Photo by Mike Lamb In the middle of the worst blizzard of the year, the local chapter of Irreverent Warriors made a Silkies Hike in Marshall. Club President John Chisham said that they still earned over $1,000 in donations toward their club projects in spite of the fact that most of their contingent was snowed out of town for the event.

MARSHALL — As a military veteran, John Chisham is well aware of the havoc post-traumatic stress disorder is levying against his friends and others.

“Veterans, active duty, and reservists are killing themselves at an alarming rate,” he said. “A lot of my friends and myself included have lost more to suicide than actual combat.

The president of the local chapter of the Irreverent Warriors helped organize this year’s second annual Silkies Hike through Marshall last month.

“We had over 50 veterans signed up to go,” Chisham said.

But what Chisham did not plan for was the largest blizzard in recent history to hit the region. So many of those who signed up could not attend. But still a handful showed up for the hike despite the brutal winter conditions.

“We thought it would have been bigger without the storm,” Chisham said. “We had over 50 veterans signed up to go. Unfortunately due to the weather, we ended up with our small group. But one member drove all the way from Chaska in the blizzard just to participate in the hike. We had veterans that were going to travel all the way from Lincoln, Nebraska, and other states.”

The group marched behind the American flag down Main Street in downtown Marshall.

Marshall Independent Editor Mike Lamb captured the moment on his phone camera and posted it on the newspaper’s Facebook. It immediately went viral. More than 45,000 people viewed it and the photo was shared almost 400 times.

“Through goodwill donations the day of the hike, we were able to raise $350. Through Facebook we had a little over $600 in donations. The donations went to Irreverent Warriors,” Chisham said.

The photo was also selected to top the Irreverent Warrior webpage where even more people made donations after the photo went viral.

He also said they still earned more than $1,000 in donations toward their club projects in spite of the fact that two-thirds of their contingent was snowed out of town for the event.

“We had an absolute blast on this hike. Five of us actually did the first leg of the hike in just our shorts!” Chisham said. “We drew a lot of attention from Irreverent Warriors and they actually made a picture of our tiny hike their main picture.”

Last year Chisham attended hikes in Texas, Nebraska, and Minnesota.

“I was able to network with a lot of awesome organizations and people dedicated to helping veterans,” he said. “Through this networking we were able to get a lot more social media traffic for this year’s hike.”

The Silkies Hike was started on July 25, 2015, in San Diego, California. It was originally known as 22, with 22, for the 22. This symbolized the 22 kilometers that were hiked (about 14 miles) with a 22 kilogram ruck (about 50 pounds) for the estimated 22 veterans who commit suicide every single day.

“I saw this hike on social media and thought wow that would be a blast to get a bunch of veterans together for a crazy event,” Chisham said.

The common apparel was the Marine Corps silkies (or other service variant). Silkies are the super small physical training shorts Marines used to wear before the new authorized shorts were released. Veterans also wore their old combat boots, flak jackets, moto shirts, and other random military apparel.

The first hike saw a large turnout and the founder Capt. Danny Maher (USMC Ret.), decided to create the nonprofit organization, Irreverent Warriors, Chisham said. Hike coordinators began planning hikes across the U.S.

Chisham went to the first hike in Minneapolis in 2015.

“I had an absolute blast and met so many veterans, some of which are still super close friends that I talk to daily,” Chisham said. “Minneapolis has done a hike every year since then and I always attend. I decided last year to throw a hike in Marshall. I knew Marshall was obviously not a big town and off the radar, but my hope was to connect veterans from Brookings, Sioux Falls, and other surrounding towns. We ended up having a group of about 30 show up which was excellent for the first year. We had one veteran travel all the way from Duluth that heard about our hike on Facebook.

“The mission of Irreverent Warriors is to bring veterans together using humor and camaraderie to heal the mental wounds of war, through therapeutic events and entertainment, in order to reduce PTSD and prevent veteran suicide. Our vision is to provide all U.S. veterans with the strongest veteran based support network, reduce the impact of PTSD, and eliminate veteran suicide.” (irreverentwarriors.com)

“These hikes bring veterans, active duty, and reserve military together. The purpose is to raise awareness for veteran suicide because one is too many. Obviously these hikes draw a lot of attention, especially in the middle of a historic blizzard. So, the raising awareness part is covered. But these hikes have a much more important purpose,” Chisham said.

“The point of these hikes has a deeper meaning than just ‘to have a fun time.’ It’s to build a support network among veterans. This support will make these veterans less likely to commit suicide.”

For more information about Irreverent Warriors and their story Chisham recommends a visit to their website, https://www.irreverentwarriors.com/.