Pennsylvania VFW, District 29 Riders present a new motorcycle from Wheels 4 Warriors at the state VFW mid-winter conference in Gettysburg. Retired Marine Sean Williams, center, is joined by Craig Toupin, left (green shirt), president of Wheels 4 Warriors, and Henry Mannella, right (white shirt), Pennsylvania VFW Commander.
According to Rider‘s 2022 readership survey, 30% of our readers are active military or veterans. We all enjoy the freedom and excitement of riding motorcycles, but for many veterans, riding a motorcycle serves a therapeutic purpose as well. Cory Angell, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and a member of the Pennsylvania VFW, District 29 Riders, shares this story about the healing power of Wheels 4 Warriors and the VFW Riders.
Jesse Cunningham served in the U.S. Army as a military policeman. His combat tours in Iraq were extensive and caused changes to him and his life. He now helps veterans across the country journey to a better place by riding motorcycles.
“I came back from my first tour, and I couldn’t relate to the world back here,” Cunningham said. “So I turned right around and did it again. It just felt easier being over there.”
Faced with problems adjusting – and a family that could see the effects – Cunningham left the military and began seeking ways to heal.
“I was with the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, where I met a Vietnam veteran,” Cunningham said. “It was more than just riding. I had a mentor, a combat veteran who helped me in other ways – in ways only a combat veteran can.”
Cunningham serves as the vice president for Wheels 4 Warriors, which helps “Veterans two wheels at a time.” The Nebraska-based organization partners with veteran organizations across the U.S. to establish mentorship programs. These programs provide veterans with camaraderie, support, and the sense of service that was lost after leaving the military.
In Pennsylvania, Wheels 4 Warriors helped Veterans of Foreign Wars, District 29 Riders secure a motorcycle for a veteran. The organization went as far as reviewing the veteran’s service and adding custom art to the motorcycle.
Pennsylvania VFW, District 29 Riders President Anthony Warner said riding seems to be a natural fit for a veteran.
“Many of us worked on vehicles and did mechanical work,” he said. “Riding involves teamwork, safety, and adrenaline. It’s a natural extension of us. When you leave the military what do you do with that energy?”
Pennsylvania is not the only state. Rob Pedersen, VFW Riders Virginia President and Department Chairman, sees it too with growing numbers of riding veterans.
“I am a VFW Rider and American Legion Rider,” said Pedersen. “I enjoy riding with likeminded people, but just getting wind in my face does wonders for me personally.”
Pedersen rode as a kid on dirtbikes and got his first streetbike, a 1983 Honda VT500C, in the late ’80s. It was his mode of transportation for years, but then his life changed and he didn’t ride for 15 years.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed it, and that it could just melt the stress off of you,” Pedersen said. “I have seen shows that talk about how riding helps with PTSD, and I believe that to be true.”
The positive effects of riding were measured in “Modulation of attention and stress with arousal: The mental and physical effects of riding a motorcycle,” a study published in the journal Brain Research in 2021.
“Stress levels … continue to rise, and people are exploring pathways to better their mental and physical health,” said Dr. Don Vaughn, the neuroscientist who led the research team. “The differences in participants’ neurological and physiological responses between riding and other measured activities were quite pronounced. This could be significant for mitigating everyday stresses.”
While study participants were riding, the study found enhanced sensory processing and visual attention, increased focus, and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Pedersen, Warner, and Cunningham all agree – it’s not just about riding.
“The riders in Virginia with the VFW and American Legion have grown over the seven to eight years I have been involved with them,” Pedersen said. “Our Virginia riders do a ton of things for their posts and communities. I imagine it’s that way wherever you go.”
In Pennsylvania, Warner said they want to reach those who didn’t ride before but always thought about trying it.
“Any veteran that wants to ride, we are here to help,” Warner continued. “We are safety oriented, just like the military. We have training options for you and help you get your license.”
