Marine Corps base Quantico -- On Nov. 7 and 8, Marine Corps Base Quantico, in conjunction with the Quantico Injured Marine Sportsman Association, hosted a muzzle-loaded rifle hunt for wounded warriors. Through support from sponsors, QIMSA provides an expense-free weekend for wounded warriors from both within and outside the local area. QIMSA covers the cost of transportation, lodging, hunting license fees and meals for the participants and provides them with hunting clothing, gear and weapons if they do not have their own.
In addition to the all-expenses-paid hunting opportunities, QIMSA coordinates with the commissary to provide generous food and gift donations to the families of three wounded warriors per year.
QIMSA President Fred Salo said the group began sponsoring hunts 11 years ago when veterans were returning from Iraq with injuries. QIMSA provides tracked, all-terrain hunting chairs for those veterans who have difficulties with mobility and sends each hunter out with a guide who is familiar with the terrain on base. The hunts offer a way for the veterans to bond and participate in a recreational activity they might have difficulty doing on their own. According to Salo, QIMSA coordinates eight days of hunting per season, typically grouped into four weekends.
QIMSA is a volunteer-run nonprofit organization that works closely with the Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs branch, Range Control, FBI, and the Base Operations office to coordinate dates, times and locations for the hunts.
This weekend 11 hunters participated on both days of the hunt. Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Gary Letterman, originally from Paul’s Valley, Oklahoma, said he has been participating in the hunts for three years. Last year he brought his son along so they could enjoy time in the woods together, and this year he brought his daughter.
Sgt. Tom Strickland, a native of Anderson, South Carolina, who currently works in the operations section at the Officer Candidates School, said he heard about the hunt from a Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society representative. Other warriors mentioned hearing about the hunts from different sources as well, such as Wounded Warrior Regiment staff or friends. QIMSA posts a full schedule of events for the season on its website, www.qimsa.org.
On Friday, Maj. Gen. Mike Regner, staff director at Headquarters Marine Corps, drove down from the Pentagon to participate in the event. Regner said, “I like to come down and motivate the hunters and went out with them today.” During the evening meal, after hunting was done for the day, Regner shared his family’s craft beer, Regner Red, with the hunters and volunteers.
Navy chief Troy Biggham, originally from Enterprise, Alabama, and currently stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, had the most successful experience of the weekend, shooting a doe on Friday and a buck on Saturday. Biggham said this was his first hunt aboard the base.
Hunters who did not wish to bring all of their meat home were able to donate it to Hunters for the Hungry, a nation-wide organization that provides meat to families in need. According to the website of the Virginia chapter, Virginia hunters have provided over 22 million quarter-pound servings of venison since 1991.
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