THE SOUL
Veteran Rites was born from a desperate prayer of a 14-year Army Infantry ground pounder seeking to find a hole "to scream into it" after returning home from combat in Afghanistan.
With nothing to lose and on the brink of suicide, he answered the call to take his story to the wilderness as warfighters have done since time immemorial to make meaning of their suffering. Through fasting, self-generated ceremony, and a return to community willing to hold his grief with their hearts, he was able to lay down what no longer served, put his pistol back on the shelf, and return initiated into society. He found a wise civilian guide that had walked with hundreds through their dark nights of the soul in their return to wholeness.
In 2017, they put out the call for veterans seeking their own answers to the questions we all struggle with after service;
Who AM I? What's My Purpose? Where do I Belong?
Many started to answer and begin their walk to the land only made possible through Civilian Angels willing to show up for the whole Veteran story. We started Coming Home Together. In 2024, we continued to live into that question of what it means to be fully human, in a body, and in community after service.
THE STORY
2024 marked a year of death and rebirith for Veteran Rites. We convened three Rites of Return, a Mirroring Workshop, Memorial Council of Remembrance at American Lake, Monthly Frequency Healing at the Seattle Vet Center, and held a Rite of Return Guide Training Ceremony, empowering, inviting, and deeply investing in the next generation of veteran guides and peer facilitators to carry our prayer of being a presence where our community feels seen, heard, and worthy of being alive.
Shortly after guide training and our fall Rite of Return, our beloved mentor, co-founder Larry Hobbs transitioned to the Great Rite of Passage in the sky after his four-year battle with cancer, inspiring us all to grieve well and rise stong in our commitment to being Wild and Free, Reverant Towards All, Whole in Body, Heart, Mind, and Spirit, with Nature as Guide and Mirror, and to Rise Together in Unity and Difference.
As we were greiving this death we were selected as a recipient for the VA's SSG Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Program in the Pacific Northwest, with additional funding and an invitation to join a nationwide network to put suicide prevention back into the veteran and community-based programs that can meet our people where they are at. Our call in accepting the SSG Fox is to demonstrate that our kind of values and work are essential in bringing our people all the way home so they can enjoy a future worthy of thier sacrifice. We will always remain rooted and prepared to serve anyone that answers the call within to take the next step with Veteran Rites, whether or not they are served through the SSG Fox program or not. Preliminary impact highlights are included at the end of this report and a full impact evaluation of SSG Fox on those we serve will be completed in winter of 2026.
In 2024 we found the Strength to Rise like our initiates so courageously reminded us how to do at the Rite of Return and at our first Incorporation Gathering. We rose in solidarity with the WA State's Governor's Challenge to Prevent Veteran Suicide, with our partners at the Seahakaws Task Force 12, in small circles at the Seattle Vet Center, and in countless peer-led Circles of Return where skilled veteran facilitators bring their talents and authentic lived experience to combat isolation so we can heal and live fully in a return to true belonging.
Our volunteers rose with us, bringing over 1,100 hours of chopping wood and carrying water in ceremonies and circles of healing. Our community partners and funders gave us the confidence and resources to invest keeping our people and programs safe (thank you Boeing and Boeing Employees), as we continue to listen deeply and respond to what our military and civilian angel family needs to join our circles to reclaim True Identity, Purpose, and Belonging. We rose and sang with Listening to Smile and trained at the The Wilderness Guides Council.
In 2024 we tilled the soil and planted a new Roots of Resilience course as a prerequisite to the Rite of Return or to be taken as a standalone "shallow water" rally point to begin the journey of coming home whole. With the creation and continuous improvement of Roots, we set a directional stone to complete the circle years in the making...
THE QUESTIONS
As this is being written we are living into the question of "How do we stay true to our compassionate authenticity while also being responsive to the people we serve and what is being called by SSG Fox to integrate science and spirit?"
Which guide trainees will beging to emerge as leaders of our circles and ceremonies? How will our community help inform the strengthening Roots of Resilience, Rite of Return, Rites for Incorporation, and Circles of Return? How do we keep leaning into the teachings to REST and REBALANCE in our own bodies, the body of our organization, and social fabric of our community while doing what needs to be done to serve the people? How do we continue to bring in to balance pay that empowers everyone that contributes to this mission and ceremony?
What would a home for VR look, smell, and feel like with renewed funding (thank you Harnish Foundation) for that purpose? What stories will break us open and change us? How can we stay as close to the ground and keep it simple as we grow and strengthen? How can we partner better, listen deeper, AND soften with the self-care we espouse? How do we carry these gifts in a good way and in OUR WAY?
All I know is this incredible team of whole veteran and civilian angel leaders will always keep showing up as Larry did with and open and authentic heart that is in sincere prayer and devotion to the real grief, whole person, and untold story. Because our scars from service are half the story, the community we come back to writes the rest. Thank you for the privilige to hold the edges of the circle of belonging with you.
Cj Ryan Euegene Mielcarek
Seabee OIF Veteran
Executive Director, Veteran Rites
