It is more than fitting — more serendipitous, perhaps. Three days before the 70th anniversary of the Dec. 7 attack on Pearl Harbor, Team X-T.R.E.M.E., a group that honors wounded military veterans through its participation in extreme challenges, again will compete in Sunday’s XTERRA Trail Run World Championships at Kualoa Ranch … wearing gas masks.

"The gas masks immediately draw attention," said U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jeremy Soles, founder of Team X-T.R.E.M.E. (Train. Rehabilitate. Empower. Motivate. Endure.). "We’ve chosen that to symbolize our initiative, which is bringing awareness of our wounded veterans.

"People ask, ‘How difficult is it to run long distances in a gas mask?’ We tell them not nearly as difficult as living with post-traumatic stress disorder, learning to walk again with prosthetics or living the rest of your life with burns over 30 percent of your body.

"Our wounded warriors can identify with the gas masks. Running in one is the equivalent to 20-25 oxygen resistances. We parallel our temporary discomfort and difficulty with the challenges our wounded veterans will endure the rest of their lives."

Team X-T.R.E.M.E. had begun dedicating events to individual veterans. At the 2010 Marine Corps Marathon, Soles entered the Guinness World Book of Records with his 4:29:03 — the fastest in a full marathon wearing a gas mask — an award he handed to USMC Cpl. John Peck, who lost his arms and legs to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Today’s 21K trail run honors Cpl. Todd Love, a third-generation Marine, who lost both legs and part of his left arm also in Afghanistan while on recon patrol Oct. 25, 2010.

Love, now 21, has a very busy schedule this week on Oahu. Thursday included a tour of Pearl Harbor with scuba diving yesterday and surfing through AccesSurf Hawaii. There’s also activities through other sponsors, such as Outrigger Hotels, Paradise Cove and American Airlines.

Sunday, he’ll skydive into Kualoa Ranch as part of the opening ceremonies, courtesy of Skydive Hawaii.

"I’ve done about 13 jumps and this will be the most fun," said Love, still on active duty at Bethesda, Md. "This will be quite unique, a free fall. I’ve jumped with 200 pounds of gear. This is going to be exciting."

Love has done everything but feel sorry for himself in the 14 months since the accident. He’s done some skiing with adaptive skis and hopes to do a marathon with his hand cycle and some swimming endurance races.

"I’ve never felt like that wasn’t anything I couldn’t do," said Love, raised in Georgia. "I’m so happy and honored to have this opportunity to be a part of Team X-T.R.E.M.E."

"He’s an amazing kid," said Love’s father, Gary, who has accompanied his son to Hawaii. "This is a very special trip.

"I truly believed when he went to Afghanistan. … We didn’t think he’d come back. It’s a blessing that he did."

Helping wounded veterans remain active is a goal, said Anjan Shah, who does public relations for Team X-T.R.E.M.E.

"A lot of the wounded are young kids in their early 20s," he said. "Prior to their combat injuries they were active, never thought there would be limitations.

"We want to show them that they have the ability to still do extreme challenges, give them back a feeling of independence, that they can still live in the moment."

"I believe they still have the same hunger for excitement, the desire to be part of an elite team," said Soles, who will be joined by Marine veterans Matt Small, Chuck Hewitt and Colin Bunn on the trail today. "These are young people who didn’t want to sit behind a desk, who wanted to do something a lot of people are not capable of doing.

"We have focused on extreme activities, but there’s still not a lot of people who can do these things."

Soles said the organization is working with five wounded veterans, including a double amputee, on an ascent of Mount Everest.

On the Net:
» team-x-treme.org