Green Recovery for Transitioning Veterans: We Can’t Do it Alone

Ask not what your Soldier can do for you; but what you can do for your Soldier.
By Paul Newell, Green Recovery 

According to CBS News, 120 combat veterans (home for 8 months or less) committed suicide in 2005 every week.  This is unacceptable! www.GreenRecovery.org was created because of the unacceptable conditions and futures that Soldiers face upon returning home from deployment. 

In January of 2007, I saw a report on CNN that became the catalyst to start Green Recovery. The article was a story about a homeless Desert Storm Veteran that had been wounded on disability and living in his car. This story was so compelling to me that I launched www.greenrecovery.org  – a non-profit, grass-roots organization that has been built specifically to assist Veterans decompressing from their Military tour responsibilities in a neutral environment. I am dedicating five years of my direct efforts to ensure that Green Recovery is a wholly effective support organization dedicated to and available to any Veteran in need of an effective healing process. 

GreenRecovery.org gives returning soldiers the chance to use time in solitude to reunite with themselves first and then to sort through their personal traumas without any outside interference or added hardships returning soldiers typically face when returning from the war. These Soldiers deserve a chance…

to regain a foothold before reintegration.

GreenRecovery.org has designed a series of personalized tours that adjust to their instinctive values and actions by allowing them to reassess and readjust their personal resources now that they are home. The tours are designed to allow the Veteran a chance to disengage from the highly motivated, super-charged mind and body that has been generated by Military training and in-field experience and regain control of their lives again through their personal resources. This type of setting I offer at Green Recovery is very necessary to stop any further damage.  

There are no out-of-pocket costs to returning Veterans. It is my honor and duty to give what I can to help veterans recover and reintegrate at their own pace. I feel a duty to help out where I can for their safe return and successful reintegration and I offer veterans an opportunity to do this protected by the remote and peaceful surroundings of British Columbia’s wilderness where our locations are strictly classified. I encourage veterans to take this time for yourself before you decide what to do next. Stay as long as you need to. Come to Green Recovery and recover with others who have been where you were and can offer you the support and understanding needed to heal. All Veterans are welcome to inquire. 

As a Canadian outfitter guide and mineral prospector with over twenty five years throughout much of British Columbia (BC), I have designed guided trips throughout various areas of BC for home-coming Veterans who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)  I have 15 years of extensive experience with PTSD, schizophrenia, Tourette’s syndrome, and hyper-active disorder sufferers and I am certified by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) as being educated and understanding the affects and treatment of brain trauma. I know what these Soldiers are going through. I want soldiers to know there is help available at no out-of-pocket cost to them and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that in most cases their trauma can be treated quickly.

Greenrecovery.org needs help from friends of U.S and Coalition Veterans. Are you one of them?  Where do you stand in supporting America’s war veterans who have put their lives on the line for you and me daily?  If you really want to help stem the tide of veterans struggling with how to reintegrate into their families, jobs and society please consider today how you might be able to join us in this important mission for the well being of those who have fought for ours. Please aid their re-integration by considering some type of assistance to Green Recovery’s Camp Renewal. Through our web site you can make a one time support gift or even set up an automatic weekly, monthly or yearly support offering in the amount you wish.

A list of stores and provisions still needed may be found here . You can also help a great deal by simply passing on this link www.Greenrecovery.org. You can help get this message out to any vet in need of healing. If you know of a homeless vet please contact Greenrecovery.org  If you would like to give in some other way, or have any questions or need of more information, please e-mail me at [email protected]

Sincerely,
Paul Newell
Founder/Coordinator
www.greenrecovery.org

www.greenrecovery.org is a non discriminatory organization color, creed, gender is a non-issue. If you are a Veteran you are in.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Rarely have I seen an opportunity for veterans that I would recommend to anyone I care about. This is one of those times. I was so compelled by Paul’s work on behalf of America’s veterans that I asked him to tell his story. Please support Paul and the people who are doing good work supporting our veterans. They need our support.  Morgan Barker