Josh Guerrero raises money for American Veterans Archaeological Recovery on 1200 mile trek

Josh Guerrero, of the All Around Adventure Podcast, is raising money for American Veterans Archaeological Recovery by undertaking a 1200 mile trek across the state of Michigan. American Veterans Archaeological Recovery conducts expert archaeological fieldwork worldwide by combining the drive and precision of military veterans with academic training and supervision. Bonds made on excavations help veterans work through feelings of isolation, disempowerment, and loss of purpose that often occur when service members transition into the civilian world. While our program primarily serves disabled veterans, our emphasis is on ability.

Links

Follow Josh’s trek on Instagram

Fundraiser by Josh Guerrero : Operation: Wolverine Walk gofundme

American Veterans Archaeological Recovery

All-Around Adventure – Josh Guerrero’s Travel Blog & Podcast

The Princess Bride (1987) Conversation with Josh Gurrero

Transcript

Hi, I’m John Cornelison from Classic Movie Reviews. I have a lot of great film reviews that you can watch about war movies over the Veterans Day weekend. But it’s important on this holiday that we think about why we have a Veterans Day, and somebody who’s doing something about it is my friend Josh Guerrero over at the All Around Adventure podcast, and I’m going to let Josh tell us what he’s doing.

Hello, Josh. Hey, John, good to see you again. Yeah, been a while. It sure has. So I got that beard now, and mine’s kind of sort of coming in, and I’ve decided to just let it grow for this trek that I’m doing. Yeah, sounds good. Well, tell us. I mean, I’m very excited to put this out. Tell us about what you’re what you’re doing, what’s going on with it? Why are you doing the trick? Yeah, absolutely.

So right now, I’m in the midst of a thorough hike across the entire state of Michigan. Michigan is my home state, and I decided to do this because I am trying to raise money for a nonprofit that helps veterans.

And you know, you’re an archeologist, John. I’m also an archeologist. That’s how you and I initially got connected. And there’s this amazing nonprofit out there called American Veterans Archeological Recovery, and what they do is they take veterans to archeological dig sites all around the world.

And this helps veterans in many ways. But I think the three of them kind of sort of came to mind for me is one it gets veterans connected with other veterans again, get that camaraderie, and then two, it gives veterans and their mission a new purpose and in this case, protecting cultural heritage.

And then three, it helps put these veterans on a trajectory and put them down on a path for success and for some veterans that might even be pursuing a career in archeology following their dig activities. And so and I myself got to participate on a dig that a bar, which is the acronym for American Veterans Psychological Recovery. They invited me out on a dig in England when I was there studying for my master’s degree, and that helped me get some very necessary field experience. And I really kind of experienced firsthand what the benefits would be for veterans getting out and doing something like this.

And so, therefore, I decided to make them the nonprofit that I would raise money for by doing this trek. And so things have been going pretty well. I just reached the halfway point, a little over 600 miles. And when it’s all said and done, it’ll be just under twelve hundred.

So I’ve been at it for a couple of months. So got probably a couple of months to go here.

So yeah, I’ve been following you. That’s pretty exciting. So it is to raise money. So we will put the links in for everything and for the Go Fund, Go Fund Me page and make a donation if you can. Josh is on Instagram too, so you can see what he’s doing and you can give him a like and give him support if you can’t send any money.

Yep, absolutely. And I appreciate all those who have donated along the way.

It’s very helpful, and I’ve also just been so gracious with the kindness that I’ve experienced from people along the way, just even strangers that I’ve met out on the trail. It’s just it’s been overwhelming. So I’m really happy for those who have donated.

So thank you for those who have donated, and thank you to those who are thinking of this organization and our veterans. All right. Thank you very much, Josh. I appreciate you taking the time out of your trek to talk to me and have a happy Veterans Day.

Happy Veterans Day to you, to my friends.

Thank you very much for having me.