Once I arrived there I contacted Janet from TRR’s Cincinnati Chapter. I felt like I was contacting another family member. Janet was, for lack of better words, awesome! I didn’t have any transportation while there. Janet and John couldn’t wait to pick me up at the hospital and get my butt in a boat.

We first paddled the Little Miami River. Its a class two river and not too tricky but its normal water flow is about 900 c.f.s. The day we paddled it it was well above 2000 which made for a real fun day. I met John and another volunteer Josh, who was 17 years old. They both greeted me like I had know them for years. It wasn’t long before we were paddling, joking and talking our way down the river.

On our next outing I perfected my roll — see video!

I cant express how important and therapeutic this was to me. As I’ve said before and testified to the group at Fort Thomas, on a daily basis my brain runs 300 miles per hour with thousands of thoughts and fears but for those few hours in the boat it all stopped to pay close attention to what I was doing and enjoy nature. It wasn’t till after I explained that feeling in group that the entire group wanted to experience that feeling as well.

Janet and John came several more times to pick myself up and as many as we could fit in the car. We paddled East Fork Lake twice and another Quarry which the name escapes me right now. Through the course of my seven weeks there we made several outings. We started our group at Fort Thomas with 12, graduated 10 and of those ten, six came and paddled. Several came twice or three times. Each and every one of them described the same peace that I found to the level that some of the staff members wanted to come as well and were attempting to plan a staff only paddle. We did do one very large paddle of around 25 patients from Fort Thomas one day. Surprisingly a very smooth and well organized trip.

On the bus ride home I listened to everyone stories of what they saw and felt. The response was so overwhelming to hear. I had never spoken to most of them before, Jannet and John had never met any of them before but they all felt like they just came from a family reunion! That group included some staff members who said that they cant wait to share this feeling with the future groups. The Trauma Recovery Program is a very demanding program, without Team River Runner it would have been almost impossible to complete.

I have returned home now and have kept in touch with most of the members of my group, some of which now own boats, others wanting to find the local Team River Runner Chapter near them. Obviously the feeling of finding peace in the water is calling out to them again and without the family they met in Cincinnati they may never have found peace, even if it is for a few hours.

For some of our nations warriors coming home is where the war began and peace is hard to come by but by getting their butts in a boat, they found it. I found the same feeling this past Sunday while paddling with our Asheville Chapter, instant family and instant peace. I’ve included some photos and videos, enjoy and share them so others may find that special place in our family and in the water.

George