HELPING VETSEach month, veterans get together at Salem Lake for camaraderie and fellowship
By Tom Gillispie
Salem Lake was busy on the morning of Sept. 10, and Operation North State was putting smiles on the faces of veterans and non-veterans alike.
Since January 2019, Operation North State (ONS) has brought U.S. military veterans and non-vets together each second Tuesday of the month in a meeting room at Salem Lake. Some of the vets have been wounded in some way; most are looking for companionship and friendship. And others are just folks who want to fish, stroll or cycle all or part of the seven-plus miles around the lake.
Among the veterans at the September ONS meeting was Rob Caudill, who had brought along his companion dog, Max, a German shepherd mix. Caudill is a Kernersville resident and a graduate of East Forsyth High School.
Caudill said he went to "Korea in 2005 to '07", came to Fort Benning and then went to Iraq from 2009 to 2010, with the job of fixing and maintaining night-vision equipment. He says he's now disabled, explaining, "My mental state isn't what it was when I was active."
He says he and Max have been to every ONS outing at Salem Lake since February. In September, Max spent some time lying at Caudill's feet.
Caudill says he bought a bicycle because of attending the meetings, and he normally only bikes at the meetings.
“Being a veteran who doesn’t go out much, this is something I look forward to,” he said.
One of the veterans who didn't make it to the September meeting was Dana Hutson, a veteran from Elkin. In the spring, she said that ONS gets involved with fishing and golf tournaments, and it sends gift packages to soldiers around Christmas. It’s even provided vets rides in racecars in a cone course at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Va.
She says she got acquainted with ONS when a "big, tall guy" (ONS founder Terry Snyder) approached her at a fishing tournament and asked if she’d be interested in attending meetings for veterans.
Hutson, who served stateside in the Army in 2009 and 2010, is an event volunteer.
She won’t talk specifics, but she says she returned to Elkin with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), a malady common among veterans.
Statistics by the National Center for PTSD show that 11 to 20 percent of veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have PTSD in a given year. PTSD has afflicted about 12 percent of Gulf War veterans in a given year and 30 percent of Vietnam vets at some point over the years.
“I’ve gotten myself back,” Hutson said. “I kind of hid in the house; I was afraid to step out of the boundary.”
Hutson says she’s benefited from the camaraderie of the North State group, but she adds that the “PTSD doesn’t go away.” Hutson, like all wounded warriors, just manages it.
She says she volunteers for various causes, and she keeps an eye on her 14-year-old daughter, her 21-year-old daughter and her young grandson. On April 9, she brought 10 people to the lake.
Kernersville resident Matt Nassler, also at the lake in April, said he suffered a brain injury and concussion when an IED (improvised explosive device) went off in Afghanistan. His problem sounds a little like Hutson’s.
“For the first two or three years after I got back," he said, "I couldn’t go out and do anything.”
Now, he can.
Matt Hudson, who fixed trucks and jeeps while serving in the Army in 1981 and '82, was wandering around alone on the porch at Salem Lake. He said that this was his first visit to the monthly outings, and he was feeling his way along.
Still, he said he was there "for companionship and meeting people."
Hudson, who is "a pipe fitter, mostly," says he plans to return for upcoming meetings on the lake, perhaps for some fishing.
"I'll recommend this to my friends," he promised.
Snyder says that Spectrum News, Fox 8 and WXII all covered the first meeting of veterans in January. He adds that it rained for the first three meetings, so most of the attendees just stayed in the meeting room (provided by the City of Winston-Salem). On April 9, it didn’t rain, and people were out and about.
Snacks were provided in the community center, and attendees were encouraged to take home the donated snacks.
Snyder explained the get-togethers this way: “(I)t’s about fellowship; also the paths are great for walking and jogging if you like – but again, the day is about FELLOWSHIP. Come walk with your dog, feed the ducks, take the kids to the playground and/or fish from the pier – but, the day is about creating the opportunities for our wounded warriors to make new friends. You can just hang out in the community center, too, if you like.”
Snyder said that in January two veterans took to a bike for the first time in years. For one, it had been more than 20 years.
He says that one veteran quickly added 11 new contacts to his phone; another had added nine contacts.
Snyder says yet another veteran was at McDonald's when he saw TV news coverage of the wounded warriors meeting. He hurried home, grabbed his bike and joined the group.
Gina Brown, a Walnut Cove native, was volunteering, registering people, in September.
Brown, a stay-at-home mom and a non-veteran, says she heard about ONS through Facebook. She lauded Snyder and Hutson, who wasn't there in September, for their work with veterans.
"(Hutson) does a great job with the wounded warriors," Brown said.
Brown says there are "usually 30 to 50" people at the events, "depending on the weather." People come from all around, she added, including a couple from Fort Bragg and a man from Columbia, S.C.
"It shows that people are hungry for being with other veterans," she said.
Mike Hosea of the National Cycling Center says that the cycling center had worked with ONS and the City of Winston-Salem Parks and Recreation Department to put on the monthly events. He said he had brought a good number of bikes to the event, "and I've loaned out 15 so far." A few minutes later, he had to interrupt the interview; two more people wanted to check out bikes.
"I feel this will continue to grow," he said.
Eli Burnette, who was in the service from 1976 to 1979, just after the Vietnam War, said he went out in a group of about 10 bikers.
"This is great for fellowship and exercise," he said.
Burnette added that he had a great time biking "once I got my wind back.”
Snyder, a retired banking executive, says that veterans should be important to all citizens.
“I did this whole thing thinking as a citizen we can do better for our veterans,” he said. “That’s what blows vets’ minds. ... But I’m happy to say so many of our volunteers are like myself.
“And,” he added, “it is the right thing to do.”
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