PADDLER 20 of blokes on the expeditions ringing us up afterwards to say , ‘ Thank you for getting me my husband back ’, and that sort of reward is why we ’ ve ended up spending a lot of our own money fixing these hand-me-down boats that we started with , and why we ended up nicknaming what we ’ re doing , ‘ Fixing broken blokes in broken boats ’.” not been a straightforward route to get to this position . Joe explains , “ We got all these boats from begging , borrowing and stealing – it ’ s taken five years to get here , but now we ’ re doing two expeditions a year with the correct kit and at no cost to the guys involved , which is so important . What we found on the first expedition that we ever did as the RMA Paddle Group , was the golden ingredient we ’ d been looking for . When people leave the Marines or any branch of the armed forces , often after 20-plus years , you ’ re thrown into civilian life with people who don ’ t understand you .
“ On our first expedition we took serving Marines with veterans and they were in tears by the end of the week because he ’ d rediscovered what it meant to be a Marine and those values of resilience and cheerfulness in the face of adversity that he ’ d forgotten .”
PADDLER 20 of blokes on the expeditions ringing us up afterwards to say , ‘ Thank you for getting me my husband back ’, and that sort of reward is why we ’ ve ended up spending a lot of our own money fixing these hand-me-down boats that we started with , and why we ended up nicknaming what we ’ re doing , ‘ Fixing broken blokes in broken boats ’.” not been a straightforward route to get to this position . Joe explains , “ We got all these boats from begging , borrowing and stealing – it ’ s taken five years to get here , but now we ’ re doing two expeditions a year with the correct kit and at no cost to the guys involved , which is so important . What we found on the first expedition that we ever did as the RMA Paddle Group , was the golden ingredient we ’ d been looking for . When people leave the Marines or any branch of the armed forces , often after 20-plus years , you ’ re thrown into civilian life with people who don ’ t understand you .
“ On our first expedition we took serving Marines with veterans and they were in tears by the end of the week because he ’ d rediscovered what it meant to be a Marine and those values of resilience and cheerfulness in the face of adversity that he ’ d forgotten . So now we ’ re helping people deal with PTSD or just fitting into society , and we ’ re calling it ‘ the green reset ’ after our green berets . Whether someone has served two years or 20 years , no matter their rank , one common denominator links us all , and that ’ s why we ’ ve got to help out as many as we can .”
Lee added , “ We were taken aback by the impact we ’ ve had , and it means we can ’ t stop now . We ’ ve had the wives
SO , WHAT ’ S NEXT FOR THE PADDLE GROUP ?
“ Eventually , we want to fill the diary ,” says Joe . “ With an annual paddle to the Commando memorial in Scotland every October and then a D-Day beach paddle every year too . But it ’ s the historians who have got all the ideas ! We ’ re in touch with plenty of them , so we are looking at other folding boat operations worldwide from WW2 . If anyone wants to sponsor us or any equipment providers , etc , want to get involved and make a huge difference to veterans , then we are all ears !”
Lee concluded , “ We never thought we would be at the stage of having to turn people down , but here we are ! We just want to raise as much awareness as we can , meaning someone struggling might read about us and get involved . If we save one more life , then we ’ ll achieve our aim .”
“ On our first expedition we took serving Marines with veterans and they were in tears by the end of the week because he ’ d rediscovered what it meant to be a Marine and those values of resilience and cheerfulness in the face of adversity that he ’ d forgotten .”