Pepper spray, water board challenge — and no donations required
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
* Aug. 20 – New challenge to raise awareness of veterans’ struggles with PTSD
* Video
ROCKINGHAM — Larry Evans and Mack Odom, two combat veterans and Richmond County residents, figured they were too smart to be on the wrong end of pepper spray and water board challenge dreamed up locally by Marine veteran John Popowich.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Brandon Parrish, of Rockingham, reacts to pepper spray and being water boarded during a PTSD awareness event at VFW Post 4203 on Friday in Rockingham.
Popowich and 10 of his closest friends and fellow combat veterans, however, weren’t so fortunate. Nearly a dozen combat vets participated in a local version of a pepper spray and water board challenge Popowich first saw on YouTube. It was completely on a volunteer basis. No donations required other than time and, Popowich said, “eyeballs and lungs.”
Those who showed up at 6:30 p.m. at the VFW Post 4203 in Rockingham and signed the waiver, Popowich said, were committed to completing the challenge a half hour later “or you’ll get your tongue cut out.”
Probably not, in fact, but bragging rights were on the line as more than two dozen spectators stayed a safe distance away, camera phones at the ready with a look of “I’m glad that’s not me” at the ready.
For his part, Popowich went first. After all, the sign of a good leader is not asking his peers or subordinates to do anything he wouldn’t do himself. Popowich donned a black T-shirt that honored one-time battle buddy Cpl. Matthew Matula, who was killed on April 9, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq, in the same mortar attack in which Popowich was wounded.
The 6:30 p.m. start was delayed for slightly more than 30 minutes. It might have been, at least in part, a case of nerves — the idea of this unique challenge might have sounded better over the phone, when it was much further from becoming a reality. At about 6:50 p.m., though, Popowich said he was waiting on one more person. He appeared a few minutes later.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
John Popowich, of Rockingham, is doused with pepper spray by fellow combat veteran (of a different generation) Larry Evans on Friday at VFW Post 4203. The stunt was intended to raise awareness of veterans’ struggles with PTSD.
After a safety briefing led by Popowich and Brandon Parrish, the latter which encouraged people “the more you blink your eyes, the more your tear ducts work,” Popowich led the group of veterans gathered in a prayer circle.
“I think this is a good thing we’re doing,” Popowich said, eyes closed, head bowed in respect.
