65 Year Old taking suicide awareness one step at a time

Suicide awareness hike a personal journey for Army reservist, mother
The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.
By Michael Futch
Published: March 10, 2014

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — For peace of mind, Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Ilene Henderson is feeling the need "to walk off the war."

Her hiking boots are waiting to be laced.

Come Saturday, Henderson and her mother, Inge, plan to embark on a 2,180-mile hike of the Appalachian Trail to raise awareness of the rising suicide rate among veterans and to undergo some emotional rehabilitation.

Ilene Henderson is eager to heal mentally from yearlong deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and physically from a bad run of medical issues cause by a burst appendix.

"As of late," she said, "I feel like I need to get away. Like (Earl) Shaffer, I feel like I need to walk off the war."

Shaffer was the first documented person to walk the hiking route, from north Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine, in one journey in 1948 after completing his service during World War II. He said he wanted to "walk the Army out of (his) system."

When the trail was completed in 1937, nobody envisioned anyone hiking the entire distance. But Shaffer, who drew national attention, finished in four months, four hours.

The Hendersons are granting themselves a maximum seven months to make the "thru-hike" after their scheduled departure from Springer Mountain, Ga. The 65-year-old matriarch of the family said, "I'm going to take it one step at a time."
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