EXTRA! Interview
John Thompson, President
Soldiers Undertaking Disabled SCUBA

Organization helps wounded
soldiers enjoy the water in
ways they never dreamed

By Doug Thompson

John Thompson calls the Soldiers Undertaking Disabled SCUBA the most rewarding project he’s ever been involved in. Since founding SUDS in February 2007, more than 250 soldiers have learned how to dive through the program.

Thompson, 46, has used his experience as a certified dive instructor and mountaineering guide to connect and teach soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq how to dive and enjoy the water as part of their physical therapy and recovery. SUDS is a non-profit organization, and does its initial dive and classroom training at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The student divers then go on dive outings at locations such as Florida, North Carolina and the Caribbean.

Southern Boating Magazine interviewed Thompson about the program and how it has evolved.

SB: How did you become involved in Soldiers Undertaking Disabled SCUBA?
JT: I had been living in the Caribbean for a number of years and working in the dive industry, and then I met a woman in the Army there, and we got married. Then she was transferred to Walter Reed in Bethesda.

I went to lunch with her at Walter Reed, and saw these young men and women with serious injuries and it was a gut check. I decided I wanted to get involved in 2006, so I went to the American Red Cross at the hospital and volunteered. I had to go through a detailed process for volunteers, including a blood test and background check. I told them I had worked for Colorado Outward Bound as an alpine mountaineering guide, and also for many years as a dive instructor in the Caribbean. They needed someone for aquatic therapy, so I started doing that and it just clicked. Here’s the swimming pool, here are all these injured men and women, and I’m a dive instructor. Let’s see if we can use SCUBA to facilitate the rehabilitation process.

I didn’t have any equipment, or any money to secure equipment, but I borrowed some from my friends. A local dive shop in Annapolis, Md., gave us a bunch of equipment for free. Then we ran our first trip in February 2007 down to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I had contacts there, and it’s kind of the forbidden fruit—no one really gets to go to Gitmo. Bloomberg News found out about it, and came down and filmed it, and that was the catalyst for it taking off and going where it’s gone today.

I was in the U.S. Army National Guard for seven years myself. I was there in a time of peace and I never was deployed, but this is my way of giving back to these guys who made such a big sacrifice.

SB: How many soldiers have been involved since you started, and how has the program evolved?
JT: We have trained well over 250. We have had some guys that have started the program and were discharged before they completed it. In the last 12 to 18 months we have had a lot of guys that are getting their open-water certification and want to achieve a higher level of certification, like advanced open water and rescue diver. We have guys that are wanting to progress up the ladder, and some want to be a dive master or instructor so they can be a mentor to the new guys coming into the military hospitals that have been injured in Iraq or Afghanistan..

The way we run it takes about four weeks. We do confined water training at the hospital in the aquatic therapy pool, and we do an academic classroom portion, where they take the quizzes and exams on the theory. Then we take them on trip so they can get their advanced certification.

SB: What soldier story do you remember most?
JT: One young guy was in the Marine Corp., and he was a bi-lateral AK-BK, meaning he was missing both of his legs, one above the knee, one below the knee. We had taken a trip to Puerto Rico and Hurricane Ike (September 2009) had just come through and we almost had to cancel the trip. We skirted the hurricane and the diving conditions were not good for the first couple of days, and we were trying to find something to do because the guys were really antsy and wanted to get into the water.

We get these guys when they are just four months or so into rehabilitation, so they are really fresh from their injuries. One kid was disengaged from the group, not taking part in the activities and conversations. So on these first couple of days we couldn’t dive and we were on the beach, and we had the soldiers using boogie boards and swimming. This guy was just sitting by himself, not taking part in anything. I went over and said “Hey, let’s get out on this big boogie board and give it a try.” And he said, “Nah, I don’t want to do it.” He was watching everyone but not wanting to be a part of it. So I tried one last time, and said, “Let’s give it a shot.” And he said, “OK.” So I put him on my shoulders and carried him to the water, which was about waist deep for me, and he got him up on the boogie board.

It took him a little bit to get his balance, because he didn’t have any legs, but he got balanced out, and a nice wave came in and I shoved him off and he caught that wave and rode it all the way into shore, and that was the first time I had seen him smile.  Then the next three or four days, we got him out diving and got his certification done.

Catching that one wave was the turning point in his trip. When he returned back to D.C., his buddies told me that trip changed his outlook and attitude on a number of things. And it wasn’t even diving; it was just catching that one wave.

SB: Does water help a disabled soldier move more efficiently and where do you schedule the dives?
JT: The water certainly helps because they are not tied to their wheelchair or prosthetics. You are in an anti-gravity environment, almost like an astronaut floating through space. You can certainly be missing both your legs and get into the water and scuba dive do it just fine.

Another thing they say is that underwater is peaceful, and they are not hearing explosions or firearms, it’s just very peaceful. They say that no one is looking at them underwater, because when they are out and about at home in the airport people stare at them and their prosthetics. I see it also because I travel with them and people stare.

We take them to the Caribbean and places that have military installations so we can get some military support. I have a lot of contacts and use them, but the military does not fund these trips. But going to places that I have lived and worked help us do these trips cost effectively.

We go to Curacao, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Guantanamo, North Carolina and sometimes to Florida.

SB: How has new diving technology help SUDS work with disabled soldiers?
JT: One thing that is so great about diving and amputations is that you don’t need a lot of special stuff. It’s pretty basic; some guys will use webbed gloves, like a guy missing both of his legs. They do make prosthetics for swimming, but a lot of guys missing both legs don’t like using them. They look awkward and it takes a lot of training; a guy that was 6-2 may be only 4 feet tall now with shortened swimming legs. In rare instance we use these James Bond-type scooters called Dive Propulsion Vehicles for people that are paralyzed. But most of the guys we work with are amputees.

We also use a weight-integrated BCD, buoyancy control device, for guys who are missing a leg. It’s a jacket and you can shift the weight around. If a guy is missing his right leg, you need more weight on that right side. If he is missing both of his legs, he will roll forward, so you can use the weight integrated BCD and it is very beneficial.

SB: What’s ahead for SUDS, how is organized and how can our readers help?
JT: We are a subordinate chapter of Disabled Sports USA. The program has gotten a lot of traction in the last 18 months, as a lot of people that have been discharged have been hearing about the program. We receive a lot of requests from guys that want to get certified, and on a case by case basis we work with dive shops and injured soldiers around the country.

The average cost to train and take the dive trips is approximately $1,800. SUDS has many supporters who believe that the program is valuable for our wounded soldiers and receive private donations, dive shops have fund-raising activities and donation of equipment has helped the program grow.

We are a 501 c 3 not-for-profit, most of our funding comes from regular folks and some companies give us a donation each year. There are dive shops, like the South Florida Dive Club, that is doing a fund-raiser at the Miami Boat Show.

On SUDS no one is really full time. We run the class every Thursday, and my main instructor lives in Delaware and comes down five hours round trip to teach the class. We have half a dozen volunteer dive instructors and another half a dozen that do admin and social media. So there are about 12 of us, none full time, but we all have our niche.

I wear a lot of different hats. I do the SUDS thing, and I’m a boat captain and dive instructor. This summer I will be guiding some trips for Outward Bound in Colorado. I piece it all together and make it a full-time job with all of them.

I have worked in the non-profit sector my entire adult life, and I get to share my passion of diving and the outdoors with these guys that have laid it all on the line. I have the best job in the world. Our military personnel have given so much for our country and for us, and what I am doing is minimal. I feel blessed that God has given me this opportunity to share what little skills and knowledge that I have with these guys.