Warriors On Vacations In 2021
Over the years, Vacations for Warriors sent more than 20 wounded Veterans on dream vacations, and they still continue to.
Latseen Benson
Army SGT
Latseen is vacationing to Kauai, Oahu & Maui in the summer of 2021
In November 2005, Army Sergeant Latseen Benson was on his second deployment to Iraq. While on patrol with his unit, his vehicle came upon an improvised explosive device (IED), halting the convoy in Kirkuk, Iraq.
SGT Benson was ordered to search around his vehicle and while doing so, a bomb buried in a grain sack exploded causing the traumatic amputations of both of his legs. First-aid measures by members of his unit saved his life as he was transported to a local hospital in Balad.
Upon being stabilized, SGT Benson was airlifted to Landstuhl, Germany, where he would face the first surgeries required to begin his recovery process.
Arriving in the United States, SGT Benson spent 9 months as an inpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before being released to out-patient treatment in Texas.
SGT Benson enjoys spending time with his wife, Jessica, and son, Gage, and daughter, Olivia, where they reside in Elizabeth, CO. Jessica works as a CPA and Latseen stays busy taking care of his children when they’re not in school. He is also active in adaptive sports, Latseen participates in skiing, scuba diving, tennis, softball, basketball,
sit-volleyball, fishing, shooting, and hand-cycling. He is a member of the VFW and the American Legion.
Bill Essary
Army SGT
Bill is vacationing to Lkauai, Hawaii in the summer of 2021
Bill joined the 82nd Airborne Division in April of 2001. Not long after he got through basic training, the 9/11 attack happened. Bill was deployed to Afghanistan 2002-2003. When he got back, he suffered and continues to suffer from PTDS, hearing loss, shoulder and back damage. Not even a year later, as Bill was on a training mission, a Special Forces soldier hit him with a F250 pickup truck doing 70mph. Bill was on foot when he was hit and the truck took his left leg, shattered both bones in both arms, broke his back, made his PTSD significantly worse, causes memory loss, and many other injuries. He had extensive surgeries and physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. After recovery, Bill continued his service down at Bragg where he medically retired in June of 2006.
Bill and his wife have 2 children, ages 14 and 11. Their family enjoys boating, fishing, shooting, hiking, and quad riding. Bill is also their daughters softball coach.
Bill currently works at the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA as a motor vehicle operator. He loves what he does because he gets to work outside. He was also on the board for Segs4Vets where he taught amputees how to ride a Segway and then they were awarded with one of their own.
Travis Strong
Army SSG
Travis is vacationing to Disney World in the summer of 2021
Travis Strong
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –
He gave both legs for this country. And on Saturday night, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Travis Strong will be standing for the National Anthem.
As PBR Celebrates America in the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Strong, who had been injured severely in Iraq a decade ago, will be honored for his extraordinary sacrifice and bravery.
Strong grew up north of Los Angeles with a yen for speed and adventure. He played high school football as a strong safety and raced dirt bikes on the high desert flat lands.
The stepson of a Vietnam veteran, he had always wanted to be part of the military and proudly joined the U.S. Army in 1997.
Strong was stationed in Italy, honorably discharged in 2000. But the routine slack of civilian life was not for him.
When the planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11, Strong re-enlisted with the Army’s First Stryker Brigade, named after the ceramic-armored mobile combat vehicle designed to protect troops from all but the most potent explosives.
On November 27, 2006, two days after Thanksgiving, Strong’s unit was on night patrol in their Stryker rolling down an empty street near Baghdad.
Strong, the vehicle commander, was seated in the middle of the Stryker. Without warning, a powerful EFP (Explosively Formed Penetrator) bomb engulfed the eight-wheeled vehicle. A quiet road turned into hell on earth.
“I remember the smoke, the smell, the fire, and everyone yelling,” Strong said.
His right leg was gone. His left leg was mangled.
“I don’t remember any blood or not seeing my leg or feeling any pain,” he said. “I just knew I was hurt very badly. It was the worst experience anyone could feel: that dread of dying, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”
His lungs collapsed. The men were shouting for Strong to breathe. He was fading in and out of consciousness.
Strykers travel in groups. This time, a soldier from Colorado took off solo, smashing into cars and anything else in the way to get the dying sergeant to the field hospital at Camp Liberty.
“I was in limbo, fading in and out,” he said. “They were asking me questions, but I don’t remember my answers. I could feel my clothes being cut off.”
He would flat-line four times. His left leg was lost.
