In an attempt to raise awareness and funds for the battle against military suicide, Justin Oag recently announced his intent to undertake the David Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge.
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The Goulburn resident recently began training for the event, which requires participants to run four miles every four hours, for 48 hours in total.
Oag began a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the Voice of a Veteran organisation, which was founded in 2020 by retired special forces major, Heston Russell.
According to its website, VOAV aims to provide "a platform for Veterans to connect, speak out and take action against the mental health crisis that has plagued our Veteran community.
"We have now lost more than 700 Veterans to suicide since 2001 (our commencement of Military Operations in Afghanistan)."
While official records vary over the actual amount of military suicides - an ABC report from December 2020 year stated there had been "at least 500" since the beginning of the conflict - that number still dwarfs the total of 41 troops killed in combat over the same time frame.
This, Oag believes, is a serious issue which deserves broader public awareness.
"The mental health aspect of the defence forces has been overshadowed," Oag said.
"The rate of veteran suicide in Australia is higher than those KIA [killed in action] in the Middle East over the same period of time. We've lost more people here at home than were KIA and brought back on planes.
"Every one of those people have got parents, partners, kids, siblings - it goes much further than just those that were lost."
Oag's decision to undertake the challenge was driven by his personal trainer, Scott Evennett.
Through speaking and training with Evennett, who is a special forces veteran of multiple tours, Oag discovered the plight faced by many veterans of the defence force, and is using the fundraiser as motivation to complete the challenge.
"Through training with Scott, I've developed that special forces mindset of doing something for a bigger cause," Oag said.
"Rather than doing this challenge for no reason or for myself, it was a chance to bring the organisation in behind it and bring some funds in for veterans."
Though Oag struggles with his own physical impediment, the volume of his training so far has left him feeling confident ahead of the challenge on March 5.
In the two weeks since his physical preparation began, Oag has run a total of 87.4 kilometres and cycled a further 118.4 kilometres.
"Mentally speaking, I've completed it already," Oag said.
"To me, it's a no-fail issue with the charity and the donations behind it. Surrounding myself with not only Scotty, but other people who have trained at that level, their mindset and the way they plan and treat their training cycles, it's been transferred to what I'm doing now."
At the time of writing, Oag has raised more than half of his $1,500 goal.
His GoFundMe can be found here, or accessed through his Facebook page.
- If this article has raised any issues for you, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511.
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