SUDS / OBT needs your help - Dive with Wounded Warriors

We are bringing 8 wounded warriors from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC down to Key Largo from 17-24 May. This is an open charter & we need to fill the boats. If you would like to support our injured veterans you can do so by joining us for this event. More info is on our website: SUDS Diving > Welcome to SUDS
Best,
John

 

John -

Thanks for sharing this info with ScubaBoard. I know that Michelle and I are planning on attending OBT week in Key Largo, and I hope that other ScubaBoarders can make the trip down to support this very worthy cause.

 

I am hoping to be there as well if I can adjust my schedule. This is just so IMPORTANT for us to do. These Vets went to war FOR US. It's the least we can do to enable them to dive!

 

I am in the process of organizing a group of us from Atlanta to come down for this fantastic event. I should have more details shortly and will post them in the geographically correct forum at that time. In the meantime, if anyone from Atlanta or surrounding areas is reading this and wants to join us, feel free to PM me and I'll fill you in. This is gonna be great!

 

All,

John Thompson is married to a beautiful Army Officer who happens to be stationed at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He is smart, soft spoken, and honest. As a dive professional and a veteran himself, he looked around the hospital and felt that there was something positive he could do to help some of the seriously wounded vets. By himself, he started to get these recovering soldiers into the water. He had no money, no equipment, no organization, and no name for what he was doing. He simply felt an obligation to help these men and women adjust to their new lives. Since then, he has gone from grass roots to SUDS, Soldiers Undergoing Disability Scuba. They are now working on Operation Bottom Time, to get these guys certified and to generate the money necessary to train more veterans.

The veterans who are in the SUDS program have been seriously wounded. They probably don't need to learn to scuba dive? But they do need to know that Americans care about them and that we appreciate their sacrifice and their struggle to recover. Their rehabilitation is more about support and less about training. If the dive community can support these determined divers, we will probably get more out of this than the veterans will?

In my humble opinion, the dive shops, the dive clubs, and the dive industry needs to get behind our veterans, and SUDS, and OBT. John Thompson is a great guy who is trying to do the right thing, and I want to support him and our veterans in every way I can.

I hope to see you at OTB in Key Largo.

Cheers

JC

 

And you will, hopefully many of us.

 

The dives and lodging links are now up on SB's Reservation System. Look for OBT or Operation Bottom Time.

Let's get behind this project. It's for a very worth cause and the soldiers would love have you come down to support them. Please go there to book your dives and lodging.

Good Diving/Hunting,

 

I wish I could make. I am in the military also and it's great that you guys are helping out my fellow soilders and sailors. You guys are doing a great thing. I wish you all the best and have lots of fun.

 

Gary,

I heard that if everyone comes out to support our veterans, you are going in for a buzz cut. Is this true??


JC

 

I'd pay $50 to see that!