Green shoots for war veterans

"Think of it in military terms," he told the young recruits, some just back from Iraq or Afghanistan. "It's a matter of survival, an uphill battle. You have to think everything is against you and hope to stay alive."

The battle in question was not the typical ground assault, but organic farming - how to identify beneficial insects, for instance, or to prevent stray frogs from clogging an irrigation system. It was day two of a novel boot camp for veterans and active-duty military personnel who might be interested in new careers as farmers.

"In the military, grunts are the guys who get dirty, do the work and are generally under-appreciated," said Colin Archipley, a decorated Marine Corps infantry sergeant turned organic farmer, who developed the programme with his wife, Karen, after three tours in Iraq. "I think farmers are the same."

At their farm, called Archi's Acres, in Valley Center, California, the sound of crickets and croaking frogs communes with the drone of choppers. The syllabus, approved by an army transition assistance programme, includes hands-on planting and irrigating, lectures about "high-value niche markets" and production of a business plan that is assessed by food professionals and business professors.

Along with Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots, a new programme for veterans at the University of Nebraska's College of Technical Agriculture, and farming fellowships for wounded soldiers, the six-week course offered here is part of a nascent "veteran-centric" farming movement. Its goal is to bring the energy of young soldiers re-entering civilian life to the ageing farm population of rural America.

"The military is not for the faint of heart, and farming isn't either," said Michael O'Gorman, an organic farmer who founded the non-profit Farmer-Veteran Coalition, "There are eight times as many farmers over age 65 as under. There is a tremendous need for young farmers, and a big wave of young people inspired to go into the service who are coming home."

In 2009, the Agriculture Department began offering low-interest loans in its campaign to add 100,000 farmers to the nation's ranks each year. Among them will probably be Sgt Matt Holzmann, 33, a Marine who spent seven months in Afghanistan. He did counter-insurgency work and tried to introduce aquaponics, a self-replenishing agricultural system, to rural villages.

His zeal for aquaponics led him to the farming class. "It's a national security issue," he said the other day outside a garage turned classroom filled with boxes of Dr Earth Kelp Meal."The more responsibly we use water and energy, the greater it is for our country."

O'Gorman, a pacifist and a pioneer of the baby-lettuce business, started the coalition after his son joined the Coast Guard. "Beginning farming has become the cause du jour among young people with college degrees and trust funds," O'Gorman said. "My gut sense is a lot of them won't be farming five years from now. But these vets will."

Archipley's journey into organic farming was serendipitous. He joined the Marines in response to the 11 September terrorist attacks and married between his second and third tours in Iraq. The couple bought three acres of avocado orchards north of San Diego.

Archipley, whose looks bring to mind a surfer dude, eventually secured a loan from the Agriculture Department to build a greenhouse. His farm now sells organic produce to Whole Foods Markets in San Diego and Los Angeles.

In 2007, the couple started training veterans informally, financing the effort themselves. The new course, administered through MiraCosta College, costs 2,800, with the army offering assistance for active-duty Marines.

Farming offers veterans a chance to decompress, said Archipley, and it provides a sense of purpose. "It allows them to be physically active, be part of a unit," he said. "It gives them a mission statement - a responsibility to the consumer eating their food."

Even in this idyllic setting, it can be a challenging process. Mike Hanes, now 34, enlisted in the Marines at 18. In 1994, six days into his basic training in South Carolina, his drill instructor committed suicide with an M-16 rifle in front of 59 recruits. "He blew his head off," Hanes said. "That was right from the get-go, at age 18."

In Baghdad, Hanes served as a machine-gunner atop a Humvee. "I was the one they were trying to kill," he said. He returned home with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and a traumatic brain injury. He was homeless for over a year yet still managed to get a degree in environmental social services.

Two years ago, he stumbled upon the Archipleys' "Veterans for Sustainable Agriculture" booth at an Earth Day festival in San Diego.

"One thing I've noticed about agriculture is that you become a creator rather than a destroyer," he said. John Maki, a transition assistance programme specialist, said the life experiences of young veterans equip them for demanding work.

"For a comparable age, you won't find people who have had as much responsibility," he said. "They've been tasked with making life-and-death decisions."