Thoughtful Thursday: Soldiers to Summits

The other morning I sat down for a brief moment and randomly decided to flip through the channels just to see what was on. I accidentally hit a channel that AT&T has, it's here that I sat and watched this documentary they were airing called Soldiers to Summits. Let me just say, I'm not much of a crier, but watching this moved me to tears. I sat there in awe over these brave men and women, just because they went to war, because in coming home they all dwelt with their demons due to war, and through this expedition they faced them and won. What an amazing experience to take part in a program for Soldiers to Summits, not just for a civilian, but especially for those servicemen and women, who this program is for.

I find it horrific that as a country more is not done to support our brave men and women who put everything aside to go off and fight in a war. Often times many come back with scares you can't see, and many come back with the ones you can, and yet nothing is given to them to cope with what they've experienced. Did you know that:

•  18 veterans commit suicide every day
• More than 5.5 million of the 21.9 million veterans in the United States are coping with a service-related disability

Here's what Soldiers to Summits does: (quoted from their website)

Soldiers to Summits (S2S) programs permanently impact lives by helping disabled members of all military branches tackle personal challenges. In S2S, mountains serve as both metaphor and training ground for stretching goals, building world-class teams, innovating through adversity and stepping up to lead and serve others. The program integrates with the rehab process and helps soldiers restructure how they approach their past and future. Through the S2S experience, veterans experience camaraderie and develop support systems they can depend on.  Soldiers to Summits is a program of No Barriers USA (www.nobarriersusa.org), a nonprofit organization. 

Soldiers to Summits receives more than five times the number of qualified applicants for our programs than we can accept due to funding limitations. Soldiers to Summits documents and shares stories about our journeys, reaching millions of people with a compelling message of the need to support our returning veterans (see the High Ground trailer below for an example). - this paragraph and the did you statics were quoted from here

Here's a little bit about the Soldiers to Summits documentary I watched:

Seventeen Wounded Veterans to Summit Mt. Cotopaxi, Ecuador (19,347 feet)

On December 10th, a team of injured veterans and active-duty service will attempt to summit Mt. Cotopaxi, the second highest peak in Ecuador. This will be the culmination of their yearlong journey with Soldiers to Summits, a nonprofit program that uses mountains as metaphor and training ground to help veterans harness adversities and step up to lead and serve others.  You can follow their journey live on the day-by-day trip blog: http://blog.soldierstosummits.org/

The expedition is the culmination of a six-month program that included two Colorado training sessions to cover program content related to the No Barriers Mindset.  That mindset is the attitude that participants can build the vision, tools and support systems to harness adversities and create a successful road to recovery.

The team, selected after a competitive national application process, includes members who have served in the Army, the Marines, the Navy, and the National Guard. They are men and women of  diverse ethnicities living throughout the country (AZ, CA, CO, GA, NY, OH, TX, VA, and WY).   Most count Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) among their injuries. Other injuries include loss of manual dexterity, a fused wrist, a shattered ankle, blind, missing limbs, and a ripped knee.  Three of the team members are still active duty and two are still receiving hospital-based physical treatments.

Supporters are encouraged to contribute to the Dollar for Every Step Campaign at:https://nobarriers.fundraise.com/onedollar.

 Donate HERE

Find Out More:
Find out more on the Soldiers to Summits visit at their: website, blog, Twitter, Facebook

Find out more about The Cause, The Team, Donate, Apply, The Program, 

Watch It:
Want to be moved and inspired, then watch the documentary of the latest group of soldiers to take part in Soldiers to Summits, and then check out the award winning film of the first group of soldiers.