A new boot camp concept is cropping up鈥攊t trades rope climbing and tire hopping for planting and irrigating. In other words, instead of preparing soldiers for war, it aims to help them transition to peace, as farmers.
The 鈥渧eteran-centric鈥 farming movement, as reporter Patricia Leigh Brown refers to it in , offers veterans and soldiers a chance to return to civilian life, and with a purpose. 鈥淚t gives them a mission statement鈥攁 responsibility to the consumer eating their food,鈥 said Colin Archipley in the article. Archipley is a decorated Marine Corps Infantry sergeant who completed three tours in Iraq. He also owns organic farm , which offers a six-week program鈥攄reamed up by Archipley and his wife鈥攊ntended for both veterans and active-duty military personnel. The syllabus was approved by a transition assistance program at nearby Camp Pendleton (not too far from San Diego) and includes hands-on farming activities as well as lessons in business, according to the .
Sunny so-Cal isn't the only place where soldiers can exchange a gun for a hoe, either. The , founded by organic farmer Michael O鈥橤orman after his son joined the Coast Guard, introduces veterans 鈥渢o the range of opportunities in our industry, or helps support and advance them if they have already chosen our field,鈥 states the non-profit鈥檚 . Among its ammenities, the site offers online resources and a list of existing 鈥渇arming veterans.鈥
Laboring over crops demands strength, stamina, and a drive to succeed, no doubt. Considering the likelihood that half of all farmers will retire in the next decade, who more equipped to pick up the slack than military men and women?鈥攅specially those returning to the rural communities they left, which represent 45 percent of the military.
Though some of the requirements might be the same to work on a farm as in a battlefield, however, there are notable contrasts. 鈥淥ne thing I鈥檝e noticed about agriculture,鈥 Mike Nelson Hanes, once a machine gunner, told the NYTimes, 鈥測ou become a creator rather than a destroyer.鈥