said. “Rodeo, you’ll take a beang and literally have to choose to get
back on that horse and or bull. If it’s a big enough fall, you can make
that decision to walk away. ith the military, you can have a bad
day, month, or year, and sll have to see it to the end of your service
contract. So when you look at it that way, you have to respect there’s
a real love and passion to sck with rodeo.”
hat helps make rodeo so compelling
“There’s something about the smell of a horse that can make you
forget some of the toughest days,” she said. “The fact that they feed
o you and the energy you put out allows some folks struggling with
PTSD Post-Traumac Stress Disorder to recover in the bond-building
process. They know when it’s been a bad day, and even the most
unaeconate horses will melt like puy in your hands to bring a
smile to your face.”
Those mul-level emoonal connecons cross many boundaries.
“Hands down, no maer what I have been through in my past or
experience in my future, I will always have my military and rodeo
family to reach out to,” McIntyre said. “Bonds established in
sacrices and a mutual passion those es are hard to break.”
hen it comes to summing up the military-rodeo relaonship, R.J.
McCaslin, a Marine whose success started early on when he won the
Saddle Bronc rookie award back in ’6, sums things up nicely: “Rodeo
is nothing but a giant family,” later adding that rodeo life is family-
oriented and down-to-earth.
“It’s the American way,” he said. “You’re doing cowboys stu.”
McCaslin also notes that if a fellow cowboy has a problem,
“Somebody’s gonna ump right up there and help you out.”
Laura Acevedo is a US Army combat vet, mother, track coach, wife of
a combat vet, and a huge supporter of all things rodeo and military.
She’s also Southeast Director and treasurer for the PAFRA, which
describes itself as a veterans-based, values-oriented rodeo associaon
that empowers its members to serve their communies through
servant-leadership and rodeo.
“There are mulple similaries between rodeo and the military,” she
observed. “The camaraderie, the grit, tradions, and the loyalty that
only exists between cowboys, cowgirls, and soldiers are so similar it
draws in military, and specically becomes appealing to veterans who
sll desire those deep connecons.”
“A lot of young soldiers grew up with high school rodeo, etc., and it’s
an easy transion or even a comfort zone to go back to your roots,”
she added.
Rered Army veteran James Hasngs, president of the Professional
Armed Forces Rodeo Associaon, agrees:
“I’d add that the sheer adrenaline rush and gut-ngle of being set
and ready to nod for the gate, or for the roping stock, is not too far
removed from stepping out of the door of an aircra in ight, sliding
down a rappel rope, or kicking out on a convoy with heavy threat.”
ill everyone understand a military cowboy or cowgirl’s choice to
face the high-stakes challenge of the rodeo arena Probably not. But
an excerpt from a uote from Theodore Roosevelt a favorite of Laura
Acevedo’s addresses that point:
“It is not the cric who counts not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbles ... The credit belongs to the man who is actually
in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood...”
For that reason, military cowboys and cowgirls will be stepping into
the rodeo arena for many years to come—and inving others to oin
them on their ourney.
Jim Lamb is a rered ournalist and author of the book “Orange
Socks.” He served in the United States Navy, including Vietnam, and
aended the University of South Florida on the .I. Bill.
Rodeo LIFE 63