ROSHARON - After losing his right leg in a gunfight in Iraq, Tyler Sloan wasn't worried about jumping out of an airplane.

"I'm really excited about doing it," said Sloan, 25, an Army staff sergeant who lives in San Antonio. "I've already tried scuba diving, so I figured this was the next thing on my list to cross off."

Sloan was on a mission in 2006 when a bullet struck him below his protective vest.

The bullet shattered his hip and caused nerve damage from the knee down. Doctors amputated his leg last summer.

"I just went in and had them take it off," Sloan said. "It was better that way."

After learning to walk on a prosthetic leg, Sloan hoped to take the air Saturday for the Airborne Amputees Limbs of Love enter at Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon.

More than 150 people - at least 20 of them wounded soldiers - signed up to leap out of an airplane with an instructor during the event.

The dive is an attempt to show there is life after amputation, said Joe Sansone, founder of the amputee group.

"It's almost a right of passage for amputees," Sansone said. "A lot of people jumping today would never have jumped when they had both of their legs or other extremities. ... It's a challenge."

The organization gave amputees a chance to skydive free. Dozens of other people also signed up to take the plunge to raise money and awareness for the organization.

High wind Saturday afternoon, however, made it too risky for the amputees to take a tandem jump with instructors, Skydive Spaceland officials said.

Proceeds from the event also went to help those who need prosthetic limbs but can't afford them, Sansone said.

"It's like the saying ‘Give a hungry man a fish; you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime.' " Sansone said. "When we give somebody a limb, every single step they take of every day of every month of every year, their life is completely changed. It allows them to go back to work ... lead a productive life. They are no longer dependent on others. Their life begins anew."

Houston resident Glenda Miller watched divers prepare for the flight. Miller, whose right leg was amputated in October 2009 after an infection, was set to be fitted next week for a prosthetic leg.

"I thought it was the end of the world when they took my leg," Miller said. "They told me they had to cut it off because (the infection) was spreading too fast and I might die."

She was looking forward to leaving her wheelchair at home and walking on her own.

"It will allow me to just get up and go somewhere when I want to do things," she said.

Todd Huston, an amputee who climbs mountains with his prosthetic leg, gave those in attendance a pep talk.

"You have to overcome your fears," he said.

Army Staff Sgt. Bobby Henline, 38, of San Antonio was traveling in a convoy north of Baghdad in April 2007 when a roadside bomb exploded near the truck he was in. The blast severely damaged his hand, which was amputated in the summer.

"It was causing me lots of pain, so I asked them to take it off," Henline said.

He had never skydived before and wanted to cross it off his to-do list.

Army Spc. Jasmine Perry, 26, of Fort Campbell, Ky., severely injured her left leg in a training accident at Fort Carson, Colo., in May 2005. The leg was amputated in June 2006.

"I was riding in a vehicle and strap came across and crushed both of my femurs, and when my left femur broke, it hit my sciatic nerve," she said.

She wanted to skydive for the thrill.

"It's just one of the things I always said I'd never do, but it just came up," Perry said. "I figured you only live once, so you might as well try it."

Nathaniel Lukefahr is a reporter for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0151.