Green Beret Fly Fishes His Way Back To Afghanistan

Y'all will like this story.

This is a Project Healing Waters success story from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I know this guy. He sent me these pics yesterday. I can't tell the rest of the story without violating opsec restrictions because of another publication that's out right now. But I sent another guy on a trip with this guy last year and some really neat friendships were formed. Later learned that this guy and my SF brother have worked together in the past. Now my SF brother is totally disabled and I've got him fly fishing. And the VA just approved him for fly fishing as physical therapy for rehab and his doctor and his rec therapist inquired about getting certified by AFFI last night. Small world.

We are just delighted at the success you are having. For the sake of our wounded warriors, we pray for your continued success.

You know, Deanna, the most amazing thing about all of this past 3 years to me has been watching and experiencing the emotional and philosophical "healing" that goes on among those of us who work with the wounded troops and other disabled vets...and I'll toss in disabled people of non-military backgrounds. Myself included, people don't get involved in this sort of thing expecting to get something. They do it because they have something they want to give. But a lot of us are disabled and/or combat veterans, military family members, family of the wounded, etc. And there is a lot of unspoken, long-term emotional/psychological scarring that has been ignored, covered up, neglected, and so forth. Just getting involved with these young American heroes...male and female...is almost miraculous.

One quick example, we had a young wife of a soldier who had done 2 tours who worked for a resort we contracted with for a trip last year who came to me at the end of the trip in tears. She said she wanted me to know how good for her this experience had been. She said it had saved her marriage, which was on the brink of divorce. She explained that she now understood her husband better and realized he was struggling with the same problems a lot of these guys and gals were, and that he wasn't just being "mean" and that it wasn't about her or their relationship...it was the aftermath of war. She said she was going to take him to the VA to see a counselor the next week, and that she now realized he needed help and wasn't just a jerk. We weren't there to help her, Deanna. We barely realized she was there. She ran the kitchen. But she had been on the periphery of all of our activities, and had spoken to a couple of the soldiers during meals. Her mom was the hospitality director for the resort and told me later that she had hired her daughter to work the event specifically hoping to "open her eyes." But I had no idea.

You just never know what's going on around you. People are usually very private about their pain. But when you see a bunch of grizzly old fishing guides standing around a campfire with some battle-hardened war heroes crying like babies, you know something unusual is going on. LOL

Flyguy you are a shining star....


Thank you!