Using The Outdoors as a Healthier Coping Mechanism

Brad Noone is an Army veteran who has found healing through the outdoors. Brad has participated in outdoor trips and even volunteered with several veteran organizations to help lead expeditions. Brad shares his experiences after getting back from Afghanistan and how the outdoors gave him a place to recover. Links & Resources Wounded Warrior Project Veterans Expeditions Military Outdoors (Sierra Club) Operation Vet Fit Vet Voice Foundation Walking It Off by Doug Peacock Transcript Scott DeLuzio:    00:00    Hey everybody, this is the Drive On Podcast where we talk about issues affecting veterans after they get out of the military. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show. Scott DeLuzio:    00:14    Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into the Drive On Podcast.  Today my guest is Brad Noone who served with me in the Connecticut Army National Guard for a while.  He deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 and since getting out of the military, he’s found an outlet that allows him to get in touch with nature, which I wanted to talk to him about. I think that’s a path that not enough Vets take and it certainly seemed to work wonders with Brad. So Noone, buddy, I don’t want to give away too much about what you have going on here, but why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and just introduce yourself. Brad Noone:    00:56    Hear me? Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, go ahead. Brad Noone:    00:59    Oh, sorry.  My name is Brad Noone.  Like Scott said, we served together in the Connecticut Army National Guard and I did two years active duty with the Guard and then six years on drilling status. We did a deployment to Afghanistan in 2006. I struggled a lot when I came home and I became fully involved in the outdoors, which I assume we’ll probably delve into that here in just a second. Scott DeLuzio:    01:27    Yeah, absolutely.  So, if you don’t mind touching on some of the things, some of the struggles that you went through and I don’t know all the details necessarily but during your time in the military or even after getting out, what were some of those things that were difficult for you? I know you said when you got back home from Afghanistan, you had a tough time but what were some of those things, if you don’t mind sharing some of that? Brad Noone:  Sure, absolutely. Brad Noone:    01:56     When I was in Afghanistan, I experienced a number of traumas.  Everything from having to take the life of enemy combatants to seeing charred and mutilated bodies, to seeing, and experiencing just what we call combat stress or anxiety.  I lost sleep. I would go days without sleep and this was in a combat zone. This was in Afghanistan.  I came home and I didn’t have a coping mechanism, so I drank and I partied and that’s what I did. I ended up living in my car; readjustment back into civilian life, even after I got my drinking under control is still one of the biggest hurdles that I have to overcome on a day-to-day basis.  The way the military trains, it doesn’t operate very well in civilian life with a military mentality.  This is what I went on to experience.  I have experienced homelessness on and off, some involuntary, some voluntary, for the past, I don’t know, five or six years. I’ve been in and out of my truck and it’s been a great experience but it’s been very hard at the same time. Scott DeLuzio:    03:13    Sure. ...