Tracie Sullivan

tracie@thespectrum.com

CEDAR CITY – The Southern Utah Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association started about six months ago and currently has seven members – statewide that number grows to more than 50.

Organizers say the two things that brought the original founders together were a love for motorcycle riding and that all of them were combat veterans.

Its mission is to help and provide support to veterans, said retired Army Sgt. Chet Botkins, who served for three years, two of which were in Vietnam.

"It's about combat veterans talking to combat veterans. If ya ain't walked the walk, you can't talk the talk," he said.

Botkins said he started the Southern Utah group to reach out to those veterans who are struggling.

"As long as I can see young people, young enough to be my sons, and I can say here's my number or let's get a cup of coffee or let's get a beer, let's go get a Coke, whatever, let's sit down and talk about this and perhaps give them an option they didn't have before, that's all this is about and, oh by the way, having to ride motorcycles," he said.

Recent statistics indicating "every day 22 veterans commit suicide" is concerning for Botkins.

"That's almost one an hour," Botkins said. "They (veterans) don't know where to go. They don't know who to talk to. They're sleeping on the streets in some cases."

Retired Maj. Chuck Triplett said he has known at least five local veterans who have died by choice just since he returned home in 2006 after being deployed with the Triple Deuce for two tours in Iraq. One of those deaths was just six weeks ago.

"The suicide thing is still an issue. Hell, we got back from Iraq in 2006, and we've had five confirms that we know of since then with just one happening six weeks ago that was in the Triple Deuce," he said.

Botkins said while it's still tough for combat veterans, the military has come a long way in how it deals with veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"At that time, the only thing the VA (Veterans Affairs) knew how to do or what to do was to medicate it. I was taking meds to get up, taking meds to function during the day and taking meds to go to sleep at night," Botkins said. "Did it do any good? No. And until I got into an environment where I could realize I wasn't the only one freaking crazy, I struggled."

Master Sgt. Shane Johnson, who still serves in the Army National Guard, said the group isn't just a place for veterans to come and pour their hearts out, but it does offer support and friendship.

"I'll tell you the main reason I got into it was simply just for the camaraderie," Johnson said. "Because we kinda live double lives, our regular life and then, because we really can't talk to anybody about stuff we've got because they just think we're crazy. But that's what drew me to it, is it's just like brothers. We don't have to talk about our issues, we can just be together."

Since its beginnings in 2001, the group has adopted a motorcycle patch with red and gold lettering and a depiction of a skull and ace of spade.

Both the colors and the images are symbolic and contain a different meaning: The color red represents the blood that has been shed on the battlefield; military gold is for all branches of the military service; black signifies the heavy hearts possessed for those who gave their lives and for those who are considered missing in action or prisoners of war; and the skull and ace of spade symbolize the death that war leaves in its wake.

For information on how joining CVMA go to utcvma.com/ or combatvet.org.

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