#88 – Forward/Defence
Buff Burkel is the embodiment of courage, resilience, and the extraordinary strength of the human spirit. In 2015, during her final deployment, she served as the advisor to the Afghan Air Force’s Director of Training in Kabul. That mission — and her life — changed forever when a NATO helicopter she was aboard crashed, taking the lives of five of the nine people on board, including two of her own subordinates.
Buff survived, but her injuries were devastating. She sustained a hangman’s fracture of her C‑2 vertebra, requiring immediate evacuation to Germany and three months in a halo traction device. She also suffered a severe disc injury between her C‑5 and C‑6 vertebrae, resulting in a near‑complete internal decapitation. A complex discectomy, synthetic bone graft, and spinal fusion were required to save her life and preserve her mobility.
She spent more than three months recovering at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center before returning to her duty station in Ottawa, Ontario, to continue her long and difficult healing journey — a journey she still walks with strength and grace today.
But Buff’s story is not defined by the crash. It is defined by what she has done since.
She has dedicated her life to sharing her survival story with audiences around the world, teaching the power of connection, community, and the profound impact we have on one another. Her message is clear and deeply felt: our resilience is strongest when we lift each other up. She honors those lost by helping others rise, reminding us that we reach our fullest potential not alone, but together.
Hockey became part of Buff’s healing as well. Though she had played both roller and ice hockey earlier in life, her true St. Louis hockey journey began in 2020 with the St. Louis Blues Warriors, a disabled veterans hockey organization. Through the Warriors, she found camaraderie, purpose, and a renewed love for the game. Since then, she has played in multiple tournaments and connected with countless St. Louis–area teams and programs — Winterland, Ironman, the Kodiaks, the Peppermint Hippos, the Old Broads Hockey Club — and has proudly coached youth players with the Southern Illinois Ice Hawks, including the Ladyhawks and now the 6U Ice Hawks.
Today, Buff Burkel steps onto the ice in the DAWG Nation Survivor Game as a survivor, a mentor, a leader, and a living testament to the power of community. Her journey reminds us that even in the face of unimaginable loss and injury, hope can be rebuilt, purpose can be rediscovered, and life can be lived with gratitude, connection, and courage.