2 military war vets on mission to raise awareness about suicide

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) -- Amid the city's Fleet Week excitement, two military veterans rode across the Golden Gate Bridge Friday night with little fanfare but a big mission to raise awareness about vets who have lost limbs.         

Justin Bond, a former U.S. Army Sargent, and John Cook, who served in the U.S. Navy, are traveling from Canada to Mexico and are about half-way through their journey. The two Iraq war amputees are attempting traveling the West Coast in motorized chairs to bring attention to their plight and help veterans like themselves. 

"The first week there was rain," Bond said while seated in his $13,000 Zoom chair, a battery-powered, all-terrain vehicle. "And we've had flat tires and break downs. You name it.

 "But so many of our families are overseas fighting away from their families, a year at a time, so this is nothing," Bond said

The men call their ride "Operation Battlefield." The two are followed by a support crew in a camper so the team can sleep.

"The hardest battles our troops face is coming home," Bond told a gathering in Santa Rosa as the duo passed through. "We're going 22 hundred miles for the 22 suicides a day."

At meet-and-greet events in various cities, the pair speaks to veterans and recruits their help. 

Bond founded the group known as "Our Heroes Dreams" as an all-veteran, all-volunteer, non-profit that has helped hundreds of returning service members.

"We use veterans, counselors like yourselves," he explained to a group of Korean- and Vietnam-era veterans who had gathered in the Bay Area to hear him speak. 

The group is operating out of borrowed space in Monterey County, providing recreation and counseling while helping to repair the finances, career, housing and relationships of returning veterans who have had issues readjusting to civilian life.

Bond said those issues, if left untreated, can lead to depression and substance abuse.

"Just today, I got a call from a veteran who said 'I don't know what to do, I'm lost, I think I can't continue," Bond told the group.

Rider John Cook made one of those calls, when he came home from the Navy after 8 years as an aircraft mechanic. He was disabled, hooked on painkillers from his surgeries, and adrift.    

"I didn't leave the house for long periods, or even shower because it was too much work," he said. 

But as Cook was helped, now he helps others. 

"It feels amazing it really does, just to be able to go out and talk to other vets," he smiled, "and I knew I needed a new mission in life and this was undoubtedly it." 

Bond says his organization is different because of the follow-up care it provides. 

"We make sure they're off the couch, make sure they're not self-medicating, make sure they're going strong, make sure they're in their family again," he said. 

 The older veterans who heard the presentation were impressed. 

"Look at these injuries, these gentlemen, all inflicted in the last decade," observed Sgt. Fred Schramm, a retired U.S. Army member.

"They are hitting right at the heart of the problem," said Army retiree Lt. Col. Ed Tyrrell. "But they need a lot of support."

The ride is raising awareness and money to buy land and build tent cabins so the programs can operate year-round.  Facebook followers can keep track of the road trip as Bond and Cook post videos and pictures of their progress.

The pair aims to travel about 70 miles a day, mostly on back roads and bike paths.  By sunset on Oct. 7, 2016, the two were on the Golden Gate Bridge headed south. 

They said they hope that more veterans might find purpose and beauty in life instead of a battle when they return home and try to readjust to civilian life. 

"What other better way is there to travel at 10 miles an hour down the Pacific Coast Highway?" Bond said. 

"No better way. It's gorgeous," Cook said. 

The two expect to wrap-up their ride by the end of October.

By KTVU reporter Debora Villalon.