Healing waters ... make a difference

The Wounded Warrior Event is intended to make a difference in a military veteran's life, co-founder Tony Seahorn said.

It made a difference in Randall Steiger's life.

Last year, Steiger attended his first Wounded Warrior Event. Steiger is an Army veteran of the Iraq war.

It was the first time he ever caught a fish. "I was hooked," Steiger said. He went on to catch around 10 fish. He caught three at Tom Arthur's pond, then seven more on the Platte River the next day.

When Steiger went home after the two day event, he said, "I felt amazing ... it was a really cool experience and it was awesome."

He enjoyed the food, the people and met Duane Cook with Project Healing Waters. "We spoke briefly on the river during lunch and Duane asked me if I would like to do this more often," Steiger said.

"I said 'yes, like sign me up. I would really like to'."

Steiger said he went fishing a couple more times last summer at local places near Cheyenne. Over the winter Steiger learned how to tie flies. "That was something fun to do on Saturdays and get to know the people."

Steiger said he also learned how to fly fish and how to tie knots and get ready for this summer to put it to use.

"This is the first time I have successfully fly fished. Today I caught seven fish on my fly rod with flies I made and it was really cool," Steiger said.

Last year, Steiger came as part of the Veterans Administration group, which transports the veterans to Saratoga for the event.

This year, he came with the Project Healing Waters group.

The advice Steiger has for wounded warriors who have not tried an event like this, "Give it a shot. Come out, meet some guys, have some good food, some laughs. It is a great experience," Steiger said. "I understand why it's called Healing Waters."