‘It Takes a Team.’ How Action Sports Empower Combat Veterans When They Return Home

Previously published by TriplePundit

By Gary E. Frank

Even after serving in the United States Marine Corps for 20 years, Nick Hamm still answers the call of duty.

The call he answers today is not to take arms, but instead to help fellow veterans readjust to civilian life after experiencing combat. Hamm founded the Warrior Built Foundation, a nonprofit based in Lake Elsinore, California, that provides combat veterans with vocational training, recreational therapy and mental health services.

“Everything we do as far as the recreational stuff, the vocational stuff, benefits these veterans in many different ways,” Hamm said. “I would say the most powerful way is the relationships they create with each other.”

The veterans who come to Warrior Built have different backgrounds and served in different branches of the armed forces, but they share similar experiences in uniform. “They’re meeting people with similar struggles, so they’re helping each other,” Hamm explained.

At the center of the organization’s mission is vocational training that exposes veterans to auto mechanics and mechanical fabrication for different types of motor vehicles. The veterans have free access to tools and equipment at Warrior Built to explore their interests and hone their skills.

“Whether it is an off-road vehicle, race car, classic car or motorcycle, we give them a chance to figure out if they want a future in the fabrication and mechanic industry or just do it as a hobby,” Hamm said.

Warrior Built’s operations depend solely on financial support from individuals, small businesses and corporations. For more than a decade, one of the nonprofit’s key supporters has been Monster Energy.

Monster Energy directly funds a facility for Warrior Built with a full-time instructor in general auto mechanics and welding, along with a gym, music room and computer room. Warrior Built also enters all-veteran teams into off-road motorsport races, the biggest of which is the Score International Baja 1000 in the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, and Monster is the race crew’s lead sponsor.

“Monster ensures that we have the financial capabilities to make sure that we’re not having to worry about paying our rent every month, that we’re not having to worry about some of the little things that normally we’d have to worry about,” Hamm said. “They allow us to focus on our mission.”

Beyond auto mechanics, Warrior Built’s recreational therapy involves engaging combat veterans in activities that boost their motivation and adrenaline, Hamm said. Along with bringing veterans together to compete in action sports, the nonprofit organizes trips to events like dirt bike races, drag racing, off-road racing and concerts.

“The main reason I chose off-road racing is because it takes a team,” Hamm said. “And obviously, in the military, we do everything in a team. Whether it’s your fire team, your squad, your platoon, your company, your battalion, it’s all a team. It’s not just one individual.”

He sees organizing off-road races as akin to a military operation because it involves planning, logistics, communications, and what he calls the “Five Ws” — who, what, where, when and why.

“We’re talking about making sure we’re loading everything up, and we’re convoying down to another country,” he explained. “We’ve got to stay together. We've got to look out for each other. Then during the race, everyone has a job. It’s not just the driver, co-driver or the guy riding. It’s the pit crew as well.”

Warrior Built’s biggest challenge is outreach, both for getting more combat veterans involved and in raising funds, Hamm said. 

“The charity world is very competitive, and there’s so many great charities out there helping veterans,” he told us. “I’m thankful that there’s so many great charities out there, but it also makes it challenging to compete for those donor dollars.”

Without the financial support from partners like Monster, Warrior Built could not operate at its current levels, he said.

“There’s no way we could have helped as many combat veterans as we have already, and there’s no way that we could do all these events and activities without them supporting us,” Hamm said. “Monster has helped us through in more ways than I think the public will ever know because of their genuine support for the military and their motivation to help us make a difference.”

This article series is sponsored by Monster Energy and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.