EP25 - The Final H2H Walk Podcast: Life after the walk with Billy, Bats, Greg and Matt.
The podcast wrap-up. We've been back for a while, and a few walkers have had a chat!
I'll say sorry up front for the delay in doing this podcast. Even after getting it recorded, it has taken a while to edit it for the platform.
To be honest, I've not been going too well for a long time since we got home and sometimes things are just a bit harder than they should be. I'll talk about that when I'm ready, but let's just get on with it hey!
In this episode we talk openly about what it's like to walk over 2600km, the highs and lows and if it was worth it. Everyone had a common purpose on the walk through the objectives of the Heart 2 Heart Walk, but most of us had our own journey too.
It gets deep. All the way to Greg (yes of course it was Greg) going back to the Emergency Services Memorial in Canberra, looking at the 26 words that sum up the virtues of Emergency Service Workers. On reflection, he talks about 4 of them, and how they related to the walk: Community, Hope, Resilience and Spirit. We were invested in all of these during the walk, and getting to see these virtues first hand on the walk really took us to the purpose of the walk. Making sure we can maintain our capabilities in Australia, and looking after those who serve the country.
Sadly, one of the main focusses of the walk was the unacceptable rate of suicide in First Responders both serving and veteran. There were 5 serving member suicides during the walk, and one soon after we finished that we heard about. Sadly, there were probably more that we didn't know about, and remember we do not have a way of tracking suicides of former first responders in Australia - so that figure is unknown. It really hit us hard on the walk, but was certainly motivation to keep pushing on.
To quote our Ambassador Allan Sparkes CV OAM VA:
"It's not about the walk, it is about the building of the path for others to follow. You have laid the foundations with your blood sweat and tears that now joins the blood sweat and tears in the Earth of those who are fallen before you and who will be forever grateful for caring about them in the way you have “
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Listener discretion is advised; some episodes raise issues regarding mental health, suicide and other matters that might not be suitable for all listeners.
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