by Heather Listhartke
Passion. Patriotism. Gratefulness. These three words were the resounding sounds in my head after speaking with Greg Wark about Nashville’s Warrior Weekend happening September 9-11th.
The Warrior Weekend allows you to spend time with and live the life of current and former Navy SEALs going through actual training exercises as if preparing for one of their missions. The entire weekend is centered around you learning to shoot, drive, and train as a Navy SEAL alongside former US Navy SEAL and founder of Life of Valor Jeff Bramstedt. While on Friday the participants will learn how to drive tactically through a car chase, Saturday the participants will learn how to attack an enemy and protect themselves as well as learning to shoot targets and on the move.
The weekend ends on September 11th with tailgating and sitting in the stands with veterans at the Tennessee Titans football season opener against the Minnesota Vikings as the training partners parachute into the stadium.
In my conversation with Greg, I asked how they thought about planning these events. Wark , himself had been working for 15 years with the military including special forces and special operations. The organization helps former veterans by helping them mitigate stressors with therapy focusing on social interaction and mental rehabilitation. The biggest issue Greg says, “is that these men leave the military in some way always with some kind of wound, and the society doesn’t understand the difficulties of adjusting back into ‘regular’ life after their experiences.” Essentially, these men’s skill sets are kind of lost and forgotten when they come back home. This personally hit home for him as his son is a Navy SEAL. Working with Life of Valor, they began to put ideas together into activities that use these skill sets and saw how it helped others. Warrior Weekend was just one culmination of the ideas that works to honor and utilize special forces of all kinds, and these men are able to take part either by watching or working alongside civilians.
Wark also said that the event immersing both the veterans and the civilians in a different aspect of their individual lives and the effect that it has on both of them. They spend the whole day from morning to night interactions with the guys. He said, “It helps the veterans because it has them actively engaged, and it helps the civilians understand where these heroes are coming from. Simply put, this connects the dots between military and civilians.” The organization is just now starting to be able to do these events on a consistent basis.
The biggest part of this weekend is that there will be 1,000 marines in Nissan Stadium, and everyone will be sitting together in the stands witnessing the effect that an event like September 11th has on everyone in the nation.
“They truly think that the stadium is going to shake from the effect that this has on everyone who is at the game,” said Wark.
The most important factor for the organization and those sponsoring the event, Price’s Collision Centers, Mission Force, and Tennessee Titans, is that this is a way to thank these men. Specifically, these are the men who flocked to the military to enable us to participate in events like these as free men and women because of the sacrifices these soldiers made to their families by giving 10 years of service to their country.
“85% of these men have lost brothers because of the war including the guy who runs these events. He lost his best friend, Tyrone Woods, in the attack on the U.S, compound in Benghazi,” said Wark. This is their way of thanking and honoring every single person who served as many of the veterans of Vietnam and other wars weren’t.
If you’re interested in taking part in a Life of Valor through this Warrior Weekend, there is still time to sign up and take part in sponsorships by visiting www.warriorweekend.us. There are still a few spots available.
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