Camp Patriot's goal is to lift veterans

Micah Clark has a dream and it smells like mesquite.

He envisions ephemeral smoke rolling out of a world-class kitchen over 150 acres of Montana freedom. The homely scent draws patriots into a pristine ranch after days of hunting, fishing and healing wounds unseen.

A former Fleet Marine Force Corpsman, Clark wants to give back to his buddies — veterans who sacrificed arms, legs and normalcy in order for others to enjoy their own. Since 2006, his non-profit organization, Camp Patriot, has taken more than 130 wounded veterans on outdoor adventure trips that aspire to reinvigorate self-confidence and hope.

Camp Patriot began as an idea in 2002, when Clark was working as a Special Response Team member for the Department of Energy. Over his years, he saw a rise in the number of wounded soldiers living through traumatic injuries. Clark also knew the stark reality veterans face when they return home: An early 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says 22 veterans commit suicide every day. Waits to receive care at overwhelmed Veterans Affairs hospitals can be life-threateningly long.

“Plus, all the VA does is pump narcotics, anyway,” Clark said.  

Speaking in a restaurant after shopping for supplies to build a sauna next to the cabin he is building, Clark looks like Brett Favre in those Wrangler commercials when he keeps his hat on. He knows Wrangler’s former vice president. They worked together on a fundraising project.

Conversations with Clark take quick turns. One minute he is talking about Mike Day, a Camp Patriot alumni who survived being shot 27 times. Before you can even begin to wrap your mind around that, he transitions into a story about sitting next to the vice president of Tyson Foods, during a flight. Clark told him about Camp Patriot in the air and by the time they touched down, the guy wrote him a $7,000 check. Non-profit fundraising is a slow, difficult process; yet, somehow, Clark makes it sound fun.

“I have so many people come up to me and say ‘Hey, have you talked to Bill Gates yet?,’” Clark said. “It used to set me off, but now I just laugh. People don’t realize how many gatekeepers there are to accessing people like that.”

Day, the veteran who survived being shot 27 times, raves about Camp Patriot.

“Overcoming the physical wounds was easy,” he said. "Healing the emotional and spiritual wounds has been a struggle. Camp Patriot helped me to overcome those wounds.”

Clark’s current purpose is to raise enough money to buy a 150-acre ranch in northwest Montana. To hear Clark tell it, the Camp Patriot Disabled Veterans Retreat Ranch would open the door to endless possibilities — fly fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, horseback riding. The challenge is raising that money. The price tag is $2.5 million. Camp Patriot has about $200,000 right now. Clark talks about a potential donor willing to offer about half the cost of the ranch. It is not for sure, but it sounds promising.

Camp Patriot’s motto is “Giving Back To Those Who Have Given.” It’s a great cause, but there are many others like it. Clark sees a few differences.

“There was a girl who called saying she wanted to do a fundraiser,” Clark said. “When she called she couldn’t believe it was me who answered. I told her we were nobody. Of course I answered.”

For the first four years of its existence, Camp Patriot personally cost Clark about $15,000. One woman now helps him with part-time work, but he relies mostly on good-will and connections he made through his time in the military and promoting his cause.

Clark sees his organization and its participants as a first line of defense against the mental and emotional challenges of rehabilitation. More than anything, he believes, veterans just need friends. Retired Army Lieutenant Ed Salau agrees.

“I climbed Mount Rainier with Micah in 2007,” Salau said. “I had my left leg blown off above the knee in 2004 in Iraq. Recovering from an injury like that, your biggest concerns are: How am I going to win that job interview, and how can I get that first date? Being above the clouds with other climbers, it made me feel like it didn’t matter that I was disabled. I physically walk with a different swagger after Camp Patriot.”

Clark is proud of every veteran he has helped, but he wants more. He wants the ranch. Just given that chance he would set up lessons on livestock care, beekeeping, canning, ranch development and maintenance. Every time he speaks of the place he mentions a new connection willing to help.

Still, the reality remains that his goal of $2.5 million by the Fourth of July next year is far off. His capital campaign has raised $45,000 for the purchase of the ranch. He is open to selling naming rights to a lake on the property. For the right price he would paint a corporation’s logo on the roof of a barn. Just give him the chance.

“I just want to show guys they have the ability to continue living life,” Clark said. “Show them a light at the end of the tunnel.”