DTOM 22/0 provides safe place for veterans

Roscoe American Legion and Auxiliary members went to Warner on July 25 to tour DTOM 22/0 Veterans Ranch.

DTOM stands for "Don't Tread on Me." The 22 stands for the recognized average of 22 Veterans per day dying from suicide. The 0 represents their goal.

The mission of the DTOM 22/0 Foundation and Veterans Ranch is to provide a safe place for healing and recovery for military service members, veterans, and their families activities, while helping them learn to live again with purpose.

The vision is to end suicide among service men and women, through mentorship, support, and building stronger families.

The DTOM facility provides counseling and therapy free of charge to Veterans all over the country. Approximately 300 Veterans from South Dakota alone are serviced thru this non-profit foundation that covers not only the therapy for their patients, but also food and housing for the duration of their stay.

Highly-trained horses are used for MRMS therapy. Which means they are specially trained to do a specific motion algorithm for a specific length of time, duration, and varying speeds.

The Roscoe group was very impressed with the passion and commitment of the staff of DTOM and is looking for ways that they can help the project. Watch for updates as they formulate plans to help with the program and provide help to S.D. Veterans.

The DTOM Veterans Ranch website reports they are still in the process of fixing the arena from spring storms. All the rain created flooding and swamp-like conditions in the arena area that they are trying to resolve.

For more information see dtom220.org .