HEBER SPRINGS - After more than six hours spent together, the veterans who were treated to a trout-fishing retreat at the Little Red River and the volunteers who organized the event couldn’t agree on who appreciated the other’s efforts the most.
Some of the veterans hadn’t been on the water in years, and all 14 said Tuesday’s get-together was a much needed day of good company and relaxation.
For the United Methodist Men of the First United Methodist Church in Heber Springs, the day marked one of the first outreach events the group had sponsored in a while. The men partnered with the Arkansas Freedom Fund, a nonprofit that hosts programs that keep veterans active outdoors, to organize the retreat at Lobo’s Landing Resort.
“We think of you more than you know,” United Methodist Men President John Pickell told the veterans, about half of whom had traveled from the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock.
The resort’s owners prepared the group a hot breakfast on the floating dock before fishing guides took men out on the river in groups of two.
Jerry Poplin, a guide for more than 40 years, knew every owner of the cabins along the bank and gave a mini tour as he steered his pontoon boat downstream. Some of the people whose homes he pointed out could have been characters in a TV show - the computer programmer who sold his software for $5 million, an ex-sheriff from Tennessee and his wife, a business owner who retired and replaced the riverside mobile home with a $3 million mansion.
It wasn’t until Poplin arrived at a turn in the river, just before the dock of Little Rock-based attorney Gary Green, that he threw out the anchors and distributed fishing rods.
“This is my first time trout fishing,” John Lewis told him. “I don’t know how good I’ll be at this. I might need a little practice casting these poles.”
Less than 30 seconds after his bait settled, he pulled in his first rainbow trout, one of at least a dozen he would catch that morning.
A former airman, 47-yearold Lewis wore his Air Force cap and a knee brace on the leg he injured years ago in a car wreck. He’s in a rehabilitation program at the VA hospital, where he takes classes and gets help searching for a full-time job. On a normal Tuesday morning, he’d be driving hospital clients who are in wheel chairs to their job interviews and elsewhere.
But this Tuesday, he leaned back in the leather seat chatting about everything from childhood to his time in the service.
“It feels good to hear those birds chirping,” he said between reels. “You don’t hear that up at the VA.”
On the other side of the boat, James Felton, also a resident at the VA Hospital, didn’t get his first fish until about five minutes after casting.
“That’s all right,” the 44-year-old Desert Storm veteran said. “Just being out here is good enough for me.”
Allowing veterans to take time to relax is what the Arkansas Freedom Fund is all about, said fund founder Mark Leonard. A lot of organizations provide assistance to veterans, but not many “take a person out to enjoy his life,” he said.
The group puts on four outdoor programs: fishing, cycling, hunting and golfing,he said.
When a man is active outside, “he’s not on the couch, he’s not feeling sorry,” Leonard said. “It’s recreational rehabilitation … Not only do we want them to recover and get a job, we want them to release energy.”
Felton, who had a stroke while driving his motorcycle almost a year ago, said that being on the water Tuesday was a way for him to unwind. He’s at the hospital recovering with physical therapy and taking communication classes to learn how to interact with people again. Since he could no longer work after his wreck, the former truck driver said he lost his stress reliever.
“I used to could just drive down the road and yell or scream or do whatever I needed to do to get it out,” he said. “This is the first time in about a year I’ve been able to get out and do anything for any extended period of time. I greatly appreciate it. I really do.”
Lewis and Felton talked about what it was like to be called a hero. For Felton, it took getting used to. Serving in the military to him was just a job he signed up for, he said. Lewis explained to a civilian in the boat the thought process of some who enroll to serve.
“People go in for a lot of different reasons, but I think if you ask most of us, it’s for people like you,” he said. “So you can live a normal life - a free life.”
After five hours of fishing, the boats came back to the dock where a lunch cooked by local Boy Scout Troop 200 members was waiting for the men. They told their tales about what they caught and showed off the fish they brought back.
At the end, the veterans tried to put into words their appreciation for their hosts, while the hosts tried to explain how thankful they were to the veterans for their service.
Alvin Haynie, 51, a former Army soldier, didn’t need many words to give his thanks. While others clapped, he simply yelled:
“Hoorah !”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/26/2013