Volunteers for A Soldier’s Heart Bluegrass and Muddy Waters are working to bring the community together to help combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and foster relationships between civilians and veterans alike.
The organization will host its second Ruck for a Soldier’s Heart Bluegrass and Muddy Waters fundraiser at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 4 at H.H. Lovett Park in Benton. The event will allow participants to throw on a ruck (or sturdy backpack) with the desired weight inside and join with fellow participants to walk the 6-mile route, which begins at the Joe Creason Center, down Main Street to the National Guard before coming back up Poplar and returning to the center to complete the loop. Veterans with A Soldier’s Heart will have physical training (PT) stations set up along the way, at which participants will team up to complete physical tasks and learn a little about the importance of simple body motion in military service, as well as the role A Soldier’s Heart plays within the veteran community.
Volunteer and event co-coordinator Josh Tubbs said the experience would not only prove educational for participants but also work toward cultivating relationships among them.
“The purpose of this event is to bring together the community in a way where our veterans group and our civilian group are co-mingling with one another, and that builds a stronger community,” Tubbs said. “It also allows civilians to participate in leadership training and team-building training that some of these guys went through when they were in the military or are still in the military.”
Tubbs said that physical training would be difficult, but not impossible and participants should not be discouraged. Those who join can look forward to working as a team to shore up each other’s weaknesses and accomplish goals.
“Most everything will be body motion, we don’t want anybody to feel intimidated by that,” Tubbs said. “Obviously there’s some things that, there’s some individuals that can do everything and there are going to be individuals who get tired after doing five pushups. That’s OK. It’s really just … anybody can go to a steak night and contribute in some way; a lot of people can go and run a 5K in 30 minutes and finish and be done. We really wanted to create an event that, you know, gave us time to build relationships with the people in the community and for our veterans to build relationships with people in the community, because we felt like it gave our veterans time to reflect on and share and teach the civilians that are part of this and to build a support group within the event itself. And that takes time, that’s not something that happens quick.”
Building those relationships are critical to the message A Soldier’s Heart works to spread. The nonprofit group, which got its start last February, focuses on helping local veterans and servicemen cope with the effects of PTSD and combat fatigue. Volunteers organize outdoor excursions – such as kayaking and canoe trips, as well as outdoor camping events – with local veterans. Volunteers initiate dialogue on PTSD, its effects and difficulties those veterans face as a result in hopes of establishing a network of support and providing peer-to-peer counseling.
For A Soldier’s Heart Founder Jeremy Wallace, it’s deeply personal. Wallace himself, a National Guardsman who, along with his company – which worked to provide convoy escort and missions – spent 15 months deployed in Iraq beginning in 2006. While deployed, Wallace said his company lost one fellow soldier. After its return, he said at least three had committed suicide. After the last, a local and good friend to Wallace, had died, he decided it was time to do something.
“A lot of us have been through the VA and didn’t really get a lot out of it,” Wallace said. “… If we can keep one veteran from losing his life to PTSD, then we’ve done what we set out to do, but hopefully we’re able to touch a lot more, because we’re losing 22 veterans a day to suicide.”
It’s a pain Wallace understands too well. Wallace, like those he seeks to counsel, suffers from PTSD associated with his tour of duty.
“Just like everybody on these retreats I talk to, just being with other veterans and talking about it really helps us more than a lot of the VA stuff,” Wallace said. “And I get just as much therapy as the veterans that we’re helping.”
Wallace works with five other volunteers – most of whom are veterans – to organize the excursions, during which up to 10 veterans travel for the weekend to land owned by a fellow veteran near Frankfort for the outdoor adventures. The group has organized about eight weekend trips since its inception last year, however, Wallace said he hopes to expand on efforts with trips every other month moving forward.
He’s also hoping to offer those trips to veterans who have become disabled and lost limbs as the result of their service. Wallace said proceeds from this year’s ruck event would go toward the purchase of equipment that would allow those soldiers to participate.
“What we’re looking to do is get some of the pedal-drive kayaks that they can use – pedal with their feet,” Wallace said. “And there’s also conversion kits that they can convert them to where they can pedal with their hands.”
It’s not an inexpensive venture. Foot-pedal kayaks average about $3,500 each. Proceeds from this year’s ruck participation and sponsorships will work toward that goal.
Ruck participants may join this year’s event for $25; those who register by Oct. 15 will receive a T-shirt and corresponding morale patch. However, the group will hold registration the day of the event, beginning at 11 a.m. at the Joe Creason Center in Benton.
“Make sure you have a 2-3 liter hydration bladder, and probably some work gloves would be helpful, and whatever snacks you going to think you want during that day,” Tubbs said. “Make sure you’re wearing clothes that you don’t mind to get dirty, and come ready to have a good time.
“It’s a half-day event, but it’s an endurance event,” Tubbs added. “It’s certainly a way to bring our community together with our veterans … not only to talk about the effects of PTSD and combat fatigue, but also to hear about how A Soldier’s Heart has an action plan for encouraging those veterans.”
Barbecue will be served to participants after the ruck concludes.
Those wishing to pre-register may visit the Ruck for a Soldier’s Heart 2017 on Facebook and follow the event brite link, or click the link here.
Wallace said volunteers would be needed as the organization grows, which he hopes to see it continue to do, in both the number of veterans helped and services A Soldier’s Heart offers. Wallace and the group chaplain, Daniel Hopkins, were working to obtain certification to begin a Smart Recovery program to offer local veterans. Smart Recovery focuses on helping clients recover and abstain from using addictive substances and engaging in damaging behaviors.
To learn more about A Soldier’s Heart, visit the group on Facebook. To donate, volunteer or if a veteran in need of help coping with the effects of PTSD or combat fatigue, email Wallace at jeremy@asoldiersheart.org or message him on the group’s Facebook page.