AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2019 - 71

tan sandstone, 14 combat veterans and five
pilots laughed, cried, hugged, and made
lifelong friends during a challenging whitewater rafting adventure through Colorado
and Utah's Gates of Lodore.
The outdoor adventure was designed
to help the military veterans-many among
them decorated for heroic acts and wounds
suffered on distant battlefields-rediscover
their younger selves, and, at least for a few
days, forget horrors they had witnessed in
Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq.
The pilots ferried veterans from Texas,
Nebraska, Utah, and Minneapolis to and
from Vernal, Utah, the starting point for the
four-day journey guided by the outfitter
OARS. The route was physically challeng-

Falls-a series of rubble-strewn cascades
that required split-second teamwork to
avoid capsizing. An elective four-mile side
hike to splash in the Ely Creek waterfall
and to view Native American petroglyphs
near Dry Fork Canyon attracted many in
the hearty group-even after a full day
of paddling. The weary paddlers shared
battlefield and flying stories through the
evening before heading for individual tents
under a canopy of stars.
Johnson garnered instant respect
from his paddling troops who were quick
to respond with a snappy, "Yes, sergeant
major!" as the team worked together to
strike camp in the morning, negotiate rapids, or prepare meals in the evening.

a mission in Baghdad in 2005. Hall became
emotional as he recalled his treatment for
burns and post-traumatic stress, and the loss
of his turret man, a scene that he still can't
shake more than 10 years later.
"It hit between the second and third
road wheel underneath the side skirts and
came all the way through and hit my turret.
It punctured both fuel cells and ignited,"
Hall recalled. "I lost a gunner and the rest of
my crew was covered in fuel, and it ignited.
We had a fire, but we got everybody out."
Hall doesn't mention that he was walking
beside the tank when the device struck and
that he ran toward the inferno to help save
the lives of his men. Despite their efforts,
Hall's gunner died about three weeks later

"Veterans are admired but many are
not understood....a trip like this provides
a sense of perspective."
-Dennis Haber, Cirrus pilot and U.S. Navy veteran

ing and filled with other-worldly scenery,
such as the giant Steamboat Rock at the
confluence of the Yampa and Green rivers.
"I would've told you this was a boondoggle of an idea before I experienced it
for myself," said Bill Johnson, a retired U.S.
Army sergeant major whose quiet demeanor
and reflective personality belies years of
strict military regimen. Johnson spent 30
years in the Army and was the top enlisted
man for ground forces in Afghanistan. He
was deployed to Iraq three times, including
fighting outside of Sadr City on the outskirts
of Baghdad during the surge.
Facing personal foes and nature's fury,
the river journey became a healing experience for all involved. Paddlers steered
through Dinosaur National Monument
before tackling Upper and Lower Disaster
CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT: Mark Larkin

remembers Tim Valentine's overriding
passion to serve others. Retired U.S. Army
Sgt. Maj. Bill Johnson (whose bag is shown
here) saw some of the harshest battles in
Afghanistan. Rafts are packed with supplies
at the entrance to the Gates of Lodore on
the Green River. Pilots Gregg Guider (left)
and Gary Black (right) ferried two military
veterans from Nebraska to Utah. Valentine's dream came true as Mike Dante and
Michael Hall set aside trauma they both
faced to walk arm in arm through the Utah
section of the Green River.

"I could tell that they were struggling-
not just financially but mentally. Every
person involved on this trip was struggling in one way or another," Johnson said.
"I wanted to go and have a good time, but I
also wanted to share with the guys some of
the lessons I had learned" during combat
and in life after the military. "But instead,
I learned a lot from them."
The trip was the dream of Cirrus SR22
pilot Tim Valentine, founder of the organization Jeremiah 29:11 Inc. Valentine died
in an aircraft accident just weeks before
the trip, and his friends Michael Hall and
Mark Larkin picked up the pieces amid
their grief. The two of them, along with
Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association members Dennis Haber, Ken Kirby, and Gregg
Guider, carried on in Valentine's honor. 
Kirby picked up Johnson in Texas and
the two flew in Kirby's Cirrus SR22 to
Vernal Regional Airport's 7,000-foot-long
Runway 17/35 for a Utah rendezvous with
other participants. Cirrus special product
development director Gary Black flew right
seat with Guider in an Embraer Phenom
100, and they picked up Ian Larkin and
John Gasko in Omaha, Nebraska, for the
620-nautical-mile flight.
Valentine had taken Hall up in his Cirrus
numerous times after Hall, an Army tank
commander, was seriously injured during

and Hall severely injured his head during the
extraction. He still suffers from occasional
bouts of vertigo and wonders what else he
could have done to save his men.
Unit buddy Michael Dante reunited
with Hall on the rafting trip, even though
the two servicemen hadn't seen each other
for several years. Near the end of the trip
Hall and Dante walked arm in arm through
the Green River shallows.
The bonds made during the whitewater trip blossomed into friendships that
spanned thousands of miles and different
walks of life. Kirby and Johnson formed
one such bond. Kirby flew Johnson to Utah
from Fort Worth, Texas. Johnson said he
had "never been in an airplane that small,"
but had a great flight in Kirby's Cirrus
SR22. Kirby said they became friends
quickly. "We camped out next to each other
and we're doing a lot of stuff together, so I
know I already made a friend for the rest
of my life with Bill."
While serving in Iraq, Shawn Day hobbled through 30 days of ground fighting
after he crushed his kneecap during an
ambush, until he was ordered to the hospital and sent stateside. Day sports a red and
blue U.S. flag tattoo on his arm and a military insignia across his broad shoulders.
He preferred to paddle a two-person raft
solo. The retired infantryman was quick to
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2019

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