This organization is for an exclusive group of divers,
and while you probably can't dive with them,
you may be more than happy to help them go on
their future dive trips.
National Guard veteran John W. Thompson
started Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba (SUDS),
soon after he walked into Walter Reed Army Medical
Center Hospital to have lunch with his wife. "As
soon as you walk in, you see some pretty heavy stuff
. . . and it hit me hard. I knew I had to get involved
but I really didn't know what attributes I had to offer
these guys."
He then went to the American Red Cross office
at Walter Reed and asked to be a volunteer. He was
placed in the aquatics department and started helping
wounded soldiers. It was there Thompson realized he
could help even even more with their rehabilitation.
"Here's a pool and I'm a certified diving instructor,
so why don't we use scuba diving to help with
the rehab process?" In 2007, he started SUDS, which
focuses on improving the lives of injured servicemen
and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Every winter, Thompson brings one veteran each
week to dive with him in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Taino
Divers takes them to dive at the small island of Desecheo. "They have gone through multiple surgeries,
and to see the joy and excitement when we come
up from the dive is amazing," Thompson says. "They
are away from all that stuff at home, and here they
can relax and have an enjoyable time," he added.
One of his recent guests was former U.S. Army
Staff Sergeant Juan Andres Arredondo. He suffered
multiple injuries to his legs and right arm, and his
left hand was severed when his vehicle was hit by
a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2005. For Arredondo, 34,
the scuba training has been a rewarding experience.
"It is very important to have recreational therapy and
sports like diving because it gets you in the mindset
that you can still operate and do what you want to
do," he said. Diving at Desecheo was also his first
time on a boat. "And on my first dive, I got to see a
whale shark."
SUDS runs about 12 dive trips for veterans a year
to places like Hawaii, Curacao, Cuba's Guantanamo
Bay and the Gulf Coast. It trains divers with disabilities
through TDI/SDI's Scubility program (any
instructor who wants to volunteer services must be
certified through TDI/SDI and carry professional liability
insurance). You can help out SUDS, a nonprofit
organization, and its students by donating money,
which will go to cover training and students' certification
trips, including airfare, lodging, meals and
diving; there is no cost to the service members. For
more information, go to www.sudsdiving.org