Vail Veterans Program brings vets and their families to the Rockies for week of healing

The Vail Veterans Program welcomed 81 participants earlier this week to its Summer Family Program, which brings wounded veterans and their families to the Vail Valley for activities like fly fishing, horseback riding, rafting, jeep tours and more.

“Through adaptive outdoor activities with our partner outfitters, these experiences help our veterans overcome physical, mental and emotional challenges together with their families,” said Jen Brown, executive director of the Vail Veterans Program.

The Summer Family Program includes 22 wounded veterans, 18 caregivers and spouses, 38 children and three military hospital staff. One of the families who attended the program was the Satzman family from Hamilton, New Jersey. Adam Satzman is a retired Air Force staff sergeant who is here with his wife Marissa and twins Sadie and Jacob.

For over 20 years, the Vail Veterans Program has helped injured members of military and their families heal by providing innovative and transformative programs that build confidence and transform lives.

“I had no idea this program existed, especially a program that brings the whole family along to do these group activities together,” Adam Satzman said. “A good friend of mine, Tyler McGibbon, went through the Vail Veterans Program a few years back and he said to check it out and I’m so glad we did.”

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Adam served in the military for 12 years. Night terrors is one of the many symptoms he continues to struggle with as part of his post-traumatic stress. He got to the point where he feared sleep, started taking drugs to cope and even got to a point where he wondered whether life was worth living. Through the support of his wife, Adam was able to get himself back on track.

“Like a lot of vets, you just suffer in silence for a long time. You don’t think anybody else could possibly connect with you. Then, you come to a program like this, and you’re given these opportunities to meet people that are just like you. Your stories parallel each other so much. And that type of connection was sort of freedom in a way,” Adam said.

Marissa agrees. As a wife and caregiver, she never felt she had anyone she could talk to about what she and her husband were going through.

“For the first time in 10 years, I feel like I can start healing,” Marissa said. “It’s been amazing to come together and it’s really nice to see things from other caretaker’s point of view. I’ve never really talked about anything that I’ve been through and getting to connect with other families and see what other spouses have been through.”

Accompanying Adam on the trip is his service dog, Cooper. The two were paired together in November of 2023. Adam received Cooper from a program called K9s for Warriors and the dog has changed Adam’s life.

“For years, I wasn’t able to go out on my own. When my kids were born, I wasn’t able to take them anywhere by myself. Until Cooper came along, I wasn’t able to bring them out in public by myself. Her calmness keeps me calm. A lot of the symptoms relating to panic attacks I haven’t had in quite some time, and I’m pretty sure she has a lot to do with that. It’s just the reassurance of knowing that if I find myself in a compromised position, that she’ll know,” Adam said

When the Satzman family arrived last Sunday, they didn’t know anyone in the program, but that quickly changed.

“Over the past week, we’ve been able to speak with and make these connections and have started to develop these relationships and we’ve been embraced,” Adam said. “I was able to just open up and start talking because I felt so comfortable because this is a safe space.”

“It really is a family, and I feel so supported. It’s amazing,” Marissa added.

The kids had a lot of fun, too.

“We got to ride ponies. The brown one is named Muffin and the white one is called Cupcake because it has chocolate sprinkles on its nose,” Sadie said.

Adam and Marissa said it was good for the kids to be around other military injured and their families.

“You realize that we all have so much in common. And the kids get to see that all families look different, but we’re all the same, so, it’s been a really great experience for them,” Marissa said.

“The kids got to play with a prosthetic leg. We met with one couple and he had lost his leg, and the kids were asking questions about it. Jack’s like, ‘Oh, why does he have a robot leg?’ And this vet was such a good sport about it and said to Jack, ‘Do you want to see it?’ And he took off his leg and the kids were holding his leg. It was the funniest thing. But also, I kept saying to myself, ‘I am so happy they’re getting to do this.’ This is what people have experienced. And it was a really beautiful thing to hold a prosthetic,” Adam said.

The Vail Veterans Program runs from July 13-18 and in that short amount of time many bonds are made and connections are forged forever.

“I talked to a lot of veterans, a lot with PTSD and TBIs and that sort of thing, but I’ve never really gotten the opportunity to spend time with amputees,” Adam said. “To be able to see those folks here and it’s in a casual environment and you all have this common ground because of the similarity of the military experience and you can talk about things here. One of the takeaways that I’ll bring home with me is getting their perspective on things. I’ve learned a lot about their struggles; their stories are something that I can take home and apply to the work I do back there.”

“It’s been amazing to be able to talk to other spouses. I can go home and start to talk and share my story and start to finally heal after all this time because it’s the first time that I actually feel seen,” Marissa said. “It’s been so freeing. I just can’t wait to go home with a different way to go about it and start addressing what I went through and talking and finally opening up about it. It’s priceless.”