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“I KNOW WHY YOU BROUGHT US HERE,” Marty said, squinting his eyes and looking right at me. His face was hard to read. I wasn’t sure if he was happy or calling me out and getting ready to kick my ass. I glanced at the other guys who were


standing nearby to get a feel for the situa- tion, but none of them had heard Marty’s comment. Like Marty they were all veter- ans, mostly of the wars in Iraq and Afghan- istan. I often have an inferiority complex and feel like a wimp when I’m around vet- erans. Not just because so many of them look like total badasses, but because they’ve served and I haven’t. They’ve put


themselves on the line and faced down death in ways that I never have. I haven’t seen what they’ve seen. I haven’t done what they’ve done. That feels intimidating at times. Part of it has to do with my own insecurities, but part of it is the fact that I’ve heard many vets say they can’t relate to civilians the same way they can relate to fellow veterans. A friend who works with veterans once told me a joke. How many veterans does it take to screw in a light bulb? You wouldn’t understand. You weren’t there. Marty and I were three days into a five-


day “Relief Ride” with a nonprofit I founded called Motorcycle Relief Project


(MRP). The mission of MRP is to honor, bless and encourage veterans with post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by taking them on therapeutic motorcycle adven- tures designed to help them decompress, get unstuck, connect with other veterans and take meaningful steps toward recovery. During the day we ride BMW adventure bikes both on- and off-road, and at night back at the lodge we do workshops on top- ics like stress management, overcoming obstacles and recovery through serving others. Almost everyone in America these days has heard the statistic: 22 veterans take


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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2016


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