THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022 A9
Veterans rally through Redmond
Riders find brotherhood,
camaraderie on back of a
motorcycle
BY NICK ROSENBERGER
Redmond Spokesman
As the sun baked the gravel
near the Veterans of Foreign
Wars Post 4108 building in Red-
mond on August 20, a brother-
hood of veterans came together
to share their stories and passion
for motorcycles during the re-
gional rally for the Combat Vet-
erans Motorcycle Association.
Tony “Goonie” Cox, a mem-
ber of CVMA’s Oregon Chapter
29-6 knows just how meaning-
ful this brotherhood can be after
serving in the Korangal Valley
in Afghanistan as an advisor to
the Afghan military.
The Korangal Valley was
one of the deadliest military
campaigns during the war in
Afghanistan, so deadly that it
was nicknamed “the Valley of
Death.”
Cox went to Korangal twice
and both times got shot at in-
cessantly. Cox knew they were
going to get hit traveling to or
from the dangerous valley.
“It was just something you
had to get used to,” he said.
Despite this, he loved his time
working with Afghans. Return-
ing home, however, he saw a
disconnect between his experi-
ence and what fellow Americans
thought he had done.
“Civilians ... they don’t under-
stand what you went through,”
he said. “They see things in the
movies and they think that’s
how it is and it’s actually com-
pletely not. Most movies get it
completely wrong.”
Coming back from conflict
zones like the Korangal Val-
ley can be difficult and deadly,
as PTSD and other invisible
wounds follow soldiers home.
The Combat Veterans Motorcy-
cle Association, in turn, was cre-
ated to build a brotherhood of
veterans helping veterans.
“It’s hard to let that guard
down,” Cox said. “But around
other veterans, they understand
you, they get you. You can let
that guard down around them
and be yourself.”
While members of the or-
ganization ride motorcycles,
they’re focused on helping all
veterans — not just those who
ride or were in combat.
Their main goal, Cox said, is
to help veterans in their commu-
nities in any way, shape or form.
He said if a veteran in an old
soldier’s home just wants to hear
the rumble of the bikes, CMVA
will drive by. If a veteran needs
an ADA ramp for their home,
CVMA will get the supplies and
build it. If CVMA has the funds
and a veteran needs their water
bill paid, the organization will
cover it. When a veteran has
reached the end of their lives,
CMVA will escort them to their
final resting place.
“Whatever we can do to help
the veterans in our commu-
nity,” he said, “that’s what we’re
about.”
CVMA, Cox said, is the fast-
est growing veteran service
organization in the country
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
Joey Taylor plays with his 12-week old puppy named Bailey during the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Regional Rally at the VFW Post
4108 on August 20 in Redmond.
Duane Klassen
sits on his
bike during
the Combat
Veterans
Motorcycle
Association
Regional Rally
at the VFW
Post 4108 on
August 20 in
Redmond.
Nick Rosenberger/
Spokesman
and has detachments across
the state. They’re working on
growing their Central Oregon
detachment because Cox said
“there’s a need here.”
The organization has few
requirements to join. As long
as interested veterans have a
motorcycle over 500CCs and
have served in a combat zone,
they’re welcome. It doesn’t mat-
ter where the bullets were flying
as long as they received hazard
pay, Cox said.
They also accept active duty
members. Women can become
full-patch members, which is
different from most motorcycle
organizations. But CMVA is fo-
cused on bringing everyone to-
gether into a giant brotherhood
and sisterhood.
This camaraderie draws
many to its ranks, like Ben
“Whiplash” Nelson, a Marine
Corps veteran and a lifetime
member of CVMA. He said
when he was in the Marine
Corps, it felt like he had people’s
back and they had his back. Be-
ing in the organization, he said,
re-instills that in life.
When he gets back from rid-
ing, he said it feels like he’s com-
pleted a mission.
“It’s like I went out, I cleaned
my soul, I’m ready to live life
again,” he said. “It just blows
the problems right out of your
body.”
This is a common feeling vet-
eran motorcyclists call “wind
therapy.” While it can be diffi-
cult to describe, the euphoric
feeling of riding a motorcycle on
a wide-open road can help vet-
erans take their minds off their
experiences.
“You get the wind hitting
you and it just calms you down,
mellows you out,” Cox said. “Ev-
erybody has a different way of
doing that.”
“It’s cheaper than going to a
counselor,” said Joey Taylor, a
tattoo artist and a member of
the V-Twin Project — a non-
CARS
profit focused on giving away
motorcycles to veterans and ac-
tive service members. In 2023,
the group hopes to give away
seven motorcycles.
After his friend Sgt. Kevin
Ross took his own life, Taylor
started the Silent Ride in 2015
— an annual event on the third
Saturday of July that draws hun-
dreds of riders to the Stone-
henge Monument in Wash-
ington. They meet up at Biggs
Junction and cross over the
bridge into Washington at the
same time.
“We have a ceremony up
there,” Taylor said. “We have a
list of names of veterans that’ve
taken their own lives. We have
speakers, therapists, counselors,
veterans tell their story.”
Six years ago, they had a min-
ister and therapist named Rob
who had almost 500 people
hold hands and talk about the
human connection. Taylor can
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still feel that moment.
“He said something that still
stuck with me,” Taylor said.
“We’re only as sick as our se-
crets.”
While wind therapy might
be the way to flush these secrets
away on the highways, there is
also “dirt therapy” to flush them
away in nature.
Bryan Mitchell and JJ Mo-
rell, both veterans, attended the
CVMA regional rally as volun-
teers for Veterans Back 40 Ad-
venture and are focused on tak-
ing veterans out into the wild on
dirt bikes.
Mitchell said they try to pro-
vide an outlet for guys to get off
the couch for the weekend, ride
bikes with their military broth-
ers and sisters and sit around
a campfire sharing stories. He
said a lot of veterans feel like
outsiders in public and this dirt
therapy gives them an opportu-
nity to feel like they belong.
“You’re back in the woods, up
in the mountains, you’re riding
along a river all day, it’s incred-
ible,” Mitchell said. “It’s thera-
peutic.”
Ultimately, Veterans Back 40
Adventure aims to help veterans
find purpose, a community of
other vets to talk to and some-
body to call if they’re having a
bad day.
“Too many guys are taking
their lives these days,” Mitchell
said. “We’re just trying to pro-
vide outlets for them.”
Mitchell and Morell have
seen it work, too. Every once in
a while, they’ll get a phone call
or email from someone who at-
tended one of their events say-
ing it changed their lives after
being on the edge. It’s difficult
when you lose one, Morell said,
but every single person they’ve
saved is another life saved and is
absolutely worth it.
“We’re all volunteers,” Mo-
rell said. “Every piece of blood,
sweat and tears that we put into
this is because we love what we
do. We see it work.”
█
Reporter: nrosenberger@
redmondspokesman.com
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