{"id":1917,"date":"2012-12-10T15:49:04","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T20:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/?p=1917"},"modified":"2012-12-21T14:17:12","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T19:17:12","slug":"courage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/?p=1917","title":{"rendered":"Courage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, I shot this photograph of Gunnery Sergeant Brian Meyer and Captain Blake Smith, as they\u00a0were preparing for a day of fishing in the Florida Keys. They were excited to be involved in a fishing tournament with other enthusiastic anglers in a beautiful setting.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Fishing tournaments are fundraisers for specific charities. They are also fun for participants. This tournament’s beneficiary was The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust<\/em><\/strong>, an organization that conserves and enhances global bonefish, tarpon and permit fisheries and their environments.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event was also giving attention to another organization, the Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation<\/em><\/strong>. Their mission is “to provide traumatically injured servicemen and women from Iraq and Afghanistan with a high quality restorative program, utilizing the therapeutic experience of fly fishing on Montana waters”.<\/span><\/p>\n

They sponsored Meyer and Smith to participate in the first annual Cheeca Lodge and Spa All American Backcountry Fishing Tournament<\/strong><\/em>. Both Marines were seriously wounded while serving in Afghanistan, and have had long, difficult recoveries. Meyer’s job was disarming IED’s and Smith was a helicopter pilot.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Guide Mike Makowski displays a nice redfish for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/span>Meyer reels in another.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

After catching yet another, Smith has Makowski release it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Captain Blake Smith, guide Mike Makowski, and Gunnery Sergeant Brian Meyer relax after landing several redfish.<\/span><\/p>\n

These remarkable men have overcome enormous odds, and use prosthetic devices with amazing skill. They enjoyed the tournament, as did everyone. Meeting them was a powerful, inspiring experience.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For info about the<\/span><\/span> Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation<\/em><\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n

(copy and paste):<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.warriorsandquietwaters.org\/<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Also of interest: https:\/\/semperfifund.org\/<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jeff Johnson was my guide for the tournament. I have used his expertise in the past. His invaluable knowledge has enabled me to snap some “key” photographs. Here he poles out of a shallow mud flat after I photographed the warriors. I am greatly indebted to him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month, I shot this photograph of Gunnery Sergeant Brian Meyer and Captain Blake Smith, as they\u00a0were preparing for a day of fishing in the Florida Keys. They were excited to be involved in a fishing tournament with other enthusiastic anglers in a beautiful setting. Fishing tournaments are fundraisers for specific charities. They are also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fishing","category-wounded-warriors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1917"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}