We Gift More Than Just a Motorcycle

Riding is an alternative therapy; and our gifts are the tools by which an injured Veteran rider regains its healing benefits. The Harleys are not awards for service achievements, popularity-based or simply thank-you gifts but are, instead, meant to help redirect, if not save, struggling and at-risk Veteran’s lives by returning them back to The Road. While our goal is to gift one bike a year, since our first gifting in May 2016, FIFTY NINE Wisconsin Veterans have now regained riding in their lives. YOU put them on some incredibly beautiful bikes that fill their hearts, clear their minds, and reconnect supportive bonds. In 2025 alone, your support has made it possible for another TEN struggling, injured WI Veteran riders to regain healing and freedom from The Road. We are currently in fundraising mode for more Harleys to gift in 2026, and we thank you for being on this ride with us.

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ADD: ONE MORE BIKE THAN PLANNED! MEET #61: After 9/11, and at age 24, Joshua Walker joined the Army National Guard, worked as a welder in construction and hoped for his chance to deploy. In 2004 Josh arrived on a rudimentary base in Iraq: a country and a war that was nothing like what they had trained for. One day an IED detonated under his Humvee, splitting the vehicle in half and sending his half rolling down an embankment to land upside down in the filthy canal water. Josh and his gunner were able to climb out and were assisted back to base. A quick check showed no obvious injuries, and Josh returned to duty the next day. The quick check also meant no diagnosis, nor did any paperwork follow. And the rest of his deployment, filled with more explosives, gunfire and traumatic incidents, remains a blur to him to this day. Josh returned home a completely different man and to face a barrage of domestic battles…and he fell apart. After several emergency admissions, he went through a Medical Review Board that diagnosed him with PTSD and forced retirement. His struggles further affected his neuropsychological, cognitive and occupational functioning; and as his mind shut down, he found himself with seizures and unable to care for himself. After several inpatient admissions, he spent eight long years on a course that included VA group home living, speech and occupational therapy, and a multitude of PTSD programming, counseling and life management training to return some semblance of who he once was. It would take those same eight years before his short-term memory deficits would be attributed to a TBI from from his IED incident ten years prior, finally validating his struggles as more than just psychological. As he learned to live independently again, Josh returned to motorcycling after regaining his endorsement. He bought an H-D Ultra, joined the CVMA and rode four years before a patch of gravel totaled his bike. He then bought a 20 year old H-D trike conversion, and after a few months the axle broke while riding, rendering it beyond repair. Josh is not in a financial position to purchase another; and Hogs For Heroes felt that returning Josh to the road would support the healing he still has to do. Click here to read his full story of courage and determination.

This gift marks our 11th Bike & Veteran pairing in 2025 alone, and our 61st in ten years! After receiving over $38,000 from the Tavern League of WI this spring, we chose to gift one more bike than planned and give the TLW bragging rights to a second sponsored bike this year. Josh chose a beautiful blue 2020 H-D Tri Glide from Suburban Motors H-D in Thiensville, WI. Join us for his Presentation of Keys Ceremony on Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 12:30 pm during the Main Street Tap’s Annual Car & Bike Show in Twin Lakes, WI.

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#60 IN TEN YEARS: Staff Sergeant Tiffany Gorges joined the Army National Guard in May 2001.  She was quickly activated to Fort Bragg for a year where she excelled, bought her first motorcycle, and earned a position in Airborne School.  Tiffany loved everything about the military, including the trust and brotherhood. One day a “Brother” asked for her help and, while traveling together, he sexually assaulted her.  Fearful and confused, she hid the ugly truth and built a foundation from which her PTSD grew.  Months later Tiffany deployed with a Heavy Transport Company and in October, 2004, landed in Iraq for 17 months. She drove massive trucks in convoys, manned 50-cal turrets and was a Combat Lifesaver.  She concealed her physical pains and mentally pushed the daily near-misses, violent death toll and horrific injuries she tended to, far back in her mind to stay focused.  She returned stateside and hid everything behind a private mask, using her bike for release and drinking excessively to dilute the past.  Six years later, the Staff Sergeant deployed to Afghanistan running gun trucks and leading others for a year.  Once home, she again buried everything and was quickly engulfed in a sea of rage, acting out and drinking even more to temper her demons. It would be four years later, in the wake of more bad choices and lost relationships, that she finally sought care.  And when the Army found out about her struggles with PTSD and the physical limitations of her injuries, a Medical Review Board granted retirement at 20 years of service.  Tiffany has courageously moved miles in therapy, but regaining miles on the trike she needs isn’t a financial possibility.  Hogs For Heroes believed our gift could help her stay on the healing path she’s created for herself.   Tiffany’s trike was fully sponsored by Dane County’s Fire Fighters Local 311 and the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin after two golf outings for us. She received her Trike on August 2, 2025 at Harley-Davidson of Madison where the beautiful Ladder 14 Firetruck stood by in support.

