Melrose, Florida (WFLA) — A few hours north of Tampa, a country road offers a world away from the bustle of the city, helping veterans to heal from trauma.
Soldiers Freedom Outdoors offers a look A simple remedy for the complex problem of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD affects thousands of Floridians who are diagnosed and thousands who are not.
According to VA data, 7% of veterans have PTSD. However, one study found that nearly half of soldiers in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with symptoms of disability or other mental health problems do not seek treatment.
Navy veteran Josh Datka said the hidden wounds of PTSD usually reveal somewhat slowly during the four-day retreat.
“I hear more and more when they talk,” said Datka. “They go to dark places sometimes.”
Some who come to the camp have served as far back as Vietnam, where veterans weren’t always welcome at home.
Scott Kruger was in America during that war and remembers how other Vietnam veterans were treated.
“These boys gave their lives for their country and went home to spit,” Kruger said. “It hurts my heart.”
At Soldiers Freedom Outdoors, life doesn’t get much more tumultuous than a rooster wake-up call and a day at the blacksmith’s shop.
It’s as calming as riding a horse in a pond in the middle of a forest and getting your hook wet.
I am against war.
“Of course,” said Army veteran Jason Busey. “100 percent.”
Busey was a warrior who had lost his friends and faced death, but returned home and faced new hardships.
“And some of these things,” Bucy said, battling emotions. “Sorry. Sometimes life changes.”
The camp changed Bussy’s life, an admitted reluctance.
“And I said I don’t need your Doggone Retreat,” Bussy recalled saying when approached by the retreat’s founder.
Bucy, now a board member of Soldiers Freedom, says even veterans without PTSD do not adjust well after leaving the purpose of friendship and active duty.
“The hardest thing about being a veteran is being a civilian,” Bussy said. “Lost structure”
For PTSD patients, hidden scarring complicates matters.
Bucy said the free nonprofit camp showed him what it has taught hundreds of others.
“This is not irreversible,” said Bussy. She “needs to learn what the triggers are and deal with them.”
Several Soldiers Freedom veterans said they were likely to open up to other veterans.
The stories they share are amazing.
“He had a weapon in his hand and was trying to kill himself,” said Bussy, referring to Army Ranger. “Then his little boy came into his room.”
Bushy stopped.
“And I said, ‘Dad, were you going to take me to the zoo today?'”
Veteran John Jackson took his son to the zoo.
Then, Bussy said, he found motivation to go to Soldiers Freedom and open his own hideout in Georgia.
“Because of that, he’s become very open about his own predicament and knows he can help others,” Bussy said.
It’s hard to imagine the results when the veterans arrive.
“They’re standing like this,” said Bussy, stiffening. “No one speaks. No one says anything.”
But after 4 days the barrier is broken and the bond is made.
Bussy and the volunteers, who keep Soldiers Freedom buzzing, said the veterans would leave knowing they had built an army of friends to help.
“Everyone knows someone is in danger. They say, ‘Look, that guy needs help,'” said Bussy. “We’re going to help him. We’re saving lives because this place is changing people’s lives.”
