Hooligans Homecoming: Iraq 2006 → Heroes Ranch 2026
More than two decades after serving together in Iraq, a group of military veterans known as the Hooligans reunited in a very different setting: Sheep Dog Impact Assistance’ Heroes Ranch.
Sheep Dog Impact Assistance (SDIA) was honored to host the Hooligans Homecoming, a special Outdoor Adventure centered on reunion, brotherhood, connection, and getting back alongside the men who shared an experience few others can fully understand.
Reuniting Veterans Through Outdoor Adventure
For veterans and first responders, connection can be a powerful part of moving forward after service. SDIA’s Outdoor Adventures provide opportunities to Get Off The Couch® and reconnect through challenge, camaraderie, and shared experiences.
For the Hooligans, this Adventure offered something especially meaningful: the opportunity to do it together.
Throughout their time at Heroes Ranch, the group participated in activities including Equine Connection, archery, and mountain biking, creating plenty of opportunities for friendly competition, conversation, laughter, and the kind of connection that can pick up even after decades apart.
The group also spent a special day next door at Rush Springs Ranch, where they traded military vehicles for a different kind of off-road adventure. With the Rock Crawlers, the Hooligans hit the trails for rock crawling and RZR riding, adding another memorable experience to their reunion.
Brotherhood That Outlasts the Years
Military service creates relationships under circumstances that are difficult to recreate in civilian life.
The people beside you during those experiences become part of your story. Years pass. Careers change. Families grow. People scatter across the country. Yet when the group comes back together, there can still be a familiarity that reaches across all those intervening years.
That was at the heart of the Hooligans Homecoming.
The setting looked very different from Iraq in 2006, but more than 20 years later, the brotherhood remained.
At SDIA, we believe opportunities like these matter. Our mission is to Engage, Assist, and Empower our nation’s military members, veterans, first responders, and their families to Get Off The Couch® and live their best lives.
Outdoor Adventures are more than a few days away from home. They create space for connection, challenge, purpose, and continued engagement with a community of fellow Sheep Dogs.
For some participants, an Outdoor Adventure may be the first step toward deeper engagement and continued growth. For others, like the Hooligans, it can also be a chance to reconnect with a brotherhood forged decades earlier and discover that it is still there.
Iraq 2006 → Home 2026
Twenty years ago, these men stood beside one another in Iraq.
In 2026, they stood together again at Heroes Ranch.
Different terrain. Different mission. Same Hooligans.
To the Hooligans: welcome home.
It was our honor to have you at Heroes Ranch.
Get Off The Couch® With Sheep Dog Impact Assistance
Sheep Dog Impact Assistance provides programs designed to help our nation’s Sheep Dogs continue moving forward through Outdoor Adventures, Warrior PATHH, Disaster Response Missions, and other opportunities for connection, service, and posttraumatic growth.
Whether you are a military veteran or first responder looking for your next challenge, a supporter interested in giving back, or someone who wants to help make experiences like the Hooligans Homecoming possible, we invite you to learn more about SDIA and join the mission.
Get Off The Couch®. Find connection. Keep moving forward.