A WAVE OF HEALING

FORMER SERVICE MEMBERS STRUGGLING WITH MENTAL AND PHYSICAL INJURIES ARE USING THE POWER OF THE OCEAN TO FIND NEW HOPE 

-  JOHNNY DODD

Nearly three decades after his honorable discharge from the Army, Joshua Peeters's life was crumbling in September 2022. After years spent wrestling with crippling self-doubt and struggling to find friends, Peeters-who had recently quit his job at a vineyard-was sitting in the tiny travel trailer he'd been living in, eyeing the loaded pistol he intended to use to end his life. But before he could pull the trigger, he remembered that he'd made a promise to a fellow vet who had been badgering him for weeks to meet up for a cup of coffee. "I was in such a dark spot," recalls Peeters. "I figured, 'I'll go take care of this commitment, then I'll do it.'