It's no secret that far too many of our warriors are losing the battle after they leave the military. An estimated 22 heroes a day end their lives. Let me repeat that....
An estimated 22 HEROES a day!
Many people believes this problem is due lack of support and care after the military, while I firmly believe that it has a lot to do with the transition from kill mode to still mode.
Life in the military compared to life in the civilian world is like comparing water to fire. While in, a certain lifestyle and mindset is quickly built inside you. You find brotherhood and sisterhood on an unexplainable level. You have a written code that now lives in you and you have no doubt that the man or woman to your left and right have that code too. You face the belly of many beasts together and come out together.
It's a type of world where you have handed your battle buddy a note to your spouse and they handed their note to you before you both charged into the unknown.
Then....one day they release you from battle gear and send you into a greater unknown. You're unsure of how to take your uniform off, but you have to figure it out quickly or so they say. The military mindset is not welcome in the civilian world. Their is no order, no cause, and no care. It feels as though you have peaked and now are lost. Your mind goes back to the desert and back to uniform because that was real for you. That was you. Now you think....who am i?
That was my thoughts for many years as I struggled with many mental issues while transitioning out of the military. I took to the VA for care and I received counseling, therapy, and ample medication. None of this seemed to work. My dreams remained, my mindset remained, my uniform remained. This is the same struggle that many veterans go through day after day.
It wasn't until I had a really bad day and took off into the wilderness that I realized I had stumbled into my healing process. I hiked out that day, mad at the world and contemplating what I was really doing on this planet. I sat under a giant oak tree next to a cold, mountain stream amd dipped my feet in. I remember sitting back and feeling the sun through the leaves on the branches. The bugs and the birds were chanting and singing all around me. Before I knew it, I had been sitting there for an hour. I stood up and started to walk off when I realized something.....
That was the first real moment of peace I had in a long time. It felt real. I decided to sit back down and I grabbed a small rock. I skipped it up the stream and instantly had thoughts of being a kid and doing this same thing so many times.
That moment spurred the memories of who I was and who I am from the battle tested lock box I had created in my head. Memories of the young man who signed up for the military and why he did it. Memories of living a simplier life. It was like the lock was finally opened and I could breath again. I began hiking routinely and have since started a wilderness adventure company. I often find myself sitting along the creek banks now, thanking nature for reminding me what life is. For helping me reach that peaceful, beautiful moment I needed to come back home.
Within nature there is an answer for everyone.
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