- I got out of the army three weeks ago,
so it's really still pretty fresh.
I've never had the time as an adult
to kinda sit back and process
my seven years in the military.
Two days ago was kinda the first
kind of introduction to like,
"Hey, you're out here with your thoughts,"
and that is all you have going on.
- I've done all the different types
of medications and stuff like that.
Some of them work, some of them don't.
But, as far as the mental and physical side,
this is probably one of the best
medications you could take is being out here
in the wilderness, putting your physical ability to work.
- Programs like Warrior Expeditions are important
because they challenge the idea that this medication
or this office is the only thing out there for you.
I have become less likely
to scoff at other people's crazy ideas
because I see how well this crazy idea worked.
(music fading)
(wind blowing)
(leaves crunching)
If you look at the manual for a traditional treatment,
you're looking at a one hour meeting once a week
for approximately 12 weeks.
So, when you're looking at a program
like Warrior Expeditions
and how long it takes to complete the trail,
if you want to look at every hour spent
as a productive therapeutic hour,
you're looking around the ballpark of 2500 direct hours.
So, there's a massive difference of the time spent
in investing in themselves.
That's kind of the theoretical perspective of
why Warrior Expeditions is so beneficial for the veterans.
(rocks crunching)
- Where are we at now?
3802?
- Right at 38.
But yeah. - How long have we
been out here?
- If you and V need water, we should push on.
- 3802's not even out here.
- 37.9.
- Yeah, I assume 37.9, I'm just assuming--
- That's on the left.
- Oh, then that was that one back there that we just saw.
Today is probably our first day of the little bit
of struggle, I guess.
I've enjoyed the section trail,
now it's a little bit frustrating, so take a pause and...
- And get lost that many times in one day.
(laughing)
- You get kind of frustrated, but at the same time,
you find your way back on trail and keep on moving.
The Warrior Expeditions basically told us to go out,
not really push ourselves, enjoy the hike,
and basically make it our own.
Each person coming out, I believe,
has a different objective,
or maybe even not knowing what their objective is.
- I think my objective for this,
just kind of resetting myself.
- One of the things that kind of kept coming up
was kinda what I want after this experience,
what I wanna do for employment after this experience,
what I wanna get involved with.
So, to have the time and space to do that
is kind of a life-changing thing.
(water running)
- One of the problems that we have in our mechanized world
is combat veterans used to take several months,
if not longer, to come home,
and now they can be home in a couple days.
And then, we wonder why they're on high alert,
why they're hyper vigilant?
Well, three days ago, they were getting shot at.
And now, all of a sudden the brain has rewired itself
to look for that next threat.
The physiological changes
that occur just by being in nature,
you can see the brain literally being more susceptible
to being calm, new ideas,
processing things in a way
that you just don't process things in the outside world.
(upbeat music)
- Mountains to Sea Trail has been so peaceful,
and you're literally crossing over little waterfalls,
rivers, streams, you got the birds chirping,
sunshine coming through the trees at certain points.
I mean, up here, I mean, it's almost immediate kind
of a stress melt away
and all the thoughts about crazy stuff.
That's kind of been an awesome effect already
and we're only a week in.
(guitar music)
So, we started out hiking on the western portion
of the MST, so at Clingman's Dome,
we hiked 375 miles to Elkin.
Elkin is our transition point between the hike and the bike,
so we'll start out biking, and we'll bike about 600 miles.
- I believe there's over 600 miles
to just north of Wilmington.
Starting off with about 18 miles tomorrow
and working way up to,
in three days, we'll be doing about 35 miles.
- In all honesty, I think we're just kinda figuring it out,
and I think that's collectively a lot more
than either of us have done in terms of biking.
(tranquil music) (wheel spinning)
- In the military, we get challenges every day.
It's what we're used to as far as planning things,
putting things in front of us, and accepting the challenge.
- We're not used to asking for help.
We're usually the one going out of our way
to help other people,
so to kinda have that returned to us is a really cool way
to kinda like transition into the civilian world.
- On behalf of the VFW Post 7794,
on behalf of everyone here, thanks for coming.
- Thank you.
(clapping)
(crowd talking)
- One of the times that we have seen in Warrior Expeditions
is they see that there are people out there
who are not trying to hurt them,
they're not trying to hurt their families,
and that is a big challenge to the previous idea
that they acquired in the military.
(crowd talking)
- It's getting to the point where you're not afraid
to come up to somebody and just say hi.
- We're doing something right.
- Right, that's what he was saying, talking all about it.
- You're not here for this long, say hi to everyone.
- Hey, how's it going?
- Things build with the welcome back--
- Oh, okay, cool!
- I think it was a little bit weird at first,
but then you kinda start realizing
that they wanna be doing this, they wanna interact with you.
I think we're kind of at the point where we just enjoy it.
(synthesizer music)
(gentle music)
I'm definitely really sad that it's coming to an end,
and I think it came a lot quicker
than we were maybe anticipating.
But I think once I kinda like finish and kinda headed home,
I think the excitement's really gonna kick in,
just like, time to transition and start something new.
- Plan as far as finishing, heading back home,
taking it all in and understanding what I just did,
and, hopefully, it'll be more relaxed and enjoyable life.
- It's a phenomenal alternative to what's already out there.
Being able to work out your problems
without having something prescribed
or having to go talk to somebody is, I think, huge.
The expedition and organization definitely
has allowed me to do that.
- Traditional therapy for PTSD is difficult
for a number of reasons.
We have a group of individuals
who are going to get dirty, be challenged.
They need the space,
they need the time alone where they can process
what has happened, what they wanna do moving forward.
- I always said it's usually about two weeks into the trail,
the point where you really look at it and say,
"Why am I out here?"
And that's when you're stopped on top of a mountain
and overlooking the valley,
and you realize that's why I'm here,
being with nature, being at peace with yourself,
being at peace with what happened.
- Is PTSD reversible?
We don't really truly know,
but can you increase functionally?
Absolutely, with mass quantities of exercise,
sunlight exposure, deep sleep, and meditation.
That's what we're here for.
- Hey, hope you guys liked this video.
We really enjoyed making it.
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