A half dozen active duty service men are taking a three day rafting ride along the Colorado River. It is all part of their recovery therapy from being wounded in battle.

Colorado Discover Ability and the Walter Reed Army Hospital have paired up to give members of our armed forces a rafting trip as part of their rehabilitation program.

The men are from all over the country and are all recovering from war. Five of the six men going have lost at least one limb fighting for our country.

"We've got a group of recently injured service members going through Ruby and Horsetheif Canyons and then tomorrow we will be doing Westwater Canyon, CDA program coordinator Jeremy Steinhauer said. “It's about 45 miles or 46 miles on the Colorado river through Colorado and Utah."

The service men say they're looking forward to the adventure and appreciate that it's even an option for them.

"Just the fact that the people would do this for us, it's just pretty cool," Stanley Wells said.

Wells is a captain in the United States Army. He is in remission from brain cancer.

"The 14th of January of last year they did a biopsy on the 17th and they removed the tumor on the 31st," he said.

Wells is the only active duty soldier on the trip who is not missing a limb from war.

"It's a good challenging team activity to be out and face the elements and get some good exercise and just kind of get away from society for a little bit as well," Steinhauer said.

"It's just amazing to see these people and how they work so hard and I was just inspired," Wells said.

Volunteers say they learn a lot from every participant. But getting to work with the men and women who put their lives in danger to protect our freedom gives them a new perspective on life.

"You learn something from every participant whether it's someone from our community or one of the wounded warriors. But a lot of these folks are recent injuries from the middle east and it's really special to work with them," Tom Minerick said.
Wells says this is a trip he is going to make sure all of his comrades know about.

"It's going to be a good reminder of when I get back to work that this is what is available to the guys so I’ll definitely be preaching this," he said.

All together 20 people began the three-day journey; six of them are the service men.

Their trip will end Thursday afternoon when they reach Cisco. From there all of the men will head back to Washington D.C. to finish their rehabilitation therapy.