Tucson Sentinel (Aug 14 2024) by Bianca Morales

A program organized by the Arizona Trail Association sets out to provide a safe environment where military veterans have the “opportunity to serve and connect.”

The program is aptly called VETS — Veteran Engagement and Trail Stewardship — and has a mission is to “connect those who have served our country with fellow service members and the Arizona National Scenic Trail,” which is one of the 11 U.S. National Scenic Trails.

Michael Chappell, director of VETS, is a Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran who served in the United States Navy from 1999 to 2004.

“I did two tours in Iraq in that timeframe,” Chappell said. “When I came home — or started transitioning out of the military I should say — in 2004, I didn’t realize that I had a lot of processing to do. By virtue of that, I immersed myself in work.”

Chappell began working in healthcare, including as an EMT with Southwest Ambulance.

“I was still looking to serve my community in some way but I wasn’t fully equipped to handle the pain and suffering that I witnessed on a day to day basis,” Chappell said. “Every chance I got, I was trying to go outside and recreate and it really helped. It was this really meaningful and impactful opportunity for myself to recover even though I didn’t quite understand that at the time.”

Over the years, Chappell — also known as Chappy — saw how the conversations around mental health in veterans became more normalized in the community.

And although topics of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder were more openly discussed, services of support for people transitioning out of the military wasn’t “overtly available” said Chappell, who became director of VETS at ATA four years ago.

“VETS is a opportunity our veteran and military community to come together again, to have a mission, to have a space to feel safe and feel like they’re doing something in that same vein as service that we’re all akin to,” Chappell said. “Connection forms as a result. Support forms as a result and it’s trying to address those issues that are still prevalent right now around like veteran suicide rates, PTSD and the conversation that there’s alternative medicine that maybe isn’t considered medicine yet. But it’s on its way.”

Nature-based therapy, which the Department of Veterans Affairs is branding as Outdoor Adjunct Therapy, plus herbals and plant-based medicinals are methods that can be as beneficial as traditional Western medicine, Chappell said.

Chappell joined the military after graduating from high school, and part of the reason for joining was the financial relief he’d receive for his pursuit of higher education.

“I don’t think anyone is prepared – especially those of us who join right out of high school as I did,” Chappell said. “You know, very immature emotionally, very naive in a lot of ways, and honestly, I joined to receive a leg up for educational opportunities. I wanted to set myself up better than I thought I could at that time coming out of high school,” Chappell said.

“Seeing the world, putting on a fancy uniform, being physically fit and getting an education didn’t sound so bad. I think it was a good trade off. And then, of course, 9/11 happened and that completely changed everything. And my mentality shifted completely and that itself was traumatic because I was going on one direction and in a blink of an eye, our whole mission as military completely changed. Our routines changed. During that time, you wanted to find the bad guys, find the individuals that could perpetrate such an act of terrorism in our country. That’s where I was at.”

Chappell said that during his early 20s after serving, he couldn’t find a healthy outlet to help with working through the process. That was until he found how beneficial the outdoors were to his mental health and for fellow veterans. And he has seen how the trail “saves lives.”

He was out on the Arizona State Trail with a VETS group when he noticed one of the members of the group withdrawing.

“He left the campfire that we had and we continued to hang out and talk, play music. I don’t know how much time, to my shame, went by and I noticed he wasn’t there anymore,” Chappell said. “And I made a call to action to find this person.”

Chappell said he decided to go check the man’s tent and vehicle first.

“I found him by his truck and he was crying uncontrollably,” Chappell said. “He was angry and scared and he was almost physical, so I was kinda bracing myself for whatever might happen. He went for a bike ride, apparently, in the dark, and he had every intention of killing himself. He told me that if I hadn’t come, he probably would have. It put a lot into perspective for me and I wondered if this program hadn’t been in his life, what would have happened.”

Chappell said “we all have an inherent connection to nature” and “we’re not as removed as we may think we are.”

“When we go back outside, it’s like going back home in some ways. It takes some time to become in sync with it again. They call it the circadian rhythm, where the more time you spend outside, the more in rhythm you become with your internal clock,” Chappell said. “It takes about three days to find that equilibrium. They call it the Three-Day Effect. Your circadian rhythm returns, your stress goes down, your mood changes.”

For the four to five days they’re out in nature, the participants are handed tools and they work as a team on taking care of the trail. They camp out in the wilderness, sit around the fire in camaraderie and enjoy the nourishing food the program provides.

“I give them the power to create something for themselves, so that they can return to it one day as a means to recenter themselves,” Chappell said. “Once you mold the trail, you form this bond with it.”

VETS funding relies on federal and state grants and individual donations, which may be given online. Chappell hopes his program extends beyond Arizona trails and becomes mainstream nationally.

To read the article online, click here.