Morning Wire - Surfing for Hope: Veterans Find Peace & Purpose | Saturday Extra

Episode Date: November 11, 2023

On this Veteran’s Day, we speak to Marine and Army combat veterans who are using the ocean and surf therapy to help themselves and fellow veterans heal from PTSD. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Department of Veterans Affairs says combat veterans are more likely to suffer from PTSD than civilians. And a 2022 report by the VA found that veterans commit suicide at a rate of nearly 17 per day. On this Veterans Day, we speak with U.S. Marine veteran Andy Manzi and Army Combat Vet, Jordan Dasher, who are working to raise awareness and money for programs to help struggling veterans who have left the service. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire, Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Saturday, November 11th, and this is an extra edition of Morning Wire. In today's episode of Morning Wire, we're focusing on the Warrior Surf Foundation, an organization founded by Manzi, which provides free surf therapy, yoga, wellness classes,

and community to veterans struggling with PTSD and other mental health challenges. You know, one thing they don't tell you whenever you get out of the military is the community that you're going to leave behind. I don't have to do a long-dorn-out research study to say that the ocean does some magical things of peoples in their lives. It's completely changed my life, really, because now these people are my friends, and I have so much more in common with them than I do with my other friends back home that don't surf and weren't in the military. Through Warrior Surf, I realize everybody has a different story.

Nobody in Warrior Surf Foundation judges. You deserve help just like everybody else. I deserved help just like everybody else. It keeps you humbled. You learn a lot about yourself. The ocean pushes people. Those were voices from some of the hundreds of veterans who benefited from the Warrior Surf Foundation. On November 5th, Andy and Jordan ran the New York Marathon to raise money for the organization.

I had a chance to speak with both men just 24 hours after the race. The following is our interview. Andy and Jordan, thanks so much for joining us. How are you both feeling? I'm feeling really good right now. I am tired. My legs hurt. Went through some crazy stuff mentally on the course, but I feel good.

And when you say you went through some stuff mentally, on the course. Are you referring to the standard challenges of running any marathon, or are you referring to some of the mental health challenges that you've been working through? A little bit of both. I think, you know, when you struggle with PTSD or war trauma of any kind, trauma in general, you know, when you push your body and mind to its brink, you know, stuff comes up and you got to deal with it in your own way. Right. And on that topic of PTSD, do you have any statistics around wounded veterans, homelessness, and mental illness of veterans compared to the general population? I would say that through our programs, we do look at some of these statistics, and there's a wide range of numbers you'll get, but I know for sure that at least 30 to 50 percent of us, depending on what study struggle with life after mental health is a big issue, and that leads to living in life that's very much,

chaotic and there's no compass of which way to go and that leads to alcoholism, depression, homelessness. And I know for sure that there's a lot of homeless veterans out there. And though we do have care, it's very tough for the care to reach all our veterans. So compared to the rest of the population, I got to say it's fairly high. Well, and that brings us to why you've decided to give back and help out your fellow veterans. Andy, let's start with you. You're a Marine veteran. Tell me about your experience in the military. So I was, I was in the United States Marine Corps from 2004 to 2007. I was young. I joined when I was 17 and I deployed to Anbar province of Iraq a few times and where I was in the Marine Corps infantry. You get banged up pretty bad in war,

some more than others. But I was blown up a few times and had some really bad back injuries, neck injuries, a lot of concussions. After the military, I always kind of been a go-getter, and I try to go out full steam ahead and live my life. But as the years went on, and when I started my program for veterans, I realized at that time that I had a lot of issues. So I spent months in like a brain injury center in Atlanta, Georgia.

I went through a number of trauma therapy programs. But, yeah, there's just a lot of the residuals from war started affecting me. 10 years after and it was pretty dark for a long time. But I knew I wanted something different for my life and my future and those around me. And so it kind of took the care of my own hands and sought out help and, you know, dove into, you know, obviously my surfing program, surfing for myself, yoga and breathwork and meditation. And then going to these clinics and these hospitals to seek out acute care when I needed. And because no one's going to come in here and

change us. We have to do it ourselves. I believe that's, something that gets missed with our population that we're going to have to put a lot of work in here because it was a choice that we made to join and do what we did. And what made you choose surfing as a healing therapy? After the military, I had a random invite to go surfing one time with a buddy that was also getting out of the military. And he took me surfing. And that night was the first night I slept all the way through the night since I left in Marine Corps. And this was years after.

