 and we have what I think is a a first here on DAV social media joined by some very special guests coming to us from Tanzania. So I'll start by introducing Marine Corps veteran and DAV's second junior vice commander Coleman Me. Coleman is a life member of chapter three in Boston. We also have fellow Marine Corps veteran and DAV member Michael York. Michael is the president and founder of Veterans on the 48, a nonprofit dedicated to getting more veterans outside and onto the trails to promote healthy lifestyles both physically and mentally. Coleman and Michael are joining us from the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in East Africa, where they will soon set out to climb nearly 20,000 feet above sea level to the mountain's peak. Coleman and Michael will be joined by six other DAV members and the 10 day excursion is sponsored by DAV Massachusetts. Thank you both and everyone there in the background. Thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you for having us and really want to thank the DAV and the Department of Massachusetts for for their outstanding sponsorship of this trip making it making it happen. It was I think everyone here was very appreciative of the fact that you know that a service organization would step up and do this for them. Absolutely. Michael can you start by telling us more about Veterans on the 48 and and how that organization came to be? Yeah. So in 2017, me and my father, Greg, set out to hike Mount Wau in New Hampshire. We'd never done it before, never really had done any hiking. We went out to R.E.I. just bought a ton of gear and kind of took on the mountain, really not knowing what we were getting into. You know, it took us about eight hours, you know, to do the whole trip maybe a little longer. And I started noticing, you know, about halfway up that my mind was kind of going elsewhere and I was replaying things that I kind of thought I had put to bed from when I was in the military. And I noticed that just through the struggle of climbing the mountain and just kind of being out in the outdoors with my father or someone that, you know, I trusted and you know, could relate with. I know I just started working through it and when we got to the top, it was like some of the things that were in my mind kind of went away. And I noticed that when I got to the bottom of the mountain, I just felt like more myself than I had in a long time. You know, like my pack was lighter, I guess is a way to put it. But shortly after I discovered something called the New Hampshire 48, which is a challenge to hike all 48 4000 footers in New Hampshire. And me and my father took off on that right away. We did as many as we could together. We did a lot, you know, on our own. And I noticed that every time that I was outside and on the mountains, those things that I was struggling with, they were becoming less and less. And I was leaving them kind of behind on the trail and realizing that I was again becoming more and more of the person I kind of used to be who I wanted to be. And you know, that kind of blossomed into the veterans on the 48. I wanted to see if I could get other veterans that may be going through the same things I was and see if it would help them the way it was helping me. I started reaching out to other veterans that I knew kind of checking out social media, seeing if there was any other veterans that hiked the New Hampshire and just asking them, hey, do you want to come hike with me? We'll do it together. And that turned into small group hikes of just really at the time random veterans that wanted to get together and go for a hike. You know, as more and more showed interest, I saw, you know, kind of an opportunity to create a community, a hiking community for veterans. So I just started reaching out to more, you know, get in touch with them and then COVID hit. And I found myself with just a ton of free time. So I figured why not try to make this into a nonprofit where we could raise funds and send veterans to different events and, you know, take our group hikes that we were organizing and expand on, you know, pay for them to stay at some of the AMC hikes, you know, on the presidential range and on various other mountains and just create a new experience for them, given a new way to get outdoors, just, you know, connect with other veterans and have a good time. So, you know, the group hikes expanded and now we have, you know, all women's veteran group that we have. We have a trail crew through trail maintenance. We're paying for veterans to go to Wilderness First Aid, we're buying the gear. So it's, you know, it's come a long way since that trip up Mount Washington with my dad. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. And for those watching, if you want to learn more, you can go to veteransonthe48.org. Michael shares some of his story there as well that you can read. Michael, can you tell us like about how many veterans have participated, you know, in these different hikes and such? Well, with Coleman hiking with us tomorrow, we'll make 109 different veterans that have hiked with their organization. That's awesome. Coleman, why is this an organization that you and DAV Massachusetts wanted to get behind and get involved with? Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, well, first and foremost, on my side from a personal standpoint, I'm somebody that loves the outdoors, I love hiking. You know, one of the, you know, as Michael said, one of the great opportunities to practice kind of, you know, what the VA teaches you with mindfulness and kind of keeping yourself, you know, keeping your mental and stress level, you know, at an even keel is to engage in activities that you enjoy and engage in activities that kind of challenge you a little bit, but that also give you an opportunity to kind of reflect. And I think, you know, for me, hiking has always been, has always been a great experience. But from a larger standpoint too, you know, I'm up in the Northeast and in Massachusetts, you know, we definitely see an older skew of our veterans, you know, demographically. You know, a lot of our younger vets, even Mr. Massachusetts or come back to Massachusetts are going to other places in the country where it's maybe more affordable, there's more work opportunities or, you know, or, you know, the only ice that they're going to see is going to be in their drinks, right? So they kind of, we know that a lot of younger veterans that aren't Massachusetts, that they are there for their own GI Bill, attending one of our numerous colleges, that they're engaged in, you know, a lot of service work and outgrowth activities. And so I just thought this would be a great opportunity for us for DAV to really partner with an organization that was attracting younger veterans and was attracting people who, you know, had a different value in terms of what they're looking for in an organization and see if there's, you know, an opportunity to get the best of what they have and also get the best of what we have, which is, you know, helping people with services, with claims, advocating, both at the state and the federal level, making sure that people have their right ratings, if there's any trouble with VA or any trouble with any of their benefits, you know, we're really sort of that they're go-to person to really try and help them out with that. So it's a really good synergy between the two of our groups and I think it's a good way to introduce a lot of our long-standing members to, you know, what other veterans groups are doing in order to, in order to help our veterans community. And then it's a good way for us to introduce ourselves or reintroduce ourselves to some of the other veterans that may have a misconception about what a Veterans Service Organization does. And Michael, so I know your membership with DAV is relatively new. This partnership is relatively new. What's it been like for you so far working with DAV, Massachusetts? It's been great. I could be more grateful for them. The DAV helped me with claims that, you know, I was having issues with. And I don't know, our mission's aligned, you know, so discovering them and joining up, you know, just helps us expand and we can reach more veterans and get them outside and enjoy their age together. And it's a win for everybody. Yeah, in fact, we actually, this isn't just the only collaboration we've had. DAV Massachusetts as a recreation retreat center and right across the border in New Hampshire that we've been working on to come up with a strategic plan for. But there is a large bunkhouse there. There is a facility, commercial kitchen and fire. And we were able to partner with veterans in the 48 Michael to do our wilderness first aid training there for how many veterans? 15. 15 veterans. Most of whom aren't even on the strip. So that's additional, that's additional bets that that we were able to reach. And frankly, you know, Michael was sharing last night, you know, his kind of after action report surveys that he does when it comes to these things, you know, people really impressed with the facility, really impressed with, you know, the information they got. You know, we did have, we did have several people from that trip actually reached back out to our state adjunct to say, Hey, I'm, you know, thanks for doing that, you guys. By the way, I am have a little trouble with the claim. I am having trouble in, you know, it's and that's really right in our sweet spot. We're able to help those people through that and get them to what they, you know, where they need to be and get the resources and benefits that they need and that they've earned. So how did this idea of trekking Kilimanjaro come about and Coleman, what was your initial thoughts? Well, I'm going to switch seats with this gentleman right now to me because he's the one to call me about Kilimanjaro. So why don't you slide? Okay. Introduce yourself. Let's pop it up. Strap in. Don't worry about it. We've been drinking coffee all morning. So greetings and salutations. My name's Kirk Power. Coleman's a good friend of mine. We're all good friends here, but you know, I was saying to Coleman probably about last year, we hiked together and everything like that. And, you know, obviously Coleman's a great leader out in our area, you know, when I was saying, listen, we're going to do Kilimanjaro one. Let's do it. We're not getting any younger, right? And he said, you know, let's do it. Let's do it with, you know, the hiking group you go with. And I called, I called Mike and like I said, like Coleman's a power player out here. I'm going to be real, right? So it's like dropping Kaiser. So I said, hey, Mike, you're not going to believe it. I'm just talking to Coleman. He says we should do Kilimanjaro with the organization. I said, okay, this is amazing. Let's do it. I said, help me, help you. Let's make this happen. It's going to be amazing. God bless America. We can't be more sorry. Well then, Kurt, you needed to be the one to tell that story. So thank you. Yeah, no problem. I knew it. Our main thing is to inspire not only more veterans getting involved in DAB and like Coleman says, really learning about the benefits that they've already earned, right? But