SUMMERLAND KEY, Fla. – The ongoing effort to save Florida’s endangered coral reefs recently received some extra muscle from wounded US Veterans. Earlier this summer, members of Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge were back in Summerland Key, joining scientists and restoration practitioners from Mote Marine Laboratory in the Florida Keys for another mission.
CWVC was founded in 2010 to help injured veterans overcome physical, medical and personal challenges through high adventure and extreme outdoor activities.
“It’s really another way of serving the country, just in a different capacity,” explained retired Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Billy Costello.
For 13 years, the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge has partnered with Mote to scale and speed up coral restoration efforts in the lower Keys. Mote is a non-profit marine research organization that supports marine science and education.
“We can’t do it by ourselves,” explained Mote President and CEO Michael P. Crosby. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, and they’re all in it with us to make sure we’re going to be successful.”
The work has never been more critical. Florida’s reef tract, the third largest in the world, has already lost more than 90 percent of its coral cover due to disease and climate change.
Last summer was the hottest ever recorded on the planet, hot tub water temperatures scalded nearshore corals and Florida experienced the worst mass bleaching event in history.
“It was rough, and our reef took a real hit,” Mote Coral Reef Restoration Program Manager Jason Spadaro said.
Now in the wake of last summer’s devastation, these veterans are determined to make a difference.
“The reefs are covering this planet, and they all need help,” explained retired U.S. Army Specialist Charlie Lemon. “And the more people we have, the quicker we can handle this and get caught up, because we’re way behind.”
Lemon lost both of his legs in Iraq when an EFP bomb hit his truck. Lemon says this challenge has given him a renewed sense of purpose.
“It’s been a blessing because it’s really given us a mission, and being in the military, that was our number one priority: mission first,” Lemon explained.
The mission this time was to help maintain Mote’s coral nurseries off Looe Key and Sand Key.
The veterans partnered with teenage volunteers from Scubanauts International, a marine conservation nonprofit that engages young people to pursue science education through underwater exploration. Together the teams scrubbed down coral trees, removing harmful algae that can impede the health of coral fragments that are hung there to grow and propagate.
They also hammered into the seafloor the new anchors that will become the bases for new coral trees.
“It’s mission-based diving…it’s diving with a purpose,” Costello said. “We’re getting together with fellow veterans that have been through a traumatic injury. We’re going out with a new mindset, a new mission, to help the environment.”
Indeed, the motto of Combat Wounded Veterans Challenge is “Vulneror, non vincor”: I am wounded, not defeated.
“And our reefs are kind of in the same state where they’re, they’re wounded and they’re degraded, but they’re not gone, and they’re not out of the fight at all by any means,” said Spadaro.
But restoration is working and for these veterans being part of this worldwide effort to save our corals is deeply personal.
“I just had my first son 11 months ago, and I could see him being a scuba diver like his dad,” said Lemon. “And I want those reefs to be good, I want to be in good shape for him.”
“Everybody walks away at the end of this week with a sense of pride, with of all the accomplishments that we’ve done throughout the week,” said Costello.
“The knowledge that they are helping to bring back a coral reef here that is on the verge of extinction,” reflected Crosby. “And with their help, we are going to bring it back.”
In all, 77 combat wounded veterans joined Mote Marine Lab for the two-day restoration challenge, 22 of them were Purple Heart recipients.
“These men and women of Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge are incredibly resilient. They’re strong,” noted Crosby, “They are now part of the Mote family.”
This story would not be possible without the contribution of underwater videographer Mike Zimmer Production.