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Thanks to a program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, disabled soldiers are learning to scuba dive and explore the wonders of our undersea world. Known as "SUDS" (Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba), the innovative training and certification program is helping wounded warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan to experience life from below sea level.
"It's the most rewarding project I have ever been involved in," says John W. Thompson, president of the SUDS board of directors. He's a certified diving instructor who sees the ocean as a great equalizer. "Many things are just easier to do in the water with these types of injuries," he says. To prepare himself for the task of teaching severely wounded soldiers how to dive, Thompson enrolled in a training program in Florida offered by the Handicapped Scuba Association.
Thompson describes SUDS, which launched in February 2007, as "part rehabilitation, part confidence-building (and) part adventure for these wounded warriors. I'm really inspired by the soldiers at Walter Reed."
The organization traveled last winter to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where six divers were certified and two went on to get their advanced certification. The soldiers are trained by several volunteers from Walter Reed, headed up by Thompson. On Wednesday afternoons, SUDS students attend classes; the next day, they train in the hospital's aquatic therapy pool. After their initial training, soldiers have 12 months to complete four open-water dives for their scuba certification.
Thompson, who serves in the Army National Guard, gets plenty of assistance in running the SUDS program. Danny Facciola, secretary, is a Navy veteran who began diving in 1993. "Being on a forward-deployed ship," he said, "I had the opportunity to dive some of the best sites in the Pacific." Some years later, he went to work on a charter boat and met Thompson, who told him about his work with wounded soldiers. "I volunteered to helps SUDS in any way I could," Facciola says.
The group's treasurer, Lonnie "Bud" Daniels, shares the collective passion of SUDS to help rebuild the lives of those who have fought in the war against terrorism. "I have a great deal of appreciation for what our Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Coast Guardsmen do for us and our country," Daniels says. He fought the riverine war in Vietnam and served on board several Navy warships.
Michael Jackonis is legal counsel for SUDS and also a Navy veteran. He was assigned to Bethesda Naval Hospital for a couple of years and saw a lot of wounded servicemembers. "These kids have such a traumatic life change, but everything else about them is still 20 years old or so," Jackonis says. "They need something exciting, something that's going to lift their spirits." He says SUDS sends them a message: "Don't think because you had this setback that there aren't challenges out there for you to conquer."
"Operation Bottom Time" is a series of events that raises money for SUDS. It encourages diving communities in various locations to support divers by assisting with their open-water certification. Last May, the group certified seven new divers in Key Largo, Fla. (they also hung out with a group of "really cool" dolphins). The next Operation Bottom Time event is planned for Puerto Rico in September.
