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them a debt of gratitude that cannot
be repaid, but it’s nice to know that
scuba-diving activities are helping out.
The use of scuba diving as a means
of rehabilitation for military personnel
injured in these wars cropped up
more or less simultaneously in several
locations around the country. It started
around 2004, largely because a few
individuals with diving experience cared
enough to get involved. The Wounded
Warrior Project was formed to provide
various kinds of aid to wounded vets,
hosting an adaptive water-sports
festival of waterskiing, sailing, kayaking
and fishing in New York. Henderson
Aquatics donated custom-made wetsuits
for the event, and Henderson vice
president Joe Polak brought along Dave
Reidenbach of the Diving Equipment
and Marketing Association (DEMA).
After seeing the enthusiasm of the
recovering soldiers for something
besides routine hospital physical therapy,
Reidenbach posed the question, “Why
don’t we get them scuba certified?”
For the first couple of years, DEMA
arranged for scuba training at the
festival, but as the program expanded,
DEMA-member dive stores around the
country donated their time, expertise
and gear to make the instruction even
more accessible. The marquee event
of the program is an annual Bonaire
trip. Each year a group of recovering
veterans and their companions are
treated to a week of diving in Bonaire,
courtesy of Captain Don’s Habitat,
several local businesses and resources
donated by the island of Bonaire.
Captain Don’s, Bonaire, the Wounded
Warrior Project, Oceanic Worldwide,
Disabled Sports USA and several other
benefactors cover expenses.
About 40 veterans have made the trip
so far, including Garth Roe, a Marine
whose leg was shattered by gunfire
in 2009 while serving with the 2nd
Marine Special Operations Battalion
in Afghanistan. “I was in therapy and
still in rough shape the first time I used
scuba in a pool,” Roe said, “and it was
such a relief. The pain didn’t go away,
but it dropped way down. And diving
in the ocean is even better — it lets me
forget about my injury for a while.”
These vets really dive when they
get to Bonaire. They are welcomed by
Bonaire’s lieutenant governor, who
hosts a reception at his home, and
by Jack Chalk, general manager of
Captain Don’s, who cooks up a huge
Texas BBQ every year. The first couple
of days are dedicated to finishing
the divers’ open-water training; then
they take off on a three-dives-a-day
schedule. Bonaire is particularly well
suited to this program because the
best diving is on the sheltered leeward
side of the island. The calm conditions
make the boat entries and exits much
easier than if there were heavy seas
with which to contend.
In 2007 John Thompson, an
American Red Cross volunteer at the
Walter Reed Army Medical Center,
launched another program. He
suggested using scuba in the center’s
aquatic-therapy program, and the result
is Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba
(SUDS), which eventually became a
subordinate chapter of Disabled Sports
USA. With the Army and Navy facilities
now combined at the Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center in
Bethesda, Md., SUDS offers four-week
scuba classes for up to six recuperating
veterans at a time. Scuba Diving
International (SDI) staff provides the
training and materials.
Thompson capitalized on his own
military contacts to organize SUDS trips
to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Curacao,
the Turks and Caicos, and wreck diving
in North Carolina. About 300 wounded
service men and women have taken part
in SUDS training so far.
SUDS veteran Matt White was
wounded in Afghanistan while on
dismounted patrol with the 82nd
Airborne Division, 4th Brigade, 508th
Parachute Infantry Regiment. White
was the last man to jump a wall about
a kilometer away from base when a
concealed explosive device took off his
right leg below the knee. He started
scuba in the pool five months later.
“Scuba is a great confidence builder,”
he said. “You can do what everyone
else around you can do. There are
no limitations, and that’s a crucial
thing when you’re trying to adjust
to losing your leg.” Igor Macarov,
a Humvee gunner with the 27th
Engineer Battalion from Fort Bragg,
N.C., who was wounded by a rocket-
propelled grenade during an ambush
in Afghanistan, explained that he loved
how scuba took him away from the
hospital world of surgery and physical
therapy. “Amazement took over,” he
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J OHN T HOMP S ON
Dive professionals around
the country are lending
their time and expertise to
bring diving’s significant
benefits to injured veterans
and to help these veterans
find a community as they
reenter civilian life.