pledged $250 million in u.s. aid to support the country s future as a democracy. i cannot believe i have to tell you about another winter storm hitting the northern plains and moving east. could blan et the nation s capital with a foot of snow. the actual amount depends on the trajectory it takes. strong winds could trigger coastal flooding and storm surge. do take care if you re in that area. for many veterans wrestling with the demons of war, the journey to healing and happiness could begin on a bicycle. this is ride 2 recovery, a series of bike tours, each one stretching hundreds of miles. many of the wounded vets say it transforms them. they sleep better. they find new friends. they reawaken a hopefulness that had grown pretty dim. john warden is the founder of ride 2 recovery and joins us from gulfport, mississippi. thanks so much for the work you re doing and secondly, i
problem, when ptsd is more of a life problem. it s how do you adjust from the chaos that you had in iraq and afghanistan and now you come back to america and your family is different, your community is different, and you re treated different. and the support system that these guys have is just not there. and that s what we try to help with, with ride to roar recovery, try to create the sense of family community where other vets had gone what they have gone through and someone to talk to and they have an outlet by riding a bike. a lot of them have physical injuries but riding allows them to ride together. we have hands cycles, recouple bents and adapt the bikes for the warriors so she can all ride together to give them an opportunity for group therapy on wheels. how have you seen firsthand some of these veterans change in your program as they are
cycling? well, i mean, we just started to ride yesterday in new orleans and we re riding across the gulf coast. and you know, the first day you ll see all of the guys, they ll be off by themselves in the corner and won t really talk to anybody. they ll be by themselves. by the end of the week, they ll be in the middle of a group talking and laughing and having a good time. you can see over time they go from being antisocial and sort of alone to being part of a group and it was funny this morning at breakfast, i was listening to one of guys who did the ride last year talk to one of the new guys and they were talking about their first day s experience. and the guy was like, i have no idea how much fun this was and how cool this was. and the vet that had been on the ride last year was telling them, the thing that makes the ride great, not the ride as much as the comradery and fellowship. you ll go home with phone numbers and have people to call.
way. and it manifests itself with triggers that you don t know what they are. with clay, it was it was always trying to help people and make the world a better place. and he was frustrated by the fact it wasn t happening the way he thought it should. he didn t think that the support for veterans was as good as it should have been. and it really frustrated him. and riding his bike with ride to recovery, really helped him deal with that and made him a better person. he liked riding bikes. when he was living with me, we would go mountain biking near my house and really have a good time. and it was the happiest he ever was. john, i mean, where are we falling short here? what do vets with ptsd need from us that we re not giving them? that s a very complicated question, but the short answer is, i think that many people look at ptsd as a medical