28 / 118
Years Diving:
26
Hometown:
Rincon, Puerto Rico
Favorite Dive Destination:
Mona Island, Puerto Rico
Why I’m a DAN Member:
“DAN has been a great supporter
of SUDS over the years, and it
is good to know they have your
back in an emergency.”
JOHN THOMPSON
By Tim Cothren
“Y
ou can’t walk through the doors of Walter
Reed Army Medical Center [now Walter
Reed National Military Medical Center],
see our injured young men and women
coming back from the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq and not get involved,” recalled
U.S. Army National Guard paratrooper John Thompson about his
first visit to that hospital in 2005. “It was a real gut check.”
Thompson had been working for 14 years as a Colorado Outward
Bound School instructor and 10 as a scuba instructor. His skills
led him to a Red Cross volunteer position in the aquatic therapy
department at Walter Reed, where he developed an idea. “There is a
pool here, and I’m a dive instructor,” he thought, “so let’s try to use
scuba diving in the aquatic therapy rehabilitation process.” He created
Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba (SUDS) in February 2007.
SUDS is not a simple jump-in-the-water program. Each veteran
completes his or her academic and pool work at the hospital under
the care and direction of several core SUDS volunteer instructors
who have training in the Scubility Diver Program from Scuba Diving
International (SDI). Next, SUDS arranges dive trips so the divers can
complete their open-water training at destinations such as Puerto
Rico, Hawaii, Guantanamo Bay and others. They finish the program
as certified divers capable of diving just about anywhere.
“SUDS pays for all the veterans’ expenses, from airfare to meals
and lodging,” Thompson explained. “There is no cost to the
participant.” SUDS, a subordinate chapter of Disabled Sports USA,
is a grassroots nonprofit organization based at Walter Reed in
Bethesda, Md. It has only one paid employee and relies solely on
donations from the general public. Local restaurants, residents and
dive operators offer assistance during trips.
For some veterans these trips are their first forays away from their
hometowns that don’t involve deployment, combat or a hospital.
Marine Sgt. Greg Edwards, a double amputee, reflected as he looked
into the clear blue water of the Virgin Islands: “I’ve never been
anywhere but Mississippi and Iraq; this is awesome!”
SUDS also has a growing number of returning vets who have
fallen in love with the sport and are working on advancing their
certifications. “Lots of veteran organizations just give stuff away;
what I love about SUDS is that it is about bettering yourself,” said
Redmond Ramos, a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman. “John is adamant
about us getting another certification and advancing our skills — it is
about becoming a better diver.”
Therapy is still at the center of the organization. “The majority of
the veterans we work with are amputees,” Thompson said, “but we
see all sorts of injuries, from severe burns to traumatic brain injuries,
PTSD and paralysis. Water is a great equalizer.” Volunteers often hear
veterans say things like “The pain vanishes when I’m weightless,” and
“I find peace of mind underwater that I can’t find on land.”
26
|
WINTER 2016
DIVE SLATE
DAN MEMBER PROFILE
John Thompson with SUDS diver Dan
Hendrix in Kona
Opposite, from top:
SUDS diver
Marco Robledo and photographer Tim
Cothren dive in Guantanamo Bay;
SUDS divers in Kona
TIM COTHREN