Local Veteran Artist Skydives at 80

When you ask your average 80 year old what they’d like to do for their birthday, most wouldn’t ask for much. Many, at 80, would be happy to get out for a little party to spend time with friends and family. But not local veteran advocate, artist and icon, Anthony A. LoBue, AKA Tony the Vet. On August 10, LoBue decided to celebrate his 80th by jumping out of a perfectly good Cesna 206 for a tandem skydive with Pacific Coast Skydiving, here in San Diego.

When you ask LoBue what inspired him to celebrate in this way, he’s got a variety of life-affirming and sentimental reasons. In general, he hopes to bust the stereotypes of ageism, proving to himself and others that your age does not define you. LoBue also hoped to demonstrate to other disabled veterans that a disability does not define you, either.

“I wanted to demonstrate to myself and those in similar categories that you have to keep moving if you want to stay truly alive and aligned in mind, body and spirit,” said LoBue.

LoBue called his birthday jump a part of his “Declaration of Independence’’ from ongoing postoperative complications after cervical spine surgery in 2006. Although the surgery went perfectly, he suffered a phenomenon called C5 paralysis. LoBue and medical professionals have no idea what causes or caused his C5 palsy, which is a rare type of post-spinal surgery phenomenon. Some recover from the freak paralysis after a few days, weeks or even years, while some never recover at all. Initially, LoBue was confined to bed for 30 days, but amazed his care professionals with his degree of recovery. Today the paralysis affects a large portion of his right side, to include his right shoulder and arm. He is unable to lift a quart of fluid with his right hand and has had to become left-handed.

“It has been 16 years of living with some real limitations to my lifestyle”, said LoBue, who has always preferred to challenge himself physically.

It has been a decade since LoBue’s first post-paralysis declaration of independence. That declaration began in 2010 when he picked up the mantle of veterans advocate and began a walk across the nation from San Diego to New York City, ending at Ground Zero for the 10th Anniversary of September 11. Raised in Brooklyn, LoBue says he is a New Yorker at heart.

LoBue said he made the walk as a way to challenge disability stereotypes, affirm his own life and raise awareness around veteran issues such as PTSD and veteran suicide. Through what became a series of

Now, ten years later, he celebrated the anniversary of that epic journey the same way it began; by jumping out of a plane.

As for sentimentality, that is another big part of his reason why. In 1965 LoBue proudly finished Army Airborne School at the age of 22. He served six years as an Airborne Army officer, two of which were active duty during the Vietnam era. Since his first jump, LoBue has been in love with skydiving, but was inspired to become an Airborne officer long before then.

When LoBue was little, an uncle taught him a special word. It was the same word he would yell the first time he jumped from a C-130 at age 22 and the same word that uncle yelled when he jumped his many combat missions as an Army paratrooper during World War II.

“Geronimo!,” 22-year old LoBue yelled into the phone to his Uncle Angelo after his first jump. He’d not told his uncle that his stories of courage as an Army Airborne combat medic had inspired him to join as well. Only after LoBue had his first jump under his belt did he call to break the news. Tearful, all his uncle, who LoBue calls his “Angel Hero”, could do was quietly say thank you.

Later, LoBue would learn of Post Traumatic Stress and understand his uncle on an even deeper level. His uncle’s love and legacy inspired pivotal moments in his life and was a continuing part of the inspiration for his most recent jump.

On August 10 LoBue climbed into that Cesna 206 to do something he has truly come to love. He says he’s jumped out of helicopters, big airplanes, little airplanes, but wanted especially to jump out of a Cesna.

“I owned a Cesna 128, several years back,” said LoBue. “I’ve flown a Cesna but never jumped out of one!”

Leading up to the jump, LoBue said he prepared with physical training, a raw vegan diet and mindfulness exercises. When the plane reached 10,000 ft, or 2 miles high, he put all his preparation to the test. LoBue said they caught a couple of up-currents on the way down, which, to his delight, lengthened their time floating and soaring through the air. They landed perfectly, a soft, stand-up landing, several minutes after the other sky divers. When you ask LoBue if he thinks this was a dangerous way to commemorate 80 years on earth, he’ll tell you that it’s no more dangerous than driving your car or walking out to the mailbox.

“I love to sky dive. It’s the greatest down-to-earth experience you can have,” concluded LoBue with a smirk.

Tony the Vet is the founder and director of www.artsforveterans.org, a member of the San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition (SDRACC), founder and director of Support our Veterans Association, a certified “QPR Gatekeeper” trained in suicide prevention, and member of American Legion VPW Post #434 among other roles and positions.