When Katie Calvillo of Florida set off for an Operation Healing Forces Spouse’s Retreat in Georgetown, SC, she was apprehensive. While she’d participated in a couples retreat with her husband Al, an Army major, she would go on her own this time. She wondered if it would be an awkward week of polite exchanges with […]
Alex Holt of Washington wasn’t thinking about himself when he heard about the Operation Healing Forces Couples Retreats. As a Battalion Command Sergeant Major in the Army’s Special Forces, he wondered how he could make the program accessible to his frequently deployed soldiers and their partners. When an opening came up for Alex and his […]
Sharing her time and expertise to help Special Operations Forces couples plan for retirement isone way Alex Valdes gives back to the military community. “Everybody has their different specialities. I speak the financial language, so that’s what I can share. They’re keeping our nation safe, and I’m helping them plan for their retirement,” says Valdes, […]
As an E-9 Pararescueman in the U.S. Air Force, Brendan DeLigio of Pinehurst, North Carolina is a true frequent flyer. But while his 23-year Special Operations career requires regular travel, Brendan and his wife of 22 years, Wendy, rarely have the chance to travel together. Until this April, neither one had ever visited Big Sky, […]
For Josh Vanderpool, a critical skills operator with the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC), 2021 has been full of surprises. In March, he returned from a six month deployment in the Philippians, just in time to prepare for another adventure. In April, Josh and his wife Brianna attended a restorative OHF retreat […]
Chuck Wentzell, a longtime Special Operator with the Army, never expected to meet his spouse during a deployment. After joining the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Chuck deployed five times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, and Operation Inherent Resolve. During one of those deployments in 2011, he connected with Christy, a […]
The below article is reprinted with permission of the Virginia State Bar. Over the past two decades, no military community has borne a greater burden fighting our nation’s battles than Special Operations Forces (SOF). Operating in over 76 countries on any given day, SOF are tasked with carrying out the military’s most secretive, specialized, and […]
As an active-duty Green Beret for the past 19 years, Richard Stayskal of North Carolina is an expert at military warfare. But for the past four years, Richard and his wife Megan have been fighting a different type of battle. In 2017, a military hospital missed a tumor in Richard’s right lung that was later […]
The Willis family travels often from their hometown of Holly Springs, North Carolina to Philadelphia, where 8-year old Jensen receives medical treatment for Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This congenital heart defect means that Jensen is missing the left side of his heart and requires frequent, lifesaving medical care, […]
The 2020 Operation Healing Forces retreat in the Dominican Republic came at the perfect time for Jordan and Sasha Ailie. After 13 years with Marines and Navy Special Operations Forces, Jordan was recovering from neck surgery and transitioning to civilian life. The family had just moved from Virginia Beach to San Diego to start a […]
Operation Healing Forces is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to America’s Special Operations Forces who have served at the tip of the spear in our Nation’s battle to defeat violent extremists around the world. Our work focuses on helping to restore the relationships wounded by the call of duty faced by Special Operators.
