Tell Me About Yourself…
Hi my name is PJ Dermer, I’m a retired army officer. I recently started a Veteran-led POW MIA Recovery Organization, Terra Search. We’re at Tough Mudder today to enrich our outreach and awareness for our efforts as well as participate in a fun and classic sporting event, Tough Mudder. Tough Mudder is centered on mud, and our POW MIA operations are in the mud daily. We move thousands of buckets of mud and dirt per mission, so we thought there was a natural relationship that could be built with Tough Mudder.
Why Do You Mudder?
We mudder because we work and live in the mud. We find it very appealing that both Tough Mudder and Terra Search work in the mud for a living and for a purpose.
Being that we’re in Washington D.C., Tough Mudder draws a very large community of Veterans and other personnel from surrounding areas that we would like to reach out to for when we go overseas for our efforts.
What is Terra Search?
Terra means “ground.” Our operations are focused on land ground only. We don’t do underwater recoveries, or recoveries offshore.
What Connections Are There Between Terra Search & Tough Mudder Values?
One of the hallmarks of Tough Mudder is running, participating, and sharing as a team. You can see it on peoples’ faces how much they enjoy being together with their team before, during, and after a Tough Mudder.
We have the same concept at Terra Search. We can’t have success without a team effort. There’s no “I” in the recovery operations, everyone has a position or part to play. Both Tough Mudder and Terra Search bring good news at the end of the day – we’re kindred spirits.
What’s a Message You Would Say to an Audience of Tough Mudders right now?
If you love Tough Mudder and want to take things to the next step further, come join Terra Search – we’re exactly of the same kind.
With our mission and teamwork, a family gets good news about a missing Veteran after many years.
What’s an Example of Something GoFundMe Has Done for You?
We just getting started using GoFundMe but we hope that the platform will broaden our outreach and awareness, and of course to help our business to bring a missing Veteran home. We see equal benefit for Tough Mudder, Terra Search, and GoFundMe. Want to help? Donate to Terra Search here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/sponsor-veteran-powmia-recovery-missions-abroad
Want Your Next Tough Mudder for Free?
Fundraise $1,000 with GoFundMe and your next race is on them! Click the link for more detail:
Some sentences may be adjusted to improve readability due to the nature of transcribing in-person interviews.
