KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Construction is underway at a retreat for wounded service members and their families, and the owners plan to have it up and running by May.

Cabezon Wounded Warrior Haven is about 50 miles northwest of Kirtland Air Force Base, on the remote Tachias family ranch near the landmark Cabezon Peak. Retired Army Lt. Col. Michael Tachias and his wife, Rowena, are turning the desert into a place where combat veterans can relax, reconnect with their families and let go of burdens.

"The most important thing is honoring these soldiers and their families," said Michael, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Although they've tried out activities with military friends, the Tachiases have scheduled their first official event for May, when they plan to host 25 local veterans for a three-day event. The program will cost the participants nothing, so the Tachiases are looking for support to help feed and house their guests.

Among other projects, the couple is putting in utilities, constructing a sweat lodge in the Native American tradition and building a gazebo that will face the peak. Master Gardeners with the New Mexico State University Valencia County Cooperative Extension Office have agreed to help create a prayer garden, and the Tachiases
built a nature trail about a mile long.

"We've been soldiers, amid the chaos and destruction of war; we've blown up and destroyed things all over the world," Michael said. "Well, part of the healing process is
connecting with Mother Nature."

The ranch has four portable classroom buildings to remodel into bunkhouses, and the Tachiases want add more. Guests can also use primitive campgrounds on the property.

Michael said service members and their families have the option to sleep in tents like those the military uses in the Middle East or to stay in the bunkhouses.

He would like to create an obstacle course and a trap-and-skeet shooting range and use them for competitions for the veterans.

"Even though they've been wounded, they still haven't quit or surrendered; they are still proud soldiers," Michael said.

Guests will also have a chance to tour and learn about the historic ghost town on the ranch.

The final day of the program will include a twilight hike to a historic "hanging tree." There, Michael said, participants can open up to each other about their struggles and then blow out candles to symbolize letting go of anxiety, depression and other problems.

A hanging tree may seem like a strange place for such a ceremony, but the Tachiases say they thought the tree was dead until it bloomed the first year they began developing the haven.

"To us, it was a sign," Michael said.

Rowena said for her, the opportunity for families to reconnect with each other is a priority. Service members get a lot of training, Rowena said, but families don't receive instruction on how to deal with issues veterans have when they return injured or as a different person from who their loved ones knew before.

"If coming to this ranch gives a family a moment of bonding or a weekend without pressure, and if it saves one family, it's worth every sacrifice we've made to make this place," she said.

Rowena and Michael plan to share what helped their family reconnect and heal, which includes their strong Christian faith.

"We're not counselors and don't claim to be," Rowena said. "We only offer our experience and what has worked for us."

For more information about Cabezon Wounded Warrior Haven or to donate, call 480-4836 or visit www.cabezonhaven.org.