FORT BENNING, Ga., (Dec. 2, 2015) -- When Command Sgt. Maj. Sam Rhodes returned from Iraq after a yearlong deployment he said he felt guilty to be alive.
"We lost too many Soldiers and I was present for some of them," he said. "It changed me. It changed my whole thought process. I felt guilty because I came back. Here I am a seasoned leader and some of our Soldiers didn't come back. That ate at me and caused me a lot of anxiety and stress."
By April of 2007, Rhodes was carrying a gun in his car and planning to kill himself, but then something miraculous happened.
"I was just kind of playing around with the horses. I was down there feeding and I said 'it really feels great spending time with the horses.' Everyday I'd find myself going and spending more and more time and after five or six months I said 'I need to share this,'" he said.
Rhodes said working with his horses changed his whole perspective and outlook on life.
"It changed how I felt about me. It gave me a sense of belonging and it gave me some structure," he said.
In 2008 Rhodes, who is now retired from active duty, started reaching out to other veterans with horsemanship support programs, doing two events a year at Fort Benning.
In 2012 Rhodes found out he had a tumor. Feeling that his life was near its end, he decided to devote the rest of his time and money to building a quality community center and horse riding facility for Soldiers and their Families.
In 2013, he purchased a property large enough to develop the Warrior Outreach ranch, with the mission "to assist Soldiers and their Families in transitioning to life after traumatic occurrences."
"It all turned out great," he said. "Last year 7,800 (Soldiers) and Family members were helped through equine activity, through veterans home assistance, through feeding the homeless, giving tickets to sporting events and coming out here and doing team building."
The program operates as a completely nonprofit facility. Rhodes pays 50 percent of the costs and the rest is covered through donations.
"Nobody pays anything here," he said. "I don't take money from Soldiers, Families or veterans."
Rhodes said when Soldiers work with the horses, they seem at ease.
"There are no worries out here," he said.
Staff Sgt. Samuel Tiner, along with his wife and five children, have been volunteering at Warrior Outreach since its onset.
Tiner, who has been on five deployments, said being involved in the program has helped him decompress.
"When you have one of those days when you're like 'man I just want to go lock myself in a room,' come out here instead. And you get so busy and you interact with people who aren't having a bad day and the next thing you know you're not in a bad mood," he said.
Tiner's wife, Noelle, runs the horseback-riding program at the ranch.
"When the Soldiers come out here we teach them everything from catching the horses, to tacking, to brushing," she said.
She said that since 90 percent of Fort Benning Soldiers have been deployed overseas multiple times, the Warrior Outreach program allows them to decompress.
"When they come back they're put right back into the stress of everyday life," she said. "They don't have time to work through all the things they have witnessed, seen and been through while they were overseas, so this offers a calming environment where they can relax and have a good time."
Staff St. Bryon Dumolt, 194th Armor Brigade, said Warrior Outreach helped he and his Family through a difficult time.
"This last March (my wife and I) lost a child," he said. "It helped me and my wife and my two kids cope with that and build a stronger bond with ourselves by coming out here and working with the horses."
Dumolt said working with the horses is healing.
"It's just getting away and out of dealing with the military or city life. It's the peacefulness, the quietness to it. It's just you, yourself and the horses," he said.
Dumolt said he and his Family volunteer at Warrior Outreach at least once a week.
"That's what builds my Family's cohesion. It's about spending that quality time away from technology and out here just being outdoors," he said.
Spc. Tristan Ellingsworth said since he started volunteering at Warrior Outreach he has gained confidence.
"Not having grown up around horses, it can be really intimidating walking up to an animal that has the build and personality of my dog, but is taller than me," he said.
Ellingsworth said the horses also help him get rid of anxiety.
"It helps you get rid of a lot of stress that (Soldiers) just carry around naturally," he said. "Because if you carry any of that when you get into the saddle the horse is going to feel that and he is going to immediately start messing with you."
Knowing that the horses will react to his anxiety, Ellingsworth said, has helped him gain assertiveness.
"The most helpful part has been developing the ability to be assertive without being rough, which the military doesn't really teach you," he said.
Warrior Outreach is available to Soldiers and their Families at no cost. For more information, visit www.warrioroutreach.org.
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