How Camelbak Delivered “Quiet Water” for a Montana Vets Outfit

To quote Bobby Boucher- "that's what I call high quality H2O!" Check out what Camelbak did to help deliver some "quiet water" for our nation's veterans and a Montana-based veteran's nonprofit.

As an Iraq/Afghanistan veteran who is honored to serve on the National Advisory Board for the Bozeman, Montana-based Warriors & Quiet Waters- I got word that Camelbak was generously using their perch at the SHOT Show to give back to our nation's veterans.

I was down in Las Vegas last week for the SHOT Show- the world's biggest gun and outdoor gear show, and once I wrapped up our LIVE radio coverage I figured I should stop in and say THANK YOU to our friends at Camelbak.

For those who aren't familiar with Camelbak, we used their products a LOT overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Instead of a canteen on your hip, you could carry the water on your back, or embedded inside of your backpack or rucksack.

So what did Camelbak do?

They gave out some free Camelbak water mugs at the SHOT Show, but in order to get the mug- you had to donate at least $25 to Warriors & Quiet Waters (WQW).

How'd it go?

They completely ran out of mugs and raised nearly $9,000 that will now go to support our nation's veterans and WQW!

For those who may not be familiar with Warriors & Quiet Waters, this is a national organization serving veterans and military service personnel from all over the country- but we have the honor as Montanans of being home to this gold standard veterans service program.

What does WQW do?

When you think of WQW, you think Bozeman, Montana, wounded warriors, and fly fishing. But, as you can see from the photo above- they've added hunting and ice fishing into the mix as well. In the photo above, they were out on the ice near Malta, Montana with several post 9-11 veterans for their "Ice FX." FX stands for "fishing experience," but in the military it is also a shorthand term for field exercise. Obviously, they do much more than this...but this gives you an idea.

How did WQW start? 

Retired Marine Corps Colonel Eric Hastings is the founder of WQW.

When he returned to Montana in 1969, to a nation decades from diagnosing Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), he went straight to the water. He tied a fly to a line and cast. The river, he claims, healed him. Hastings and Dr. Volney Steele found they shared a vision of bringing warriors with both seen and unseen wounds from recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to Montana to find the peace and hope they mutually found through fishing. In July and September of 2007, Hastings, Steele, and dozens of other dedicated volunteers brought Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation’s first two groups of traumatically injured combat veterans to Bozeman.

If you missed out at the SHOT Show, you can donate by visiting WQWF.org/donate.