The Indian Honoring Heroes apparel collection allows riders to support active-duty military personnel with military-inspired clothing. This extensive new apparel line will be available until Nov. 30, 2022, and 100% of the profits will go toward Armed Services YMCA and its Operation Ride Home program. Read the press release below for more information.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Indian Motorcycle has unveiled its 2022 Honoring Heroes apparel collection – a military-inspired line that allows riders and fans to proudly display their support for U.S. military service, while also directly supporting active-duty military with their purchases. From now until Nov. 30, 2022, Indian Motorcycle will donate 100% of the collection’s profits to benefit the Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA) and its Operation Ride Home program, which assists active-duty United States military personnel in traveling home to visit their families.
With 13 new styles, the 2022 Indian Motorcycle Honoring Heroes collection includes a mix of military-inspired khaki, black, and camo casualwear pieces for men and women. The men’s line features a zip-up hoodie, a crewneck sweatshirt, and various shirt styles, including a button-up short-sleeve, standard t-shirt, sleeveless, and long-sleeve options. The women’s line features a zip-up hoodie and three shirt options: V-neck t-shirt, tank top, and three-quarter sleeve. To complete the collection, Indian Motorcycle has also introduced a new Camo Icon Trucker Hat and Black Icon Cap.
Ellen McCarthey, Lieutenant Colonel, US Marine Corps, wearing Camo Peak Trucker Cap ($29.99)
“Support for the United States military and the men and women who serve our country has long been a cornerstone of the Indian Motorcycle brand, and we’re always exploring meaningful ways to make a difference for our active and retired military,” said Michael Dougherty, president of Indian Motorcycle. “Last year’s collection garnered positive feedback across the board, and that success motivated us to not only bring it back for 2022, but to turn it into a significant fund-raising engine for our friends at the Armed Services YMCA.”
Nick Etzel, Sergeant, US Army, wearing Men’s Stencil Block Icon Hoodie ($89.99)
The ASYMCA is an independent, national nonprofit, specifically dedicated to serving active-duty military service members and their families. The oldest military support organization in the U.S., the ASYMCA was established in 1861 and has long provided care and comfort for military troops through unique and specialized programs for service members, military spouses and military children.
Steve Needles, MN/SD National Guard, Army Reserves, wearing Men’s Stencil Block Icon Tank Khaki ($29.99)
As a gesture of appreciation for their service, Indian Motorcycle employees who are veterans themselves were featured in the official product photography for the Honoring Heroes collection. Learn more about them here.
The Indian Motorcycle Honoring Heroes collection is available now at select Indian Motorcycle dealers around the country. Until Nov. 30, 2022, all profits from purchases made will be donated, up to a total of $100,000, by Indian Motorcycle to benefit the ASYMCA and its Operation Ride Home program.
Ellen McCarthey, Lieutenant Colonel, US Marine Corps, wearing Women’s Stencil Block Icon Tank Black ($34.99).
To learn more about the collection visit the Indian Motorcycle Outpost. For more information about Operation Ride Home, or to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit OperationRideHome.com.
Former Army paratrooper Perry Steed with his 2013 BMW R 1200 GS on the Ride for Light. Steed departed Wilmington, North Carolina, on May 20 and returned home August 14.
In his intro video on the Ride for Light Facebook page, former Army paratrooper Perry Steed says there has been something he has been unable to do for the last 10 years – an obstacle he hasn’t overcome.
“That obstacle has been going to collect one of my very best friend’s ashes,” he says with solemnity in his voice.
On April 24, 2012, Sgt. Kristopher Cool took his own life. Steed says he has known several people who died by suicide both before and since Cool, but his friend’s death has been “the worst one for so many reasons.”
I can relate to Steed’s struggles. I’ve never been any good with death, whether it was from old age, a tragic accident, or suicide. But it’s a little harder in the case of suicide because of the conflicting feelings for those left behind. In 2014, a good friend of mine who was a veteran took his own life, and I still get choked up thinking about the pain he must’ve been feeling and the times we haven’t been able to share since.
Steed with Sgt. Kristopher Cool’s father, Mike Cool (left), and uncle Paul Cool (right).
