Posted on 04/09/2010 7:47:33 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Fourteen soldiers recuperating from injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan braved windy weather to fish for steelhead in the rivers near Forks on Thursday.
The excursion was provided free to the 12 men and two women because of donations from people in Forks, said Bob Gooding, owner of Olympic Sporting Goods, who organized the outing.
"It didn't cost them a dime," he said Thursday.
The soldiers, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the former Fort Lewis south of Tacoma, are being helped by the Wounded Warriors Project, a nonprofit group formed by veterans to assist wounded service members returning from deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The project helps soldiers transition back into their jobs in the military or as civilians.
"Tuck Harry [a local fishing guide] came in to me last year and said that he wanted to do something to get those guys over here," Gooding said.
"We all thought it was a fine idea."
Enthusiastic response
Gooding said that once he started working on it, the event snowballed.
"I had several guides who are actually a little mad that I didn't call them," Gooding said.
"I have a list of about 40 guides and the first 10 I called said yes -- even if they had prior appointments they said they'd cancel them to help out with this."
Originally about 20 soldiers had signed up for the outing in which two soldiers were grouped with a guide for steelhead fishing.
However, because the weather called for strong winds on Thursday, some of them were not cleared by the doctors to go.
"[The weather] wasn't looking very good for a while -- though it turned out it wasn't bad at all," Gooding said.
"But some of the guys with more serious injuries the doctors just couldn't release them."
(Excerpt) Read more at peninsuladailynews.com ...
Drift or bank, there is nothing like steelhead fishing. I am not surprised, by these guide’s efforts- to provide Our Wounded Warriors with such a wonderful life motivating experience.
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