Veterans Voices: Project Healing Waters helps Richmond veterans heal through fly fishing

RICHMOND, Va. – Project Healing Waters provides veterans a place to find solace and distraction from everyday struggles stemming from time served in the military. Tony Escalona, Program Lead for the Richmond Chapter of Project Healing Waters, brings hurt and disabled veterans to lakes and rivers, which helps them forget about any pains they may be having, both physically and mentally. “We had a gentleman who was blind,” said Escalona, “You can’t see but the sensation is amplified. That guy could catch some fish.” Photo: Tony EscalonaPhoto: Tony EscalonaPhoto: Tony EscalonaPhoto: Tony EscalonaPhoto: Tony Escalona Escalona spent 31 years in the military and now suffers from a mild traumatic brain injury. He said the hardest part about his military service was having to leave his family seven times. He retired in 2015 and didn’t find Project Healing Waters until 2017, he described the two-year period in between as a “waste of time.” “Project Healing Waters doesn’t care who you are, what you look like, where you came from,” said Beau Beasley, author of "Healing Waters: Veterans’ Stories of Recovery in Their Own Words," “They just want to expose you to the outdoors and to fly fishing in particular and let you know that there are better days ahead.” Beasley, a retired firefighter and former senior paramedic, wrote his book over a period of eight years. It contains 32 stories from veterans, volunteers who served in the military and volunteers who have worked with veterans after returning from service overseas. Beasley took time to get to know each veteran featured in the book and gave them a platform to tell their story in their own words. “I had someone ask me one time, ‘Hey Beau, when did you know as a writer you were getting good material? I said, 'Well, that answer is easy -- when I started having nightmares,'" said Beasley. When asked to read a particularly compelling portion of the book, Beasley chose the story about Jerry Miron, a scout dog handler in the Vietnam War whose right-hand canine was named Rebel. In an interview, Miron told Beasley that Rebel had saved many service members from being ambushed and killed. At the end of his tour, Miron decided he was going to try smuggling Rebel home but was forced to make a difficult decision when he was confronted by an officer. “The officer smiled and then asked quietly, ‘Miron, how many soldiers' lives will Rebel save back in Minnesota?' Miron felt the question hit like a gut punch," said Beasley, reading aloud from the book. "Miron was sent stateside, but Rebel stayed in Vietnam.” Beasley said veterans become isolated after returning home from deployment and need a way to connect with other people, which is why fly fishing is therapeutic for them. “Fly fishing will change your life, and by golly if it hasn’t,” Escalona said. Escalona says fly fishing teaches veterans how to slow down. “It’s moving meditation,” Escalona said, “Just get out in your yard and watch that line dance, it’s so mesmerizing.” Both men say fly fishing alone is healing, but what takes Project Healing Waters one step further is being able to connect with other veterans who know what the others area enduring. Escalona said the healing takes place when everyone is “sitting around talking, joking and laughing.” “There are people out there that love you, that care about you," said Beasley. "Whether it’s a family member or a co-worker or a fellow veteran."