![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23147578610051.jpg.jpg\")
The Grey Team\u2019s program features an array of machines using infrared light, lasers and sound waves meant to relieve stress, heal mental and physical wounds and help the vets sleep without the use of pharmaceuticals. The program is run by a primary team of seven, including a medical director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drugs are overused in other veteran programs, such as those in VA hospitals, often because \u201cthey have a budget and they have to spend it,\u201d Reichbach said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ohio State University psychologist Craig Bryan, a former executive director of the National Center for Veterans Studies, said the successes of the Grey Team program are not surprising given the selective participant pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are selecting from a subgroup with less severe problems,\u201d said Bryan, a former Air Force captain who now works with the VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His skepticism also extends to the effectiveness of the machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo my knowledge, they\u2019ve never been rigorously studied so it\u2019s hard to know if they have any benefit at all and\/or if they have side effects or cause harms,\u201d Bryan said. \u201cExercise is a common feature of many therapies and treatments that have demonstrated efficacy for PTSD, depression and suicide risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
University researchers are collecting data that Reichbach said he believes will show his program\u2019s treatments work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reichbach\u2019s 93-year-old father, Ed, offers hugs and back slaps to everyone entering the Grey Team lobby. Sometimes the Army vet and former university professor drops to give 10 rapid-fire pushups \u2014 a demonstration to give older vets a jolt on their first visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to get them in here, that\u2019s the difficult part,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upstairs in the center\u2019s \u201csafe space\u201d community area, Navy vet Bill Tolle discussed his service as a meteorologist and oceanographer from 1983 to 1990. As a petty officer second-class stationed in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Antarctica, he never experienced combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in 1988, Tolle witnessed a plane crash at his Antarctic base that killed two people. A year later, he sustained a back injury in a helicopter crash. The back-to-back traumas left him with PTSD. He worked as a firefighter and then a registered nurse in an inner-city emergency room. His PTSD led to alcoholism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really wasn\u2019t familiar with what PTSD was. I always thought it was combat-related,\u201d Tolle said. \u201cFor years I went untreated and it got progressively worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He finally was diagnosed in 2016 but didn\u2019t get treatment until 2020 through a residential VA program. He then lived at the Salvation Army, which introduced him to the Grey Team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tolle is a believer in the center\u2019s machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy thinking was foggy, at best. A lot of short-term memory stuff. I would forget. I can now think things through, resolve things,\u201d he said. \u201cMy whole cognitive function is sharper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the center\u2019s gym, Kalfon talked about walking through Vietnam jungles still wet with Agent Orange, the herbicide sprayed by the U.S. from planes to kill the brush where enemy soldiers hid. It has been linked to veterans\u2019 health problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His health began failing about seven years ago. First, a heart attack and quintuple bypass. Then the neurological problems. His health insurance agent told him about the Grey Team and he applied, seeing it as a last hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For about two months, Kalfon has been coming to the center three times weekly. He can now walk up stairs and has set a goal to jog 3 miles (5 kilometers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I can do that,\u201d he said, \u201cI think I will have accomplished everything I need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One 81-year-old Vietnam vet has gone from a walker to a cane and hopes to jog 3 miles soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":107236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[537],"class_list":["post-74336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ADRMZUVYGJB6DLCC5JUX6S3TA4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2023\/06\/10\/florida-center-says-exercise-community-help-veterans-heal-old-injury\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n