to his obliterated elbow and inoperable left hand, docs on the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, first thought-about amputating his arm, however have been in the end ready to reserve it.

Unsurprisingly, the toll wasn’t simply bodily.

“There is a natural tendency to want to get back to the same person you were before your injuries,” recalled Redman. “I’ll always remember the very first rehab session. I had no use in my left hand, and so they wished me to choose up these plastic cones that in all probability weighed half an oz..

“I could not do it. I could not get my hand to work to grab this cone,” the wounded warrior mentioned. “I would knock it over, and it was super frustrating.”

He ultimately accepted that he’d “never be the same,” Redman lamented.

“My body’s been damaged too badly,” he mentioned. “You’ve just got to figure out, ‘What’s the elite version of me right now?’ And that became the way forward.”

Redman has since made main strides, regardless of nerve points and limitations involving mobility and his muscle mass — and is even in a position to do pull-ups and pushups once more for the upcoming occasion.

He additionally realized to regulate to his restricted vary of movement in water, which he mentioned felt like swimming with half an arm.

“I was not a freestyle swimmer, and the SEAL teams, we typically swim sidestroke or breaststroke,” he mentioned. “But the way my arm’s configured, it actually works pretty good for freestyle.”

That’s how he’ll sort out the Hudson this weekend, and he in the end hopes that pending success — to not point out his yearslong journey — will set an instance for others scuffling with adversity.

“We all have failures. We all get knocked down; we all get broken,” he mentioned.

“And for me, I’m dwelling a second likelihood, and I’m hoping that it reveals different those that, ‘Hey, you can do this, too.’ “