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Disabled veterans learn to kayak on Buck Creek

A Cincinnati group’s program helps with physical, psychological rehabilitation.

$Navy veteran John Gornet (left) and Army veteran Mark Jeffery share a two-man kayak with Jeffery's service dog \uFEFFGainer\uFEFF as they learn to kayak in open moving water for the first time Sunday at Buck Creek Whitewater Park. Contributed photo$

Bill Lackey Navy veteran John Gornet (left) and Army veteran Mark Jeffery share a two-man kayak with Jeffery's service dog \uFEFFGainer\uFEFF as they learn to kayak in open moving water for the first time Sunday at Buck Creek Whitewater Park. Contributed photo

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: Wounded veterans kayaking

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By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer Updated 7:22 AM Monday, June 20, 2011

SPRINGFIELD — To look at Mark Jeffery, you wouldn’t know that he spent five straight years in Iraq or that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a traumatic brain injury and episodic amnesia because of it.

“You can’t spend five years in Iraq,” he explained, “without things happening.”

But standing on the shore Sunday morning of the Buck Creek Whitewater Park wearing a helmet and a life preserver, the 49-year-old former Army captain looked like any other kayaker.

That was the point.

“My whole mission is to give him as normal a life as possible,” said his wife, Jenny Jeffery. “Whatever that takes.”

Mark Jeffery was one of six disabled veterans from the Cincinnati area to make the trip to the local white-water park with Team River Runner, a national organization that teaches wounded warriors how to kayak.

The organization’s efforts are considered part of the rehabilitation process — but there’s so much more going on than just working muscles.

“There’s a sense of self-worth for them. ‘Here’s one more recreational activity I can do,’ ” said Ken Schmaltz, training coordinator for the group’s year-old Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky chapter.

Working with eight veterans at a time, each underwent six sessions of training in a pool before the trip Sunday to Snyder Park, where they faced open moving water for the first time.

“It’s a damn good program,” said John Gornet, a beginning kayaker and retired postal clerk from Cincinnati who did two tours in Vietnam with the Navy.

Schmaltz chose the local white-water park because it’s a somewhat controlled environment.

“We’re all active kayakers, so we’ve been up here many times,” he said. “This is a fantastic venue. You can stand right here and watch almost everything that’s going on.”

Brothers and local kayak enthusiasts Kevin and John Loftis, founders of the Friends of the Buck Creek Recreation Corridor, had met Schmaltz on one of his previous paddling trips here and encouraged him to bring the vets.

“I’m not a vet, but I have all the respect in the world for them,” Kevin Loftis said. “It’s great. We really courted them.”

While not all the injuries are combat related or even sustained in recent military operations, brain trauma and back injuries seem to be the most common, Schmaltz said.

“We don’t ask,” he said, “but some of them have told us.”

One man Sunday was blind.

Mark Jeffery requires constant supervision because of sudden memory loss and the fact that he’s apt to run and hide when he encounters crowds, his wife said.

He now has a service dog, Gainer, that’s trained to detect signs of anxiety.

“They can sit in the kayak and have a measure of success with that,” Schmaltz said. “It’s some degree of normalcy.”

Mark Jeffery, whose boat seats himself and Gainer, looks forward to becoming an active kayaker for two reasons.

“Exercise,” he said. “Plus the dog loves the water.”

Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.

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