Matthew Doyle grew up by the beach in Santa Monica, California, and with his slim physique and tattooed forearms, looks like he has been surfing his entire life. But it took three tours of duty half a world away, many sleepless nights, and meeting a woman named Carly before the 26-year-old U.S. Army veteran braved the waves on a surfboard.

多伊爾在加州聖塔莫尼卡海灘長大，他體格瘦長，前臂上有刺青，看起來好像從小到大都在衝浪。其實這位26歲的美國陸軍退伍軍人，是到半個地球之外服役三次，熬過無數失眠的夜晚，再和一位名叫卡莉的女人見面後，才勇敢站上衝浪板踏浪而行（圖／路透）。

“I fell in love with it as soon as I got in the water,” Doyle said. “After I came back from Iraq, I lost interest in the things I used to do, and I lost a lot of friends from being gone so long. And I never really had a reason to go outside. But now every day I just want to surf.”

多伊爾說：「我一下水立刻愛上它。當我從伊拉克退伍回來，對過去所做的事完全失去興趣，又因離開太久，失去很多朋友。何況我也沒什麼真正的理由要外出。但現在，我每天只想衝浪。」

Doyle was introduced to surfing by occupational therapist Carly Rogers, who conducts surf therapy classes for veterans at Manhattan Beach, just south of Los Angeles. The motion of the ocean, riding down the face of the wave, the constant paddling out through the whitewater, as well as the occasional wipeouts, are helping former soldiers, sailors and Marines return to normal.

多伊爾是經由職能治療師卡莉．羅傑斯介紹才開始衝浪。她在洛杉磯南部曼哈頓灘為退伍軍人開設衝浪治療班。海洋的律動、騎著浪壁俯衝、不斷划破浪花，衝浪板偶爾被浪頭打翻，都可幫這些士兵、水手及陸戰隊軍人復原。

Rogers estimates that she has worked with at least 400 war vets since she started the program with the Jimmy Miller Foundation, which aims to heal mental and physical illness through surfing, four years ago. “I had this dream of healing people with the ocean,” she explained. Surfing helped Rogers deal with the death of her mother in 1994, when she working as a lifeguard. As a graduate student, she had designed a surf therapy program for children.

羅傑斯估計，自從和米勒基金會4年前一起開設療程以來，至少已經和400名退伍軍人合作過，該基金會旨在透過衝浪，療癒身心方面的疾病。她解釋：「我一直有個夢想，想藉海洋治療病人。」衝浪幫助她在母親於1994年去世時得以面對死亡，當時她是救生員。上研究所時，她專為兒童設計了一套衝浪療程。

In 2005, they launched the foundation and began working with children at risk of mental illness, which Miller suffered from. The program was expanded after a foundation board member suggested it could help wounded and emotionally scarred troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. “At that time I had no previous experience with the military, and I was like 'Whoa, I don't think so,'” Rogers said.

2005年他們成立基金會，開始幫助精神疾病風險的兒童，米勒就是為這種病症所苦。當基金會一位董事建議，可以藉此幫助從伊拉克和阿富汗退役返國身心受創的士兵，計畫隨之擴大。羅傑斯說：「當時我和軍方沒有過任何淵源，心中不免暗叫：『哇，我可沒把握。』」

Many of those in the program suffer from post traumatic stress disorder with symptoms that include substance abuse, insomnia, isolation, lack of confidence and anger. Marines at Camp Pendleton, who showed up at the first class in their camouflage fatigues and combat boots, were withdrawn and had little expression. But that soon changed. “After one day of surfing they were smiling and laughing, telling jokes, high-fiving,” said Rogers.

很多退伍軍人得了「創傷後壓力症候群」，時常會出現濫用藥物、失眠、隔離、缺乏信心和憤怒等症狀。來自彭德頓營的陸戰隊員，身穿迷彩裝和戰鬥靴第一次來上課時，表現得是畏畏縮縮，臉上沒什麼表情。但這一切很快就變了。羅傑斯說：「衝浪一天後，他們面帶笑容，開懷大笑，不斷說笑話，擊掌歡慶。」

Doyle, who was knocked unconscious by an IED （improvised explosive device） suffered a concussion and received six stitches in his forehead, was coping with PTSD after two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. “The first year I was deployed didn't really affect me. It was more shellshock. You don't really understand what you've gone through. And by the time I got a chance to think about it, I was already deployed again.?

多伊爾是被隨機爆炸裝置炸得失去意識，他不只腦震盪，額頭上還縫了6針。在駐防伊拉克兩次、阿富汗一次後，他正在治療創傷後壓力症候群。他說：「派往戰地第一年，我沒受到真正太大的衝擊，反倒較像彈震症（或戰爭疲勞症），你不太清楚自己經歷了什麼。但在想通前，我已經又被徵召上戰場。」

Carly Rogers' program is based on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory, which argues that a person learning to be “in the zone” — a joyful, focused, un-self-conscious state — can learn to be happy. And a microbiologist in Munich, Ulrike Schmidt, who runs the lab at the Max Planck Institute, isn't surprised. She's studied minute physical changes caused by post-traumatic stress, and she says it makes sense that surfing might help change the chemistry and structure of a veteran's brain.

羅傑斯的療程是以奇申米海伊的「神迷理論」為本，這套理論認為，一個人只要學著「置身情境中」，一個快樂、全神貫注、不自覺的狀態，就可以學會快樂起來。在德國馬克斯普朗克研究所主持一個實驗室的慕尼黑微生物學家烏麗克．施密特對此並不感到意外。她專門研究創傷後壓力所引起的身體細微變化，她表示，衝浪的確可能有助於改變一位退伍軍人大腦的化學和結構。

For the vets, the intense focus and strenuous work in the water tends to take their minds off whatever haunts them. “In combat,” one L.A.-area vet named Louis Scott said, “you look to your left and you look to your right, and you're always worried about your brother. In the surf, you look to your left and you look to your right, and you're out there with your brothers. And yet you're havin' fun.”

對於這些退伍軍人而言，在浪花中全神貫注、全力以赴，往往可以使他們渾然忘掉一切苦惱。洛杉磯一位名叫史考特的退伍大兵說：「在戰鬥中，你看看左邊，再看看右邊，心裡總是擔心弟兄們的安危。在浪頭上你左顧右盼，發現自己還是跟兄弟們在一起，讓你樂在其中。」