Lengthy-distance hikers have a number of issues in frequent with folks serving within the army. Not solely do they carry heavy packs for miles on finish, however individuals who have been as soon as strangers are likely to kind shut bonds on the paths. They even give one another new designations whereas out within the wilderness, known as a “path identify,” comparable in some ways to a army name signal. You possibly can’t select your personal path identify, and it’s a must to settle for it for what it’s.
Within the upcoming film “The Keeper,” Angus Benfield (“The Put up”) performs George Eshleman, an Army veteran who hikes the whole Appalachian Path for the primary time to boost consciousness about veteran suicide. Alongside the best way, he runs into a gaggle of different vets climbing the path. After they discover out he is carrying the identify tapes of 363 fellow veterans who took their very own lives, his path identify turns into “The Keeper,” they usually assist him struggle his personal melancholy and end the trail earlier than them.
The complete Appalachian Path runs from Maine to Georgia, greater than 2,100 miles, so it is no small endeavor to hike the whole distance. The journey, for even skilled hikers, can take from 5-7 months. “The Keeper” relies on the true story of the actual Eshleman, a fight veteran who confronted his personal wrestle with PTSD and melancholy. When he misplaced an in depth good friend to suicide, he determined to hike the Appalachian Path.
However Eshleman additionally by no means supposed to return dwelling.
A veteran of Operation Desert Storm, Eshleman left the Army and settled in Georgia in 1993. When he began his epic trek alongside the path, he met a whole lot of different hikers, army and civilian alike, who embraced him into their tradition, a form of “Hiker Universe.” The identify tapes he carried grew to become the important thing to saving his life.
“I collected identify tapes from pals and their pals to hike the Appalachian Path, however the underlying mission was to take my life on the path,” Eshleman instructed northwest Georgia’s Calhoun Instances. “I discovered myself with a Glock 17 pressed towards my chest. The identify tapes popped into my head … so did the people who I would met alongside the path earlier than I obtained to that tree, and I noticed that I wasn’t alone.”
The choice to remain alive did not occur in a single day. In “The Keeper,” Eshleman battles his melancholy and totally intends to stay to his plan. With help from his fellow hikers, he finds a brand new mission. He’ll end climbing the path and attain out to different veterans combating the identical battle to inform them they aren’t alone.
“You are by no means alone,” Eshleman mentioned in a press release. “The identify tapes: my brothers and sisters and their households have been now extra necessary to me than I might ever think about. Sadly, they weren’t in a position to overcome what they helped me to defeat. They weren’t simply recollections or touring companions; they have been now a form of safety blanket that may be with me until Georgia and plenty of locations past. I nonetheless have these identify tapes near me to today. They did not fail me that day, and I will not fail them on this persevering with journey to inform folks: ‘You are by no means alone.'”
“The Keeper” was produced by a slew of veterans. With Benfield, the movie was co-directed by Marine Corps veteran Kendall Bryant Jr.; U.S. Navy veteran Todd Tavolazzi wrote the movie from Eshleman’s retelling.
“As we filmed, we met many individuals alongside the path who have been veterans, who had tears of their eyes as they shared with us private tales of the ache they themselves have gone by way of,” Benfield mentioned in a press release. “This story made them wish to share their tales, and it was why we have been there on the Appalachian Path, and why we’re right here … to inform George’s story, and the story of the 363, and the story of the 22 [veterans who die by suicide] on daily basis, and the story of the numerous quantity linked in a roundabout way to all those that have misplaced their lives and people who are shedding the battle of a warfare that by no means appears to finish.”
“The Keeper” will probably be in theaters on Memorial Day, Might 27, 2024.
If you’re a service member or veteran who wants assist, it’s out there 24/7 on the Veterans and Army Disaster Line, name or textual content 988 or chat 988lifeline.org, or by way of the net chat operate at www.veteranscrisisline.web.
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