on top of it, our big mission here is we want to inspire the veterans out there that are struggling and reinforce the concept that anything is possible when you decide failure is an option, right? So we want to tackle the mountain. We want to say, like, get out of your houses, keep moving, keep doing what you're doing, and especially, you know, for those of our service members that have been injured overseas that like, do not let that limit your ability and you have to continue to enjoy life and you have to keep pushing the positive direction. Yeah. Ken, one of you tell us, and if you guys squeeze together just a little bit, we can get all three of you in frame so you don't have to switch or switch whatever it works. Well, let me ask you a question. Would you like to meet some other members of the group? We can, we can, we can even shift seats there. Yeah, well, I want to hear about kind of the different people in the group, because I know we have, you know, good age range. There are a couple of women on the trip. So just tell me a little bit about the different folks on the trip. Can I let them tell it himself? Sure, sure. All right, Kurt, you and I, Jepo, and Melissa, please introduce yourselves. Then we should probably say brands of service, right? Yeah. Hi, my name is Yuma Hyder, I was in the Navy of the CV, and I did a couple of deployments with them. I found back in the 48 through Mike finding me through Instagram, actually, I was hiking in New Hampshire, and it's just been amazing being able to be around other veterans and being able to get outdoors and have these different experiences I wouldn't have otherwise. Great. Hi, my name is Melissa, I'm a United States Navy veteran. I was an aircraft mechanic when I was in. I discovered veterans on the 48 by making a Facebook post on our local hiking group in New Hampshire, and somebody who wasn't even a veteran connected me with Mike. And this group has actually really helped me just connect with other young female veterans, because I haven't really had that community since I got out, and it's really kind of helped me overcome a lot of obstacles and also be around other women who have similar experiences than me, and that's been really important in my transition. Yeah, I want to ask too, because I have seen this, Melissa, this Grateful Dead shirt you're wearing. I've seen it on multiple people. Is this shirt making the rounds? It's the Human Outreach Project, a worldwide trekking organization we're hiking with, and I actually came up with the Grateful Dead logo, so somebody made it. Okay, gotcha. All right, let's get a couple more folks, other folks in here, and I'll meet you guys. I'll slide down, Greg. Carlos Madden, Army Veteran. I've been hiking in New Hampshire for quite a while now. I kind of started several years ago for the same reason, just needed to get outside, do things. I kind of found that hiking personally reinforced a lot of the skills that I knew I was confident in in the military that I like, you know, like the planning and the preparation and just getting out and being independent. And because of that, I really, I also found out about this 48 Challenge in New Hampshire, ended up doing all of them. I think Mike found me like right recently, right after I finished doing them all. But since then, because of this, I think I've gotten more involved in hiking, and I've actually done almost the second round already, 48 again. So, being put in contact with other veterans to the organization, keeping myself motivated and outside, it's been just been great. And are you a newer DAV member yourself? Yeah, I am. Okay. What's your experience been with DAV so far? Personally, I joined because of this trip, but also because of my job, we have a partnership with DAV. So, I'm very familiar with the DAV. And I've actually referenced the DAV for service members and veterans who have needed claims, helps with claims. And I say, Oh, I know somebody who can help do that. And so it's been great. I haven't needed it. But thankfully, I've been able to send people to the right direction. Okay. Thank you. All right. Is it Greg? Yes. My name is Greg York. I'm Mike's father. I'm the senior member on this hike at 61. And I'm a former airborne instructor. And I'm the one that pushes these guys to keep going. All right. Next up. Lastly, I'm Jeremy Worth, the United States Army veteran. I think three years ago, I did, I found out about the New Hampshire 48. I did my first. And I posted it and Mike found me and asked me if I wanted to join a group of veterans that were tackling the same challenge. And I said, absolutely. And here we are. And Greg and Jeremy, what is your experience been with DAV? I'm relatively new to it, but I know it's going to help because I've had two knee operations due to parachute jumping and things hadn't been going anywhere. And the Coleman is pushing me in the right direction. So it's, it's all positive. I'm new to it as well. And haven't had the opportunity or haven't had the need to use it yet. But no people that haven't had a fantastic experience. Great. Well, welcome to all of you to the organization. Coleman was talking before a trip like this. You know, part of the goal is to reach more veterans and to welcome them into DAV. So I'm glad you all could, could join. Did we miss anyone else? No, we do have some amazing guides here. And I do, I don't want it to be lost that the place where we're staying is actually, is actually, you know, a sort of service center in that, you know, it has a school and an orphanage. I'm sorry, I'll do the switch. It's a, yeah, thanks musical chairs. It has a school and an orphanage we're able to take it towards today. They're doing amazing work here. And, and really, we had an opportunity to hang out with the kids. We had an opportunity to meet the staff and look at the facilities. And I think, you know, it just makes us all, it makes us all feel one good that we're, we're doing what we can to support this particular organization, but it really does help us put it, at least for me at least, I always speak for myself, but it does put it in perspective about, you know, what we do have, you know, what all of it to, you know, protect and to, you know, as part of our, what we felt was our obligation. And, and, you know, you know, there's some very, you know, there's some people who are living under some difficult conditions, but the positivity, the smiles, the energy, the enthusiasm amongst everyone from the youngest child that we saw to, you know, all the way up to, you know, to the oldest staff worker here, you know, they just, they just, they carry on every day. They do the mission and they get it done and they don't complain and they just, you know, they see something in front of them. And I think that's a good synergy for, you know, for us who served in the military because that's a lot of the ethos that we were taught as well. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, we know some of the veterans, they want to continue to serve after their military service and they tend to be very mission driven. So, I think it's wonderful that you're working something like that into, into this trip. I want to recap for the folks who are joining us kind of mid-video here. I'm speaking with DAV members and Marine Corps veterans Coleman Me and Michael York, who are joining us from the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. Behind them in the room, they have six other DAV members, many of them new to the organization that are joining them, joining them on this hike. They will spend the next 10 days hiking nearly 20,000 feet above sea level to the mountain's peak. The trip is organized by veterans on the 48 and sponsored by DAV Massachusetts. Michael, can you tell us kind of what's in store for you all over the next nine or 10 days? Yeah, 19,341 feet. We'll go through five different eco zones, seven days at the top, two to the bottom and just honestly looking forward to every day and the experience. Coleman, is there something that you're most looking forward to? Summoning. It's interesting. This is not, well, it's the highest pre-standing mountain in the world. It's not a technical climb and that we have to get ropes out and do all that, but it is long. I mean, we're going to be walking, you know, we just had a briefing just before this and you know, we're going to be walking on average, I think, seven, eight hours a day. There's some days we're going to, one day we're doing summit day. It's broken up. It's not all in one, but we're going to 24-hour period. I think we'll be walking for 13 to 14 hours. Is that what she said? So, and that's, you know, and the summit will be doing that sometime right after midnight in the dark and hopefully get up there when the dawn breaks, but I think if I had something I'm most looking forward to. You're good. You're good. We broke up for a second. We are good. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I think it is something I'm most looking forward to. It is being on that summit with the sun coming up and I'm really hoping it's a nice clear day because, you know, I just have to tell you just from my personal background where I grew up, I mean, you know, I grew up very, you know, food called a kid. I enlisted in the Marine Corps. I wasn't an officer or anything. I, you know, I just kind of, you know, had one of those upbringings where I, if you went back and asked 18-year-old me, did I ever think I'd have an opportunity to do something like this, not even a chance. And I think, you know, the opportunity that I'm here, that I'm doing it, that I'm with the best team you could have and some very fantastic folks, and we all have that commonality where, you know, we can go in and out of speaking, you know, better and talk just as fluently as any other language and to have that common understanding to one another. I couldn't ask for anything better and it's just an amazing opportunity. I'm so grateful for it. And like I said, when I'm up on that top of that summit, you know, it's going to be emotional for me because it is going to culminate. Coleman, what would you tell other DAV chapters and department leaders who they're interested in doing something like this? Maybe it's not Kilimanjaro, but they're interested and getting creative and getting more veterans involved. What steps can they start taking? Yeah, I would, I mean, I think that the Department of Mass was really forward thinking about helping us with this because it did interest, as you heard, mostly folks are new DAV members. And I think, you know, through the process of talking to them about DAV, you know, I know what the world in this first stage, you know, a lot of people are like, oh, I just thought you guys declined. I didn't know you did this, this, this, this, this, this, and that's all relevant to them. And I think for other chapters and other departments, too many times, we try to recruit younger veterans by telling them what we have, instead of just bringing them into a room and saying, you know, what do you need? What would an organization that has value look like to you? And how can we, you know, give any, you know, here's what we have. You have any