[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 161 (Friday, September 28, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1342-E1343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IN RECOGNITION OF KEN AND JULIA FALKE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. BARBARA COMSTOCK

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 28, 2018

  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor and thank Ken and Julia 
Falke, founders of the Boulder Crest Retreat for Military and Veteran 
Wellness in Bluemont, Virginia, and the EOD (Explosive Ordinance 
Disposal) Warrior Foundation, for their extraordinary efforts to 
support our nation's wounded warriors and their families.
  Last year, a special ceremony unveiled a statue of a Naval 
modification to the Battle Cross on the grounds of the Boulder Crest 
Retreat, honors those military heroes who lost their lives in combat, 
in training and in the struggle against the ``invisible injuries of war 
that followed them home.'' Ken Falke's inspiration for the statue was 
the beautiful memorial erected in San Diego, to the four members of EOD 
Mobile Unit Three who had been killed in action in Iraq and 
Afghanistan.
  The Boulder Crest Retreat is the nation's first privately-funded 
rural wellness center dedicated exclusively to our nation's combat 
veterans and their families. Opened in 2013, it has offered a beautiful 
setting for more than 2,500 veterans and their families to rest, 
reconnect and recharge. Motivated by a limitless desire to serve combat 
veterans, especially the 11 percent to 20 percent of Iraqi and Afghan 
war vets who suffer from post-traumtic stress (PTS), Ken and Julia have 
ventured into modes of therapy and support that are outside the 
mainstream. As a Navy bomb-disposal expert who was seriously injured in 
a 1989 parachute jump, Ken had learned first-hand in his recovery from 
traumatic brain injury and a broken back, not to rely on medicines 
alone. Later, through their work with the

[[Page E1343]]

EOD Warrior Foundation, Ken visited many fellow EOD veterans at 
Veterans Administration facilities and was dismayed at how many of them 
were continuing to struggle with the PTS that their medications had not 
cured.
  As a result, Ken and Julia began a program called Warrior PATHH, or 
``progressive and alternative training for healing heroes.'' The 18-
month program that starts with a weeklong boot camp at the Boulder 
Crest Retreat, where days begin at 7 am with physical conditioning and 
end at 8:30 pm with discussion around a campfire led by other combat 
veterans, has allowed the 120 vets accepted for PATHH to explore their 
past, make greater sense of their struggles, and develop a realization 
that their preparedness and leadership skills can be carried from the 
battlefield to the home front. As an indication of the program's 
success, over the past three years, 95 percent of combat vets who have 
participated in the program continue to participate in monthly video 
chats that help the Falkes keep track of their emotional health and 
keep them setting and accomplishing goals.
  Mr. Speaker, it is truly a privilege to ask you and our colleagues to 
join me in thanking two great patriots, Ken and Julia Falke, for the 
extraordinary difference they are making in the lives of our nation's 
combat veterans, ensuring that they have the opportunity to succeed in 
their new mission--a life of passion, purpose and service, here at 
home.

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