Veterans helping Veterans

In August of 2024, at the Healing Base Camp in the Austrian alps, for the first time in the history of the Mountain Seed Foundation the therapeutic efforts of the program would center on injured Ukrainian soldiers and their families. In the past, we had worked with the families of widows and the displaced. Having fathers and soldiers present on site would certainly alter the dynamics and logistics of the camp, but as an organization we felt this would be a wonderful chance to expand the parameters of our programming and, most importantly, to assist a group of Ukrainians who surely are in need of support.

After taking part in the week’s programming, I could see its effects and success operating at multiple levels. Progressively difficult climbing each day of the week meant that the Ukrainian soldiers began to rely upon and bond with one another; that they could demonstrate at the same time their physicality and courage in a family setting; and meanwhile that the “softer” side of the MSF’s positive psychology approach could result in a thawing of often hard exteriors.

At another level I noticed something else: the bonding of US and NATO veterans with the soldiers and veterans of Ukraine. Not every veteran is traumatized, and some military-related experiences are harder to endure and recover from than others, but what can unite service members of any country is the basic shared experience of serving one’s nation and responding to the call of duty.

As a double leg amputee myself I was naturally drawn to Taras, also a double leg amputee. Taras lost his legs while serving on the front lines in Ukraine, and his travel on prosthetic legs to the Healing Base Camp with family was a big undertaking for someone so recently injured. If he could see a fellow double amputee climbing, leading an active life, maybe this could help him feel better about a daunting future. The camp’s climbing schedule would present many challenges to Taras, but his biggest achievement was hiking to the top of the rappel mountain on the third day. He had a support team with him, and although the required effort would be massive, he did not give up and eventually after a long trek made it to the top of the station where he could join his fellow soldiers. I remember, when we later took the families to a mountainside lake, a special moment observing Taras swimming peacefully with his wife during the calm of an afternoon in which a mountain storm recently passed. Floating and weightlessness can mesmerize someone with a mobility impairment, especially after struggling against gravity to hike to the top of a rappel station.

For me it was very nice to meet Taras and his family, and as well to be in the presence of his fellow Ukrainian soldiers. Despite what they have already been through in combat to protect their country’s independence and way of life, they will face many challenges—perhaps psychological, familial, physical, medical, or financial—in the years to come. The week in Austria was good for them. I believe it was also very good for the American and NATO military veterans who were on site to witness and contribute in small but important ways to this long process of family healing.