According to the website for Steed’s nonprofit, Operation: Purpose, veterans are 50% more likely to die from suicide than those who haven’t served, and what started as a mission to retrieve his friend’s ashes in Minnesota and take them to Fort Bragg to spread on Sicily Drop Zone became a “rally cry for support.” On May 20, Steed departed Wilmington, North Carolina, on a 2013 BMW R 1200 GS for a 48-state trip covering more than 15,000 miles. He returned home August 14.
“This ride is meant to provide Kristopher a final resting place,” the Operation: Purpose website states, “while also illuminating the issue of veterans’ mental health.”
When I first contacted Steed in June, he had made it to my neck of the woods in the southeastern corner of Utah.
“None of us can save the 22 that died yesterday,” he told me, referring to the Veterans Affairs statistic that 22 veterans take their own lives each day. “But if we can save one today, maybe they can help save two tomorrow. And then we can get this thing under control.”
More Than a Promise
Steed served as a forward observer in the Bravo 1st Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division from 1994 to 1997. He met Cool at the 82nd replacement. Steed was coming from jump school, and Cool was working the change of quarters desk. “We got to chitchatting about music, and we had similar tastes.”
The two men served together in the 82nd Airborne Division. Cool left the service a year before Steed, but the two stayed in contact over the years, including a stint when they lived in the same town.
“For a long time, he and I were pretty much inseparable.” Steed paused, and his next words were heavier. “Those were good times.”
In April 2012, Steed got a call he said he was expecting. “But I couldn’t hear it. My friend had died by suicide.”
The news hit him hard, and he formulated the plan to gather the ashes.
Seneca, Missouri, on the Oklahoma border.
“But every time it came around for me to do it, I just couldn’t seem to make it happen.”
Steed said he struggled with his own instabilities for several years, and when he heard the news about Cool, he was trying to focus on his family.
“In fact, when I got the call, I was waiting for my wife to come home so we could go to childbirth class for our middle child,” he said. “So I focused on trying to be there for them. But I haven’t been there for myself.”
But the tragedies kept “building and building,” he said, including the deaths of more than two dozen family members and friends from various causes.
“They’re not all old people that had lived a full life. A lot of these people were cut down in their prime, and there have been a few suicides.”
He tried to keep motoring on, but everything came crashing down when his father-in-law died of cancer in 2019.
“He was the glue keeping me together,” Steed said, “because I had been focusing on getting him to his treatments, to his doctor’s appointments – just being there and doing things.”
Earlier in our interview, Steed said he had left from Fruita, Colorado, that morning, taking U.S. Route 191 and visiting Arches National Park, one of five national parks in Utah, and was talking to me from one of his father-in-law’s favorite spots in Mexican Hat, Utah, on U.S. Route 163.
“I’m actually sitting in the motel that he talked about for years and years, and wanting to come back,” he said. “I’m here to spread some of his ashes tonight. I carry him with me everywhere. I was raised by a good family, but when I met this man and asked if I could marry his daughter, he turned into my dad.”
Steed’s wife, Liz, and oldest child, Ella, greet him at the welcome home event, which included a police escort, 60-70 other bikes, and two news crews.
Once his father-in-law died, “everything spiraled out of control for my family and me. And then Covid hit.”
He said the pandemic felt like a reset for a lot of people, himself included. He started using VA grief counseling tools and “put in a whole lot of work to get myself to where I could honor the promise I made when Kris passed away to go get his ashes.”
Before Christmas 2021, Steed spoke with his wife, who encouraged him to do it. The idea of the trip got him thinking about a friend in Oklahoma he had served with and who had been difficult to reach for quite a while.
“People don’t pop into my head for no reason,” he said. “So if someone pops into my head, there’s a higher calling for me to reach out to that person. I’m going to find them and I’m going to call them and I’m going to check on them.”
At that point, the purpose of the trip evolved.
“It’s me checking on battle buddies, guys I served with, friends of guys I served with, complete strangers.”
Over the course of reaching out to people, Steed reestablished a connection with a friend he served with who lives in San Luis Obispo, California.
“I told him, ‘Hey man, I’m getting ready to do this crazy thing. Hell, I might even come to California.’”
