The News Tribune
BY JOSHUA BRANDON
March 14, 2014
Researchers took veterans in groups of six to 12 on a multi-day hike and surveyed their moods before and after. One week after the experience, veterans reported improvements in mood, social functioning and outlook on life. More research is needed, but anyone who has spent time on a trail knows the restorative power of being outside.
After three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, I was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Many of my brothers and sisters and arms have faced the same challenge upon returning home from war.
Yet too few of them have access to a resource that, at least for me, was ultimately life-saving. For me and many like me, recovery is a lifelong journey that we will always strive for but may never quite reach.
During one of the roughest legs of my journey, I was able to take shelter on the land I served. Getting outside set me on a path to survival.
I had never truly experienced mountains or forests before I was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Growing up for most of my life in Cleveland, a city park or a wooded back yard was about as close to “wilderness” as I ever got.
When my buddies and I first saw Mount Rainier looming on the horizon, our immediate impulse was to go climb it. As a group of restless warriors waiting for their next fight, what else was there to do?
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