Comfort offered amid nature’s quiet; volunteer effort is making a difference with PTSD

 
My grandfather Sam, a 529th Bomber Squadron gunner survived brutal battles in the Pacific only to die in the battle of Buna. He met his end as far from home as one can be, unable to meet his namesake — my father — born in his absence. His grave in Manila is bare. Yet another grandfather endured five years of concentration camps, a different type of war hero.
 
It is the survivors that endure constant reminders of horrors and losses, clutching the heavy memories of their fallen brothers and sisters in arms.
 
Mike Hermann, a combat Marine from Jackson, is one of those. Healing, if it comes for veterans, is slow. Hermann did five tours until he was discharged from “being around too many explosions.” He still hears them. Except when he is on the river.
 
Hermann had spent a year of attempting to adjust. Another Marine, Nate Van Kampen, invited him to participate in a quiet little program, run entirely by volunteers, called Flyin’ Heroes. It’s a fly-fishing program for veterans founded five years ago by vets Eric Wentzloff, Adam Shumaker and Van Kampen.
 
Hermann will tell you the program is not just about fishing.
 
“I can honestly say, it really did save my life. A group of guys reaching out ... there are no words. You are you on the river. You have time for you, and you are among people that understand,” said Hermann. All the mental noise, he says, including the explosions, fades away in the ripples.
 

Mike and Bryan Hermann participate in the Flyin' Heroes program for veterans. (Photo: Photo courtesy of Adam Shumaker)

 
Hermann wasn’t into fly-fishing a year ago when he went on that first trip. “I was kind of intimidated by the idea of it,” he said. Today, he says it’s a major part of his life, and he shares it with his family.
 
Hermann had found it challenging to reconnect with his son, Bryan, after being gone for some eight months at a time. “Kids change when you aren’t there for them growing up,” said Hermann. Flyin’ Heroes arranged a trip for the two of them.
 
“It’s just me and him on the water. Instead of being bashful, and shy to talk to, he opens up,” said Hermann.
 
Fishing, says Shumaker, changes people.
 
“Some guys get on the water, and they never stop talking. By the end of the trip, they are quiet, peaceful. Other guys have never talked about their situations and open up to us. Regardless of where they start, it’s a place they go to heal.”
 
Shumaker himself was invited by Van Kampen on a fishing trip before becoming a founding member.
 
“All the noise inside me quieted down. My wife noticed I was more peaceful. I knew I had to keep doing it and bring others on board. I tried all sorts of medications. Fishing was the only cure that worked,” says Shumaker.
 
A 2009 study backs him up. It showed long-term significant improvement in veterans’ PTSD symptoms after just three days of fly-fishing. The results represented “therapeutic shifts beyond improvements using traditional treatment interventions.” Other studies show that treatment is more successful when ex-military are involved in administering the treatment. Flyin’ Heroes does both.
 
The several Stealth boats and the Confluence raft the program uses are named after fallen heroes. “We honor them by using these boats as tools to help heal our surviving brothers,” said Shumaker.
 
Today, the nonprofit reaches 35-70 veterans a year. Shumaker says 100% of donations go to vets, nothing to administration. Everything they do is supplemented by volunteers.
 
“We consider each and every participant family. We don’t take family lightly,” said Shumaker. Often married couples share a boat, or a vet like Hermann will opt to bring a child.
 
“It’s one of the things we strive for in the program,” Shumaker said. “Good mental awareness for the people that come through the program to be good parents, good siblings, relax and release all that tension. You will come back and reintegrate a better person.
 
“I can’t think of a better way to honor (the lost veterans) than caring for the survivors. We remember every day. Every day is Memorial Day,” said Shumaker.
 
Contact Lydia Lohrer: lydiaoutdoors@gmail.com. To donate, participate, or volunteer assistance for the Flyin’ Heroes program, go to flyinheroes.org.
 
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