I believe it would be difficult to find one of this young hero’s that wouldn’t want to come to Alaska and catch Salmon, while staying at a wilderness Lodge. There are people here in Alaska that are taking some of our veterans out fishing and we applaud them. We are offering something more than just fishing. I have a background in counseling and a mentor said to me sometime ago “I can do 2 yrs. worth of work in 2 weeks in the wilderness”. The key to effecting counseling is getting the counselee to open up. For some reason the walls come down very rapidly in the wilderness, and much healing can take place. Our society as a whole seems to have lost the therapeutic value of being in the wilderness.

Our plan is to send 4 veterans out in a boat with a guide and a Pastor or counselor and see what happens. I know from experience that our veterans will open up and healing can and will begin.

We also plan on contacting all of the existing wilderness lodges in the state and asking them if they would be willing to donate some fishing trips to our veterans. The few that I’ve contacted so far have all said yes.

We also would like to include the native people of Alaska, asking them to let us send out to their villages, some of these veterans, letting the villages honor them. I’m one that believes that native culture is rich and the native life style has much to offer. It will also help the native people see themselves in a much better light, when we demonstrate that we value their life style and ask them to assist our veterans in their recovery.

We took 5 veterans out to Port Alsworth last summer for a long week end and fished at Iliamna (Newhalen River). I was very happy with the results, even though we only had a couple days there; the veterans opened up and talked about their experiences. The community was very welcoming and all of our lodging and food were donated. We proved that our vision works and we want to expand it for next summer.

We could use some help implementing this vision. We will not be asking the state for financial assistance only for an endorsement of what we’re trying to do. I have been to meetings with the VA and very quickly realized that they are overwhelmed and will never be able to meet the need. I have great confidence that if we can present this need to the American people in the proper way they will eagerly assist us.