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Interesting Info About All Things Land Rover
Interesting Info About All Things Land Rover

Military Mobility: Using 4x4s to Bring Inspiration to Veterans

  • Greg Fitzgerald
  • Sep 22, 2022
Military Mobility participants use a winch on a Discovery I

Every day, somewhere around 16 veterans of the United States Armed Forces take their own lives, struggling with depression, PTSD, injuries, and re-integrating into civilian life; many more live battling these challenges. In 2017, troubled by this statistic and looking to do something tangible to help, retired Navy SEAL Brian Ribera founded Military Mobility, a non-profit which takes veterans on structured multi-day 4x4 trips into the American backcountry, with the goal of coming out of the adventure having experienced genuine personal growth.

Military Mobility considers the raw and rugged landscape of the American West as an allegory for the personal and professional challenges we face in life. Their fleet consists of older vehicles, which include several Land Rovers. (They've produced a YouTube series comparing their two LR3s, one of which is on the original air suspension, and the other riding on Atlantic British's coil sprung conversion kit, essential watching for any fan of the LR3 or LR4.) They live by the saying: “These vehicles are older, beaten up, but proven, a lot like the veterans that drive them. It’s regular maintenance that keeps them going. If you let the rust build up too much it becomes detrimental.”

Land Rovers promoting Military Mobility Program

The major goal of Military Mobility is to help veterans rebuild their sense of identity. In researching the high veteran suicide rate, they found that a major issue was that these people had been taken out of a team where they had been part of something greater than themselves, and now found themselves without purpose in the civilian world. That became the core of their curriculum, which uses structure and teamwork to help veterans rebuild their identity by putting them back into a team situation, this time with the mission being self-improvement.

LR3 on Military Mobility trail

The curriculum is designed to create real change in veterans' lives. Ribera realized that there were two issues in the veteran nonprofit sphere: great content delivered poorly, where genuinely useful information is delivered in an overwhelming classroom-focused session; or fun activities with no lasting benefit, where vets got to go fishing or skiing and take their mind off their troubles, but then went home to the same routine without having experienced self-growth. Ribera's goal was to create something where fun adventure could combine with lasting self-improvement and empowerment. The curriculum is built with input from master training specialists and several major business schools.

Each day, there are specific structured goals to the backcountry itinerary, and everyone switches roles and vehicles throughout the retreat to get experience with everything. To make sure that everyone stays on track with their self-development goals, each night there's a "hotwash" debrief, where participants can give detailed feedback on the day's events and gives instructors a place to make sure that the lessons of the day transfer and rectify things the next day. There are also After Action Reports at the end of the course, to make sure that everyone goes away with a formal discussion and analysis of their performance in the course. Military Mobility considers this standardization part of its core tenet of being more than just a fun trip through the backcountry.

The program has been successful, with many participants over the past five years using the program and its lessons to rebuild their lives and identities and dig out of their ruts.

Ribera had a long and distinguished military career, with 22 years in service, as a Navy SEAL including in the legendary Seal Team Six (DEVGRU), and time as a CIA Case Officer. He also has extensive experience in the business world, with an MBA from the University of Virginia, and professional and competitive experience. All of this gave him a basis to see how to bridge the military and civilian worlds and develop a program to help other veterans navigate that challenge.

Like all non-profits, Military Mobility is always looking for donations, sponsorships, strategic relationships, and charitable fundraising opportunities. The vast majority of the money they take in goes to programs and expanding opportunities, not to payroll. They also offer corporate team-building events that bring much of the same ethos to a business environment, and they intend to offer individual paid trips in 2023. Check out their website for more information, and if you know a veteran who would benefit from their program, to apply.

Defender 90 on Military Mobility adventure

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  • Written By
  • Greg Fitzgerald
  • Adventure addict. '90s Land Rover daily driver. Historic preservationist. Personal vehicles: 1994 Discovery I, 1994 Range Rover Classic, 1961 Series II 109", 2005 LR3.
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