He needed to take it.
He was a fight veteran who had merely seen an excessive amount of -- too many brother Marines lifeless on the battlefield in Iraq. When he got here residence he confronted recent battles: alcohol, arrests and a suicide try.
He selected a date that resonated -- and on September 11, 2015, Hancock got down to show that harm would not outline him.
"It was the hardest factor I've ever completed," Jonathan Hancock instructed CNN's John Vause.
Carrying 70 kilos of substances, he hit the highway to stroll 5,800 miles from Maryland to California and lots of backroads in between. He was looking for hope and therapeutic.
"On a cross-country journey like this, you pitch a tent when you'll be able to," Hancock defined. "I gotta be sincere, there's some trespassing alongside the way in which, so you need to maintain a low profile. I did choose up a lodge a pair occasions month to bathe and clear up a bit."
Snakebites and poison oak
Alongside the way in which, he received poison oak in California, impetigo in Georgia and snake bites in South Dakota and Louisiana.
Hancock was compelled to climb a tree in Montana to keep away from a moose, ran right into a white wolf within the Huge Horn Mountains in Wyoming and was stalked by a mountain lion for 3 days in Oregon.
"That basically sucks when you'll be able to see it comply with you down the highway," he mentioned.
He endured all of this for 3 causes, he mentioned. He did it self-healing, to go to fellow Marines and Gold Star households of the fallen -- and to unfold consciousness about what it is like for a battle fighter to come back residence.
"I needed to lay myself on the altar of humility," Hancock mentioned. "I wished to point out my brothers that it is okay to really feel these emotions of darkness. And it is actually okay to speak about them. That is such the next goal and transcends extra than simply my unit."
Hancock fought with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment -- nicknamed The Magnificent Bastards -- within the first Battle of Ramadi in 2004.
The unit suffered the best casualty charge within the Iraq Battle out of any single infantry battalion with 20% of your complete 1,000-man pressure killed or wounded, based on the U.S. Marine Corps. For a lot of the battle hasn't ended. Hancock's marathon trek to honor their persevering with wrestle now could be being was a documentary known as "Bastard's Highway."
Therapeutic deep wounds
Hancock says 25-30% of his unit endures post-traumatic stress dysfunction and a minimum of seven have dedicated suicide. "Not a person from Ramadi comes residence and would not really feel one thing," he mentioned.
Hancock hopes his stroll and his brotherhood can assist heal some very deep wounds.
"There's been tears and there is been numerous hugs and reassurances that we're gonna be there for one another," Hancock mentioned. "You discuss dangerous issues and the reminiscences that you simply maintain pricey to your self and issues you do not share together with your households. So that you share them with one another."
Hancock additionally knocked on the doorways of Gold Star households.
"Their sons by no means got here residence and so to see a person who knew their sons or knew of their sons," Hancock mentioned, "I think about that they might see their son strolling residence. It was powerful for them and it was powerful for me as a result of you need to share in that emotion and grief.
"I questioned if I used to be robust sufficient to take that feeling on -- over the course of time, I spotted that I used to be and I ought to proceed to do that."
Now, nearly 6,000 miles later, with ft that seem like a "prehistoric river mattress," Hancock's stroll is nearing an finish. On December 12, he'll stroll into Camp Pendleton in southern California. This time he'll be removed from alone. Many brothers in arms from his previous battalion will likely be there to information him by way of the gates.
They will accomplish that figuring out that america is once more in fight in Iraq. American troops are serving to Iraqi coalition forces battle ISIS to recapture cities Hancock and his comrades fought for greater than a decade in the past.
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