Golf tournament raising money for vets with PTSD

A Sept. 12 golf tournament is being held in honor of Simon Litke, who died by suicide two years ago.

Save the Brave, a non-profit organization aimed at providing camaraderie and stress management programs to veterans who suffer from PTSD, is hosting the first ever Corporal Simon R. Litke Magnificent Bastards Charity Golf Tournament on Sept. 12.

The event will take place at the MCCS Camp Pendleton – Marine Memorial Golf Course, and will feature live music, food, drinks, silent auction, and of course, golf.

The tournament is being held in honor of Corporal Simon R. Litke, who was a squad leader in Ramadi with 2/4 Echo Company. Litke died by suicide in 2015.

This is the first golf tournament being held by Save the Brave (STB). According to STB president and founder Nick Velez, who owns Bastards Canteen in Downey, the tournament will not be “like your average golf tournament.”

“There’s going to be a lot of veterans who will be participating. There might be amputees golfing out there,” said Velez. “There also will be veteran authors, other veteran entrepreneurs, other guys mixed in to kind of give them that kind of cool motivation…”

Litke’s mother and father will be flying in from Minnesota to attend.

STB is now looking for individuals to sponsor the event or to fill up the remaining participant spots.

“We have about 50 spaces that we need to fill, 120 in total,” said Velez. “We want the community; we don’t want it to just be vets. We want the community of Downey to understand who the guys are from Bastards and from Save The Brave that work together for one mission, and that’s to build character through strength and leadership.”

More information about the tournament can be found at savethebrave.org.