When Steed explained the impetus for his trip, the friend asked if Steed would also retrieve the ashes of his brother, Specialist David J. Howard.
“I haven’t physically seen this guy in California in over 20 years, and he still thinks enough of me to trust me with some of his brother’s remains knowing that I’m going to do exactly what I told him I would do and spread those ashes on Fort Bragg.”
The Pacific Coast Highway, near Big Sur, California.
The Pros and Cons of15,000 Miles of Helmet Time
Steed has been riding motorcycles for about 13 years. While the 1200 GS is his chosen mount for this mission – a bike he said was a holdout for him, even with the rave reviews – it’s not the only bike in his stable. His first motorcycle was an ’84 BMW R 80 RT.
“I spent a ton of money getting that thing right,” he said. “I still have it.”
He also owns an ’81 Yamaha XS 650, an ’84 BMW R 100 RT, a ’74 Moto Guzzi Eldorado, and a 2015 Suzuki V-Strom 650XT. A full stable indeed.
After more than a decade in the saddle, he’s no stranger to helmet time, but the Ride for Light provided more of a challenge. For one, it was longer than any rides he had previously taken.
“I did a mini trip last summer,” he said. “I rode 2,500 miles, just around North Carolina and Virginia and those areas, to see if I could even handle being in my head that long.”
On U.S. Route 26 in Oregon approaching Mount Hood, which Steed said was huge. “I rode for a long time, and it didn’t look like it got any closer.”
Steed originally planned on doing the trip solo, but he was joined along the way by various friends and family. When he set out from North Carolina, he had a friend who is also a veteran ride along with him for the first five days and then split off in Georgia, at which point Steed was joined by a cousin who rode with him about 1,100 miles to the Oklahoma state line.
“He’s been riding for a long time,” Steed said of the cousin, “but as far as long stretches in the saddle, that’s the longest he’s ever done.”
In addition to the distance, his cousin had also never ridden with anyone else, which provided Steed some opportunities for coaching and helped break up the monotony. But more than that, Steed was glad for the cousin to come along because he is a veteran as well.
New River State Park in North Carolina. Steed camped for about 80% of the trip, which allowed him to be alone, regroup from each day, and do a mental check-in. He said the camping setup and takedown routines were comforting.
“He downplays his military service, but he still signed a blank check. He’s a good dude.”
And Steed ultimately connected with that friend in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They rode together to Fort Sill, where Steed had completed basic and advanced individual training. The two rode about 700 miles together.
Besides the camaraderie, the other advantage to having someone else along is in case of a mishap. After riding the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee with the friend who had been with him from the start, Steed separated a rib doing some off-roading on a forestry road. At that point in the trip, he had become used to having someone tag along. He felt like he could push himself, take a few more chances, and do a little more off-roading. When his friend split off, that changed.
Another 20 yards down this trail, just off the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee, is where Steed had the accident that separated his rib.
“All that stuff was gone,” he said. “I had to come to grips with no guarantees of anybody doing it with me.”
When you get used to someone being around – even if just for a short time – it makes it harder when they’re gone, like when a good friend comes to visit and you feel a little bit lonely when they leave.
Or when a friend you’ve known for many years takes his own life.
In the late 1970s, psychiatrist Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk started working with Vietnam veterans. Interestingly, his first patient would ride his Harley to bring himself down from moments of rage brought on by his trauma.
“The vibrations, speed, and danger of that ride helped him pull himself back together,” Van Der Kolk wrote in his 2014 book The Body Keeps the Score.
Van Der Kolk’s original work took place before post-traumatic stress disorder was an official diagnosis. These days, his contributions are considered pivotal in the field of trauma. He says one area of difficulty shared by those dealing with trauma is the inability to live in the moment. This capacity is the foundation of meditation and the somewhat recently coined term of “mindfulness.”
The scenic Mount Washington Auto Road off New Hampshire Route 16.
Personally, I appreciate the fact that when I’m on my bike, I’m only on my bike. Preoccupied with operating the machine, there isn’t much room to think about a troubling situation at work or home. The past and the future don’t matter nearly as much as the present moment.
