Combat to Kayaks wants to help vets recover

ZANESVILLE — James Clark has been there.

A veteran of a pair of tours in the post-911 Iraq War, the West Muskingum graduate struggled with anxiety and other issues related to his service time. It cost him a marriage and led to a life filled with alcohol abuse to mask the pain on the inside.

He has come a long way since. He still fights anxiety, but he found solace and peace in the outdoors. That led him to the idea of starting a kayaking business, but he took it a step further.

He's now using kayaking to help veterans find the same mental relief he has found. He founded Combat to Kayaks, a volunteer, non-profit aimed at giving veterans and first responders a therapeutic option to escape.

It will begin in April. He has already has a weekend schedule through June, citing a Ohio's wealth of sites for outdoor activities.

"We want to take our veterans, first responders, local heroes who seem to be in a bad way and give them a little help getting pulled out of the darkness," said Clark, one of three volunteers in the organization. "We want them to kind of rejoin the light, rejoin the world."

Clark said they also aim to keep them there. They hope their program prevents psychologically struggling vets from returning to isolation by giving them back what they lost once their military service ended.

He cited the loss of military camaraderie and structure as major system shocks from which they suffer upon returning to everyday life.

"They lost that sense of purpose, camaraderie," Clark said. "They still have that drive to serve — they just have no outlet. We kind of give that back to them. We kind of refocus their mind back to that military side, at least the good parts of it. We keep them involved, keep them active."

Clark said they have a variety of tasks scheduled, including building a new boat dock in conjunction with Dillon State Park. That will begin in mid-April, with completion set by Memorial Day.

"When I put the call out, within 36 hours we had 50 volunteers, military and civilian, ready to roll," Clark said.

Clark said that Ohio's abundance of outdoor sites, locally and beyond, such as Dillon State Park and the American Electric Power lands, allows the organization to schedule events without much financial burden.

All events are of no cost to the participants. One of their planned trips is a night fishing trip to the AEP lands.

"It's not just a trip down the river," Clark said. "We actively seek out the most beautiful, breathtaking places that you can possible kayak in, in Ohio. Beautiful wildlife, beautiful scenery, peace, tranquility. We just try to give them a little bit of peace again. For a lot of these guys, it's the first time in a long time."

Clark's involvement came after he amassed multiple kayaks through a business venture with fellow combat veteran Tony Adams, who is also a member of the organization's board. Clark said they hope to offer a hunting trip during the winter in an effort to keep the veterans active after the weather turns.

The community's role has been vital, he said.

"We're not like a lot of other nonprofit organizations, because funding isn't really a big deal for us," Clark said. "The things we have been able to do thus far, everything we have done hasn't cost us a dime. We place our value on relationships within the community."

That includes a large amount of local businesses, including those inside and outside of Zanesville, a collection that Clark says "is growing every single day."

"We can have $100 million donated to us right now, but without the like-minded people we have in the community that know their area, and know where that money needs to go, it's useless," Clark added. "Now if you get them together, they're always going to make things happen, every single time. That is the way we have been here."

Most military personnel join when they are out of high school, Clark said, and aren't prepared for the world after their service time is completed. While some re-enlist or utilize the G.I. Bill to obtain schooling and find a career path, others struggle to find their way.

In Clark's case, he fell into alcohol as a coping mechanism. He is saddened by the number of veterans who are dying due to suicide. He described himself as "a door-kicking, knuckle-dragging grunt," who doesn't have the technical skills of many Americans.

He does have a deep caring for helping those in need, however.

"We've lost too many," Clark said. "We can't lose another one of our heroes. We lost one recently that graduated a couple of years before me at West Muskingum (Wes Osborne), who volunteered to help with the cleanup at 9/11 (in New York) and served with distinction in the Marines. He lost his battle with his demons a few months ago. And Danny Harlow. Our community is absolutely no stranger to this."

The ultimate goal is to be an overall community-based organization, Clark said, which can help more than just struggling vets and first responders.

"We just decided that it's all or nothing," Clark said. "If we have the ability to do both at the same time, we have a responsibility to do those things. We might fall flat on our faces a few times, but that is going to hurt a lot less than not trying."

For more information visit the Combat to Kayaks page on Facebook or email them at combat2kayaks@gmail.com.

sblackbu@gannett.com; Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Combat to Kayaks wants to help vets recover