Guests at the Boots on the Beach fundraiser at the Riomar Country Club were united in their support of the nonprofit Boot Campaign, which provides individualized, life-improving care to struggling military members and their families.
In her welcome, Shelley Kirkland, Boot Campaign CEO said that the critical word in their mission statement is unite.
“To us at Boot Campaign, unite is more than a word. It’s an action. It’s a reminder that healing, hope and lasting change happen when we come together as a country. It’s a reminder that we can put aside differences and stand side by side for something that’s other than ourselves, just like our veterans and military community do each and every day. So please reflect tonight how you can be part of uniting America,” said Kirkland.
Founded 16 years ago, Boot Campaign is committed to transparency and adaptability in their services to those who have laced up their boots to defend our freedoms. Veterans struggling with brain injuries, post-traumatic stress, chronic pain, self-medication and insomnia receive health and wellness programs catered to their needs.
In a video presentation one veteran recalled that his unprocessed trauma and grief resulted in such “soul-crushing pain” that he didn’t want anyone, even his children, in his personal space. After experiencing suicidal thoughts, he said Boot Campaign saved his life.
Guest speaker, retired U.S. Navy SEAL Karl “Gus” Gustavson, joined the Navy in the wake of 9/11, driven by a deep sense of duty. He served with Navy Special Warfare Development Group, aka SEAL Team Six, with multiple deployments, before retiring after 22 years of service in 2024.
Gustavson said that on the wall of the room he shared with his older brother was a picture of one boy piggybacked on another that read, “He ain’t heavy, Father … he’s my brother.”
“It was a constant reminder. I had a brother and he was there and we supported each other through thick and thin,” said Gustavson.
He related that during a high-risk Tier 1 National Mission Force mission, two men who had taken him under their wing were killed, and he was shot in his leg.
SEAL training, he said, stresses the importance of always having your buddy’s back and of carrying the weight of your teammates.
“And it’s more than just a physical weight,” said Gustavson. It extends to the responsibility of your teammates’ safety, supporting and carrying them and ensuring they come home safely.
That night, he said, they had the responsibility of carrying those men from the battlefield to the medivac helicopter, as other teammates supported his weight as well.
Despite what he called some of the darkest moments of his career, he decided to do whatever it took to return to the team. He recovered and returned to active service thanks to a “really brilliant orthopedic surgeon” at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, and the united mental and emotional support of all of his teammates. His last 15 years at SEAL Team Six, and 11 of his 15 deployments, came after the injury.
“I might not have made it through if it hadn’t been for people who were willing that night, on the battlefield, to support my physical weight, but also the people in the aftermath of that who were willing to support that emotional burden of helping me get through that. And I never forgot that.”
After he retired, he went to Normandy, France, with some other retired SEAL Team Six members, and 200 survivors from World War II were there to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. He said he was reminded of the weight those men had carried, before they returned home and essentially helped rebuild America and the world.
“This is what unifies us as a nation. Our willingness to bear the burden, to pay any price, to pay any cost, and to support physically and emotionally and mentally the needs of the country. But also the needs of the servicemen and women who are coming home and who are bearing some of these invisible scars and who are going through some of these physical things, mental things and emotional things,” said Gustavson.
The mission of Boot Campaign immediately resonated with him, reinforcing that the burden of these veterans isn’t heavy because they’re all his brothers.
“It extends to everybody in this nation and the way that we should unify and carry the burden of the people that we work with and the people that we work around and whatever side of the political aisle we fall on. We’re all brothers and sisters,” said Gustavson.
Photos by Amy Saville
For more information, visit BootCampaign.com.
