Several combat-wounded active duty and veteran service members hit the waves Friday in Cocoa Beach.
Operation Surf, run by the California based nonprofit Amazing Surfing Adventures, teaches service members and veterans how to surf.
For the first time they have taken Operation Surf to Florida.
Fourteen military members are participating in the week long surfing event in Cocoa Beach.
Many of the military members have served multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, continuing to suffer from physical and psychological disabilities.
The goal of the event is to help them relax and rehabilitate.
“It’s got its own healing aspects of it, because it’s physical, mental and spiritual, so when you add all these things together that’s why surfing is so special,” said Van Curaza, president of Amazing Surfing Adventures.
A local surfing school will help with the lessons.
They hope surfing can help build self-confidence for the service members and veterans.
Retired U.S. Army Specialist Charles Lemon, a former UCF student who now lives in Tampa, is participating in his second Operation Surf. He lost both legs in a road side bomb in Iraq in 2011.
"It was one of my first outings after I got injured in Iraq, so it was eye opening, it really gave you a little hope to know there's things to do out there, after your injury, just new things you can get into," said Lemon.