There’s an exciting movement all across our country. It seems everywhere I turn, veterans are helping veterans.
These men and women who have served are sometimes the only ones can reach those fighting to resume normal life after combat. Sharing their own stories of survival and return to life can speak directly to a veteran who’s run out of hope.
Justin Kingsland is such a man. He knows the struggles veterans face. He’s faced them himself and came out the other side triumphant. As an injured combat veteran, it’s his own experiences of healing and wholeness that drive his passion to help others who still battle.
He knows that rebuilding life after war includes a lot of the same skills he learned serving in the elite British Special Air Service Corps. Those survival skills are directly transferrable to those struggling with PTSD issues.
His company, Warrior Tours, is a 501(c)3 ministry devoted to helping veterans returning to their vocations, families and communities. He offers weekend Jeep tours into the remote mountain wilderness of North Carolina, and through the generosity of others, can often provide partial or full scholarships.
The unique, off-road adventures provide combat and deployment stress awareness and resilience training, while the practice of essential military survival skills helps replace negative memories with positive ones.
The instructors who accompany him are required to be experienced former Special Forces members, and their experience enhances the small unit cohesion built during these three-day excursions.
Since many veterans still shun more conventional clinical treatments, programs like this are essential. Getting outdoors, in a natural setting has shown to have an incredible calming and healing effect, bringing much-needed perspective.
I encourage you to look for programs similar to this where you live and get involved in their ongoing need of support. We may not all understand what a veteran experienced in combat, but we can all help support him as he returns home.
