Wounded soldiers capturing hope during local hunts
By CHRIS BARBEE cbarbee@leader-news.com

L-N Photo by Chris Barbee Hunting & Healing These eight wounded U.S. Army soldiers display the ducks they shot Saturday morning during this Veterans Day weekend Hunts for Heroes event near El Campo. Eight soldiers were elsewhere hunting geese. Pictured are (l-r) Corp. Dennis Leonard, Spec. Jeremy Walsh, Sgt. Jacob Widdell, Staff Sgt. Brad Alexander, Spec. James Orlowski, Spec. Donald Redden, Sgt. Samuel Rodriguez and Spec. Richard Meyer.

"One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity," said Albert Schweitzer.

Military personnel wounded in battle know firsthand the truth of that quote. And thanks to the Hunts for Heroes program started in El Campo, and the many volunteers and donors who make it work, some of America's injured warriors are gaining strength from people who care.

"If they don't have a good attitude when they arrive, they do by the time they leave," Billy Hodges, president and founder of Hunts for Heroes said Monday after a successful event this Veterans Day weekend.

BRAD ALEXANDER

Sixteen soldiers, most injured in Iraq, but a few in Afghanistan and one in an accident in South Korea, were brought to El Campo to hunt ducks, geese, deer and hogs. All either are, or were, receiving treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

One of the soldiers, Staff Sgt. Brad Alexander, a native of Kentucky, made his first Hunt this time last year. He was still in lot of pain at the time after having lost a leg when a female suicide bomber set off her explosive vest.

Now healed and fitted with a modern prosthetic leg, he said last year the Hunts program made him feel like a human being again. And now he's a volunteer, working hand-in-hand with Hodges and Hunts volunteers as the non-commissioned officer liaison between BAMC and Hunts for Heroes.

The number of wounded soldiers here this weekend almost tripled last year's turnout. In fact, two outfitters, Whistling Wings Duck Club, owned by Steven and Ed Weinheimer, put up half of the hunter soldiers while Wesley Morton and his South Texas Waterfowl put up the other half. Both threw in guided hunts, as did Stanley and Gerald Blaha.

Before the weekend was over, the hunter soldiers had bagged hogs, a doe, an eightpoint buck and dozens of ducks and geese.

"We're getting a whole lot better at what we do," Hodges said. "This time last year we were just in the infant stages of Hunts for Heroes. We hadn't learned the do's and the don'ts and the ins and the outs and the hoops you have to jump through at BAMC to make things like this come off. We're getting better at it and we've made some really good contacts up there.

"Last year we were really struggling because we didn't know who to talk to. To make a long story short, taking soldiers on hunting trips is not their number one priority at BAMC. Their number one priority is getting them well," Hodges said.

Steven Weinheimer, one of the Hunt's hosts, knows well what these wounded veterans have gone through. The specialist was assigned as a scout in a Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle with the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment during Operation Dessert Storm in 1991, and was sitting with his unit outside Baghdad for three days when President George H.W. Bush made the decision to not invade the capital of Iraq.

"I had two hots meals and two showers and changed my clothes once," Weinheimer said of the record-setting armored push through the Middle East.

"My perspective as far as helping these guys out ... you always feel kind of guilty ... or I do, when I don't finish a job. And not being afforded the opportunity to go over there and finish that job ... and these guys are cleaning up behind us ... that makes it extra special to me," he said.

"I find it a very rewarding experience, simply because we get to serve the people who are serving us. That is a privilege that a lot of people take for granted," he said.

Weinheimer said the level of dedication of the service people he's meeting has also caught his attention.

"Even if they can't go back to their unit, more importantly they want to continue to serve their country. They want to get retrained any way they can to help out somehow. These guys are doing second and third tours and still wanting to get back over there. The level of dedication that we're seeing out of these guys is just blowing me away."

Hodges said the common comment he gets from the wounded vets is how "blown away" they are by the generosity and the volunteerism of the community. "We get kids from all over the country who have never seen the Texas hospitality. We see it every day and take it for granted. We're not putting on an act. They just never see it and when they do it blows them away."

South Texas Waterfowl put on a goose hunt Saturday morning and a goose hunt Sunday morning. The goose hunting was tough, but they did shoot some birds. The duck hunt was real good, with everyone getting limits.

Hodges said the Blahas took some of the guys hog hunting.

Stanley Blaha, Hodges said, was emotional over this year's Hunt. This is his first time to volunteer. "He told me, 'My gosh, I can't believe these guys are so happy over two pigs!"

"Until you get out there and pick up a wounded soldier with no legs and carry him to a fourwheeler, you don't really appreciate what Hunts for Heroes is all about," Hodges said.