Afghanistan

From Green Beret to Bobsledder: Meet Team USA's Nate Weber

“Training for the Olympics is definitely harder than basic training just because here there's no one to tell you to do it"

Sgt. 1st Class Nate Weber took an unconventional path to becoming an Olympic bobsledder. Instead of training in a gym, he prepared for competition while deployed in Niger, Cameroon and Afghanistan.

"Training for the Olympics is definitely harder than basic training just because here there's no one to tell you to do it," the 30-year-old father of two told NBC’s Hans Nichols.

Becoming a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces — often called the Green Berets — takes incredible dedication and commitment. As the "Today" show reported, Weber used the Green Beret’s "unconventional warfare" methods as strength-building opportunities, and he trained for bobsled by pulling military vehicles, pulling large bricks and sprinting down dusty roads while overseas.

Weber said qualifying for the Olympics "has been one of the biggest blessings of my entire life" — and it's a blessing he wants to be able to share with his two young daughters. His deployments have kept him far from home, so Weber started a GoFundMe to raise money for his girls to travel to Pyeongchang to see their dad race.

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"I want to make them proud," he said.

Click here to read the full story by Julia Curley, and learn more about Weber and the U.S. men's bobsled team, at TODAY.com.

Click here to watch the men's bobsled competition kick off in Pyeongchang live on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 6:05 a.m. ET at NBCOlympics.com. Weber will compete in the four-man event on Feb. 24. 

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