DAV Chapter 39 was honored to have supported the 2018 Warrior Paddle Expedition. Veterans navigated down the Mississippi River with intermittent stop-overs, Anoka being the first. Photograph of the participating veterans and Teresa Schraff Shumway of the Coon Rapids VFW where a dinner with the expedition members was held. The 2018 Warrior Paddle team included Richard Bain, Navy veteran serving from 1987 to 2016 as a crew-served weapons instructor, with deployments to Kuwait and Iraq, Matthew Roy, Army veteran serving from 2000 to 2010 as a combat engineer with deployments to Kosovo and Iraq, and Ryan Webb, Army veteran serving from 2001 to 20014 as military police with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2013, Warrior Expeditions has partnered with psychologists Dr. Shauna Joye (Air Force veteran) and Dr. Zachary Dietrich (Marine Corps veteran) to research the effects of long-term wilderness experiences on combat veterans. During their three to six-month outdoor expedition, veterans have the opportunity to decompress from their military service and come to terms with their wartime experiences.
