Vets complete canoe trip down Mississippi; adventure serves as therapy

For four months, Dan Castaneda and Kevin Wilson canoed down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, using the Atchafalaya to knock 100 miles off the trip. As it was, they paddled more than 2,300 miles.
But that wasn’t their longest or most difficult journey.
Castaneda, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, spent 14 years in the Marines, serving three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Wilson, originally from the Oregon coast, served four years in the Army that included 11 months in Iraq that left him with only half his vision.
Castaneda and Wilson took their trip as participants in Warrior Expeditions, a nonprofit group that helps veterans take part in outdoor challenges — biking, hiking or canoeing, all on a big scale. The purpose is to help them deal with whatever stresses and frustrations make their readjustment to home more difficult.
After they were treated to a dinner of jambalaya and gumbo Saturday night at VFW Post 4222 in Morgan City, Castaneda and Wilson described the program as “outdoor therapy.”
Wilson was injured by an improvised explosive device in Iraq. The injury prevents his body from making adrenaline, which in turn led to damage in a portion of his brain that makes vision possible. With two fully functional eyes, he has lost 50 percent of vision. He has the aid of a helping dog named Samson.
Castaneda saw more than his share of IEDs and firefights during four combat tours.
“I had a lot of close calls, but I was fortunate enough not to be injured,” Castaneda said.
Whether the wounds are on the outside or the inside, the transition from the combat-era military to life at home is notoriously difficult. In 1948, according to the Warrior Expeditions website, veteran Earl Schaffer told a friend he was going to walk off his experiences in World War II.
Schaffer became the first man to walk the 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail from start to finish.
Nearly half a century later, a returning Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, Capt. Sean Grobin, followed in Schaffer’s footsteps.
“Recognizing the therapeutic effects of long distance hiking, Sean founded Warrior Expeditions that supports combat veterans transitioning from their military service by participating in long distance outdoor expeditions,” the website says.
Grobin and Chief Operating Officer Christine Walters followed Wilson and Castenada on their journey.
Castaneda puts the mission this way: “When we come out here to the outdoors, we struggle with sleeping on the ground, building a fire, traveling in a boat, dealing with weather, dealing with animals. It’s those things that bring the frustration out.
“And then it allows us to be like, why am I so frustrated? Why am I so hyped up with anxiety? It’s because of these issues. It forces us to look inside ourselves and deal with it.”
Wilson found the trip more helpful than other forms of assistance offered to veterans.
“Outside of the VA (Veterans Administration), infamous for putting you on antidepressants or putting you through group counseling or individual counseling, this is a whole different kind of therapy.
"It allows us to deal with it ourselves and think about it and think about everything that’s going on in life and how we can deal with it. And it’s something we can go home and keep doing.”
And they plan to do that.
They’ve just spent months figuring out where to camp for the night, coping with sudden storms and overcoming the physical demands of their trip.
Now Castaneda is thinking about preparing for his own Appalachian Trail expedition next year. Wilson wants to try ocean kayaking.
They say they’ve had help along the way, from veterans posts that hosted dinners and “trail angels” who provided supplies and others who offered their homes for a shower or a chance to do their laundry.
Maybe best of all, they found gratitude for their service that has generated political controversy over more than a decade.
“It’s not publicized,” Castaneda said. “But individual people that we come across, they absolutely support us every which way they can, whether it’s opening up their homes for us for a shower or do laundry or to give us a hug and say thank you.
"There was not one person who didn’t care about what we did or our service.”