Helping military members heal while flyfishing in Montana

Project Healing Waters, which uses fly fishing and fly tying to help rehabilitate wounded military members physically and emotionally, is a very active organization around the country, including in Washington state. He’s a story about a program outing in Montana written by Patrick J. Murphy of The Sheridan Press.

FORT SMITH, Mont. — It was sunny, a bit breezy, but all the more relaxing on a recent Monday for the four military veterans who participated in a day of fly fishing on the Bighorn River.

The float and fish was part of the Sheridan Healing Waters program, coordinated locally by Gordon Rose — a longtime Bighorn River guide who opened his own fly shop, Quill Gordon Fly Fishers, in 1987 in Fort Smith, Mont.

Rose, with his wife, June (co-owners of Quill Gordon Fly Fishers), sold the business in 2000 and moved to Sheridan with their son, Tyler.

“I initially decided to do this because there was clearly a need for it in Sheridan, and I could bring my 20 years of instructional experience in fly fishing to the table. Who else better to jump in and help out?” Rose said.

“Once the Program got going, and I could so clearly see the positive impact it was having on our war veterans, I was hooked.”

Headquartered in La Plata, Md., the group typically affiliates with a local chapter of Trout Unlimited and/or Federation of Fly Fishers to obtain volunteers.

The program was formalized locally with Rose as the project leader. It began with his teaching weekly fly tying classes at the Sheridan VA Medical Center in March.

“There were 11 initial participants in the program (in March), with mostly Vets from the Afghan and Iraq wars, a couple from the Vietnam war, and one from the conflict in Somalia,” Rose said. “Three patients left the facility upon completion of their treatment program, but the other eight happily completed the 9-week fly tying course.”

Under the expert care of fly fishing guides Carl Newell, Mike Kelly and Tyler Steele, all of the veterans caught and landed numerous brown and rainbow trout.

The guides are employed by Kingfisher Lodge in Fort Smith, Mont., which is owned and operated by Matt and Keri McMeans.

The four veterans, who fly fished on the Bighorn River Monday are, or were, patients at the VA Medical Center in Sheridan. They included:

Virgil Stewart, who worked in electrical systems in the Air Force from 2000-2004;

Brennan Stacy, 101st Army Airborne 2001-2004, Utah National Guard 2008-2010; was among troops first into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tim Deho, Wyoming Army National Guard, 2007-2010, served in the field artillery, spent one and half years deployed in Iraq.

David Verdeyen, Navy Seabees steelworkers, 1990-1994; was stationed in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 when the tragic events known as “Black Hawk Down” occurred.

Their comments on participating in the Healing Waters program were varied.

Stewart said: “The Bighorn River is just fantastic. This is the first time I’ve been taught how to fly fish.”

Stacy said: “It gets me outside of my world. It brings me back to the military, but on a safe side. We were always outside in Afghanistan. We shot at people and they shot at us. (Back in the United States) my mind is constantly running in a city, but here (and through the Healing Waters program), I can just let things flow.”

Verdeyen said: “I love it; from the fly fishing to the casting. It definitely took us out of our normal. I loved the river fishing most.”

Deho said: “My favorite part was just coming out and being away from everything. I’ve just been able to relax.”

Rose, who plans to continue the Healing Waters program locally in 2012, received no monetary compensation for his efforts.

“I have to account for my volunteer time on the Project to the national office (Healing Waters), and I know I’ve averaged about 20 hours per week on this over the past nine months when I include administrative and prep time on top of the actual time with the vets,” Rose said. “It’s all been without pay, but the real reward wasn’t measured in dollars. It was measured in being so totally satisfied I had made some small positive impact on the lives of those who gave to me — and all of us — in service to our country.”