Veteran Joshua Acey, of Brandon, spoke with us, sharing his personal story and experience with the monks. We hope his story will inspire you.
Source: Joshua AceyJoshua told us that he met up with the monks in Brandon, Mississippi at D’s Super Stop. He said he approached the lead monk and asked if he could walk with them.
The monk agreed, and Joshua began his journey, walking 14 miles with them. He walked with them to the peace gathering.
Joshua said,
“It was the fastest fourteen miles I’ve ever walked. Not because of the pace, but because of the peace.
They weren’t preaching. They weren’t recruiting. They were simply walking, quietly…intentionally. Practicing peace.”
Joshua’s Nonprofit: Pack To Purpose
Joshua has a nonprofit called “Pack to Purpose” that he started with the sole purpose of helping other veterans find healing.
He shared his inspiration for starting Pack to Purpose in beautifully written words that we want to share with you.
“For a long time, I fought wars no one could see.
Not overseas.
Inside my own head.
Veterans know that silence well—the kind that’s loud, relentless, and exhausting. The
kind that follows you home. The kind that survives deployments, divorces, career
derailments, mistakes you wish you could undo, and nights where the noise in your head
won’t shut up no matter how tired your body is.
I’ve been divorced twice. I’ve got four kids I love more than anything in this world. I’ve had
careers that didn’t work out, choices I regret, and plenty of moments where I questioned
my worth—not as a soldier, but as a man and a dad.
For a long time, suicide felt like the only way out.
Not because I wanted to die.
I didn’t want to leave my kids.
I didn’t want to miss birthdays, graduations, or random Tuesday nights.
I just wanted the noise to stop.
That’s something a lot of veterans don’t say out loud. It’s not about wanting to die. It’s
about wanting relief from the chaos that lives inside you every day.”
Joshua said that eventually, he hit a point where he felt he had two options. Either take a real chance on himself, or become another statistic. So he took the chance.
He talked about how he decided to attend a private mental health program in Miami with therapy sessions, hard conversations, and really facing his demons.
“It was the hardest work I’ve ever done. Harder than the military in a lot of ways, because you can’t rank your way out of facing yourself. They wanted me to go to another program after that—a halfway-house style transition. I wasn’t having it. Not because I was fixed, but because I finally understood myself. I learned more about who I was and how to manage my mind in those two months than I had my entire life.”
Instead of going straight home, Joshua decided to walk home from treatment. He said that a lot of people thought he was crazy to do that.
“What scared me was going straight home. People expect you to disappear for treatment and come back “normal.” Like everything should be tied up with a bow. That’s not how this works. Healing doesn’t mean the struggle disappears, it means you learn how to live with it. I knew I wasn’t ready to go straight back to life. So I decided to walk home. They thought I was crazy.”
On January 1st, 2024, Joshua said he checked out of treatment. His sister and nephew picked him up, took him straight to REI where Joshua said he bought “way more gear than any sane person should”. Joshua had no plan or map…he was just planning to walk.
Joshua started down Highway 41, the Tamiami Trail and after 70 miles in three days a woman offered him a ride. He said the woman drove them to Florida Trail kickoff and he hiked for two months from Miami to Pensacola. This was a total of 1,210 miles. Joshua said he had never even heard of the Florida Trail until he started walking on it. But it was healing. It was an experience Joshua will never forget that kicked off a mission in his life to help other veterans.
“Walking day after day stripped everything down. No titles. No expectations. Just
movement, reflection, pain, laughter, silence, and freedom. I walked with veterans, misfits,
people carrying their own battles. For the first time in a long time, I felt peace—not
because life was perfect, but because my mind was quiet.
That’s where Pack to Purpose was born.”
Joshua said his reason for starting the nonprofit “Pack to Purpose” was because he wanted to help other veterans who were sitting in the same silence he sat in.
Here are his words,
“I didn’t start it to be a nonprofit founder. I started it because I know there are veterans sitting in the same silence I was in—thinking they’re alone, thinking they’ve failed too many times to ask for help.”
A Significant Journey:
Joshua talked about how he aims to be there for other veterans in any way that he can, from phone calls, to in person meetings, to conversations.
Here are Joshua’s words on one of the most significant and impactful people he has met along his journey with “Pack to Purpose”.
“The most significant one is Aaron Walker.
His mom found me on social media and followed my journey. In June 2025, she reached
out — terrified she was about to lose her second son. She had already lost one. She wasn’t
going to lose another without a fight.
Over 60 hours on the phone, weeks of grinding, navigating the system, and pushing past
roadblocks, we got Aaron into a private facility through the VA’s Compact Care Act. He
did the work — 40+ days at Warriors Heart in Virginia, then over 30 more in Texas.
Two days after he completed treatment, he was in a truck with 5th Squad and me,
heading to Washington, D.C. for Ruck for Rugrats — on D.C.’s first snow day in years.
There’s something powerful about rucking beside other veterans after surviving
something like that. Aaron realized quickly that he wasn’t alone anymore. He found family.
Real support.
Now we’re planning to walk again — Florida Trail sections, then the Appalachian Trail.
Over 2,300 miles. Not for attention. For healing. For honor. For his brother. For choosing
not to become a statistic.”
Joshua’s nonprofit is focused on showing other veterans how much movement with intention can be healing.
He said he knows he doesn’t have all of the answers and he still works to manage his own struggle every day. But what he has learned…he wants to share with others.
“That’s what I found on the trail…
Stillness almost killed me.
Movement gave me my life back.
If walking can quiet the noise for one more veteran, then every mile is worth it.”
May we all be inspired by Joshua’s journey and his mission to use his story and healing journey to heal and help others.