For Steed, that wasn’t always the case on this trip.
“I’m stuck in my head and in my helmet all day,” he told me in June. “It’s like when you’ve got two kids who don’t get along, you lock them in a room together and say, ‘You guys are going to be getting along before you walk out of this room.’ That’s me, man. Some days my biggest fights are with myself.”
But this was a battle he was determined to win.
“Just today, I got in my head this morning,” he said. “I didn’t want to ride. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I was fumbling around getting ready, and I was awake almost all night for no reason.”
Steed said that as men, we try to find out the rationale, to get to the “why” for everything.
“But it’s just me,” he said. “It’s how I am. It’s how I’m wired. A success for me is going to be if I can get out of this trip being able to live in my head better.”
Steed said he could’ve chosen to fly to all these places to retrieve the ashes, maybe checked in on friends that way, “but I have things I also need to work out.”
“I need to be a better person for myself. I need to be a better husband for my wife, a better father for my children. I need to be a better friend, a better brother, a better son. With all these demons lurking over me, I’m out here trying to just pay all the kindness forward that I can, check on these folks, talk some stuff out with people I haven’t seen in a long time, and try to have some fun of my own.”
And there have been good times.
The temps were so high near Badlands National Park that Steed’s GPS on his phone stopped working. When it cooled off, he snapped this photo.
When you hit 48 states on a bike, you can’t list all the spots, but there are some eye-poppers worthy of mention. Although Utah is definitely beautiful, it was hot when he came through my home state, with temps in the triple digits. People in the Southwest like to say, “but it’s a dry heat,” to which Steed replied, “The only difference between a wet heat and dry heat is that with a dry heat, you don’t know you’re dying. Even though this GS is a waterhead, it was still not liking it.”
I can’t imagine Amarillo, Texas, was much cooler, but he has some great pics and videos of his stop at the Cadillac Ranch on his Facebook page. He rode in some “hellacious storms” along the way, and he stuck his feet in the Gulf of Mexico – “with my riding boots on.” There was a spark in his voice when he spoke of riding the Tail of the Dragon. After a couple days’ rest following his off-road crash and waiting out the rain, he rode it again.
Itasca State Park, the headwaters of the Mississippi River.
Then there are the people, of course. Beyond visiting friends and family, he’s met a slew of strangers.
After a mishap with his bike in Oklahoma, Steed stayed an extra day and got to meet some friends of his buddy who were also veterans, some of whom had pulled “some pretty serious duty.”
He also mentioned a 20-year military veteran who was particularly inspiring. Steed said the man, who had been hospitalized twice for mental issues, had been rudderless until he started volunteering in a VA nursing home after retiring from the service.
On the shore of Iona’s Beach at Lake Superior.
After seeing the lack of attention paid to a couple of soldiers who had died under VA care, the man went to school to become a mortician and a funeral director, Steed said, with the mission of giving veterans the best burial they deserve.
“That is a fantastic thing to do for someone,” he said. “That really touched me. Because it’s not just Iraq and Afghanistan veterans I’m trying to help. A huge segment of our population that never received any kind of help were Vietnam vets.”
He said that, 50 years later, Vietnam veterans are still trying to figure out their place in this world.
“They were spit on or ridiculed when they got home. A lot of the veterans that end up committing suicide are from that theater of conflict and age demographic. Veterans often feel like they can’t help anybody and all they’re doing is hurting other people, so that’s why they do it.”
Steed’s GS on July 2 in Madison, Minnesota.
Steed said the people he’s met kept him going.
“Every positive reaction I get from telling people about what I’m doing makes me want to talk to somebody else,” he said. “This has been an exercise in me stretching my capabilities as far as reaching out to folks.”
Then there were the people waiting back home, namely his wife and three kids.
“If it wasn’t for my wife and children, there’s no way I could do this,” he said. “My wife has been the biggest cheerleader I’ve had.”
He said when he was having a difficult day, one that started with depression or anxiety, his wife was his support.
“It puts a lot of pressure on her, and I feel terrible about it sometimes, but if I’m having a rough day, I have to call her. She’s the one who has kept my head right for so long.”
