Photos by Erin Prater
Sixteen soldiers from 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division spent the day in Salida at Captain Zipline on May 8 as a part of the Warrior Adventure Quest program. The platoon returned from Iraq in March.
By Erin Prater/Special to The Gazette
SALIDA • For 16 co-workers, the mandatory team-building activity was a bit more extreme than the usual company picnic or trust-fall exercise.
Then again, the group was tougher than most: Third Platoon — members of Alpha Company, Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division — had returned from a yearlong Iraq deployment two months prior.
The Fort Carson soldiers spent May 6 zip-lining in Salida thanks to Warrior Adventure Quest, an Army-funded program that encourages returning soldiers to seek positive adrenaline fixes through activities such as paintballing, white-water rafting and skiing.
Though some soldiers were chomping at the bit, not all were thrilled.
“I hate rollercoasters, all that (expletive),” said one soldier while donning a safety harness and helmet.
“Two seconds and you’ll be loving it for the rest of the day,” said Captain Zipline owner Monty Holmes, sensing his hesitancy.
For most of 3rd Platoon, Holmes was right.
“I’m scared of heights, but I like to do anything like this because it’s a thrill,” said Spc. Alex Stewart, who had arrived a bit nervous but left excited.
Reactions like Stewart’s were common, said platoon leader 1st Lt. Kelly Shaffer, who chose zip-lining for the military intelligence group to help some overcome their fear of heights.
“A lot of the ones who were afraid of heights were dreading it, but we all had a good time once we were there,” she said.
Roughly 3,500 Fort Carson soldiers have participate in the Warrior Adventure Quest program since the post adopted it in 2009, said Eric Hill, outdoor recreation director for Fort Carson’s Directorate of Family, Morale, Welfare & Recreation.
It allows platoons to participate in a free, daylong extreme-sport experience followed by a short debrief that attempts to connect the activity to deployment experiences and readjustment.
It was intended to combat the “destructive, high-risk” behaviors some returning soldiers were engaging in by providing them with safe adrenaline rushes, Hill said.
He said the program can be a useful readjustment tool for all returning soldiers — even those who enjoy relatively quiet deployments and wouldn’t consider themselves adrenaline junkies.
“The last Iraq deployment didn’t have as much engagement combat-wise,” Hill said. “But I know Afghanistan, there’s still plenty going on. Each unit’s deployment is a little different.
There is definitely the benefit of getting them out there, doing something as a group that’s different than their everyday work environment.”
Since 3rd Platoon’s deployment was relatively uneventful, the only soldiers who received adrenaline rushes from zip-lining were the ones who had been afraid of heights, Shaffer said.
“We weren’t in any intense combat over there,” she said. “For us, this was more about team building than replacing adrenaline.”
The excursion also allowed the platoon’s members, many of whom were relatively new to the Mountain Post, to experience a different part of the state.
“I’ve had three soldiers go back there, not to go zip-lining, but to go fly fishing or hiking because they thought it was really pretty,” Shaffer said.
