Veterans and their families enjoy freedom on the slopes at Vail
The Vail Veterans Program hosts families at Vail Mountain this week
Vail Veterans Program/Courtesy photo
Earlier this week, the Vail Veterans Program welcomed 17 veterans, 15 spouses and caregivers and 36 kids to its annual Winter Family Program held on Vail Mountain. The event offers private adaptive ski and snowboard instruction for the military wounded and class lessons for their families. Since 2004, the Vail Veterans Program has provided innovative and transformational programs that get military injured to the mountains to heal in more ways that one.
“I love being in Vail, it’s beautiful. It’s amazing. And, to me, just being in nature is really healing,” said Jeremy Breece, a U.S. Army staff sergeant. He joined the military in 1996 at 18 and medically retired in 2012. Breece attended the Winter Family Program with his wife, Roxann, and teenage son, Seth. Breece lost both his legs on April 21, 2011, when he stepped on an improvised explosive device pressure plate in Afghanistan two weeks before he was supposed to return home.
“I was on our last patrol before going home and I knew where we were going, it was a bad area to walk and I told my buddy behind me, ‘Hey, I hate walking through here,’ and I watched my foot go down, and that was it,” Jeremy said. “I even called Roxann and left a message that morning before the patrol saying, ‘I got a bad feeling about this patrol today.'”
Roxann was in Germany, where the family had been stationed and where Jeremy completed sniper training.
“I just remember around 6 a.m. that day, I got this really huge pit in my stomach. I thought something was wrong and I didn’t know what it was and another few hours later I got the call,” Roxann said.
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When Roxann finally spoke to Jeremy, she said she was crying and that Jeremy was the one doing the consoling.
“He said he wanted to reassure me that he was OK, he was alive and that he was all right and said, ‘It’s just my legs,'” Roxann said.
Jeremy started his long road to recovery at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio, Texas.
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“I was really motivated in the beginning. I still had that real hard-charger attitude,” Jeremy said. “I asked, ‘How long does it take to walk?’ And they said, ‘Oh, people have done it in a month,’ so I’m like, “All right. Well, I’m going to do it faster than that.'”
But it turned out that Jeremy didn’t like the way the prosthetics fit and worked, so he ended up barely walking on and off for six years and was mostly in a wheelchair. He did eventually start using prosthetics.
Jeremy credits Brooke Army Medical Center for helping him keep going. “They have great occupational therapy and recreational therapy and have access to take you on trips like this. I’d been to a ski program through the Center for the Intrepid to Breckenridge in 2011 and I came to Vail in 2019 with the Vail Veterans Program.”
Jeremy said he was happy to make it back to Colorado and work with his adaptive ski instructor, Benn Kayne on his mono-skiing skills.
“Benn’s really good. He’s got me shredding out there and it feels liberating. My beard freezes up and we’re just flying,” Jeremy said. “He’s teaching me all the fundamentals and we’re pushing each other. We’re going to hit the Back Bowls.”
The Breece family likes that the Vail Veterans Program allows them to do an activity together on the slopes. Roxann and Seth are in snowboarding lessons, and they are both so happy that Jeremy gets to experience this type of movement.
“I think it’s really cool because he likes it so much and after all the stuff he’s been through he doesn’t want to give up, so I kind of feel like it teaches me not to be a quitter,” Seth said.
The Vail Veterans Program has been helping veterans and their families for 21 years, but executive director Jen Brown said this nonprofit is as important today as the day it started.
“We recognize and understand from our recreational therapists, the need for continued support for wounded veterans remains prevalent,” Brown said. “Stressors for our nation’s heroes can be compounded while managing complex trauma and injury, worrying about fellow service members, navigating survivor’s guilt and caring for family. Outdoor recreation provided through Vail Veterans Program provides social, emotional, physical and mental recovery skills to aid in their lifelong recovery.”
Jeremy also suffers from a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder and those are the invisible wounds you can’t see. He said it’s been helpful to be here with other vets and their families who understand.
“I’ve been trying to push myself to open up and get out there a little more. It’s kind of hard for me to talk to people, but the more I do it, I feel like I’m just getting a little better, and it feels good to be able to actually converse with people,” Jeremy said. “We have a special bond here.”
Jeremy praised the efforts of the Vail Veterans Program. “This program is really well run, and you can tell they have been doing this a long time. And then also, the community has been so supportive. They ask, ‘Are you part of the Vail Veterans Program?’ and I tell them yes and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s so cool. Thank you for your service,'” Jeremy said. “Everybody’s super friendly and they’re making sure that we feel comfortable, and they want us there. I’m so thankful for this program.”
