Featured Image Credit: Youtube/GeorgiaAquarium
By Emily Persico
Brian Hood is a retired staff sergeant and, until recently, he did not believe in alternative therapies. He relies on his cane, 19 medications and his wife to get him through most days, but it is a new type of therapy that gave him a day he will not forget.
In 2008, the Georgia Aquarium launched its Veterans Immersion Program (VIP). Modeled off similar programs, VIP utilizes the world’s largest team of Handicapped Scuba Certified Instructors and Dive Masters to get veterans swimming in aquarium waters.
In the latest Georgia Aquarium diving excursion, Hood and six fellow veterans slid into wet suits and made their way over to the tank’s edge. With their wives and children in sight, the veterans sunk into the 6.3-million-gallon tank one by one, joining the swimming symphony of gigantic whale sharks, manta rays and the like, an amalgamation of sea creatures from three different oceans.
“It’s above what I thought it was going to be,” said Hood. “I mean, it is amazing down there.”
Hood was not alone in his wonderment. Vietnam veteran and Wounded Warrior Project leader Ric O’Brien described his experience. “Once you hit the water, it’s so relaxing; all anxiety is gone. You’re away from your PTSD. You’re away from any injuries you have. It’s just you and the aquarium.”
O’Brien has been crucial to the organization of diving excursions for 150 service members at the aquarium, including many amputees. Swimming with sharks isn’t just for veterans now either. Susan Oglesby coordinated a public access program that allows anyone to hop into the tank for just $236. This program is predicted to serve almost 5,000 civilians this year.
“It’s a place of healing—from the breakup of a boyfriend or the wounds of war,” said Oglesby.
The tank’s healing powers are indisputable. For a veteran, though, the tank also serves as a safe place. Mike Hilliard, senior dive master and veteran, who just barely made it through Iraq, explained the transformative experience. “Being able to go into an environment that [the veterans] never been in, never experienced, with all the animals—there’s nothing in there that’s treated them wrong. It’s a new, fresh start.”
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