A veteran is planning to ride his wheelchair 422 miles from Angola, Indiana to Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station in New York to raise awareness for veteran suicide.
Josh Geartz served as a military police officer in the Army until 2004. He was honorably discharged after being hit with an an IED.
He suffered from the physical wounds of the attack as well as PTSD and suicidal thoughts. Geartz attempted suicide in 2014. Then, he went through a program called Songwriting With Soldiers.
“I’m doing this because I want to and I want to make people aware of organizations like them to try to help them get the funding they need to keep operating and keep helping other veterans.”
He credits the program with turning his life around. Now he wants to raise awareness for the 22 veterans who commit suicide every day and raise money for the program that helped him.
“I thought if I could just bring awareness to the fact that it’s going on and then to the people that are out there, the other veterans that might be in a place like I was previously, let them know that there are groups out there, there are things that you can go and do to get help.”
Geartz will start his ride in Angola on May 27th, he plans to finish on July first in Niagara Falls, New York.