A group of injured veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan participated in a day of fishing and dove hunting Thursday, September 3, hosted by Cody “the Slam Man” Kittleman and his partner, outdoorsman Mark Hoke.
The day-long event was held in cooperation with the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), on the Kittleman farm in West Friendship, MD, as part of an effort by Kittleman and Hoke, of Laurel, MD, to help returning injured service personnel resume their lives once again.
“These young men and women are the true heroes of America,” said Kittleman, who planted a seven-acre field of sunflowers on the farm to attract doves for the hunt. “We need to embrace them and let them know how much they mean to all of us, and help get them back into society.”
Nine shooting stations were sponsored by local businesses to help defray costs of the event, which included a cookout and crab feast, weapons and ammunition for the hunters. It was the fourth annual “handicapable” dove hunt sponsored by Kittleman and Hoke for returning injured service personnel, who have also sponsored four deer hunts and three goose hunts over the past few years. Last year’s deer hunt on the farm incluced 37 volunteers and 13 disabled veterans.
Sgt. Robert Bartlett, an Army Calvary Scout Sniper, was one of the injured vets participating in the dove hunt. Bartlett was on a recon mission in Iraq May 3, 2005, when a roadside bomb exploded ripping his face virtually in two. He lost an eye, collapsed lung, massive internal bleeding, and severe burns.
On the way to the hospital in Balad, Bartlett’s heart stopped twice, then once again in the military hospital where doctors did not expect him to live. But today, more thabn 40 surgeries later, Sgt. Bartlett is determined to forge a new future that will include graduate and post-graduate education, a new wife, and a family. He tells everyone he can about “the good things that are happening in Iraq” and the accomplishments of our men and women in uniform.
”Why are most of us doing so well?” Sgt. Bartlett asked. “Look around. The support here. It means a lot. It is a wonderful thing.”
Men and women like Sgt. Bartlett go through more than “just” trying to rehab from their wounds. Post traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) is a serious problem, he says, pointing out that there are numerous programs and resources to help.
Some soldiers return from the war unable to continue in the jobs for which they were trained prior to deployment. For many, the physical injuries make it difficult to function, or even be seen in public. All too often, they suffer financial hardships, contributing to marital difficulties, divorce, suicide.
But Sgt. Bartlett is not one of those. “I don’t have a single day of regret,” he told me. “I lost friends over there. I have to live for them.”
Army Sgt. Terry Tessena, Woodbridge, VA, injured his back in Iraq when his unit was assaulting a house, chasing insurgents. A vertebrae was crushed, forcing him to return to the U.S. in February 2008, where he had three surgeries.
There was a lot of “down time,” for Sgt. Tessena. Pain. Depression. “Realizing that you’re now worth what you were before. But these guys come and take you on fishing trips, hunting, and they take away the pain and the pain killers, and they bring you back to remembering what you really can do.”
Fortunately for Sgt. Tessena, he is doing better and hopes to deploy again, probably next year to Afghanistan. “I’m ready to go back,” he said. “I want to get back into the fight.”
For Army Sgt. Jason Nielsen, shot in the back by a sniper as his unit responded to the report of a roadside bomb, the resulting spinal cord injury left him in a wheelchair for a year and a half, and doctors said he would not walk again.
But as he spoke, standing, he prepared to head for his designated blind for the dove hunt. Walking.
Sgt. Nielsen has a family - a wife and three children. Retired from the Army with a medical discharge, he is now going to college to get a business degree.
”Events like these…they are a great outlet for us,” he said. “Hunting and fishing has always been a passion for me. My future was pretty bleak. I was never supposed to walk. But the PVA got to me, and they helped show me what I could do, no matter what the injuries. I wouldn’t be able to do these things, but people showed me tht I could. It means everything to me. Everything.”
