Breaking down barriers, pushing past stereotypes: Lornett Vestal has been doing this his whole life. He just never thought he’d be doing it for an environmental outreach program like Sierra Club Outdoors.
Lornett grew up in Chicago, a self-proclaimed "city boy." He wasn't born with a silver spoon anywhere in sight, so when the time came to consider college tuition costs, joining the military gave him some good options. Lornett was inspired by family members who had served in the Army, but he chose to carve his own path in the Navy. He was 17 at the time. As a sailor, Lornett traveled around the world to places like Croatia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, and Australia. He served on the USS Cleveland, an amphibious transport dock -- that is, a warship designed to bring troops to the warzone. In February 2003, the USS Cleveland deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and 19 year old Lornett saw a different side to the world.
Lornett’s life has been shaped by his openness to change and his desire to help others. After being honorably discharged in 2005, Lornett spent the summer in Costa Rica working for Habitat for Humanity and exploring the mountains. Then he went back to school in Chicago and earned degrees in sociology and social work. He stayed in the city for several years, working in schools and education-related nonprofits, pouring his heart into improving opportunities for underprivileged youth.
At the end of 2015, Lornett moved to Atlanta to support his wife’s career. It was a personal “leap of faith,” he says, because he didn’t have a job lined up and he had never lived in the South. When his wife informed him that environmental organizations were looking to hire veterans, he was shocked at first.
“People don’t always see veterans as environmentalists.”
The Sierra Club does; and in fact, a growing number of organizations do.
The Sierra Club needed a Southeast Coordinator for its Military Outdoors program, and Lornett’s background in organizing and nonprofit work made him the perfect person for the job. Since he lived in Atlanta, Lornett settled into the Sierra Club Georgia Chapter’s office. The Georgia Chapter has over 30 years of leading outdoor trips and environmental advocacy work, so Lornett utilized that foundation to shape Military Outdoors outings and volunteer training.
The first outdoor activity Lornett organized was a day of kayaking on Lake Lanier. He brought together veterans from local chapters of Team Red White and Blue and Team River Runner. Instructors from Team River Runner taught kayak strokes, wet exits, and how to roll a kayak. Pete Johnson, a long time Georgia native, Sierra Club volunteer, and avid kayaker commented that the instruction that day was “some of the best training I’ve ever seen.” All the Team River Runner instructors were also military veterans, which created a sense of familiarity and friendship throughout the whole group. “It felt like a family reunion,” Pete reflected.
Over Memorial Weekend in 2017, Lornett put together his first multi-day adventure for veterans, a whitewater trip on the Chattooga River, which runs along the border between Georgia and South Carolina. The Chattooga is a special river in the South; many environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts worked together to advocate for protection under the Wild and Scenic River Act. Veterans, service members, and their families came together for three days to kayak, raft, and camp as well as experience the untamed beauty of free flowing river. As veteran David Dennis noted, "While the Chattooga River trip had a lot of fun and rowdy whitewater, my favorite part was actually just getting to soak in the beauty of the river corridor itself. It was lush, verdant, and wild - one of the most beautiful stretches of river I've been on.”
For Lornett, these trips are about more than learning to kayak and raft. He cares about taking the time to connect with fellow veterans and service members. “It brings back the sense of brotherhood and sisterhood found in the Armed Forces,” Lornett says. He wants outings to help vets “find a sense of peace and relaxation in the outdoors.”
Adventure outings are only part of the job of a Southeast Military Outdoors Coordinator. Since the 2016 elections, Lornett has sometimes faced unexpected opposition and challenges due to the new political climate, such as a group’s reluctance to associate with the Sierra Club due to its fight against Trump Administration policies. Pete Johnson, who continues to work closely with Lornett on outings, noted that Lornett never got derailed by opposition. “[Lornett] is a good guy for the position because he’s diplomatic. He’s more interested in differences than put off by it.”
This fall, Lornett co-organized the first Hike for Peace for Atlanta Metropolitan-area veterans, immigrants, and refugees. In recent years, the region has welcomed thousands of newcomers from Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Vietnam, Nepal, and Iraq -- to name just a few. Lornett wanted to bring these groups together in a positive way by enjoying the outdoors and sharing a meal together.
The day hike took place at Stone Mountain, a nearby state park known for both its beautiful granite dome as well as the massive Confederate monument carved into the face of the monolith. The Sierra Club leaders hesitated before choosing this location, but Lornett saw it as an opportunity to heal the land as well as the community. Stone Mountain was once utilized for private gatherings of the KKK. “The Klan used to burn crosses at Stone Mountain,” Pete Johnson remarked, but he supported Lornett’s decision to hike there. Now a state-owned park and open to the public, Stone Mountain has become a melting pot of culture and ethnicity, in large part due to the diversity of the surrounding community. The trails are filled with hikers of every ethnicity, language, religion, and family structure. Stone Mountain is being reclaimed for something good. It is, perhaps, the perfect place for a Hike for Peace.
Raise awareness. Bring people together. Have honest conversations. This is what Lornett believes in.
As a young Midwestern “city boy,” Lornett never envisioned leading outdoor adventure trips in the South; but he is happy that life brought him to this place. He hopes his work continues to build up the veteran community and that by showing them the beautiful lakes, rivers, and mountainsides of the South they will value the natural resources which surround them.
In 2017, the Southeast Military Outdoors Group had over 100 veterans participate in outings throughout Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. As a last trip of the year, Lornett will lead a Veteran’s Day hike on the Panther Creek Trail in Georgia. For those interested in joining the hike on November 11th, learning about more outings and training in 2018, or getting involved with Military Outdoors, you can find Lornett and the Southeast Military Outdoors Group by going to the Georgia Chapter’s social media pages:
Facebook (www.facebook.com/GASierraClub),
Meetup (www.meetup.com/Georgia-Sierra-Club),
or the chapter's calendar (www.sierraclub.org/georgia/outingscalendar).