Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team's strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan's Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year's dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn't had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

DENVER | Home used to be the only refuge for Rickey Bennett.

Like so many other former military members returning to the United States after overseas tours, the transition back into life after combat has been daunting for the 52-year-old former Navy combat chaplain and aircraft weapons specialist.

Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Veterans with Wounded Warrior Program and members of Adaptive Adventures practices being in sync with her team’s strokes July 19 before their first heat at Sloan’s Lake Park. Even though the team has been practicing for this year’s dragon boat race for more than month, the team hasn’t had a practice session with more than 15 participants, seven less than must be in the boat on race day. Come race weekend, the team was able to fill their boat and beat their personal record with a time of 1:19 during their first heat. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Bennett’s used sports as a significant lifeline and clung to it a little tighter July 19-20 as one of three Aurorans who competed for the newly-formed Wounded Warrior Dragon Boat Team, which made its competitive debut at the 14th annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival at Sloan’s Lake Park.

“I kind of have panic attacks being around large crowds and loud noises, so we’ll see — this is a stretch for a lot of us,” Bennett said a few days before the team competed.

“I’m a lot better than I used to be. For awhile there, I never left my house except to go to the doctor’s office. Sports is what got me out of my house.”

Bennett’s story is not unlike many other members of the team, which is made up of Wounded Warrior alumni, former members of the military who have suffered physical injuries, Traumatic Brain Injuries or have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, their spouses and civilian supporters.

Times were pretty dark for Bennett — who has lived in Aurora with his wife since 1990 — after more than 20 years serving in some capacity in nearly every branch of the military.

In 2004, while serving as a chaplain in Housaba, Iraq, Bennett suffered a TBI when he was hurled across a courtyard and into a building head-first after an explosion ignited a weapons cache in a building next to him. Later, he was diagnosed with PTSD, an alarmingly common mental illness suffered by today’s soldiers than can often lead to depression or suicidal thoughts. Bennett didn’t want to come home despite his injuries because of the reality that awaited him.

Bennett’s inner turmoil caused him to avoid people, which took a toll on his health until he began to get involved with athletic programs through Adaptive Adventures — the organizer of the Wounded Warrior Dragon Boat Team — a couple of years ago. He’s continued to get more and more active recently and it shows.

Adaptive Adventures employees have seen Bennett come out of his shell and become one of the more gregarious members of the group. He’s part of Team Semper Fi for injured Marines, the Denver Rolling Nuggets’ wheelchair basketball team and has one dive left to earn his SCUBA certification. He’d never heard of Dragon Boat racing — one of the largest sports world-wide that involves synchronized team paddling — or the Dragon Boat Festival, one of Colorado’s most well-attended annual summer events, but he wanted to try both.

In the process, he ran into two other Aurorans, Army veteran Dick Randolph and his wife, Michelle.

Wounded Warrior coach Chris Wiegand said the team element of Dragon Boat is an ideal way to help people with military service backgrounds and difficulty dealing with society come together.

“We have several people who aren’t comfortable in a social setting because they lock themselves up at home and kind of seclude themselves in their safest place,” said Wiegand, who is disabled. “We try to pull them out slowly and show them that a little fitness and healthy lifestyle can help the social component because you build trust in this team … We’re trying to get them to understand this is your new unit.”

Adapting military techniques into training, the Wounded Warrior team made a big splash in their debut. They took fourth in the 250 meter competitive category July 19 and third in the 500 meter recreational category on July 20.