AMERICANWAY

DOUG BUERLEIN O - ing, a posse of runners wearing the shirts of Team Red, White and Blue (RWB) sliced rhyth- mically through the familiar fog shrouding the Golden Gate Bridge, trotting on the foot- path toward San Francisco. Former Army soldiers Andrew Hutchin- s on , C or e y Gi lg a n a nd Ker r ie Wei s s — accompa n ied by t h ree civ i l ia ns — sped past groups of tourists and dog walkers on a 6-mile run at a brisk 9-minute-mile pace. They were participating in one of many ad- venture programs for veterans and military families to help them deal with the trauma associated with service in a combat zone. Team RWB is a nonprofi t organization ba sed in Ta mpa , Flor ida , that conducts exercise and adventure programs for vet- erans. Funded by grants, private donations a nd cor porate pa r tnerships, Tea m RW B a nd other orga n izations of fer activ ities such as running, fl y-fi shing, kayaking, yoga, snow skiing, hand-cycle racing and hiking. Hutchinson, Team RWB's director of camps and special programs, says the programs are designed to let "veterans be a part of a team again and fi nd camaraderie immediately." Gilgan, a fi eld artillery o cer who toured i n A fg ha n ist a n before g raduat i ng f rom business school, says he joined Team RWB because "milita r y folks sha re simila r ex- periences, and it 's important to maintain connections with each other, especially after you get out of the service." With 600 or more participants signing up VETERANS Adventure Healing To COMBAT TRAUMA that results from service in a war zone, nonprofit organizations guide veterans to the great outdoors. GONE FISHIN': Joshua Williams (right) with volunteer Joe Humphreys at Project Healing Waters' Annual 2-Fly Tournament at Rose River Farms service members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghani- stan in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Op- eration New Dawn since Sept. 11, 2001. MILLION MORE THAN 4 2 N OV E M B E R 2 01 4 A A .CO M/A M E R I C A NWAY

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