Wounded Warrior Project's Impact

At a remote military base in Alaska, where long, cold, and dark winters are the norm, a new focus on mental health is taking hold. At Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), located in Anchorage, efforts are underway to provide more mental health support to the 30,000 people who call the base home.

Launched as a bold fusion of art therapy and skate culture, the Warriors on Board campaign by Wounded Warrior Project^® invited 11 veterans from across the nation and Puerto Rico to design custom skateboards as a means of creative healing. More than just a project, it became a lifeline, offering veterans a new way to process their experiences, connect with others, and turn their stories into rolling works of art.

When service members suffer wounds in the line of duty, their sacrifice doesn’t end when they come home — and the nation’s commitment to them shouldn’t either. Yet under current law, those who were forced to retire early due to combat-related injuries are denied the full benefits they’ve earned and are required to forfeit part of their retirement pay.

Run a mile. Do 100 pullups. Then 200 pushups. Follow that with 300 squats. Finally, run another mile. Do this entire sequence while wearing a 20-pound vest or body armor. Now, do it again. And again. One hundred times. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? But that’s exactly what 24-year-old Coast Guardsman Jake Prusha is doing — 100 days of Murph for Mental Health.