Military No one to reach out to today...

[Freida]

Yes! What @ladee said!

 

[Rugby02]

@Florian, etc. I've got an idea and I wanted to run it past you all to gain insight. Right now I volunteer in a Veterans' Mentor Court where we help vets detained (not necessarily arrested) by police for drugs and alcohol issues. Anyway, I'm keen to create an Appalachian Trail program for the vets able & willing to hike part or all of the AT. My start date is 2019. I've got a judge keen for me to go forward with it.

Would any of you be interested in such an event? Any and all suggestions are welcome. I've got one combat vet interested so far. Also, should I be starting a new thread with this topic? lol

 

[Virtues]

I definitely think you could start a new topic and gain quite a bit of feedback from quite a few followers. I'm not too familiar with the AT, but I just ran a Google search on it and saw it was 2,200 miles (not sure how rugged the terrain is). I know I couldn't hang in for a hike of the full trail. In addition to PTSD/TBI I also have back issues and that would be out of the realm of realistic for me. When you say a "partial" hike what did you have in mind? How many miles? Starting point and ending point? Where are you based out of? Just trying to gather more info to be able to give you more insight...

 

[Sighs]

I don't mean to be Negative Nancy here, but most infantry veterans have done more hikes than they've had hot dinners. Their shoulder, backs, hips and knees are often damaged from carrying 60kg packs on 80km forced marches. Not really sure they'd want to do any more hiking. I could be totally wrong on this but my veteran often says he's hiked enough for one lifetime!

 

[Deleted member 46500]

OK we all know what this is - survivor guilt.
And it is about you and that's okay.
Remember the person and honor their life by taking care of yourself.
Go and do something for someone else today, or be here for someone else today.
And remember, guilt is a useless emotion.

 

[Rugby02]

@Sighs, thanks for your input. There is actually a group of us already making a project out of it. It's on another thread. FWIW, many of us feel it cathartic to assist the next generation with our insight. Plus, there are a few of us planning to walk off the PTSD excessive energy on this trek. Again, thanks for your perspective.

 

[Freida]

where did you park the hiking thread?? And I love hikiing -- I'm one of the vets who didn't have to drag a ruck -- LOL I was chair force! I might have gotten my boots dirty

 

[Sighs]

@Rugby02 - I managed to work it into conversation with my vet last night and his view was hiking with a bunch of vets sounded good. Its hiking with a bunch of civvies he's not interested in. So that was kinda revealing. ;) Apparently he can cope with the physical pain - its the mental annoyance of civilians that he's avoiding.

 

[Warrior Chicken]

Would it be a thing that Vets from other countries could join in on?

Also fully concur......hiking with civvies? No offence intended, but yuck!!!! There is something sacred about the boots on the ground, the slog, the silence, or the comraderie of mutual physical effort.

Hard for me to explain and I don’t have many words at the moment cuz my boots are kicking my ass with symptoms and avoidance. Don’t make anyone else carry your gear....

 

[Freida]

wait! @Warrior Chicken you are not gonna volunteer to drag my pack?? but..but..I'm air force!!! l:):):):)

 

[Friday]

wait! @Warrior Chicken you are not gonna volunteer to drag my pack?? but..but..I'm a...

You can carry your own damn pack ...All. The. Way. To. The. Bus.... that drives to the hotel! :p

I can’t count the number of times... :hilarious:

 

[Freida]

LOL!!!!! and it better be a 5 star hotel at that!! :)
:):):joyful::joyful::playful::playful: