Heroes and Horses

 

I remain convinced that one of the biggest problems for veterans when they get back from Iraq and Afghanistan is the precipitous drop in tempo.  You go one day from patrolling or taking down a High Value target, and return to paying the bills, taking out the trash and doing laundry.  For National Guard and Reservists, you even get separated from the guys and girls you just spent every waking moment with.

I was somewhat lucky (?) in that I returned to law school the week I returned from Afghanistan.  Granted, the excitement and camaraderie were gone, but at least I was too busy to notice.  When the guys from COP Keating got back, one of the things that the leadership wanted for those guys was to do a rafting trip on the Colorado.  To me it seems clear that in the absence of excitement, Joe and Jane will go and find it, often with bad results. 

About a year ago, Blackfive and I were talking about this with some other folks with Soldier’s Angels.  As fortune would have it, an opportunity arose, and we’ve been working on it ever since.  Up in the Yellowstone area of Montana is a couple of adjacent horse ranches, run by the Renee Daniels-Mantle & Kail Mantle on one side, and Mark & Jean White on the other.  It is there that Heroes and Horses will be run

From their website:

Montana Horses, home of Heroes and Horses, is owned and operated by Kail Mantle & Renee Daniels-Mantle, who run several hundred head of saddle horses on and around their Mantle Ranch and thousands of horses across the West. The Mantle Family has been in the horse business for over a century and their name has become synonymous with the horse business.

Kail and Renee Mantle oversee and coordinate all Heroes and Horses onsite operations with the assistance of neighboring ranchers Mark and Jean White, who also coordinate and oversee all pack trips into the mountains. The Whites have been in the outfitting business for thirty years.

As the program makes clear in its Mission Statement:

The experience of bringing together a group of combat veterans–each dealing with the process of returning to the normalcy of everyday life after war and each looking to communicate that process with others of the same mind–is invaluable.  No classroom, no respite, no program can provide the opportunity to accomplish a goal, learn a set of skills, and challenge the mind and body like the great outdoors.  No companionship is as effective as that found around a campfire at 9,000 feet, with no parameters and no guided limit or canned focus.  No sense of accomplishment compares to the first time you and your horse have climbed a mountain with the confidence of competence, then looked out over the grandeur of America–the greatest country in the world–with knowledge that is yours and available always for your enjoyment and that of your friends and family.  This is freedom worth fighting for.  It should be capitalized upon like the spoils of war.  It is a reward in itself.  It should be enjoyed by our soldiers upon their return.  It is uniquely theirs. 

  

Next week Matt Burden (Blackfive) and I are heading out to Montana to take part in the annual Three Forks Horse drive, and to check out the ranch itself.  Matt put up a pretty good video of it on his Facebook page that I wanted to share:

That’s part I, if you want to see the rest, click on the video itself, and watch the other parts.

Anyway, the first group of veterans will be run through the program in late June, with me and Demophilus going on the inaugural trip with 6 other veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.  There are going to be 3 other cycles this summer, with 8 going on each trip.  Funding is going fairly well so far, but there are WAY more veterans who need to go on these trips than we have money for, so all contributions would be very much appreciated.

For folks struggling with PTSD, there’s nothing quite like being back in that brotherhood.  Just sitting around and talking with fellow OEF/OIF veterans, and discussing what you went through, both abroad and when you came home.  It’s not forced; it’s just the natural inclination to talk with others who have endured similar hardships.  I’m incredibly grateful that the Legion is letting me do this work, and am very optimistic that it will help some of our struggling veterans.  I’m hoping to write an article for the magazine about my experiences as well.  But, if you have some extra cash, head on over to the Heroes and Horses website and give a little.  And if you know someone who could benefit from a week in the great outdoors, bonding with horses and other vets, kindly send along the names.

Category: Politics