He woke up in a Baghdad hospital drugged, dazed and confused. The battalion commander and chaplain reassured him, “You’re still with us, you’re alive.”
Strong drifted away. Next time, his eyes opened to a group of familiar men – his platoon lining the room.
“It was really cool to see them, but also a very somber moment,” he said. “My driver, who had become a good friend, couldn’t look at me. He sat on the edge of the bed, his head down. It was hard for all of us.”
Strong was sent to a military hospital in Germany. He then shipped back to the U.S. to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Then it was a transfer to the Navy’s Balboa Hospital in San Diego, which was closer to family and friends.
He endured painful complications from bone growth and skin graphs on his leg. Emotionally, too, the first year following the blast was very difficult.
“I went through every emotion: anger, sadness, depression and despair,” he said. “But I never gave up. I knew everything had changed, but this was also the start of a new life.”
Strong would spend five years in a wheelchair, each day vowing not to give up on his recovery and keep moving forward.
He met a beautiful girl and promised he’d walk down the aisle to take Cara as his wife.
Homes for the Troops hooked him up with a house in Golden, Colorado. Scores of volunteers – carpenters, electricians, plumbers and roofers – came together to build the elevator-equipped house in three days.
The faith-based Wild River Ranch, supported by the Green Family of Hobby Lobby, became a respite for relaxation and fun.
He learned how to snow ski, tackling the most difficult black diamond slopes. He now plays sled hockey, competes in obstacle course races, bike marathons and jumps from airplanes. Next up is wheelchair rugby.
Travis and Cara even attended bull riding events at Denver Coliseum and Cheyenne Frontier Days. They own two gentle bulls, Gus and Monty, who were going to be dinner for a while. Then the couple discovered that some bulls love kisses. Now Gus and Monty are family, like big beloved dogs.
“I’ve done crazy stuff, but getting on top of a bull is genuinely crazy, and it’s a lot of fun to watch,” Strong said. “To go to PBR and be honored will be quite humbling, when I was just doing my job.”
He’s proud to be asked to come down to the dirt to be part of PBR’s “Celebrate America” initiative.
“I believe these (NFL) guys have every right to protest; that’s why I fought. But I feel they are doing it the wrong way,” he said. “To anyone who has served – cops, vets, first responders – the flag means so much. It symbolizes all the blood shed throughout the years for our freedom.
“We are proud of the country and our flag, and that’s why we put our lives on the line. On the same hand, a lot of Americans, and we’ll see them this weekend, do support the troops, and that makes me feel good.”
Strong will accept being called a hero if it helps get out his story. But go easy on the H word.
“It was like a lottery that I didn’t hit so good,” he said. “A lot of my friends didn’t make it. In my mind, they are the heroes.”
Nonetheless, Strong feels honored when asked to tell his story – not to recount tales of courage and valor, but to share a vital life lesson.
“When something traumatic happens in life, you don’t give up. You keep living. If my story and what I do inspires one person, maybe they can help make the world a better place.”
When Travis Strong walked down the aisle to meet his bride to be, you can bet every single person in the chapel was pretty darn inspired.
Lyle Stiffarm
Marine SGT
Lyle vacationed to Disney World in March of 2021
Lyle lives with his wife of 16 years, and 3 sons in Dodson, MT. He was in the Marine Corps for 13 years, with 3 combat deployments under his belt. He had gone to Iraq twice and Afghanistan once, which made him an Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Combat Veteran. Lyle's MOS while in the Marine Corps was Motor T and while over in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was a convoy commander.
In August of 2006, Lyle and his squad was on a special convoy mission when they were hit by an IED, in which Lyle was knocked unconscious for several minutes. Lyle woke up to a gloomy sight, in which he doesn't like to discuss in detail. From that incident, it was discovered years later that Lyle suffers from severe combat post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, depression and anxiety which led gim to take an honorary discharge from the Marine Corps in 2012. At the time he had no idea what was going on with himself and it continued to get worse and worse.
Lyle stated that he put his family through a lot over the last several years unintentionally with his invisible wounds, as he would self-destruct and have suicidal ideation and would self-medicate. Lyle is about to graduate from an inpatient intense program through the Sheridan VA for post-traumatic stress disorder with co-occuring disorders and he has worked extremely hard to get where he is today. Lyle is learning to be able to sort through his trauma and to not be so hard on himself. He is the closest he has been to his boys in years, and he's hoping that this is the start to intense healing for himself and his family.
Vacations for Warriors was able to send Lyle and his family on the trip of a lifetime to Disney World.
