Sometimes a life-changing epiphany can arise from totally unexpected circumstances. Retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Dan Knott knows about this via first- hand experience.
Knott spent 22 years as an Army attack helicopter pilot, most of which were with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). JSOC is a joint command of the U.S. Special Operations Command, whose duties include executing special operations missions worldwide and overseeing elite special ops forces such as the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team Six. He had endured a dozen deployments when he “declined a command”—in Army jargon, he turned down a promotion that would have sent him to Germany for at least a year. Knott says, “I knew I was burned out. I just couldn’t do it anymore,” regarding his decision to retire from military service in 2016.
The Buckingham County, Virginia native and Virginia Tech graduate says he was drawn to the military and had always wanted to be a pilot. He also spent summers during his growing up years visiting his U.S. Navy veteran grandfather in Sandbridge, Virginia, near Virginia Beach, and worked with him on the water. During his summer months growing up, he visited his U.S. Navy veteran grandfather in Sandbridge and worked with him on the water. Those early water experiences sowed the seeds of Knott’s post-retirement dream of embarking on a waterman’s life of crabbing and oystering.
As serene as his new environment was, ghosts from the past were still present. He was drinking heavily, taking unnecessary risks and pushing family and friends away. His epiphany came one Sunday morning as he careened down a country backroad in his truck in Gloucester County, Virginia in a self-described rage.
“Suddenly a church welcome sign literally blew out in the road in front of my truck,” Knott recalls. He stopped to retrieve the sign, and as he put it back on church property, he realized the church was having its Sunday morning service and decided to go inside.
“I had not been to church in years. That day was God’s grace [for me]. I later learned the preacher was actually preaching his first Sunday sermon there, and his sermon was about [Jesus’] disciples,” he recalls. “I related to the disciples, especially the fishermen and being on the water. I was eaten up with anger, but you don’t want to admit you have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) -- I just hated who I was. But that day I thought, I can turn this around.”
Knott and the preacher became friends, and the minister would occasionally join him on the water. During many conversations, the preacher confided his dream was to become an Air Force chaplain. Knott helped him achieve his goal, and the night before the minister left for the Air Force in Texas, he made Knott promise to help others who were struggling.
“Once I got to a good spot [in my life] I was working with the preacher, who had a Bible study where I could open up, and I could open up and share stories [there], which unloaded a lot of burden off of me,” Knott recalls. “I would post a Facebook post, or share a video, and so many of my buddies [responded to it]. I saw that many vets with problems were either struggling alone or immersing themselves in work [to cope with post-military issues].”
As he slowly opened up to others, Knott, now 51, realized that his story was not that unusual— he had needed help and asking for help was okay. The seed for a nonprofit was born, and Knott Alone- Hold Fast, a 501 C 3 nonprofit, became a reality in August 2021. Via friends at previous units at Fort Eustis, Virginia, he met Dr. Deanna Beech, Ph.D. of Williamsburg, a former Army psychologist and civil servant. He and Beech met for coffee, and she agreed to join the organization. She now serves as volunteer clinical services director.
“If I was not involved, the program Dan has would be peer-based, but adding to it was nature and a work-based [component]—I knew he had a powerful equation,” says Dr. Beech, who recently retired from a civil servant job.
The mission of Knott Alone is to support veterans battling effects from military service while helping them love life again through hands-on watermen activities combined with integrative therapy. Vets open up to other vets while harvesting seafood and forming bonds. They also aim to prevent suicide: according to the 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among veterans under age 45 in 2021 (the most recent year that statistics were available), and the 13th leading cause of death for veterans overall. Knott Alone is a place of refuge where veterans can relax, reflect and openly share experiences with like-minded teammates. Therapy programs incorporate nature-based therapy, individual and group therapy, and a number of wellness options such as fishing, hiking, blacksmith/leatherwork, making knives and yoga. They also make referrals for specialized alcohol/drug treatment and family issues.
Program participants spend mornings working on the water. There is a midday reflection time where participants “focus on residue that intrudes on your mind,” according to Knott.
Afternoons incorporate integrative therapy featuring wellness options and a narrative workbook program focusing on positive psychology and wellness. The one-week program includes a Beech-developed workbook titled “Me, Myself and I Reflecting.” The program is free for program participants.
Dr. Beech notes, “I maintain clinical oversight. I meet with each participant before they start the program for two hours, and we do phone or Zoom meetings for other appointments in the middle of the week. As we mature [as an organization], the idea is to blossom into a six- weeks or three- month program that includes evidence-based treatment: by that, I mean a proven course of treatment based on multiple studies. We are trying to reestablish the military ‘tribe’ —there are people there, and I am not alone.”
There is also a Monday night community potluck dinner meeting that community members attend. Knott says one community partner is Saluda-based Miller’s Services, who provide septic, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling services.
