Shepherd’s Men swim, run, and ruck for 22 hours for veteran suicide prevention

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF)- For Memorial Weekend an organization is dedicating 22 hours of continuous movement to honor the 22 veterans lost every day to suicide.

“We’re fighting a war on our Homefront. We’re fighting a war against the suicide epidemic,” said Herber.

Shepherd’s Men is a group of current military and veterans and they made a stop in Chattanooga to honor those 22 soldiers who die each day from suicide. 

“We lose over 8000 veterans a year. That’s an entire battalion of veterans,” said Herber.

Veteran Gary Herber said Shepherd’s Men saved his life. He says he and the rest of his group came home safe but several took their own life after returning home and he was almost one of them. 

“When I lost my ability to serve in the army it was given back to me with my ability to serve with this team, the Shepherd’s Men,” said Herber.

Shepherd’s Men swam in the river, ran through downtown, and rucked for 22 hours of nonstop movement to raise money and awareness to prevent veteran suicide.

“There’s a lot of people probably within a 5-mile radius of where we stand right now who are struggling far more than we ever will from doing these events,” said Travis Ellis.

Since 2014, Shepherd’s Men has raised more than $6 million and the team has run more than 5,000 miles. Their goal is to cover SHARE’s annual clinical budget of $1.2 million and increase the number of clients who can be served and saved each year.

“If any of our 22-hour movements could reach even one veteran it would be worth doing 22 more,” said Herber.

They said it’s tough for a soldier to ask for help, but they need to know it’s ok. 

“You know often it’s inconsistent with a mantra is a warrior to step forward and say hey I need help, but it’s really OK. What’s not OK is for someone to put a gun in their mouth and make that permanent decision,” said Ellis.

“I hate to say that I was scared to ask for help, but I wasn’t ready to do the work. It was harder than basic training. It was harder than even combat. Relieving some of that was the worst nightmare I could’ve ever dreamed of,” said Herber.