Alot of the soldiers that we take on these fishing trips are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Some of these soldiers have been diagnosed with these conditions and then there are those that are too proud to admit that they may have a problem. Nightmares. Insomnia. Headaches. Constant nervousness and the inability to fit back into society. These are all conditions that we have been told that these fishing trips have helped with. Soldiers have told us these things. Not to mention being proud to wear their uniform again and to have served despite their injuries. This doesn’t come from my wife and I, this comes from you as the community. The ones that support these soldiers not with just boats but food and prizes and hotel rooms and the smiles and handshakes. The simple thank yous that you say make all the difference in the world to these soldiers.

Our program started ambitiously and not without its ups and downs. Thank you to all of those that have stood by us and the service members. The coming year will have some changes in store for our fishing program for Ft Hood. There will be more organization and structure for each event.

We also work with other non profit organizations to work towards one common goal. Whether its riding bicycles or offroading or maybe antique cars are your passion. We can bring it all together in one place for service members to find. We would like to be an extensive (non government)network for service members.

THE FT. HOOD FISHING PROGRAM
This year we had 11 fishing trips that were organized all across Texas.
We took close to 330 service members fishing.
We had 226 registered boaters for our events.
We drove 3,896 miles

This does not include the numbers of service members that have used the site to hook up with a boater and go fishing. There are 600+ members of this site and the number contiues to grow each day. 75% of the members of this site are citizens wanting to take service members fishing and the other 25% are waiting for the right person to post an offer to go in their neck of the woods.

Combat Warrior Crisis Network will be launching the website http://www.takeasoldierhunting.org sometime in early 2009 as well as our home site http://www.combatwarriorcrisisnetwork.org . CWCN will be offering, in 2009, marriage counseling for wounded soldiers and marriage retreats as well. We are completely dependent upon donations to make all of this work for everyone so if you can help then please do. If you already support us and our programs thank you very much. God Bless.

Sincerely Mike and Dena Nashif

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Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI. One died for your soul and the other for your freedom.

Check out our video on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjk_DaUBNi8

Thank You
Robert

hope all is well and wishing you a great new year. I am writing also to ask you a question. If developed correctly do you think that this video game I am working on is something that you could see yourself getting behind one day given everything else contracually was in line. i will give you a summary of what i have so far:

would you be interested in checking out a Bassmaster tournament fishing game if it had some of the following:

EA sports BASSMASTER ELITE SERIES 2Kxx

1. developed using top notch graphic engines , that would spectacularly display both above and below water scenery

2.use real fisherman from the pro tour with stats , weaknesses / strengths ect. as well as create your own player

3.set up in a tournament fashion time lapsed.
a. points in tournaments would earn you up in rank for career / season and give you money and sponsorships from real companies which would unlock real equipment (boats, tackle, baits, ect.) for you to spend your winnings on.

4. used real digital topo maps that are widely used for real fisheries. access these maps during game play by using your GPS / depthfinder.
a. you could pick a section of lake to hit at a time when competing against other players as well as “hot spots” shown by computer based on difficulty level

5. used real fish behaviour based on time of day / time of year / weather and water conditions. with real fishing patterns

6.used motion sensory based controls for casting and fighting fish. that are optionally turned off for d-pad gameplay

7. Online capabilities for tournaments or co op career with other people (co-op / co angler too??- 2 people in a boat see *), as well as for purchase of new players, gear (again real gear from real companies), and maps

* you could technically go fishing on san rayburn with your brother that lives in seattle while you are sitting in your living room in MI and talk via blue tooth headset. just like you are sitting in the boat next to him.

8. ability to play your own music during events

9. part of the proceeds could go to a conservation department fund for waterway preservation

Fishing games in the past have left a lot to be desired from both the gamer and the angler alike. I have thought of all the things that I (being both the gamer and an avid angler) want and would look for in a game like this. IMO this kind of a game could turn any other fishing game on it’s head. I feel like it could even cath on with people that don’t fish either, possibly turning them on to the great sport. fishing is also a world wide sport, and I think something like this could have a cult following effect, and get a lot of attention . I know that the artists could make some eye popping HD visuals of the natural environments as well as cut scenes.
Thanks for checking out this thread and I am interested in your toughts and or ideas on something like this.

best wishes,
Andy

Dale,Julia,& Charlie Burks