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Camp Patriot honors those who’ve given us so much…
Brave American military men and women proudly serve us around the world, including in the direct line of fire in Afghanistan and Iraq. As a result, there are over 2.3 million disabled veterans in the US, and this number continues to grow. Thankfully there is an incredible organization called Camp Patriot (www.camppatriot.org) that strives to honor and support them by providing meaningful outdoor activities, regardless of their injuries.
I met Founder and Executive Director Micah Clark last summer at a conference, and immediately wanted to do what I could to help. He and fellow mountaineer Curtis Fawley asked me to join their 2010 Mt. Rainier Summit Challenge, and it took all of a microsecond to consider my reply. I’m deeply honored to help guide a group of remarkable Americans to the top of 14,411-foot Mt. Rainier, as well as give a keynote at their annual fundraiser tomorrow evening in Seattle: Camp Patriot Program 7.8.10
The Summit Challenge Team includes four (dis)abled servicemen, among them Navy SEALs and 1 Navy Corpsman (medic):
Navy Corpsman Kevin Ivory
Navy SEAL Jason Redman
Navy SEAL Mike Day
Navy SEAL Bryan Stuart
We’ll also be supported by my friends at International Mountain Guides (IMG, www.mountainguides.com), with whom I climbed Everest, and the fine folks at Rainier Mountaineering Inc. (RMI, www.rmiguides.com).
Camp Patriot not only enables adventures such as this Rainier ascent, they aspire to build a mountain lodge to support thousands of other disabled veterans in the years ahead. Please consider giving generously: http://www.camppatriot.org/donations.html
TRACK OUR CLIMB IN REAL TIME:
In the days ahead I’ll post thoughts and photos from the climb here. In the meantime, you’ll be able to track our progress via my handy SPOT Messenger, dusted off from my last Mt. Everest climb: http://www.spotadventures.com/user/profile?user_id=42312
Check out these other links, including video of our team training in Arizona a couple of months ago:
- http://www.azfamily.com/video/featured-videos/Vets-that-form-Camp-Patriot-97830019.html
- http://www.twitter.com/camp_patriot
- http://www.myspace.com/480215603
View Scott's YouTube Videos Here!
July 8th, 2010 - 12:45 pm
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July 9th, 2010 - 3:18 pm
Greetings. I am with HeroToHero.US and am friend of both Karen Leming and Liz Jackson. I offer that up as my name would not be familiar to you
I will be attedning the BBQ at Karen and Tom’s cabin in Ashford inn a few days and am greatly looking forward to meeting those in attendance. I want to let you know that I have great respect for all that you and those who support Camp Patriot. I am new to learning about the organization … but, thanks to Karen though, the education is coming on quickly. My position with HeroToHero.US is mainly wonderful Photo Ops. I feel it is of utmost importance for the world to SEE those who are the reall Heroes amongst us. I also think it is important for those who we feel are heroic, to really FEEL the impact they have had on the world. I think photos are a gift to our eyes but better yet, to our memory! I hope I will be able to get some good shots of those in attendance. Thank you for reading this and I look forward to July 14th !!!
With great sincerity,
Kathy Babbitt
July 9th, 2010 - 5:38 pm
hi, scott, that is a great organization and i’m glad you’re participating in their climb. i have been feeling artsy antsy this week and have been wondering what art project i am going to work on. i don’t have alot of $ since i do live on social security disability myself, but maybe i can donate a piece of art that they can bid off at a fund raiser, which i’m sure they do, too. i better get my butt in gear! take very good care, have a great time with the guys, blessings, anna martina p.s. i will be pulling up those sites in the next few days. my sleeping med hasn’t been working well this past week, so i’m a little low on fuel. i see my nurse practitioner on tuesday so she can change out the med for me, then.