Call 1-866-669-2362, EXT. 8387

Adventure and challenge, solitude, reflection, and renewal, the wilderness has always symbolized a new beginning – a place for discovery and fulfilling adventure. The Outward Bound program for Veterans provides an opportunity for camaraderie and has proven to be a powerful  tool in helping veterans readjust after leaving the combat zone.

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Through generous funding by the Military Family Outdoor Initiative Project, a joint partnership of The Sierra Club and The Sierra Club Foundation, we are offering a tremendous opportunity for adventure and self-discovery to our veterans of combat operations in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and Southwest Asia (Operation Iraqi Freedom). We have over 20 years serving our nation’s combat veterans through a long partnership with the Disabled American Veterans organization, where we have offered enriching wilderness expeditions specifically designed for war veterans at no cost to the participants.

We have scheduled numerous wilderness adventures exclusively for our war veterans and we will fully fund these courses for all participants, to include their roundtrip stateside travel costs between home and the excursion site. Our goals include helping participating veterans build a supportive community with other war veterans; facilitating discussions on readjustment and transition challenges; and re-energizing and reinvigorating our veterans’ spirits with adventures and challenges in the beautiful outdoors.

Expedition Overview: Offered year-round, our Outward Bound expeditions take war veterans to amazing wilderness areas in Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Colorado, Florida and California. Depending on the expedition, activities could include backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing, canoeing, white water rafting, kayaking, ropes courses, and dog sledding. Expeditions are 5 – 8 days in length and are staffed with experienced outdoor educators.

Who is Eligible: Under this program, all Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans, including current and former members of the Active and Reserve Components of the United States military.  It doesn’t matter what your current military status is (active, inactive, discharged, retired) as long as you deployed in support of OEF or OIF combat operations while in the military. Military family members are not eligible to participate in this OEF/OIF program.  However, please see, www.sierraclub.org/military for other programs for military family members funded by the Sierra Club.

Enrollment Options: There are two types of courses available, each offering wilderness expeditions year-round.

Open Enrollment Courses: Outward Bound has scheduled expeditions where individual war Veterans sign up for the course of their choosing, attend on an individual basis, and meet other war veterans from around the nation.  Each course will have 8 to 12 participants. We anticipate having at least 400 slots available for our OEF/OIF veterans. As you know, we’ll fill those slots on a first-come, first-served basis, so don’t delay in submitting your application. Based on the demand and interest we’ve received, the available slots will fill quickly. We fill any vacancies or cancellations from a wait list established in a similar manner, first come, first served basis.

Custom Courses: We will schedule customized expeditions upon request for groups of war veterans; these customized expeditions can be tailored to specific needs. These courses are for organizationally established groups of veterans along with their counselor or therapist (mental health worker, outreach specialist). In order to run a custom course with Outward Bound, a minimum of 9 participants is needed. These courses can be scheduled at any time of year and at nearly any location where Outward Bound operates. The course activities can be customized to a variety of ability levels.

Cost: Free-of-charge. All costs, including round-trip stateside travel between home and expedition location; lodging en route; and food, lodging, equipment, and instruction while on the course, are fully paid by the Military Family Outdoor Initiative Project.

Enrollment Packets: If you submit your application in time to secure one of the available slots for our 1/1/2009 – 3/31/2010 open-enrollment course offerings, we will send you an Enrollment Packet with additional information on the course you chose.

• Enrollment Packets are sent out any where from several weeks to months prior to the scheduled course dates, depending on when course is to occur.

• Enrollment Packets contain a medical checklist that each applicant must complete and return to Outward Bound by the date cited within the packet.

• You are not enrolled in the course until your Enrollment packet has been received by our office and you have been notified that you are approved to attend.

• Applicants selected for a course must ensure they remain available to attend their chosen course; course offerings are based on a minimum number of attendees, and last minute cancellations jeopardize the entire course offering.

• Applicants selected for a course who are unable to attend are strongly encouraged to immediately notify Outward Bound in order to afford another deserving veteran the opportunity to attend.

• All vacancies and cancellations will be filled from the wait list.

Future Course Offerings: Don’t be discouraged if you’re unable to apply or are not selected to participate in one of our 1/1/2009 – 3/31/2010 course offerings. You’ll have another opportunity to participate when we post the schedule for our 2010 - 2011 course offerings.  If you would like to be on our email distribution list to be notified of future events, please click here.

If you have any questions regarding our 1/1/2009 – 3/31/2010 OEF/OIF Veterans Program course offerings, please contact Doug Hayward at 1-866-669-2362, ext. 8387 OR e-mail us at obvets@outwardbound.org.

Application Details for Custom Group Courses: If you are a counselor or therapist who wants to schedule a Custom Course, please contact our Veterans Program Course Advisor, Doug Hayward, at obvets@outwardbound.org, or call 866-669-2362 ext. 8387. He will refer you to the account executive who services your geographic region.

Thank you again for your interest in our OEF/OIF Veterans program, and for your selfless and honorable military service

About Outward Bound: Founded on the vision of renowned youth educator, Kurt Hahn, in 1941, Outward Bound has expanded into a nation-wide network of hands-on experiential learning courses for both young and old. Today the organization serves 70,000 students and teachers annually in the U.S. and has over 500,000 alumni from its wilderness adventure programs.