And through my experience group with surfing and me teaching surfing, I realized that people just open up naturally in the ocean. And the ocean puts them in the place to be with themselves and quiet and noise of their lives. And I just thought maybe if we could find maybe a therapist to bring out on the beach with us so we could do some therapy on the beach also while we surf. And that's grown into a pretty big program now that runs throughout the year. Surfing Warner Surf Foundation was founded in May 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. We start roughly five veterans a month and we have a revolving door. So sometimes we'll have up to 20 veterans in our programs at one time. And as people graduate, we fill in the spot.

So we may reach 30 to 40 a year. That's with our main program, our three-month program. We also take veterans that graduate our programs overseas to surf in kind of rural communities. and do community work and do more intensive programs, whether that's in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua. That's just a snapshot of our program. Sounds like it's really making an impact. Now, Jordan, you are an Army combat veteran.

Tell us about your experience. And how did you and Andy join up? Yeah, I joined the military in 2004. I served through 08. I was deployed during the surge in Iraq. I suffered quite a few TBIs that went undiagnosed. got blown up a few times. I have probably the same standard story that most people that were deployed to those regions of the world have. Coming back, I struggled immensely with mental health,

finding a place to put my energies, and I really just wasn't taking care of myself. You know, you try really hard to keep it together, to maintain a job. And just like a lot of people that struggle with intrusive thoughts, intrusive thinking, fear-based thinking, it can really dominate your life. And I got about 10 years out and got myself enrolled into the VA. I got as much care as I could find there, but just didn't really have a lot of relief. I met Andy about seven years ago through the Warrior Sur Foundation. And, you know, my life changed immensely. Just practicing mindfulness, just meeting up with other veterans, finding out that I wasn't alone.

A lot of guys, you know, they don't even leave their house. So I was close to that. you know, you get you get enough fear set into your life and it can really lock you down. And I think the ocean, the healing power, the waves can really make a difference to somebody's lifelong term. You said you were very close to not being able to leave your house, even almost 10 years after leaving the service. That sounds like a really difficult period.

Can you tell us a little bit about your transformation between then and now and how you're doing? From eight years ago, it's night and day. I can honestly tell you that I didn't necessarily enjoy the company of the man sitting next to me eight years ago. And I consider him a brother today. Part of my family, a lot of the Warriors surf crew. I consider like family, I think. I was in a really dark place. I was married.

I had four kids. And yet I still found myself in a closet almost about to take my life on a weekly basis. What happens is you just kind of, when your life has been thrifted, threatened enough, you know, when you've lived in an environment where, you know, there might be like a violation of trust or there might be some doubt in your capabilities, you know, you just, I think you sit in that fear and anything that is tangible that can link to those types of traumas, you know, you're losing your life, being shot at, having somebody try to kill you, you know, anything that links to that in any remote way, and that could be from a loved one, that could be

from a door slamming, somebody setting a book down. It can send you right into that, in those intrusive spaces where you start to protect yourself or you start to shut down, you start to, you know, avoid public places, you start to avoid opening up mentally or just allowing yourself to be seen, I guess. And that'll lead to depression, anxiety, thoughts of suicide. And unfortunately, in our community, as many veterans know, suicide is a pretty big, number for us. And that's a tough place to be in, to be sitting with so much fear, so much self-doubt, so much pain, and you don't really have a place to put it. You don't have an outlet. And

organizations like Warriors Surf, Semper Five Fund, those organizations that can plug veterans into those outlets, can plug veterans into that community, that healing space. And vulnerability is a big, is a big step for a lot of us, just to be vulnerable with yourself, with others. And, And when you start doing that, the doors open. And through friendship and just learning to trust again, learning to trust yourself, learning to trust your instincts, your intuitions, that's where the healing process begins. Do I still struggle? Yeah, every day.

