16 February 2025
The Invictus Games are renowned for their role in the recovery and rehabilitation of injured, wounded, and ill military veterans through the healing power of sport.
While it serves as an opportunity for former and current serving men and women to reclaim their lives, the event also fosters a deep sense of camaraderie, creating lifelong bonds among participants. For some, these connections go beyond friendship, blossoming into love.
Laura Reynell, a Jervis Bay-based veteran of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), is one of the lucky ones who has found both friendship and love through her Invictus and Warrior Games experiences.
Joining the RAN in 2016 as an Able Seaman Boatswain’s Mate, Laura deployed to South East Asia before being discharged in 2020 after suffering a serious injury while on deployment. In 2017, while at sea, Laura was involved in an accident with a machine gun that led to multiple surgeries. To date, she has undergone around 20 surgeries, including foot reconstruction, ligament transplants, joint replacements, and regular nerve-block procedures.
Laura's journey through recovery with adaptive sports brought her to the Invictus Games Dusseldorf in 2023, and then to the Warrior Games in Florida in 2024.
It was at her first training camp for the Dusseldorf event that she hit it off immediately with fellow competitor Erin Brigden.
"From the moment we met, it was just an instant click," Laura recalled. "It’s wild. You would think we’ve known each other for years, but we literally met through the program.”
The bond between Laura and Erin has only grown stronger over time and through their involvement with the two international events. Today the two continue to remain in constant contact. Their families live close to each other, and they frequently meet up whenever they travel back home.
"Pretty much every day we talk, and if we haven't heard from each other, we call. It just feels weird when we don’t."
Now, the pair find themselves together again, this time playing a supporting role for Team Australia from the chilly grandstands at Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler. While Erin cheers on her friend, Nigel Coutts, a Warrior Games 2024 competitor, Laura is supporting her former Warrior teammate, Tricia Reynolds.
'It's like one of those Hallmark movies, but this is our life, and it's better than that.'
However, it’s not just friendship that has blossomed for Laura through her Invictus experience. During her time in Florida, she met Moses Debraska, a Team US competitor, and the two hit it off instantly, proving that sport has the power to heal, connect and change lives in ways that go beyond the field of play.
"It was his dog that actually introduced us. I was coming past in my rugby chair and saw his dog, Win. I just rolled up and started chatting. From that moment, something just clicked," Laura said.
Having similar backgrounds, both Laura and Moses share a lived understanding of overcoming injuries sustained during military service, and their connection quickly grew.
“I don't really talk about my injury that much to people who aren't in the program, so the way that we met was like the perfect sliding door moment; that is, in a space where talking about what's wrong with you is ‘normal’.
“It's a judgment-free zone … I don’t feel judged, I feel open," Laura added.
Despite the inherent difficulties of managing a relationship across two continents, with Moses based in the US and Laura in Australia, the couple has maintained a strong bond through consistent communication.
“Laura and I haven’t seen each other since mid-July, but it’s been easy and comfortable maintaining communication,” said Air Force veteran Moses, who is competing at this year’s Games.
Having already met Moses’ Wisconsin family, there are further plans for Laura to strengthen these ties, with plans afoot to join him in Colorado, where he lives and works, for a few months.
“Laura's the first woman - of course, in teenage relationships it really didn't mean a lot - but she's the first woman I ever brought to meet my family, and it meant so much to me and my family. I take that very seriously,” he said.
“There's no one else in my life I would have rather brought to be the first and the only, honestly. It was really beautiful. She connected with my family instantly, and my family connected with her. It didn't make sense, but it just fit right.
“It's like one of those Hallmark movies, but this is our life, and it's better than that.”
