Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic

Vet finds he’s iron-willed
Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic

By Sue Vorenberg
Columbian Staff Reporter
Sunday, July 24, 2011

Photo by Steven Lane
Stoking the fire at the blacksmith shop at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Lee Pisarek prepares to work with some hot iron. The disabled Army veteran, who suffers from PTSD, said his time volunteering at the fort has been therapeutic.

Peace and calm radiated from Lee Pisarek’s face as he rhythmically pounded the piece of red hot iron with a mallet wrapped in his large, skilled hand.

A metallic, slightly smoky odor saturated the blacksmith shop at Fort Vancouver National Site, adding another layer to the historic accuracy of the place.

Re-enacting a profession from 1845 is about as far away as you can get from the battlefields of Operation Desert Storm, where Pisarek severely injured his right leg after getting caught between a mine field and artillery fire, which “didn’t go well,” he said with an odd smile.

But for the Army veteran, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, learning to become a blacksmith has been a fulfilling way to use some of the same mechanical and technical skills he worked with in the service, he said.

“I was a lifer, I expected to stay in for 30 years, but in 1992 after my injury I opted for the early-out program,” said Pisarek, who joined the service in 1982.

His military job, as a field expedient weapons instructor, was something he really enjoyed, and it was hard to give it up, he said.

“(It) requires looking at an object for what it’s capable of, not necessarily for what it’s designed to do,” Pisarek said.

Volunteering to work as a blacksmith has given him a new creative outlet, and a way to fulfill the same mechanical and intellectual curiosity, he added.

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Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic