Walking and raising awareness of the plight of Veterans, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Military Sexual Trauma (MST), addiction, homelessness, benefits, and the epidemic of suicide among service members and our veterans.

WalkforVets.org was founded by Buddy Watch Walk in 2019 and is an established entity in Wood County, Texas. After walking over 3,600 miles in 34 states across the U.S., our mission continues by supporting other Veterans and Advocates as they walk to raise awareness of the issues plaguing veterans and service members. We also organize small walks, and some big ones in various locations across the country. In 2022. U.S. Navy Veteran and original Buddy Watch Walk participant Jason Hanner walked across his home state of Nebraska.

WalkforVets, formerly Buddy Watch Walk began as one man’s passion to bring awareness to the issues that veterans face every day which can ultimately lead them to giving up. It has now become the mission of four men. John Ring began the journey on the Tybee Island Pier in Georgia On October 1, 2019, and Jimmy Mathews joined him in Pearl, Mississippi on November 18, 2019. Jason Hanner walked for a week in East Texas and joined them again in El Paso, Texas. Eli Hawkins joined in Tucson, Arizona. Paco Baltazar walked with them in Phoenix, Arizona, and in Santa Monica.

They concluded a 2,500-mile walk west on June 14, 2020, in Santa Monica, California. A 601-mile walk east from Jackson, Mississippi to Tybee Island, Georgia was completed on December 2, 2020. Bernadette Meehl and Joey Dannelley hosted a day walk on December 23, 2020 in Dover, Delaware. Together, they are working to bridge the gap between the civilian and military worlds and raise awareness of veteran issues such as mental health, PTSD, homelessness, unemployment, MST, TBI, addiction, and suicide. Veterans need to know that they haven’t been forgotten. Reach out and help change the statistic!

In 2022, we launched #22states22days. We walked 2.2 miles at 22 state capitals in 22 consecutive days.