In the Northeast, the community of veteran outdoor enthusiasts is growing steadily, in large part because of Aaron Leonard and his team of volunteers. Aaron has been the steadfast visionary bringing the Sierra Club’s Military Outdoors program (SCMO) to life in a new Northeast Group. Starting in the Tri-State region (NY, NJ, and CT) and expanding from there, Aaron’s goal for the Group is to “connect all people with the natural world” through diverse and meaningful volunteer-led outdoor activities.
To ensure the Group has the right people to lead veterans on wilderness outings, Aaron orchestrated the region’s first Outings Leader Training in early August 2017. Outings Leader Training is a program developed by the Sierra Club and a requirement for members to lead overnight outdoor trips for the Club. Beyond that, the training helps any person learn how to use wilderness adventure to positively impact the lives of veterans and their families in one’s community.
The Tri-State Military Outdoors training took place at Veterans Base Camp, a non-profit training center tucked back against the woods in the beautiful small town of Chaplin, Connecticut. Forty-one participants came from New England, New York, California, Kansas, and even as far as the US Virgin Islands to spend the week living and learning together. During the day, Aaron and SCMO staff took the participants outside for training and group discussion. After class, they cooked meals together using dutch ovens and some of Aaron’s best recipes. At night around the campfire they shared stories of adventure, as well as memories of their military pasts.
One participant, Emily Franco, said she was “pleasantly surprised at how much emphasis the Sierra Club placed on fun. The military is all about the mission but [the] Sierra Club wants people to heal and be more healthful through enjoyment of the outdoors.” An Army veteran, Emily now volunteers with Cornell University’s veteran program. For her, the best part of training was connecting with the other volunteers, sharing experiences and exchanging ideas of how to use outings to reach veterans and build community. The training helped Emily and the Cornell team develop upcoming hiking and kayaking trips for their student veterans. “If we can launch a successful program at Cornell it will be one more way to make veterans [and] military and their families feel welcome at Cornell and feel like they have a community to turn to.”
Aaron had three goals for his training: help volunteers plan safe and successful outings, enhance confidence in leading outings, and demonstrate that outings can inspire the conservation mission of the Sierra Club. To accomplish this, he focused on hands-on training and giving participants each a chance to lead activities and discuss logistics. Aaron’s team taught technical skills like map reading and first aid; and soft skills such as mindfulness, empathy, and team building had an equally important role in the training.
Mike Riley, a yoga instructor for veterans at the Mindful Yoga Center, was excited that Aaron incorporated yoga and mindfulness into the training curriculum. Mike felt immediately at home amongst the group of veterans, an environment he said has been hard to find since he left the Air Force in 1980. “When you leave the military you contract, and you need to find a way to expand,” he explained. Mike felt the opportunity to come together with veterans is important for people to find the support they need. During the training, he observed that the “staff really helped people share and open up their ideas, whether they had experience or not…They make people feel included and supported. You know they’re making space for you.” Mike is now planning to lead his own Sierra Club outing this fall; he will be leading veterans on a hike and mindfulness yoga practice in Connecticut.
Aaron also worked with the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies at Cornell to develop a health and wellness curriculum for the Outings Leader Training. Aaron, along with the rest of the Military Outdoors staff, believes that “time spent in nature provides a unique experience to foster mental and physical health.” Thus the health and wellness curriculum is designed for volunteer leaders to use on the trail to engage participants in a dialogue about personal wellbeing and resiliency.
Dave Stroman, whose service spans from Vietnam to Desert Storm, found the wellness curriculum and skills instruction to be the most valuable part of the week. A retired Sergeant Major, Dave liked gaining a civilian perspective to leading groups and plans to incorporate the curriculum into his adventure therapy nonprofit, Combat Veteran Cohorts. Dave has noticed a lack of older generation vets involved in wilderness adventure as therapy. “Combat was so different in those days,” he shared. “And after Vietnam, you concealed the fact that you were a veteran. You were looked down upon.” Dave still keeps his draft notice framed on his wall and goes to the Bravo Company reunion every year to check in on his old friends. He worries that young post-911 veterans might have difficulty relating to someone who served before they even born. However at the Outings Leader Training, he found that generational differences didn’t really matter, and that there was no "one type" of training participant. Instead, people came to the training from many walks of life and different perspectives, but all were all united by a love of the outdoors. Or as Dave put it: “Everyone was there for the hiking.”
In fact, night hiking was Dave’s favorite part of the training. When he returned home to Kansas City, he connected with the local Sierra Club chapter and participated in another night hike, excited at age 67 to be keeping up with the fast pace. Dave wants to use his work to reach out to older generations of vets, whether it’s hiking, biking, or shooting, and make outdoor activities accessible to them. To Dave, being associated with the Sierra Club Outdoors means he has a network of resources available. “I know I could call [the Military Outdoors team] right now with a question and they’d point me to the answer or the right people to talk to.”
By the time the training came to a close, forty-one people were eager to take their new wilderness navigation and leadership skills back to their communities, to introduce even more veterans, service members, and their families to unforgettable outdoor experiences. Looking beyond the Outings Leader Training, Aaron has started some exciting programs for veterans in the Tri-State area. He currently oversees programs for student vets and single mother vets in New York City, and hopes these programs will quickly expand to the entire Northeast region. He also started a monthly backpacking trip specifically geared for veterans living in the city or who have never gone backpacking before. To contact Aaron or to find out how to get involved and participate in these programs, visit the Group’s Facebook page at this link: Tri-State Sierra Club Military Outdoors.