Pilot Todd Ware and Rick Ramirez, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, lift off from the Polson Airport last weekend on a flight sponsored by XSports4Vets, a Missoula-based organization that offers adrenaline-pumping adventures to help heal veterans suffering from the effects of war.
POLSON – Brandon Bryant has done most of his flying from the inside of trailers.
The U.S. Air Force veteran piloted drones over Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya during his seven years on active duty. He steered the unmanned combat air vehicles with his feet firmly planted on a floor and his eyes not on the skies so much as on banks of computer screens.
So this was a little different, last weekend, when Bryant slipped on a helmet and took off from the Polson Airport on the back of what amounts to an open-air two-seat tricycle with a wing attached, and a motor capable of propelling it all through the sky at speeds up to 90 mph.
Pilot Todd Ware of Bigfork took the special light-sport aircraft soaring more than 1,000 feet above Flathead Lake, then turned the controls over to Bryant, who rode above and behind him.
Latching onto two bars underneath the wing and within reach of the backseat passenger, Bryant could push to his left and send the trike banking to the right, or force the bars to the right and bank to the left.
Bryant flew himself over the lake, over islands, over the river, over town, over fields, with Ware – a certified trainer – ever ready to grab hold of the single bar in front of him to correct any mistake.
“I didn’t have to take the wing from him once,” Ware announced when the two landed after more than a half hour in the skies. “We were getting kicked around quite a bit up there, but he had amazing control for a first-time flier.”
“I’ll be telling my grandkids about this,” Bryant said. “It’s a different experience. When you’re flying drones, you can see the horizon and you’re in control, but you don’t feel the turbulence. This was awesome – this was freedom.”
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It was also the perfect choice of words. Many military veterans who fought for your freedom now fight for their own – a freedom from symptoms of the post-traumatic stress disorder that threatens to take over their lives and relationships.
Indeed, this perfect October afternoon – when half a dozen veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan flew with Ware – was born of suicide.
The exhilarating flights are part of the activities offered by XSports4Vets, the Missoula-based organization of current-conflict vets whose goal is to help all combat veterans succeed in civilian life.
Co-founder Janna Kuntz created it to honor her stepbrother, Chris Dana of Helena, who survived Iraq, only to come home and, in the throes of PTSD, kill himself at the age of 23.
Ware – owner of Air Therapy Aviation of Bigfork – got involved with XSports4Vets in part because the veteran-brother of a good friend also committed suicide.
Sadly, suicide is not an uncommon escape for those with PTSD. Jesse Roods, director and chairman of XSports4Vets – as well as a wildland firefighter who served as a Marine in Iraq – says an average of 17 veterans commit suicide every day in America.
His group seeks ways to help veterans “take the edge out of civilian life.”
The “X” in the title stands for “extreme,” and while not everything they do falls into that category – there’s yoga, for instance – most of it does.
They challenge whitewater rapids in rafts and on river boards. Climb rocks. Skydive.
And soar a thousand feet above Flathead Lake on the back of a trike.
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com
Info:
To learn more, visit xsports4vets.org. XSports4Vets is always ready to welcome more veterans into its circle. It’s a nonprofit and operates on donations. And it’s always on the lookout for new activities to incorporate into its program. You can make contact through the website for any of those purposes.
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