Dirtbag Diaries: Home Front

There's a story that you may have heard kicked around in the newspapers and nightly news for the last few months. It's as unsettling as it is tragic. The rate of suicide among active military personnel, reservists, and veterans has increased to nearly 22 suicides a day. 22 every day, even as more resources are being allocated to prevent it – and finding a solution is likely as complicated as understanding why.

Veterans Stacy Bare and Nick Watson know the struggles that service members face as they readjust to civilian life. Addiction. Depression. An overwhelming feeling of being out of place. But over time, both found a place in the outdoors and the surrounding community to recreate what they missed from the military, and to feel like they had really come home. And they didn’t stop there – they became determined to find a way to make that transition easier for other veterans too. Today, we bring you their stories and the story of how these two veterans are creating a community for other veterans on the home front.

Warning: This episode does contain graphic descriptions of violence and adult language.

The Dirtbag Diaries is a production of Duct Tape Then Beer. Visit dirtbagdiaries.com for links to past episodes and to pledge your support. You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, RSS, SoundCloud and Stitcher, or connect with the Dirtbag Diaries community on Facebook and Twitter.

[Graphic by Walker Cahall]

(via: The Cleanest Line)

From Scratch

From Scratch host Jessica Harris speaks with Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. From Scratch reviews the entrepreneurial life with leading pioneers from the business world, the social sector, entertainment, and the arts. From Scratch personalizes the lives of entrepreneurs by providing listeners with a candid, first-hand view of the launching process.

LINK (via: NPR)

Fly Fishing for Steelhead - Queen Charlotte Islands and the Dean River

A BC steelhead primer from Ask About Fly Fishing.

Dirt Bag Diaries - What We Had

Fitz Cahall had never done an episode about fly fishing on the Dirtbag Diaires, that's because he was waiting for the right one.

It was worth the wait.

Mark Rutherford and John Merritt grew up sharing the same sand box. As they grew up, they each followed separate paths. John had a successful career in the Chicago financial world. Mark moved to Alaska and raised a family in tiny cabin he built with his own hands. Twenty years ago, Mark began a successful adventure fly fishing guide service in the Bristol Bay region. An avid fisherman, John got in touch with Mark and scheduled a trip. On that first trip, John revealed that he had been diagnosed with M.S. Ten years prior, doctors told him he had seven years to live. That first trip marked the beginning of decade of trips, each more adventurous than the last. Today, we are headed up stream to the confluence of several lives. Friendships are a bit like rivers -- when they converge, they swell into something greater.

Listen to this episode

Check out the images from one of the trips talked about in the show at Paradox Sports.

Bonus tunes from What We Had

Rooster Podcast

Whilst geeking out for our trip prep, we stumbled across this piece.  If you can get past askaboutflyfishing.com's pulse-less interviewing technique, your should find these two podcasts are pretty interesting (thanks to Baja Fly Fish's Mike Rieser). 

LINK

Sometimes it's just nice to sit back, close your eyes and listen

Waterlog Magazine podcasts for those who can't or won't read.

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