Finally, he said he believes he’s getting help from those he’s lost over the last 10 years.
“Somebody’s watching out for me,” he said. “Of all the people I’ve buried that meant so much to me, I think they’re all having a huddle upstairs and saying, ‘Dude, we gotta get this guy straight.’”
Steed and Staff Sgt. Paul Tower at New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery.
The Road Keeps Rolling
In the 1994 movie Shawshank Redemption, two of the main characters reference a choice: Get busy living or get busy dying.
Steed’s mission will be over at some point. As of this writing, he has ridden 48 states and rolled back home to his family, and plans are in the works to spread the ashes of Cool and Howard at the Sicily Drop Point. But he’s determined not to make that the end of the road. This wasn’t just a trip about death; it’s about life.
Steed said that while he has been helped by the VA in many ways, he also recognizes its deficits. He has been researching various organizations that help veterans and is working on his 501(c)(3) status for Operation: Purpose, as well as accepting donations on his website.
Battlefield Cross sculpture at Veterans Monument Park, Andover, Connecticut.
“The real disconnect is placement for veterans in crisis and their families,” he said. “Who do you call? What do you do? Everyone knows the suicide hotline, but what happens after that? The goal is to create an education program for families and veterans.”
Steed knows some therapists willing to donate their time, and he is working with someone to apply for grants for Mental Health First Aid training, which helps someone who encounters another in a mental health crisis.
“You have skills available to talk them down, calm them down, and get them somewhere where they can think more rationally, or you can get them help without them harming themselves.”
Steed wants veterans to feel like they have another option besides ending their lives.
Sgt. Kristopher Cool’s headstone at Fort Snelling Veterans Cemetery, Minnesota.
His long-term goal is to ultimately create a multiuse space similar to those seen on military installations, but in the immediate future, his first step is to create a database of key people in his area. He compared it to the military term “interlocking fields of fire.”
“I’ve got guys who are spread out in the greater Wilmington area, and it’s a network of people who know the veterans,” he said, adding that there are a lot of retired or ex-military in Wilmington, as well as several military bases in North Carolina in general. “We know a lot of people. We can be there for each other. We can be the ear and the shoulder and can offer redirection if that’s feasible.”
This support is what Operation: Purpose is all about.
“We may wake up tomorrow morning and the VA won’t be there anymore, but we still need to help each other. We didn’t have the VA when we were in [the service], but we had each other, and I need to reestablish that line of thinking, to bring the camaraderie and the unity and help each other get our dignity back and a hope for a better day.”
The New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, New Hampshire. The week after Steed’s visit, he learned that the state is creating a monument recognizing the issue of veteran suicide.
For more information, to make a donation, or to buy Operation: Purpose merchandise that supports veterans in crisis, visit OperationPurpose.net.
This article first appeared in the October issue of Rider. All photos courtesy of Perry Steed. Paul Dail joined the Rider staff as Associate Editor in June. This is his first story for the magazine. He also wrote the Exhaust Note for the October issue.
The announcement this week of an Australia Royal Commission into veteran and serving defence member suicides has prompted organisers of a motorcycle rally to amend their plans.
The planned rally on Saturday, 24 April at 11am on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne will now become a vigil to “show respect to those veterans who have taken their lives and the family and friends affected”.
Motorcycle riders have had a long association with the defence forces in many countries. In fact, it was returned servicemen fromWorld War II who sought adrenalin and started many motorcycle clubs which are still going strong today.
Many returned servicemen find the camaraderie, adrenalin and mindfulness of riding to be helpful in handling post traumatic stress disorder.
Organisers say riders need to show the Federal Government that now that the Royal Commission is called they will be making sure “every stage is done properly including the follow-up of the terms of reference, recommendations followed up”.
It will begin with a free ride from the BP at the Southbound Service Centre in Scoresby from 9am on Saturday. All riders and supporters are invited to attend
Rider will head to the Shrine of Remembrance before leaving at 10.30am for Parliament House.
(All images from Veterans MC Victoria Chapter Facebook page)
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