Military Couples Find Healing After War’s Wounds
Alaska marks a new start for military couples.
Even years after their injuries on foreign battlefields, many combat veterans face daily battles with pain, grief, and loss. In addition to physical wounds, they struggle with post-traumatic stress, moral injury, and survivor’s guilt—carrying memories of friends they lost and the deadly attacks that took them.
Their spouses carry those burdens alongside them.
The homefront is the where the battle now rages. Marriages teeter on the edge, at times for years, behind closed doors.
In 2012, Samaritan’s Purse started Operation Heal Our Patriots to address the epidemic of crumbling marriages among combat veterans. We fly couples to Alaska where they can find space—away from the distractions of everyday life—for a fresh start. Over their week of marriage resiliency training led by former military chaplains, they grow closer to each other and meet other couples in similar situations. At each step, they hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
But Alaska isn’t the end of the road.
We maintain a lifelong commitment to help couples find hope, thrive in stronger marriages, and discover real community. We believe this starts with a relationship with the Lord.
Alaska Marks a New Journey Toward Hope in Jesus Christ
Each Sunday evening in summer, Samaritan's Purse aircraft touch down at Samaritan Lodge Alaska where couples are greeted by a flag-waving crowd gathered on the gravel runway.
Couples spend each day during their week in chaplain-led, Biblically based marriage classes and on once-in-a-lifetime wilderness experiences. Throughout the week, couples have opportunities to talk with chaplains about the challenges they face at home. And each day provides our guests with special times to connect with each other and with other couples.
For many participants, this provides the deeper community they’ve been seeking. Perhaps for the first time, they don't feel so alone.
"Each year we get to see God work powerfully in the lives of these couples as they become a part of the Operation Heal Our Patriots family. God has been faithful to restore and transform many lives and marriages devastated by the wounds of war. I'm grateful that our connection to these men and women doesn't end in Alaska. Our commitment to them is for life."
Operation Heal Our Patriots serves married veterans and active-duty military personnel who were wounded after 9/11. Does this describe you and your spouse? Please consider applying. Applications open Nov. 11. All travel to and from Samaritan Lodge Alaska is planned, provided, and paid for by Samaritan's Purse.
Apply NowON THE GROUND: For 17 weeks every summer, military veterans and their spouses are invited to Operation Heal Our Patriots for a week-long marriage retreat. Kristy Graham takes listeners behind-the-scenes to experience what these military couples do day by day, immersing them in what life is like at Samaritan Lodge Alaska. Hear how the Lord transforms marriages through Biblically based marriage classes, excursions in the beautiful Alaskan wilderness, and intentional conversations with chaplains, staff, and volunteers.
Lives Transformed
Operation Heal Our Patriots began more than 13 years ago in response to the epidemic of broken marriages among military families. The only real hope to change grim statistics is through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Since 2012, God has been faithful to transform lives and rescue marriages at this wilderness outpost. We have welcomed 2,060 couples since then to Samaritan Lodge Alaska and we praise God that 943 participants have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 1,123 have been baptized by our chaplains in Lake Clark, and 1,050 couples have recommitted their marriages to God.
ONE COUPLE'S STORY
A Marriage Built on Jesus Christ
Tripp and Katie Butusov experienced forgiveness, new life in Jesus Christ, and new hope for a stronger marriage.
Tripp and Katie Butusov arrived in Alaska in a crisis of faith.
“I thought that God hated me,” said Katie, a Marine veteran. She'd lost loved ones and blamed herself. She also had a long list of unanswered prayers.
Tripp, an Army veteran, had his own struggles. A dozen deployments from 2002-2010—some including intense combat situations—left him with severe post-traumatic stress.
“I've been blown up several times,” he said. “You don't realize how it affects you until you're back amongst, let's call it, ‘normal people.’ My reactions didn't fit the situations.”
The return to civilian life was a rocky road, even with his understanding wife who had herself spent 12 years in the Marines. Tripp's PTSD-fueled anger affected everyone around him. “Now I suffer mentally per se. Or other people suffer,” he said.
In the past, Tripp felt like he constantly failed God's standards. He described how church simply reinforced this belief.
“Every time we would get to the last 15 minutes…I’m like, oh my God, I'm failing here. I was here last week. I made some improvements, but here I am again.”
Tripp and Katie landed in Alaska burdened with skepticism. They feared religion might be pushed on them and wondered if they were just “too far gone” for God's love.
When Chaplain Dan Stephens asked them to talk early in the week, they thought here it comes. But it wasn't what they imagined.
They were perplexed when he started by offering them each a $2 bill.
