Veterans are on a three-day, 60-mile march to raise awareness for a new mentorship program available through the Veterans Outreach Center.
Sean Smith is a veteran, a peer mentor, and a coordinator for the program, called Battle Buddies.
"We're walking, I guess you could say, shoulder to shoulder."
Battle Buddies matches veterans up one-on-one, and hosts social engagement events like a hike in the woods, or a barbeque. Smith says his own experience coming back from active duty was turbulent.
"Had I had somebody, to kind of walk me along and show me how they made it through maybe a similar struggle, it would have been extremely helpful to me."
Smith says ultimately the VOC was there for him, but the Battle Buddies program is more of a targeted effort to help veterans experience some of the camradery they once had in active duty.
Smith and eight others are marching from Lockport to Rochester over three days, and he says they'll be picking up more participants along the way.