“He’s doing connections [with us] and has set up Miller’s Academy to train people for employment,” Knott explains.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, program manager Nick Barnes, 45, a retired Army first sergeant, spent the majority of his early years in Mechanicsville in Hanover County and in King William County. He recalls, “I was living in North Carolina and struggling when Dan came to see me and asked me to help out during the first week of crab season. We had worked together in the military and were friends. After our first day on the water, he told me he needed help with the program. I joined him in March 2022.”
Barnes notes that his own “best therapy” was “talking to Dan on a boat.” He calls the post-military issues many veterans have as they struggle with the after effects of combat situations “a slow build.”
“When you are in [the service], you worry about the next deployment, and you worry about everyone else,” he explains. “Any trauma you [experience], you never deal with while you are in the service. While you are in the military, the people you work with are keeping you alive.”
According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event, either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms can include flashbacks, upsetting dreams or nightmares and severe anxiety. Other symptoms can include depression, difficulty maintaining close relationships, feeling detached from family and friends, feeling numb, and feeling hopeless about the future.
Many people who endure traumatic events may have difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and self-care, they usually get better. If symptoms worsen and interfere with day-to-day functioning, it can indicate PTSD.
According to the National Center for PTSD, one large study of veterans across the country found that PTSD can vary by service era: for example, ten percent of Vietnam veterans experience PTSD at some point in life, while twenty –nine percent of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom veterans experience PTSD at some point in life. (Knott’s duty stations included time spent in both Iraq and Afghanistan).
Regarding PTSD, Knott says a man he called “a surrogate grandfather” was a frogman in World War II and told him a chilling story after Knott came home from his first combat deployment.
“He had never discussed it with anyone, not even his wife,” Knott says of the man, who is now deceased. “Frogmen still exist, but they are now part of the Navy SEALS program. During the war, he had to kill someone that came out of the nearby brush to protect his unit. When he went over to the person and turned him over, he was a child, perhaps 12 or 13 years old. He started bawling when he told me that story, and said that fifty-some years later, he would still see that kid’s face.”
Knott and his team have ambitious future plans for the still-young Knott Alone-Hold Fast organization. While crabbing one day, from the water Knott noticed a nearby peninsula. After doing some research, he drove down roads in a rural area of Gloucester County near the unincorporated community of Naxera, not far from the Land’s End historic property. He noticed a for sale sign and wrote a letter to the tax address listed on property records.
“The owner lived in Atlanta. He bought the land as a nature preserve and didn’t want to sell it to just anybody. He loved the vision [of our program],” Knott explains. “He’s a medical doctor with a psychologist son who works with a Veterans Administration program.”
Dan and his wife Nichole bought the 130 acres personally in 2022 with the idea of leasing it to Knott Alone for the sole use of the program. Located on the Severn River, a tidal river that is a tributary of Mobjack Bay, Knott Alone’s long-term vision for the site includes a fishing village to be called Viking Village, along with housing, hiking trails, docks, a meeting hall and more.
The property adjoins Captain Sinclair’s Recreation Area on the Severn River, a public access area in Gloucester County where locals and visitors fish, paddle kayaks, bird watch, have outdoor gatherings, and more. Captain John Sinclair was a privateer who contributed both his ships and services to the American Revolutionary War effort. A 1796 brick house he lived in until his 1820 death is an example of late eighteenth century Tidewater architecture. It is called Land’s End and is on The National Register of Historic Places.
Currently, Knott Alone rents a brick rancher on state-owned land near the 130- acre site for office and meeting space. A dock out back on a creek empties into the Severn River, where the organization can access the river and Mobjack Bay. The house also provides temporary housing for out-of-town program participants.
“Community support holds fast by having [volunteer] manpower do things like putting a new floor in [the brick house]. All the house’s furniture was donated, so it goes back to a peer-engaged community,” Dr. Beech explains. “Vets hate handouts. They are doing something to benefit more than themselves, and that’s a key component of the program.”
Knott folded his successful commercial waterman’s business into the nonprofit’s structure. From an organizational standpoint, watermen workers are contractors providing a service. Like most nonprofits, Knott Alone relies on donations and grants, along with monies earned from crabbing, oystering, aquaculture, shoreline vegetation work and other related work. At some point, Knott says “we hope to pay ourselves a modest salary.”
“Everything has evolved, and the program has grown quickly in scope,” he says. “My initial vision was to prevent anyone else from getting to where I got to in life- that is still the goal.”He adds,” We’re really rolling with it—the organization is growing up. We want to be a beacon of light to others.”
For more information and/or to make a donation to Knott Alone Hold Fast:
www.holdfast.vet and/or call Dan Knott (757)603-7915