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HERE’S VETERAN #59: On 9/11 Marine Jimmy Rehme, of Clintonville, WI, was a freshman and he vowed then to join the fight. After graduating from Hortonville High School in June, 2004, he left that very same day for Basic Training. The Infantryman specialized as a Mortarman, and six months later landed in Afghanistan. For 7 months Jimmy assisted in patrol and assault efforts within the mountainous terrain. He returned stateside and began training for deployment to Iraq just a mere eight months later. For six months he ran patrols in the IED laden Triangle of Death to disrupt terrorist placement of IEDs. One month in country and Jimmy’s vehicle hit an IED, leaving him with a TBI, hearing loss and asthma. Once cleared he was back out on those same patrol routes, and pushing away the PTSD demons to stay focused on his job. Jimmy knew he was struggling with the violence, his demons and the loss of so many Brothers; and he decided to separate at his contract’s end, narrowly missing his Battalion’s return to Iraq. Jimmy returned to WI, found a job and started saving for the Harley he’d dreamt of. And, he pushed away all the demons stirring within to build and provide for his family. It wasn’t until he was going through a divorce and losing time with his three girls did depression set in and bring his demons from 20 years ago to the forefront. Jimmy turned to motorcycling for the release it once provided him; unfortunately the old bike he had grew more unreliable and threatened his ability to stay on the road and reconnect as he did. That’s where we came in. Jimmy’s bike is the third of three Harleys this summer to have been fully sponsored by last year’s fundraising by the IUOE Local 139. He received his keys on July 19 in a private event held during the Operating Engineers Family Picnic, thereby allowing their members the chance to see our mission, and their impact, in action.

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INTRODUCING VETERAN #58: Marine Brett Peterson of Thiensville, WI was born and raised in Slinger, WI. After childhood tragedy and a rough path as a young adult, Brett joined the Marines in 2004 for redirection and the chance to serve and protect others. The Infantryman specialized as an Amphibious Assault Vehicle Crewman; and on his first MEU deployment, spent everyday thinking he was heading to war in Iraq. Instead, he moved into the Philippine jungles to support their military in operations against Al Qaida. Brett returned, trained up and deployed to Iraq in 2006 for six months in one of the war’s most violent and deadliest time periods as a Squad Leader on over 150 patrol/combat missions. Despite the PTSD and TBI symptoms already showing themselves, he re-enlisted, successfully moved through three years of recruitment duty, then deployed to Afghanistan for a year working with the Afghan National Security Forces. The volatile and duplicitous nature of the position worsened his mental health struggles; and upon returning, he chose to separate from service. Brett bought his first motorcycle after returning from Iraq and rode hard through the next seven years until he lost his job during Covid…then lost his truck and Harley when his loans defaulted. Brett has determinedly worked to manage and push through the PTSD and TBI struggles he deals with daily; but the one tool he’s been missing and unable to regain has been a motorcycle. Hogs For Heroes felt it was time that void in his heart and mind be filled. Brett had been walking his dog past Suburban Motors H-D, wishing hard for the gorgeous 2024 Street Glide Special sitting out front, and we made it his the very next day. Unique to Brett’s bike, it has been fully sponsored by the 2024 fundraising efforts of Tavern League of Wisconsin members across the state. Brett received his keys on July 13, 2025.

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LEARN ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS! Miss the stories of our past Recipients?  Catch them below by simply clicking on the Veteran’s name button. See the Harleys they’ve chosen–some new, some barely broken in–by clicking on the Recipient Photos button here or the icon below.

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CATCH OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER!  Find out the latest happenings and updates in our most recent Hogs for Heroes newsletter.  Read it here!

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SUPER COOL NEWS: Our Recipients created a way to express their appreciation and pride for the healing gifts your donations have made possible.  In addition to the decals they had made exclusively for Recipient use, they chose to have license plates that reflect their gifting number within the Hogs For Heroes family.  Watch for WI motorcycle plates on the road that read H4H## (i.e. H4H6 or H4H47, etc.).  And please note, Hogs For Heroes does not ask Recipients to tag their bikes (or themselves!) in any way.  They choose to do this.

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