Veterans advocate for healing power of great outdoors
EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. — Sitting around a campfire, retired Navy Seal Josh Jespersen and four other veterans enjoy a quiet morning at the Camp Hale campgrounds. A love for the outdoors and their military background makes Camp Hale a special place for them. Once home to the 10th Mountain Division in WWII, Camp Hale trained 15,000 soldiers in mountain warfare and created arguably the most capable military mountaineers in the world.
Training at 10,000 feet through incredibly tough conditions, soldiers— carrying all of their gear— learned to ski and climb, and would eventually be called into battle in 1945 to help break through the German supply line in Italy, something the Allies had failed to do on multiple attempts.
The Germans, holding the high ground, had defended this position for over a year. But on February 18, 1945, the 10th Mountain Division scaled the mountain in the dead of night and surprised the Germans at dawn. Although they suffered heavy losses, the 10th successfully broke through the German defenses and helped the Allies secure victory in WWII.
Once WWII had ended, many veterans of the 10th Mountain Division found themselves spending much of their time outdoors.
"Colorado Experience: Camp Hale" premieres November 12 at 7:00 p.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS.
This Veteran’s Day, please take a moment to remember those who gave their lives, those who have served, and those who continue to serve.
“One of the things that brought the 10th Mountain Soldiers back to the area was the love of the mountains,” said David Little, Historian of the 10th Mountain Division Foundation. Many of the 10th Mountain soldiers would play a key role in developing the outdoor industry as we know it today.
“They built the legacy that we’re living now,” said Dustin Kisling, retired Navy Seal and Executive Director of Veteran Outdoor Advocacy Group (VOAG). “They’re the foundation of the veteran legacy in the outdoor initiatives. They came back from war and built all these ski resorts and worked on veteran-related and public land issues. And now it’s up to us to carry that forward.”
“We don’t believe that the military should be the greatest thing that any of us do,” said Jespersen, who is President of VOAG. “And it’s so uncanny, the 10th also realized that.”
Capturing the spirit of the 10th Mountain Division, Jespersen and Kisling created VOAG originally as a single-issue nonprofit organization aimed at supporting the Accelerating Veterans Recovery Outdoors Act (HR 2435) that enables veterans to be prescribed time outside as adjunct therapy, rather than medication.
In recent years, however, VOAG has grown to include additional initiatives centered around getting veterans outdoors and remembering their fallen brethren.
"Our mission is founded through our first hand knowledge and personal experiences of the benefits from getting outside with fellow veterans," the nonprofit's website reads. "The formation of VOAG is the culmination of years of working towards the goal of having the greatest possible impact on our fellow veterans. Promoting legislation to support and enable this mission is key to providing government supported, reliable and sustained outdoor therapy options."
For more information on Veterans Outdoor Advocacy Group or the history of Camp Hale, visit their website.