About

Veteran, Founder

Registered Maine Guide

Dan Waite

On September 11, 2001, Private Daniel Waite was in boot camp at Fort Benning, Georgia.  It was a day that would change the path of his military career.  After boot camp, Private Waite was based in Hawaii with an Infantry Unit, 2-35 Cacti, that was gearing up for the Middle East.  For the next three years, Waite readied up the best way he knew how - excelling at schools that would equip him for war.  First, Ranger School, where he earned his Ranger Tab in July 2003.  Next up Airborne School, earning him the elite title, Airborne Ranger.  The next year was spent training for war, and in early 2004 Sgt. Waite deployed to Afghanistan.  While in Afghanistan, Sgt. Waite worked with his team to track down enemy targets in the mountain villages and cities of Afghanistan, completing dozens of successful missions in their year-long deployment.  

Upon returning from Afghanistan, Sgt. Waite was honorably discharged from Active Duty, entering the Individual Ready Reserve, or IRR.  He went to college, started a family, and made his best go at civilian life.  All along he missed the military, with its' sense of purpose and brotherhood.  In November 2006, Sgt. Waite was recalled to Active Duty.  It was a relief for him, as he felt he was his best self as a soldier.  In January 2007, Sgt. Waite deployed to Iraq, along with 14 other IRR soldiers, attached to a National Guard unit out of Arkansas to complete convoy security.  While in Iraq, combat injuries sent Sgt. Waite to a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, then to Walter Reed Army Medical Center outside Washington, D.C.  He spent his time there recovering  from a TBI and PTSD and talking to other injured soldiers about hunting and fishing back in Maine.  This is where the dream of Operation ReBoot Outdoors was born.  Finally, 12 years after the dream began, Waite became a Registered Maine Guide and brought it to life in 2019 with the first official Missions getting underway.