The Veterans Airlift Command, a volunteer organization that provides wounded combat veterans with free transportation on general aviation aircraft, has added a new mission—helping Iraq and Afghanistan veterans return to civilian life.
“Team-Up” pairs veterans with GA pilots and uses aviation as a way to give returning vets a new challenge, focus, and a community of supportive people.
Andrew Lourake, a former U.S. Air Force pilot and the first above-the-knee amputee pilot in any U.S. armed service, will direct the new program. While flying at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C., Lourake counseled hundreds of military amputees at nearby Walter Reed and Bethesda medical centers. He was a founding member of the peer visitor program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Lourake and Veterans Airlift Command founder Walt Fricke will give details of the Team-Up program at the EAA AirVenture.
