Resilience & Support – Resources
Warriors & Quiet Waters: Empowering Post-9/11 Combat Veterans to Thrive Through Nature and Purpose
In the quiet of Montana’s rivers and mountains, something powerful happens for post-9/11 combat veterans. Warriors & Quiet Waters (WQW) offers more than an outdoor trip. It delivers a structured path from the intensity of service to a purpose-driven life after the uniform comes off. For those of us who carried the weight of deployments, the loss of mission, and the challenge of rebuilding identity, organizations like this matter. They reject the “broken veteran” narrative and invest in warriors as the capable leaders they already are.
How It Started
Warriors & Quiet Waters began with a simple, personal insight. Retired Marine Colonel Eric Hastings spent 34 years in the Corps. After combat in Vietnam, he found that fly fishing restored a sense of serenity and joy that combat had taken. In 2006, with two sons on active duty, he and his wife Jean talked over their fly rods about giving that same experience to the newest generation of combat veterans.
Jean donated the first $10,000. Volunteers and local experts stepped up. In July 2007, they launched the first Solo Fishing Experience in the Bozeman area. The name itself came from Psalm 23—“He leads me beside quiet waters”—and Hastings’ belief that warriors needed those quiet waters after the storm of combat. What started as a week of fishing, home-cooked meals, and fellowship has grown into a professional organization with a clear focus: helping veterans move from surviving to thriving.
The Mission
WQW’s mission is precise and powerful: “Warriors & Quiet Waters empowers post-9/11 combat veterans and their loved ones to thrive and live purpose-driven lives through peak experiences in nature and evidence-based programs that foster growth, discovery, connection, and community.”
They serve combat veterans from all branches who deployed in the post-9/11 era. The organization also runs programs for caregivers and couples, recognizing that service impacts entire families. Everything is provided at no cost to the participant—travel, lodging, meals, instruction, and gear.
Serving the Veteran Community: The Built for More Program
Early programs focused primarily on fly-fishing experiences. Veterans kept asking for more—more structure, more tools for lasting change, and more connection beyond a single week. In response, WQW developed its flagship program, Built for More.
Built for More is a roughly nine-month journey that combines two immersive nature experiences with a guided personal-growth phase in between. Participants choose one of three tracks:
- Fly Fishing Track — Learning the skill on Montana waters (and sometimes other locations) while building community.
- Archery Hunting Track — A more physically demanding path that includes skill-building and a fall hunt.
- Photography Track — Capturing the experience and giving back by documenting other warriors’ journeys (supported in partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project).
The structure is deliberate:
- Initial Experience (approximately 5 days): Arrive at Quiet Waters Ranch near Bozeman. Build the cohort, learn the track skill, begin reflection, and form the bonds that matter.
- Discovery Phase (6–12 months, typically requiring about 3 hours per month): Online sessions with facilitators and the same cohort. Participants explore identity, values, purpose, resilience, and practical tools for daily life.
- Capstone Experience (approximately 5 days): Return for a final immersion to solidify growth, celebrate progress, and commit to the next chapter.
Quiet Waters Ranch itself is intentional—private rooms, accessible facilities, fishing ponds, communal spaces, and the quiet of the Bridger Mountains. The “moms” (volunteer caregivers who cook and create a welcoming environment) play a quiet but vital role in making the space feel safe.
WQW also offers shorter Couples Experiences (for alumni and their spouses) and Caregiver programs. These address the reality that transition and invisible wounds affect families too.
Independent evaluation has shown meaningful outcomes: stronger sense of purpose, higher thriving scores, improved community belonging, greater stress resilience, better sleep, and increased sense of making a positive difference.
How to Apply and What to Expect
Eligibility focuses on post-9/11 combat service. Applicants generally need documentation showing participation in combat operations—typically through a DD-214 (Block 13 decorations or Block 18 remarks showing Imminent Danger Pay) or equivalent records such as combat awards or deployment verification. A Purple Heart is not required. Active-duty members can apply with supporting documentation.
WQW prioritizes those who feel stuck or isolated, want to redefine purpose, are ready to do the work of growth, and value outdoor experiences and shared community.
The process is selective because demand exceeds capacity (hundreds of applications for limited spots). Application windows open periodically (often a couple of times per year). Interested veterans can join the waitlist on the website at any time to receive notification. The application itself is thorough—service documentation plus open responses about need, readiness, and commitment. Selected applicants typically complete an interview.
Once accepted, participants commit to the full arc of the program. Everything is free. Gear from the Initial Experience is often kept so skills can continue at home. The only real requirement is showing up fully—for the nature experiences and the personal work in between.
Why This Matters
Military service builds identity, structure, and purpose at a deep level. Leaving that behind can leave a void no one-week fishing trip alone can fill. Warriors & Quiet Waters meets veterans where they are and walks with them long enough for real change to take root. It treats warriors as the capable people they are, not as patients. And it does so in the kind of wild, quiet places that restore what combat can erode.
If you are a post-9/11 combat veteran who feels the next chapter is still unclear, or if you know someone who is, take a look at warriorsandquietwaters.org. Join the waitlist. Read about Built for More. The organization continues to expand capacity—including new facilities at Quiet Waters Ranch—so more warriors can walk this path.
Thriving veterans strengthen families, communities, and the nation. Warriors & Quiet Waters is one of the organizations helping make that real—one cohort at a time, on quiet waters and beyond.
Visit their website: Support Combat Veterans Through Nature | Warriors & Quiet Waters
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