Military support was the order of the day as returned veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan got a lesson in hydroflight recently on Mission Bay thanks to the nonprofit Warrior Passion.
The so-called first “anti-gravity sport,” hydroflight involves pumping water from a hose channeled through a jet ski to propel a jetpack-clad user into the air.
Warrior Passion is a nonprofit group devoted exclusively to helping returned veterans transitioning back to civilian life. On Sept. 14, Warrior Passion teamed with Jetpack America to treat returned vets to their own customized flight lesson.
“Every day of the year we’re here at Mission Bay Sportscenter doing our flights,” said Dean O’Malley, president of Jetpack, which has two other locations in Newport Beach and Las Vegas. “Warrior Passion is here with us today, and it is a giving-back-to-the-community day for us.”
Of hydroflight, O’Malley noted, “This is a recreational, safe activity. You don’t have to be any type of special athlete or risk-taker to take this out and do it.”
“We want to be a part of starting to give these guys something to be more passionate about in life again, that camaraderie they had in the military,” said Joe (Chik) Porrazzo, Warrior Passion’s founder/president, a veteran and pilot who served in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.”It’s a healing process. And we’re part of that process.”
Porrazzo added it “feels wonderful to put a smile on these guys faces.” He noted Warrior Passion is “100 percent veteran owned and operated,” adding, it’s amazing to see how shared activities, like recreational sporting in this instance, can help bring vets together and give them a renewed sense of purpose.
“We’ve brought down veterans from the Marines, Army infantry and sailors and, guess what? When they met, they all called each other brothers right from the get-go,” Porrazzo said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
About noon on a late-summer sunny day out on Mission Bay, soldiers tried their luck at hydroflight. An experienced hand went first, climbing 10 to 20 feet into the air, swerving and performing deft movements as if it were second nature making it look easy.
Uninitiated vets, some of whom came down for the day from as far aways as Temecula, then tried their luck with decidedly less-impressive results. One initiate struggled repeatedly to get six inches off the water before losing control and deep-sixing into the bay.
But it was all part of the fun — and the cause.
“A veteran coming back trying to get back to a normal life is trying to figure out what is a normal life,” noted Porrazzo. “It gives you a different perspective.”
But Porrazzo added that with TLC and a little fun and camaraderie, the task of reintegrating returned vets back into society is doable.
“It’s going to take a full effort to really get these guys back on the road to recovery,” he said. “It’s a puzzle that’s going to take time. We’re a piece of that puzzle.”
For more information, visit www.warriorpassion.org.