‘We’ve got to live for them’: Wounded Warriors Weekend

“This is the very first time where we’ve all been in the same place at the same time,” Emmons told northeastNOW. “It’s amazing to me how post traumatic stress doesn’t know any borders. Watching the interaction amongst them, they drop their inhibitions and talk to each other and when one is telling a story, they know what you mean.”

One of the alumni at WWW is Bobby Henline, who is attending for his seventh straight year. He said while professional counselling does help deal with his post traumatic stress, it’s getting out in the world and sharing experiences with other people who have walked a mile in their shoes, whether it be going to war or battling cancer, is way to assist him on his healing journey.

“We all connect and understand each other and what we’ve been through,” Henline said. “We’ve got to laugh, otherwise we go crazy… crazier.”

Henline is an Iraqi war veteran. He was injured in a roadside bomb in 2007 and was the only survivor out of five soldiers.

“I burned over 40 per cent of my body,” he said. “My head is burned to my skull, the doctor said I shouldn’t be alive. Going through all of that, I used my sense of humour. Anything I went through in my life, I always laughed at things, if you don’t laugh at it you go crazier.”

Henline cracked jokes while recovering from his injuries in the hospital, his occupational therapist encouraged him to pursue a career in stand-up comedy. He told her it wouldn’t work as only his fellow soldiers and the hospital staff would have a “sick” enough sense of humour to handle it.

After he was “nagged” into it, Henline pinky promised his occupational therapist that he would give it a go.

“That was 10 years ago,” he said.

Henline admitted people watching his stand-up routine for the first time is initially going to feel uncomfortable because they don’t want to laugh at a veteran, so it takes a conversation to get them on board.

“I do a self-deprecating style,” he said. “A fat guy says fat jokes, a black guy says black jokes, and I do burnt jokes about what it’s like to be burnt.

“I talk about how cheap I am. I’m so cheap, I expect a discount on my cremation.”

Henline feels the need to live his life to fullest, in honour of his four fallen brothers in Iraq and others who never made it home to their families.

“Our families get to see us today,” he said. “I get to see my kids, grandkids, and I’ve got to live. I can’t waste that.

Emmons, Henline, and the other military alumni at WWW planted a young, small tress with Saskatchewan roots to remind themselves of their growth year after year and to never forget where WWW started.

Bobby Henline (centre black shirt) was one of the first veterans to pour dirt on the Wounded Warriors Weekend tree (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff).

Emmons asked each of the veterans to take a handful of dirt and to think of or pray to whoever they had in their memories, as they’ve all lost personal friends through combat or some other effect of service.

“Some took more than just a couple of seconds because they were talking to themselves and others,” Emmons said. “That tree will grow just like we will. It’s going to be a big, tall tree overlooking the great Tobin Lake, and the WWW that started here.”

Since its beginning in 2012, Emmons realized the importance of recognizing growth with the lives that have changed from attending WWW.

“I can probably give you the names of 12 right off the bat who attempted to take their own lives,” he said. “The first service dog we presented was to Cpl. Joe Rustenburg and it turned his life around. Sgt. Kevin Nanson, he’s in Montreal and he’s going to the Paralympics. Four of our alumni represented Canada in the Invictus Games, one for me is enough.

“When I have a bad day, I think ‘he’s still here.’ If the people of Saskatchewan can be most proud for anything, is I know of 12, maybe more, that are above ground because of what they helped us do.”

Emmons thanks businesses, volunteers, and anyone in the Nipawin area and the entire province who have helped grow WWW.

While the objective is to help their fellow Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans, and first responders recover from any physical or psychological damage, helping the public understand about these issues is something Emmons truly appreciates.

“That neighbour who’s a firefighter or whatever, they’re not crazy” he said. “PTSD is not a disease, it’s not something you catch, it’s something that happened to you.

“I’m feeling truly blessed that we’ve had this opportunity. We only have one life, let’s live and do something with it.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow

by Aaron Schulze

‘We’ve got to live for them’: Wounded Warriors Weekend

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