suggestions as to how we can add more value for you so that it's something that you would want to be involved with? And, you know, and there's, you know, we know what the DAV Charitable Trust, with the Winter Sports Clinic, with the golf clinics, you know, our disaster relief assistance efforts, I mean, there's so much that we're doing that I don't think a lot of these younger vets know that we're doing. And I think at the chapter level, we need to really be explaining that and listening more than we're talking to them and finding out what they're looking for in an organization and figuring out how we can, you know, how they can fit in and we can have a productive new member who's building the bridge for the future because we know that the veterans' population is, you know, is changing both in overall size and in demographics. And as I was telling the group earlier today, you know, there's benefits and the services that we have didn't appear by magic and they certainly didn't appear because the government decided to say, let's spend millions of dollars on vets every year. They came because World War I and World War II veterans came back and fought for these benefits. And Korean and Vietnam veterans defended those benefits when they were under siege. And I know I see the incredible work that the DAV is doing today, you know, the PACT Act, I mean, you know, burn pit issues and then, you know, the DAV was central to the burn pit issue. And, you know, so we're doing the things that are going to benefit them and that provide value to them. We just need to demonstrate that and show that more and ask for their assistance and help and not only helping us to accomplish them today, but realizing the obligation of the next generation of veterans. And, you know, if we got great benefits, you can't just say, all right, I'm pulling up the ladder or I don't care. You have to secure that, those benefits and make sure that safety net is there and improved for the generation coming behind you. That's just, you know, our obligation. And I think they're seeing that, you know, through the work DAV is doing. And I think we need to have our chapters and departments kind of, you know, promote that a little bit more to the younger group. Yeah. You know, Michael, we've talked a bit about just how healing and rewarding something like this can be and just being outdoors and hiking. What would you say to any veterans who are maybe interested into getting into something outdoors, but don't know where to start? Maybe you and your father just jumped right in, but maybe they're more intimidated. What would you tell those veterans? Well, if they're going to do Mount Washington randomly, look into it more than we did. We set ourselves up for failure pretty quick. We got through it. But if they're local, if they're in the New England area, reach out to us, veteransonthe48.org, on Facebook and Instagram, you know, we can always tell our heights to, you know, any level, fast, slow, you know, if you want to go to the high mountain or the lower mountain, we'd be happy to have you join us, you know, and join our family. Yeah. And I just want to say a little bit. Yeah, go on. I'm sorry. I just wanted to put in that, you know, you don't have, you know, someone says, let's go climb a mountain that could be intimidating, right? Particularly if maybe you're older, maybe you have a very significant mobility disability. You know, maybe you're not, you know, you're not in the kind of condition that you were when you were in the service. Anybody can get out there and do stuff. It's, if you go to most of your, I think all of the national parks and most of your state parks are going to have accessible trails. Even if you're, you know, you need the help of a chair or some type of mobility device. There are, as Michael said, you know, you go to a state park is going to be what they call it, you know, usually like a heart healthy trail. And that's, you know, just a really nice walk. And, you know, and getting that first hike or that first walk underway is a huge motivator, because it's like, wow, I did that. I could, I could probably come back here and do that again. Or I could even maybe come back here and do that, plus maybe add, you know, a quarter of a mile to it. And I think I'd be okay. And I think once, you know, once you're out there, it's not about, it's not about the destination. It really is about the journey for you because, you know, it's peaceful. It's serene. You know, there's a lot of nature and there's a lot of healing powers. But, hey, for some deaths, that's hunting. For some deaths, that's fishing. For some deaths, that's meditation. For some deaths, that's, you know, volunteering at a home shelter. I mean, you know, it's whatever, whatever is best for the individual. But, you know, but if you're someone who's sitting back doing nothing and saying, wow, I always wanted to do whatever, you know, it doesn't matter really your age or your, your disability level. I mean, you know, we all have abilities and we all have strength and there's groups out there that are willing to help. And if you can't find one contact, you know, if that's on the 48 or contact me or Department of Mass, we'll find one for you. Yeah. Coleman and Michael and to the rest of the group, thank you all so much for making time for us today. Thank you for all that you do for veterans and we're wishing you the best hike, the best experience. Thank you all for watching. Keep an eye out for more content from TheTrip at DAV.org and on DAV's social media channels. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.