Last week, I celebrated my third-year anniversary working as a campaign lead for Sierra Club’s Outdoors program. Military Outdoors organizes outdoor opportunities for veterans, other service members, and their families because we know that time spent in nature provides a unique experience to foster mental and physical health, emotional resilience, and leadership development. For many veterans, spending time in the outdoors can also help ease the transition to civilian life.
This month, I was lucky enough to watch the type of transformations that take place when active-duty military and veterans escape to our parks, forests, and wild and scenic rivers onscreen, when Return from Desolation premiered online (watch here).
After returning home from serving in Afghanistan, veteran Garrett Eaton was dangerously close to losing his family and his life to addiction. He found his way back from the brink and rediscovered what he had been fighting for deep in the canyons of Desolation Gray Canyon -- one of the most beautiful and remote spots in Utah. His story reminds me of my own. As a veteran, I know the type of trauma that can persist in everyday life after returning to the states: moral injuries, struggles with transitioning, isolation. But like Garrett, I’ve been able to confront my past and heal through travel through American public lands. It’s not easy, but being among groups of people who share a similar past and find escape in the outdoors gives me hope.
In reflecting on my time working on this, I’m reminded of some of my personal favorite trips and treks along the white waters of Colorado, wild rivers in Idaho, and even canoeing in the the Arctic Refuge. The real-life challenges of fighting harsh rapids and leading newcomers through deep wilderness allow me to directly confront my past and underline why I’m here today.
I call myself an “accidental conservationist.” I’m a veteran and a native Texan -- not someone you’d pin as a person who’d work for a big environmental organization. Yet recently, it’s no secret that veterans like me have become a significant voice of support in calling for protection of America’s public lands. Why do we love our public lands so much? Because so many of us have felt first-hand the incredible benefits of spending time in the country we fought to defend. Time outdoors for many of us, regardless of the wounds we did or did not receive, and regardless of when and where we served, has given us a pathway to a healthier and more fulfilling life.
One of Garrett’s lines in the film reflects exactly my feelings about what it means to find my own solitude in the outdoors but also promote getting my fellow veterans and active-duty military out there, too. He says, “When we go to fight for our country, what we fight for is not just a philosophy. Democracy, liberty, and justice are not abstract values. They have physical representation -- and this is it. No place else equalizes us as Americans as the wilderness does.”
Return from Desolation is the perfect encapsulation of values, passion, and telling personal stories to fight for a bigger cause. That’s a strategy our nation’s veterans and military are familiar with. I encourage everyone to hear Garrett’s story and to think about what America’s service members are up against when they return home. I challenge people to take his message and help defend our public lands, encourage access to the outdoors, and advocate for better lives and transitions for our nation’s veterans.
It's a big world out there. Discover it with us: View our 2018 Sierra Club Outings trip brochure.