BUZZBAIT
Heroes on the Water
KAYAK ANGLING PROVIDES STRESS RELIEF FOR WOUNDED SOLDIERS BY AARON REED
B
RAD NEWMAN likes to tell the story of one off-duty soldier he took kayak fishing at Blanco State Park in the Tex-
as Hill Country at the end of last year. “He was in rehabilitation for traumatic
brain injury,” Newman says. “Over a nine-day period in Iraq, vehicles in his convoy, includ- ing his, were hit with 14 improvised explosive devices. Basically, the concussions injured part of his brain.” Tat day, aſter three hours on the water—
one of which the soldier spent dozing in the cockpit of his kayak—Newman helped him out of the boat. “‘How was it?’ I asked him. He looked up
at me and said: ‘Man, that was great. Tat was just the most serene thing I’ve done in a long time’,” Newman recalls. Te two talked about the experience for half
a minute before they both realized the soldier was no longer stuttering. It was the first time in two years he’d been able to speak a com- plete sentence without obvious effort.
CASTAWAYS KAYAK ANGLER’S X - F I L E S
Reefer Madness 14 … KAYAK ANGLER spring 2008
You think kayak fishing started with plastic sit-on-tops? Maybe not. Way back in July 1952, Popular Mechanics printed the article “Fish from a Seagoing Couch,” introducing the Romilly Reefer, a fishing craft with chrome handles on the sides that could be “carried like a suitcase from place to place,” and powered by “a two-bladed oar.” Complete with a “swivel socket” rod holder, the Reefer’s rigging even included a rudimentary fishfinder in the form of a Plexiglas porthole through the hull—hence the prone fishing position. If not quite the birth of a trend, it was a good excuse to publish photos of women in swimsuits.
“Both of us, our eyes just welled-up,” New-
man says. Newman is a former U.S. Army infantry
scout and executive director of Kayak Anglers Society of America, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding access to and partici- pation in kayak fishing. A kayak fishing certification course, high
school and collegiate kayak fishing tourna- ments and more are in the works, but the organization’s Heroes on the Water (HOW) program got an early start and is growing by leaps and bounds. Already KASA volunteers have sponsored five freshwater and saltwa- ter fishing trips for veterans, with two dozen slated for 2008. A former U.S. Air Force linguist serves as
vice president, and an ex–Air Force C-130 Hercules pilot, who now flies for American Airlines, is treasurer. An active duty Army major who founded
ArmyBassAnglers.com heads up the HOW program. “Te therapeutic benefits are tremendous,”
Newman says. “We’ve had double amputees out there who are still learning to use their prostheses to get around on land; put ‘em in a kayak, and they’re just as mobile as anyone else. Paddling, balancing in a boat, working a reel—these are all things that help these guys physically.” Just as importantly, adds KASA Treasurer
Jim Dolan, is the chance to learn some lifetime skills and get away from the rigorous regimen of recovery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio or Darnall Army Hospital at Fort Hood, Texas. “Almost all of these warriors suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder,” Dolan says. “Just getting them out in nature, introducing them to paddling and fishing, does them a world of good.”
Help Out: To learn more or support
Kayak Angler Society of America projects, visit
www.KayakAnglersSA.org
An Iraq veteran with a stringer of central Texas trout. PHOTO: AARON REED
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