Surviving war is one thing, but sometimes readjusting to life back home can be harder. Ancient armies would “walk off the war” with a long march home, but now military units usually return home within 72 hours.
In 1948, Earl Schaffer became the first person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine as a way to forget sights and sounds — and losses — in the trenches. In 2012, Marine Capt. Sean Gobin did the same after returning from 3 deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He found the hike therapeutic, and set out to offer the same experience for other returning veterans.
In this Carolina Outdoors podcast, Capt. Gobin explains how he turned his mission into Warrior Expeditions, an organization that takes 40 veterans a year on one of 10 different long-distance hikes, bikes, or river paddling adventures.
Listen here!
Show highlights:
- More than a hike: How Warrior Expeditions prepares veterans for a journey that may last anywhere from 3 to 6 months
- Getting started: How Capt. Gobin gets personally involved with each expedition to send veterans off to a proper start
- Finding their own way: Veterans can make the trek alone or with others, allowing them to “talk out” their experience and bond with other vets who have experiences in common
- Stops along the way: Breaks for community support remind veterans of the good in humanity
- Where do I sign up? How Warrior Expeditions keeps up their momentum to maintain and expand the program to help veterans, including a trail in North Carolina
More insight from The Outdoor Guys:
- Website: WarriorExpeditions.org
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/warriorhike
- Twitter: @WarriorHike
- Instagram: @warriorexpeditions
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5jLOfAE-m-nqh0KqGTi-zQ
- When NPR tagged along: https://npr.org/2016/10/06/496826293/on-the-appalachian-trail-combat-veterans-learn-to-let-things-go