Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Local man walking 8,992 miles for disabled vets
Every night for the past 8 years, Michael Roberts dreams that a 14-yearold boy is taunting him to shoot him in the head. It’s a nightmare, and for Roberts, it’s unavoidable. The dream comes back night after night.
It’s so terrifying, Roberts has attempted suicide — twice.
Roberts, an Army veteran who served tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, is a couple of thousand miles into a 8,992-mile walk across the country to raise awareness for disabled war veterans, accompanied by his Australian cattle dog, Boots. He started his walk in Waupaca, Wi., averages between 20 to 30 miles per day, and expects to finish sometime in October at the
place where he began.
“Regular veterans who come home from combat get a parade, barbecue, fireworks, and all the Atta boys in the world,” Roberts said. “Or they come home in a box and get put into the ground, but there is a big memorial. Amputee veterans come home and get nothing.”
Roberts, who grew up in Oxford and lived in Kennett Square for a couple of years, is a casualty of the war. He suffers from PostTraumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury, the result of being hit with shrapnel from Improvised Explosive Devices while serving in Taji, Iraq. Because of the brain injury he sustained, he said he has a hard time focusing or remembering simple things.
“I’ve been blown up several times,” he said. “I have a lump on the back of my leg the size of a softball from serving in Iraq.”
Yet he walks, in spite of the pain, to bring awareness to the problems veterans with disabilities face when they finish their service.
“Currently in the U.S. there are 600,000 veterans who returned and there are only 1,874 facilities to serve those veterans,” Roberts said. “It doesn’t’ take a rocket scientist to do the math. What happens is that veterans who are injured in combat are shipped to Kuwait, go to Ireland or Germany to get bandaged, and shipped back to the U.S. If they are an amputee, they get put in a hospital for a year or two and nobody ever knows they are there. When these guys come home, they aren’t doing too good.”
Roberts walked in the Kennett Square Memorial Day parade earlier this year. He said he makes a point to stop at any veterans parades or memorials along the way. Roberts said he is walking because he nearly became an amputee and is thankful he is able to walk.
Civilians, Roberts said, have no idea what it’s like to serve.
“When a veteran comes home, they get thank yous from people,” Roberts said. “But a veteran doesn’t want to be thanked. He wants to be taken care of and have his injuries fixed. They don’t need to thank me. I didn’t give them their freedom, God did. All I did was preserve the road our forefathers paved.”
Serving in a war, Roberts said, is so mentally stressful, that an average of 83 veterans a day commit suicide in the U.S.
Roberts star ted out sleeping outdoors in a tent, but gave that up after a few days when a snowstorm hit. “After that I started staying in hotels,” he said. “I did my duty for this country.”
Roberts’ sister, Lynn Aceto, who works as a waitress at Fran Keller’s in Kennett Square, helped her brother set up a gofundme site, which is used to help pay for new shoes, clothing, food and water Roberts needs during the trip. Roberts said he also dips into the gofundme account if he sees a homeless veteran he wants to help. He also gives gift cards he receives along the way to homeless veterans he encounters.
Roberts, who often uses a walking stick, carries all of his supplies, which he calls survival gear, in his 40-pound backpack. It consists of 12 bottles of water, two shirts, one pair of pants, and a lot of socks and undergarments. He’s been through several downpours, but does not have a chase car. His walk, he said, is not to raise money for any organization. The money he receives from gofundme goes toward his food and supplies he needs for the trip.
While he was in Kennett Square, his nephew, David, 23, joined him on a walk to New York.
Roberts is an 11-year veteran of the armed forces, having served from 1984 to 1995. But he saw three tours of duty in combat zones later as a military security contractor, working under the auspices of the State Department.
Roberts, who has not taken off his dogtags since returning home from combat, said he has no place to call home and is unsure of what he will do when his trip is completed.
“This is something he has been wanting to do for a long time, Aceto said. “I’m in awe of him, and I think it’s healing for him as well. He’s only raising money so he can eat during his walk.”
Anyone wishing to donate to Roberts’ expenses for gear, food, shelter and food and medical supplies for his dog, the gofundme site is at https://www. go f u nd me. co m/ b o o t s - 2-boots/. He has raised $4,952 of a $10,000 goal, and any money in excess of what he needs for the walk will go toward veterans with disabilities, especially amputee veterans. His facebook page is at https://www.facebook. com/boot2boots.
— Michael Roberts “Currently in the U.S. there are 600,000 veterans who returned and there are only 1,874 facilities to serve those veterans. It doesn’t’ take a rocket scientist to do the math. What happens is that veterans who are injured in combat are shipped to Kuwait, go to Ireland or Germany to get bandaged, and shipped back to the U.S. If they are an amputee, they get put in a hospital for a year or two and nobody ever knows they are there. When these guys come home, they aren’t doing too good.”