Reboot Combat Recovery provides a new form of brotherhood for veterans and their spouses

CODY —Returning to civilian life is never an easy journey for veterans: there’s the struggle to settle into a new routine and the post-traumatic stress that can manifest itself in nightmares, angry outbursts and countless other forms.
But for many veterans, the hardest part of the transition is the loss of the brotherhood that got them through some of the most traumatic experiences of their lives, said Joshua Foster. 
That feeling of isolation is one of the key factors in high veteran suicide rates across the nation, with roughly 17 veterans killing themselves each day in 2019, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs.
“It was difficult because I had no one to turn to,” said Foster, a former SWAT team member who currently helps veterans through Downrange Warriors’ Reboot Combat Recovery course. “How do you talk to someone about what you did when they just don’t get it? You just get that blank stare or they say, ‘I get it,’ but they really don’t get it. One thing you miss is that brotherhood when you leave any uniform.”
That’s where Reboot Combat Recovery comes in, Foster said. 
The course is a 12-week, faith-based, peer-led course that helps veterans, active-duty military and their families heal from service-related trauma. Most crucially, the course provides veterans with a sense of brotherhood and community many have been missing for years.
On Nov. 22, the 11th Reboot Combat Recovery Class held a graduation ceremony at Cody Missionary Alliance Church. Graduates included Adam and Jillian Borkhus; Brad Cline; Loren Tope; and Steve and Karen Wood. John Bonner also completed the program, but was unable to attend the ceremony.
Adam Borkhus said the sense of brotherhood he’s been missing since his combat experience is perhaps the greatest gift the course has provided.
“Since I’ve been in this course, I was having a bad night and my wife didn’t know what to do,” Adam Borkhus said. “And all of a sudden I had three Downrange Warriors sitting at my house holding my hand, helping me, talking to me and keeping me alive. They told me this was OK and I was in a battle, and it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced in my life. No other time in my life have I had a brotherhood like this.”
Jillian Borkhus, who attended the course with her husband, said Adam wasn’t the only one who benefitted from the sense of community the class provided.
“My family is many generations removed from having any veterans, and they are no longer alive, so I really had nobody I could talk to,” Jillian Borkhus said. “It was really difficult to communicate what I was going through with the people around me every day … . There are a lot of really great people (at Downrange Warriors) who can help you understand what you’re going through and connect with you on a different level. I’m really grateful to everyone that we’ve met and that I finally have some people I can talk to.”
While Cline said the course hadn’t erased his trauma, it has given him tools to address it and live a happier life.
“I’m just happy all the time now and I love it,” Cline said. “I have bad days still, but for the most part I’m happy all the time, and I want to talk to my wife about certain things I’ve never talked to her about before … . The trauma is still up here and it’s never going to go away, but I have tools I can use to get past it now.”
Cline noted he planned to attend the course a second time — this time with his wife. It’s not unusual for veterans to go through the course more than once, Downrange Warriors President Todd Bray said.
Tope completed his fourth iteration of the class this year, and said he continues to learn and grow from the community of veterans he surrounds himself with, and he hopes to pass that knowledge on to other veterans in need.
“This Reboot has caused much reflection for me, and I hope I can help other people find what I’ve found through this program,” he said. “It’s a good program and a good place to start. There are good resources here and good people here.”
For more information on Reboot Combat Recovery — or to register for the next free, 12-week course — visit rebootrecovery.com.
 
This story was published on Nov. 27, 2022. 
 
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