![\"Veterans](\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/23281585_web1_04-23veteran-HOM-201105.jpg\")
<\/a>Veterans who participated in the 23rd Veteran trip to Homer, Alaska, scramble around rocks on an incoming tide on a Kachemak Bay beach during their trip Oct. 11 to 16, 2020, near Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Anthony Droz\/Outdoor Initiative)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
“There’s no war stories,” he said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The outdoor adventure also has another aspect: challenging the veterans. They have to face adversities, like finding water or scrambling up bluffs when they misjudge the rising tide.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“We like to send them to a place they’re uncomfortable with. They have to rely on each other. It makes the camaraderie a lot easier,” Waldron said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
After the initial outdoor adventure, the group returns to their home town. Most of the sessions have been in Duluth for people in the area, but they’ve also gathered veterans from other communities. The 23rd Veteran participants receive a playbook with guidelines. They meet for two hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Veterans of all ages have participated, from their 20s to older than 60, both men and women. The Homer group included men and women from their late 20s to early 50s.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Veterans go from being completely isolated, not wanting to be in society, thinking they’re not working again,”Waldron said. “After going through the program, they’re working again. … They’re seeing their kids more often. … It’s super fulfilling to see that.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Kilcher Burton met with the 23rd Veteran group after they returned from their wilderness adventure.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“When they came back you could see the transformation that had taken place with them. They were very much bonded as a crew,” she said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Having done similar wilderness retreats to help her deal with her own trauma as a veteran, Kilcher Burton said she saw those programs lacking what the 23rd Veteran offers: continued follow-up and reinforcement.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“The structure of it is so perfect in my mind,” Stellavera Kilcher said. “… Their follow up to their wellness and their PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) — they can maintain it and keep contacts. They’re really mindful of that to make sure there’s continuity.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The Kilchers all said they saw something else come out of being hosts to 23rd Veteran: a continuation of the dream of their parents, Ruth and Yule Kilcher, in making the family homestead a place of learning. One of the group meetings was held in the octagon, a cabin built decades ago as a retreat where classes could be held.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I think that’s always been a vision both of mother and father for the homestead to be a place of transformation, healing and community,” Kilcher Burton said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Hosting 23rd Veteran helped the family resurrect that vision, Stellavera Kilcher said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“This is what this veterans thing signifies in some many ways,” she said. “It kind of typifies what our parents wanted to do: learning to survive, living on the land, collaboration.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I couldn’t help but think about my dad, that something positive was happening with that land,” Atz Kilcher said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Stellavera Kilcher said she found working with the veterans fulfilling.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Each person, when you looked in their eyes, you could tell there was a huge world and story,” she said. “… I told them, ‘Each one of you has done so much for our country. You have faced challenges I’ll never know. We’ll do anything we can to support you.’”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Waldron said he would like to return to Homer and do more sessions with 23rd Veteran groups. He’d also like to meet with other Alaska organizations that know trails and wilderness areas. He’d also be open to helping Alaska veterans in a 23rd Veteran program here. For more information, visit www.23rdveteran.org.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Reach Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retreat fulfills family dream of Kilcher homestead as transformative center <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":417,"featured_media":65044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-65043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/417"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65043"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=65043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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