Barefoot mission

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

The toughest part of Ron Zaleski’s journey from Boston to California isn’t the miles or the soreness in his bare feet, it’s the hugs from mothers and fathers who lost veteran sons and daughters to suicide.
Every day, he said, he meets someone who has lost a loved one to suicide.
“We ask people to do the unspeakable and then when they come home we don’t speak about it,” he said. “I think every American should be upset.”
Zaleski walked the shoulder of U.S. Highway 11, west toward Abingdon on Monday. The balls of his feet were wrapped in white tape and sign hung from his shoulders reading, “18 veterans a day commit suicide.” He also carries a petition that he plans to give to members of the Armed Services committee and hand-deliver to President Obama in November 2011. The petition calls for mandatory grief counseling for all military personnel as a part of boot camp. It would allow, he said, troops to know a little of the trauma to come when they go into combat. He also wants a mandatory civilian re-entry program for all personnel prior to being discharged. And he wants a 12-step-like support group available to soldiers after discharge.
“I’m looking for a patriot not a politician,” he said. “Democrat or Republican, you’re on the American team.”
The military changes everyone, he said.
“You put any human under that stress and they change,” he said. “A lot of them come home and they don’t have family or any form of support system. The 18 suicides a day is usually due to a failed relationship.”
Zaleski served in the Marines from 1970 to 1972. His papers ordering him to Vietnam were changed. Instead of him, five men in his first duty station went. Every one of them, he said, was shot. Two died.
“I stopped wearing shoes when I got out, but I didn’t tell anyone why until 2005,” he said. “I was angry, arrogant and I felt I had been lied to and betrayed. I blamed my country, government, church, school, parents, anybody but me.”
In 2006 and 2007, Zaleski hiked the Appalachian Trail barefoot to raise awareness of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Now he’s focusing on the suicide rate among veterans.
“The children of someone who committed suicide have an 85 percent chance of committing suicide,” he said.
Zaleski puts in about 10 to 15 miles a day while his girlfriend drives the support camper they sleep in each night. He hopes to reach California, with a million signatures, by May 2011. So far he has 4,000.
“I get some curses but mostly hugs,” he said. “Most cops go out of their way to help me.”
“I’m doing this barefoot because they’ve all consecrated this ground with their blood,” he said. “And I believe in what I’m doing.”
For more information visit www.thelongwalkhome.org.
To contact Caitlin Sullivan e-mail csullivan@wythenews.com or call (276) 628-7101.