In 2015, I came home from Afghanistan carrying memories that never slept: the sights and smells of combat and cowardly suicide bombings; the faces of brothers and a sister who didn’t make it back from that mission. Survivor’s guilt, depression, and constant flashbacks followed me everywhere. Then one afternoon I picked up a bow for the first time in over a year. For two glorious hours while shooting that bow, Afghanistan went quiet. No images, no sounds—just the pin floating on gold and the steady rhythm of my own breath. I’ve been chasing that silence ever since, and now I help other veterans and first responders find it too.
That’s why I started ENDEX Archery in my own backyard here in the Lynchburg Region. What began as a small foam target and a handful of borrowed bows has grown into a quiet movement. We’ve personally equipped and mentored more than 70 combat veterans, police officers, firefighters and trauma survivors—many right here in Lynchburg, Campbell County, and Bedford County—with over $120,000 worth of bows, arrows, and instruction, all of it volunteer-driven and donation-funded.
An Army veteran who came to us after medical separation put it best: “Alcohol and the gun range were costing me everything—relationships, money, peace of mind. ENDEX handed me a compound bow and everything changed. Each draw is like releasing the weight I carry. The range is quiet; the people actually talk. I finally found a community that gets it.” He loved it so much he went to bring more veterans into the sport.
Another hero, a local first responder, told me after his first hour of instruction: “I was shooting tight groups—and smiling like a kid. Then I realized my anxiety had almost vanished. Now whenever the weight feels heavy, I grab my bow and go clear my head.”
Archery works because it demands everything at once—repetition, balance, breath control, logic—and gives you something rare for people with PTSD: total focus that crowds out the noise. But the real magic happens in the community that forms around the archery range. Archers are some of the best people on earth; they become a trusted support network without ever forcing anyone to sit in a circle and “share.” We stand shoulder-to-shoulder, talk about windage and arrow spine, and somehow end up talking about life.
To every business leader reading this in the Lynchburg Region: your veteran and first-responder employees are already carrying more than their job descriptions show. You don’t have to become a therapist. You simply have to know that avenues like ENDEX exist—quiet places where a bow and a target can do more in an hour than months of appointments sometimes can—and then make it easier for your people to get there. Sponsor a range day. Cover a tournament entry. Ask how you can invest in the whole person, because when they come back calmer and clearer, your entire team wins.
We have the vision: 100 acres in Central Virginia that will one day hold indoor and 3D ranges, tiny homes for retreat guests, and space for hundreds of heroes and their families to heal together. We have the plan. We even have the people waiting. The only thing standing between where we are and where we’re meant to be is funding. If a single arrow can quiet a war that still rages in someone’s mind, imagine what a hundreds of them can do.