Partnerships

The History

Retired Marine Colonel Eric Hastings remembers flight missions “high above the absolute death and destruction on the ground” during his tours in Vietnam. From the cockpit, he traced meandering ribbons that cut through the jungle and reminded him of the trout streams of home. At night, he dreamed of fly fishing. When he returned to Montana in 1969, to a nation decades from diagnosing Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), he went straight to the water. He tied a fly to a line and cast. The river, he claims, healed him. Hastings and Dr. Volney Steele found they shared a vision of bringing warriors with both seen and unseen wounds from recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to Montana to find the peace and hope they mutually found through fishing. In July and September of 2007, Hastings, Steele, and dozens of other dedicated volunteers brought Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation’s first two groups of traumatically injured combat veterans to Bozeman. Along with a welcomed break from surgeries, rehab therapy, doctors, and hospital routines, the 14 Soldiers, Marines, and Sailors from the Naval Medical Center in San Diego were given: top-of-line fishing gear; float trips on blue ribbon waters and fly fishing instruction from world-class professional guides; delicious home-cooked meals by loving “moms”; and comfortable accommodations in beautiful surroundings. The less tangible yet more meaningful benefits they reported receiving were feelings of security, serenity, resilience, hope and camaraderie that formed positive memories and will last a lifetime. The group knew they had a model that worked incredibly well, and began planning for 2008 and beyond. Although not a religious organization, Warriors and Quiet Waters’ name was inspired by Psalm 23, “He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.”