SUDS Helps Injured Veterans; Adventure Scuba Helps SUDS
Ever tried scuba diving? If so, you can agree it’s a sport that offers an incredible feeling of freedom. The weightlessness of the water, the muted sounds of sea life, the excitement of exploring coral reefs, caves, and wreck sites — these are all reasons why scuba is such a popular sport.
But for injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, scuba is much more. It’s an effective form of rehab that promotes mobility and instills confidence in men and women facing new disabilities like amputations and traumatic brain injury.
A program called SUDS (Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba) has helped young, wounded heroes by offering scuba dive training as aquatic therapy treatment. Since the nonprofit began in 2007, SUDS has awarded open water dive certifications to well over 200 injured veterans.
“These soldiers were all very athletic, active people before their injury, and now they suffer from amputations—some are triple amputees, and they see that if they can do something as challenging as scuba diving, they can do anything,” said John Thompson, founder of SUDS, which is a chapter of Disabled Sports USA and partner of the Wounded Warrior Project.
The dive certification is impressive, but it’s the intrinsic value of the program that has made such an impact on participants.
“SUDS helps keep you active and helps you to push yourself,” explained veteran Shane Heath, who lost his left arm and leg during his third deployment in Iraq. “The mental rewards are the biggest thing. It builds confidence in that just because you’re injured doesn’t mean you can’t participate in life. It’s been an absolute blessing for me.” Shane is now training to become a dive master and spends his free time playing disc golf and following his dream to be a singer and songwriter.
SUDS scuba classes are offered weekly at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Much of the training can be done in the pool, but soldiers take trips to the ocean to complete their dive certification.
“My favorite moment is watching these guys come up from their first dive and seeing how excited they are when they realize there really isn’t much they can’t do,” described Larry Hammonds, volunteer dive instructor for SUDS and assistant manager at Adventure Scuba Company in Chantilly, Virginia. “They develop a whole new attitude toward life.”
“The ocean trips are very therapeutic. It’s a good group of guys, and when we’re there, we don’t think about our injuries,” said Dave McRaney, who was injured during his service in Afghanistan.
These trips are much-needed getaways from wounded warriors’ normal hospital rehab routines, and destinations have ranged from Cuba to Puerto Rico and the Florida Keys. But trips and equipment are expensive, so SUDS relies on support and donations from a number of businesses and organizations.
A Helping Hand from a Local Business
Adventure Scuba Company is one of the businesses committed to SUDS and its mission. In the past four years, the business has supported SUDS in a number of ways. The owners have donated equipment, provided free maintenance, hosted raffles to raise funds for the cause, and given a percentage of profits from its open houses and dive trips.
Company owners Henry Johnson, Bob Potterton, and Peter Juanpere came across SUDS when they were looking for a way to use their business to give back to the community. Henry is a retired marine, Bob’s dad was in the military, and a handful of dive instructors are also ex-military, so SUDS was just the right fit.
“We wanted to do something that meant a lot to us,” said Bob Potterton. “We’re a small shop and we can’t help everybody, but we can certainly do what we can for our military guys and gals.”
In the past, Adventure Scuba Company used its status as a dive tour operator to help arrange a SUDS trip with the use of its condos in Key Largo. Next year, the shop will put together a live aboard dive trip for injured veterans in the Bahamas or the Florida Keys.
“The veterans risked a lot and we believe they deserve a lot in return. We’re going to continue to help out as much as we can,” added Henry.
Visit www.sudsdiving.org for more information about SUDS.
Visit www.scubava.com for more information about Adventure Scuba Company.
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Megan Tyson is a freelance writer and cause marketing consultant. Contact her at megan@brightercause.com or visit www.brightercausemarketing.com for more information about cause marketing copywriting.
There appear to be 2 very different schools of thought when it comes to the Florida Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus) Sport Season. There are those that will be sitting over the reef at midnight waiting for the clock to tick a minute past twelve so they can catapult into the water to be amongst the first to “get theirs” (lobster, that is).
The small sign beside the highway told passing motorists that the stretch of road they were travelling on had been ‘adopted’ by a local scout troop. A few hundred metres further, there were a handful of youngsters wearing work-gloves and armed with various tools like rakes and shovels picking up litter and throwing it into garbage bags ready to be carted off to the dump. The synchronicity of the situation struck me immediately. I was on route to a Saturday morning DITO event organized by a buddy and aimed at cleaning up the mess left by “picnickers” at one of our favorite local dive sites. I pulled over immediately.
Chances are you have recently completed yet another milestone in your diving education and, since doing so, you have been quietly plotting –“How do I get the word out?” You have already tried the pictures scattered about your desk, the license plate or sticker on your vehicle. You’ve tried ever so subtly to insert the topic into the most mundane work discussion – “That reminds me of this one time while I was diving…” – leaving your cohorts with a confused look on their faces.
Recently, La Media Luna Facilities joined the growing ranks of worldwide facilities integrating into the SDI Family.
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Years ago, I recall hanging out around the set of a TV station for an interview about diving. Teaching a local college diving program for many years had brought me the distinction of being somewhat of a “diving expert,” a nomenclature that I will always scoff at!
By breathing off the second stage, the diver avoids the possibility of breathing in water that has entered the snorkel due to choppy surface conditions, waves or poorly aligned snorkel (snorkel leaning too far backward or forward). A variety of pocket snorkels have also entered diving, allowing the diver to “always have one with them” although not necessarily attached until it is needed. With all these details, it’s easy to see wearing a snorkel or not depends on the type of dive that is planned.