“It comes with no strings. It's there if you take it. So just take it,” Stephens told them.
“This is God's love for you,” he said.
Tripp said he’d never understood God’s grace this way—a gift offered without needing to prove himself?
“I'd been denying my need for God most of my life,” Tripp said. “And there it was being offered to me like that $2 bill. Now I can just take it? Let go of everything and accept it?”
In that same late-night conversation on June 2 this year, they both accepted that gift. They both prayed, professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives.
Katie said she’d been a “foul-mouthed Marine” and had no desire anymore to talk like she had. Tripp said he was experiencing peace for the first time in forever.
“When I talked with my parents, they started bawling their eyes out,” Katie said, describing the change her mother and father noticed over the phone when she called them a couple of days later. “They said ‘we don't even know this person calling us right now!’”
The couple recommitted their marriage to God in a special ceremony that Friday. Then they decided to be baptized together in Lake Clark.
As he thought back over the week, Tripp said he was surprised by how “phenomenal” it was, how much love he felt there. And “it was so simple. All I had to do was accept the gift from God? Now I want to learn how to read the Bible and how to keep my tongue in a cage. And how to forgive 70 times 7. Or whatever the multiplication is.”
He also said they’re giving church another chance. Please pray for the Butusovs as they begin walking with the Lord.
We praise God that so many military couples have experienced the healing power of Jesus Christ through the project over the last 10 years.
Growing in Hope, Stronger Marriages, and Deeper Community
Our lifetime commitment to couples is essential to their ongoing spiritual growth and support after Alaska, and our Family Care ministry provides opportunities for training, community, and service for the long road.
“The real work of ongoing discipleship begins when they're back home and dealing with life again,” said John Pryor, a former Marine who now serves as director of Operation Heal Our Patriots.
Church community is vital to the faith and marriages of military couples, so our regional chaplains help couples connect with local Christian congregations that are faithfully teaching God's Word.
Stronger Operation Heal Our Patriots community builds resilience among couples and their families as they walk through difficult times together. Chaplain-led regional events, Fortify Your Marriage weekends, and Operation Heal Our Patriots reunions provide opportunities to grow in God’s Word, strengthen marriages, and build friendships.
Chaplains follow up with couples and maintain regular contact by phone, email, text, and on our Facebook page. Chaplains also schedule meetings via Zoom or in-person for pastoral care sessions. Sometimes, chaplains will also make special trips to be present during major life events.
Serving Together Through Team Patriot
Team Patriot builds deeper community among couples with opportunities to serve U.S. homeowners affected by natural disasters.
“Imagine how it will impact a homeowner who's lost everything to see a wounded service member out in their yard helping them get back on their feet. We want these wounded men and women to remember that they are heroes and that God wants to use them,” said Edward Graham, a retired Army Ranger and COO at Samaritan's Purse. Edward is the youngest son of Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham.
Couples deploy to areas affected by floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and fires to help homeowners clean out their homes and recover precious belongings. In many communities, veterans and spouses get to serve other combat veteran families—sometimes including fellow Alaska alumni.
Leading Together in Discipleship
"Now God has placed our whole family in ministry, and we're thankful we get to serve together. Operation Heal Our Patriots has created so many disciples, and veterans are now helping other veterans. God is doing so much and we're honored to be a part of it."
Key Leaders Mentor
The Family Care ministry extends beyond the outreach of our chaplains and other staff to include fellow military couples. It is also built upon connection and mutual support from other military couples in the program—more men and women who have their back and understand their struggles.
Through our Key Leader initiative, a group of Operation Heal Our Patriots military couples is pursuing the calling to teach and strengthen other couples in their marriages and in their walk with Christ. Key Leaders go through a year-long, chaplain-led training and mentorship process while also continuing to serve military couples in their communities.
Apply For Operation
Heal Our Patriots
Apply NowMarried U.S. military personnel, current and former, wounded in combat or combat-related activities since 9/11 are encouraged to fill out an Operation Heal Our Patriots application online at samaritanspurse.org/patriots-application. Applications for the summer season are accepted starting Nov. 11 each year.
All travel to and from Samaritan Lodge Alaska is planned, provided, and paid for by Samaritan's Purse.
Bless the Marriage of a Military Couple
Operation Heal Our Patriots helps military couples build a strong spiritual foundation during a week of Biblically based workshops, relationship-building wilderness activities, and individual care by our retired military chaplains. We offer all this free of charge to these American heroes as a token of our appreciation for their service and sacrifice. Your gift will help us cover the costs—including transportation, lodging, activities, and long-term Family Care—so that we can help them find hope in the Lord.