The marathon was an example of that, you know, there were some struggles in it, but you push through it, you show up for yourself and you keep going and you learn the tool that you need to succeed. And it saves lives, save mine. That's incredible. Now, one of the men you helped, Connor, he talks about kids. community and the sense of community that's so strong when you're serving, but that disappears when you leave the military. Let's hear a little bit of him talking about that.

My name is Connor Knight. I'm a former non-commissioned officer for the United States Army. I was a machine gun team leader for the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. They are born. I got out of the military in 2018. I got involved with Warrior Surf Foundation in 2020. since then the foundation has helped me out in ways that are unquantifiable. You spend five years soldiering or more, and then you get out, and all of a sudden you're just a civilian. Like the options are endless, but it's so overwhelming. Warrior Surf allowed me to hone my skills as a waterman, to learn the craft, learn surfing,

and to teach it to others, which has been the best gift overall. It helped rekindle this passion for traveling and seeing the world and, you know, adventuring out, surfing beautiful surf breaks and vacation destinations all over the world. And for that, I have a Warriors Surf Foundation to thank and our visionary Andy Manzi. Love you dog. So tell us a bit about Connor and how you helped him. Connor's a great guy. He's a little bit younger than Jordan and I.

And he comes from a military family. I saw a huge bright light in this young man. And as he went through the program and stuck with the community and had it ebbed and flow with us, I say he's very much in a place now where he feels he's in charge of his life. His own fulfillment. And without this tight community around him

and the people to back him and be there, that could have played out very differently for him. But the big thing with Connor is he found the community and he made the right choices and stuck by us as we stuck with him. And now I see a very bright young man flourishing and expanding his world. When I first met him, he was still kind of had the armor on still

that we all carry for the longest time. And us at Warrior Surf, like to chip away at it. And just to open so we can receive. And he's a prime example of what a hard work can do with a community to back them and what can happen. Another veteran who went through the Warrior Surf program is Ben. He wrote poignantly about how the ocean healed him. Let's listen to a little bit of his audio.

My name's Ben. I'm a United States Marine Corps veteran and graduate of the Warrior Surf Foundation's 12-week program. I came to the ocean a lost human. I found the answers I need. I learned that if you can tame her waves for even a few seconds, you can find a piece that exists nowhere else on Earth. The kind of peace that follows you for day.

days, even weeks after a session. Whatever struggles you're facing, hardships that may be falling on you, or decisions you struggle with internally, she takes it all away, if even for a moment, and in that moment is where you'll discover change. Reluctant to face my own fears, I gave in to her. I was no longer capable of being in control of my own life, and I needed guidance. And thanks to the Warrior Surfing Foundation, I leave a man on the path to his best life. So tell us some of Ben's story. It sounds like Warrior Surf made a huge impact on his life as well. Oh, absolutely.

Ben, I think like myself, you know, is a prime example of just how healing, coming to vulnerability can be with yourself, with others. I think the ocean is a really powerful tool for that. It really pushes you. You know, one day the ocean can be really nice and gentle and serene. And the next time you're out there, it can be a monster, one of the most terrifying things you've ever experienced. And when you sit with that in yourself, those fears, those anxieties, right? And you're able to share that with somebody. You're able to sit with somebody and open up. There can just be a floodgate of healing. And it can hit you really fast. Like it did myself. Within a year going through the program,

I saw massive gains in my life and improvement and just my ability to communicate with my family, with my friends, and with myself, just be honest. And Ben's one of those guys that, you know, like myself was was probably just really closed off really you know guarding himself guarding his spirit guarding and protecting you know things that he didn't even really know what he was protecting you know and you know he he was able to get there he was able to open up he was able to share and I can tell you from experience like the first time that you you really open up and you're vulnerable with another person after years and years and years of locking yourself away the floodgates just open and it can be a pretty amazing thing to witness it can be a pretty

amazing thing to go through yourself. And I'm honored to have people like Ben in my life. Well, we are so grateful for your service and what you're doing to continue to support our veterans. Thank you both for coming on today. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you. That was U.S. Marine veteran Andy Manzi and Army combat veteran Jordan Dasher. And this has been a special Veterans Day edition of Morning Wire.