Kaplan, La. (WAFB) – More than 1.5 million veterans need mental health services each year, but many struggle to open up about their experiences. A local group is giving them space to find healing and reminding them they’re not fighting alone.
Different wars and different decades sit at the same table, all with the same understanding. That understanding has become a lifeline for Minos Cashat after spending 20 years in uniform.
“I couldn’t find work anywhere around here and I spent three months in depression, and it was getting worse and worse and then I finally found a job, and it started picking up a little and then I got with Troy,” Cashat said.
Troy Coleman started Hero Hunts in 2013, turning what helped him during hard times — being outdoors — into a place for fellow servicemembers to breathe again.
“The passion never really went away from me, and I used that to connect these veterans and make them feel a little something,” Coleman said.
Building connection through outdoor activities
In addition to monthly meetings, the group hunts, fishes and shoots. But the real target is connection.
“We take the nursing home vets, and we have a spot we bring them fishing and we’re kind of like guides. We bait their hooks, cook for them and cater to them. They really appreciate it. Actually, some of them come out and I’ll have my dog and they’d just rather play with the dog than they would fish and that cool too. If you can get them to open up and come out of their shell just for a little bit it’ll help,” Coleman said.
The approach caught Norris Frederick’s attention. The 96-year-old Korean War veteran heard about the fishing trips and knew he had to join.
“Some of them, I say oh they’re not as old as me, but they’re not as fortunate with their health and so they need help, they’re in wheelchairs and everything, so we do that for them and just that is worth being in Hero Hunt,” Frederick said.
Veterans helping veterans
Cashat said it’s more than just an outdoor activity.
“Veterans are a lot easier to talk to battle buddies that served and did the same things they did than go sit and talk to a doctor at the VA that’s never put boots on, so those types of things help,” Cashat said.
It helped Vietnam veteran Dudley Connor, who was drafted at 19 years old. He said he’ll never forget the year he spent overseas serving as a medic.
“He was on a gurney, and I had the front and the guy in the back was taller than me and the guy had been shot in the head and blood was pouring down the back of my leg and into my boots and that changed my life forever,” Connor said.
Coleman said only veterans can understand those experiences.
“I’ve seen Vietnam veterans cry like big grown men and you’re just like man and they just tell you how they feel and it can be really shocking,” Coleman said.
“Typically, back in the day, we used to see each other and say oh that guy’s got a missing arm, that guy has a missing leg, but a lot of it is psychological. A lot of it, the injuries, you don’t see or know about,” Cashat said.
Since joining Hero Hunts, Connor has been able to use his story to help others.
“There’s been a few wars since Vietnam, but I can relate to them coming home and being lost,” Connor said.
For Frederick, he’s found a new sense of belonging.
“You say when I get old nobody’s going to want to talk to me or they’re not going to want to hang around an old person but it’s not like that with me. Al these guys are good people, man they respect me, and it just makes you feel welcome,” Frederick said.
In a time where so many battles are invisible, the group makes sure no one fights alone.
“We’re just a small, local organization that just tries to help as many as we can. We don’t turn any veteran back, we take them all,” Cashat said.
To learn more about the group, or support their mission, check out their website.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, there is help available around the clock through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
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