Scores of Canadian Forces veterans, first responders and their families have gathered in Campbell River, B.C., this week to leap from the skies to help heal trauma and internal scars.
It’s the second year for the event, dubbed Operation Pegasus Jump, that uses skydiving as a way to build bonds and camaraderie and to share the experiences of occupational stress injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I have been struggling since I’ve been retired,” Luk Bibeau, a retired veteran with 25 years in the Canadian Forces, told Global News.
“When I heard about this Pegasus exercise, I always did want to jump out of a plane, and I didn’t have the chance when I was in the military. So this really was something I wanted to do.”
About 100 people have signed up for this year’s event, which sees participants complete a first jump course to develop the necessary skydiving skills.
After the first jump, participants also have the opportunity to work through a jump progression program and earn their solo licence.
“Why jump out of a plane? You have to jump the packer, you have to trust the pilot, you have to trust the jump master — there’s so many people you have to trust. And you do it,” Bibeau said.
“It’s living on the edge.”
Along with the adrenaline rush, the event brings veterans, police, firefighters and paramedics together in a way that daily life can’t.
Bibeau, who works as a fishing guide in Sooke now, said he felt the bond immediately upon showing up at the Campbell River Skydive Centre.
“They welcome you, everybody is getting along, nobody is judging anybody. When we retired, we really miss the camaraderie we had in the forces. We have (each others’) back all the time,” he said.
“And when I come here, I feel that connection with the guys again. I get to be their brother right away almost. It’s hard to explain. And I don’t get that outside of the military.”
John Menerny served in the Canadian Forces from 1989 to 2014, and now works in policing.
He said he’d always wanted to jump but never got the chance while he was serving. On Thursday, he was prepping for his first leap.
“I’m pretty stoked — you can see me, I’m just buzzing,” he said.
Like Bibeau, Menerny described a connection with other participants at the event that’s hard to match elsewhere.
“Here’s an opportunity where I get to hang with my kind … this is like first responders, military, everybody getting together, my kind, and we get to do this extreme sport, and its something I wanted to do on my bucket list for a long time,” he said.
It’s not just veterans and first responders who share in the challenges of occupational stress injuries.
At Operation Pegasus, those closest to them are also offered the chance to connect.
“If you’re going through PTSD they go through it too, they live it as well,” Menerny said.
The now-annual event was started by the skydiving centre’s operator, a veteran himself who says he lost too many friends to post-traumatic stress disorder, and is now finding ways to help others heal.
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