Break a Tee for PTSD

A film and a golf tournament aim to help veterans ages 19 to 90 struggling with PTSD

Jon Rizzi

Steffan Tubbs calls it “the most important thing I’ve ever done in my 25 years in news—hands-down.” The 850 KOA morning show co-host is referring to ACRONYM, the documentary his production company, Mountain Time Media, will debut on Veterans Day. Subtitled “The Cross-Generational Battle with PTSD,” ACRONYM weaves together firsthand accounts of veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, both Gulf Wars, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan who are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder—PTSD, or what has historically been called “hysteria,” “battle fatigue,” “shell-shock” and “nerves.” 

By any name, Tubbs says, “veterans from 19 to 90 are saying the same things about the aftereffects of the trauma of war.” Moreover, he contends, it’s the chief factor behind a troubling epidemic. “Every day 76 veterans attempt to take their lives and 22 succeed,” claims Tubbs, whose goal with the film is to help lower those numbers. “Even one is too many.”  

By including older veterans, he also wants to eliminate the “soft” stigma long associated with the disorder. “I’ve been married to this man for 52 years,” says the wife of a Korean War veteran who only recently began PTSD therapy, “and I learned things I never knew about him, like why he’s never been able to sleep through the night.”

ACRONYM stems from Tubbs’ own experience in Iraq, where he was embedded with members of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division from Ft. Carson. “I saw firsthand the danger our men and women were exposed to,” he says, “and we had some very close calls. Then, shortly after I returned, I learned that one of the soldiers, Captain Ian Weikel, was killed in the same Humvee in which he was protecting me. That news in itself traumatized me.”

To raise money for the film and awareness for PTSD treatment, Tubbs is hosting the ACROYNM Drive to Fight PTSD, a September 28 morning scramble at Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton. The cost: $175 per person and $650 per foursome. “What’s great,” Tubbs says, “is that the film isn’t partisan. I’m friends with both (Republican U.S. Senator) Cory Gardner and (Democratic U.S. Congressman) Ed Perlmutter. Nor is it relentlessly depressing. It’s hopeful. We look at all kinds of therapies—group, equine, canine, hiking, camping. And golf is hugely therapeutic. Just hitting balls produces enormous benefits.” To participate in the tournament, visit golfsquid.com or mountaintm.com/events-1.

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