ATLANTA -- Major League Baseball, the Atlanta Braves and Camp Southern Ground cut the ribbon on a state-of-the-art mobile Warrior Fitness Trailer on Friday afternoon at Truist Park.
The Braves-themed trailer will serve veterans at Camp Southern Ground’s world-class retreat facility in Fayetteville, Ga., and beyond. On Friday, a select group of veterans got first access to its amenities, participating in group workouts while availing themselves of complimentary food and massages.
Founded in 2011 by Grammy award-winning musician Zac Brown, of the Zac Brown Band, the camp serves as a resource for post-9/11 veterans to foster mental and physical wellness following traumatic experiences.
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It does so through two core programs: Warrior Week, the signature program, which helps veterans in the transition to civilian life after military service, and Warrior PATHH (Progressive Alternative Training for Helping Heroes), which facilitates paths for growth and wellness among combat veterans struggling with PTSD and/or combat stress.
Now, with the Warrior Fitness Trailer -- part of the 2025 All-Star Legacy project, through which MLB, the Braves and the Atlanta Braves Foundation announced more than $4 million in initiatives to benefit the Atlanta Metro area -- the camp will ramp up its focus on physical training and recovery.
“Today is super exciting for us,” said Mike Dobbs, president and CEO of Camp Southern Ground. “To be recognized by the MLB All-Star Legacy project, as well as our hometown Atlanta Braves, is huge. Them granting us this Warrior Fitness Trailer was really the missing link in our Warrior well-being program.
“We’re all about supporting veterans, helping them transition from active duty to civilian life … so now having a full workout facility like this is going to be amazing. We’re going to have this for many years to come.”
Major League Baseball has long supported men and women of service through fundraising and events. Through MLB Together, the league collaborates with several organizations dedicated to military veterans, including Blue Star Families, the Affordable Connectivity Program and the Wounded Warrior Project.
“[At] MLB Together, our core values are to improve mental wellness of all the population, of all of our fans, from the youngest to the oldest,” said April Brown, MLB’s senior vice president of social responsibility. “... [Through] our Legacy initiative, we’re able to [make] our MLB Together [impact] that much greater.
“We’re talking about everyday heroes,” Brown added of military vets. “... If we can use our baseball family and the power of our sport to support and honor those veterans, it really means well. … The support of each other coming together is what makes us mentally strong. And strong mind, strong body, strong life.”
Kyle Butcher, who received the Purple Heart after being wounded in action, serves as a Warrior PATHH guide. A PATHH graduate in 2023, Butcher touched on the importance of the trailer’s addition to the campsite.
“Today is such a special day,” Butcher said, “because the Atlanta Braves, our hometown team, [and] Major League Baseball are providing us with such an amazing trailer that we’re going to be able to [use to] incorporate more fitness modalities for our veterans when they come into our programs.
“We have an amazing facility down at camp, however, if I had to say we were lacking in one area, it would be fitness equipment. So this is going to absolutely help change that, and we’re going to use this for years to come, helping to get veterans back engaged in physical fitness. … Thank you [to MLB and the Braves] from the bottom of my heart.”