"Happiest I've been:" Group works to get veterans moving & active, and help them heal
BROOKFIELD -- Those of us who never wore a military uniform can't understand what it feels like -- but that doesn't mean we can't be grateful. Veterans describe it as a feeling of pride and confidence. It's a feeling they long for years after they're discharged. But some vets are getting their groove back, thanks to a group called "Adaptive Adventures."
Adventure Rock in Brookfield
Inside "Adventure Rock" in Brookfield, people climb up and down walls as if they're auditioning for the next Spiderman movie. They're toned athletes. They're mentally sharp, and able to use their arms, legs and whatever else is needed to reach the top.
It seems, at first glance, a cruel place to bring a man in a wheelchair, but if the walls taunt Pete Mittelstaedt, then they picked the wrong fight with the wrong Marine.
"It's an eye-opening, world-changing thing and you're like, afraid. I can't do that. I can't do this. The only way you find out is trying," Mittelstaedt said.
Pete Mittelstaedt
Mittelstaedt became a Marine the same day JFK was killed.
He went to Vietnam, fought, and came home with a body afflicted by Agent Orange to a country that not only didn't say thanks, but at times, made him feel his service was dishonorable.
To say he was angry doesn't begin to get it right.
"With classes and now this, I have calmed down, I guess you could say -- because I didn't care. You said the wrong thing and I could have killed you in a heartbeat," Mittelstaedt said.
Adaptive Adventures
What Mittelstaedt is talking about isn't just the rock climbing. It's a series of outings sponsored by "Adaptive Adventures" -- a non-profit group that works to get people with disabilities -- many of whom are veterans -- moving and active.
Like Mittelstaedt, Fred Schutz too carries the price of war on his body.
"I don't know if I can make it up with my hand," Schutz said.
His exposure to Agent Orange made him weak. For decades post-war, he became less active and more withdrawn.
But not anymore. Now, you can't keep him on terra firma.
Fred Schutz
"It gives me camaraderie. People with the same disability or worse -- you feel more in your element," Schutz said.
Sam Szyjakowski is a volunteer with the VA.
"What they do is get part of their lives back. A lot of these guys when they were in the service were in control. When they came back, they kind of lost that. They were off on their own -- but now they're back in their groups and with guys they can talk to and relate with," Szyjakowski said.
Fred Schutz
"Veterans are coming off their medications. Veterans who have been isolated for years and years are coming out of their homes and it just happens -- but it's beautiful for everybody," Linda LT Tomsevics with Adaptive Adventures said.
Mittelstaedt -- the former Marine who once said the slightest thing could set him off now only wants to manhandle the wall at Adventure Rock.
He is 72 years old. His legs not only don't work -- they drag behind him, but the fact that he can scale the wall despite that is why others call him "the best."
A Marine who survived the war and years of despair has found a way to climb out of a very deep hole.
"The happiest I've been in a long time -- most of my life I guess," Mittelstaedt said.
Pete Mittelstaedt
CLICK HERE to learn more about Adaptive Adventures.