Local bikers hit the road to help draw attention to post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide among military veterans Friday afternoon.

Led by the Gilbert American Legion Riders, with members of Valor House and more, the group transported a steel statue honoring Spc. Michael Wargo from Country Junction to a local a garage to secure it to a mount.Wargo was a 1994 graduate of Lehighton Area High School and a veteran of the Army who spent 10 months in Iraq as a chemical weapons specialist. He returned home in 2005, but suffered from PTSD for eight years until taking his own life."They survived the war over there, and they come back here and deal with PTSD and(traumatic brain injury), and they just can't put up the with the hurt and the pain. We owe our veterans more than what we've given them," Wargo's father, Mike, said.The steel silhouette was a byproduct of Mission 22, an awareness campaign started by 501c3 charity Elder Heart. The name of the group stems from the statistic that 22 veterans take their own lives every day due to PTSD and TBI.To shed light on their cause, Mission 22 created a traveling memorial, "The War at Home," consisting of 5-by-10-foot steel sheets that feature detailed cutouts of fallen soldiers, along with a dog tag displaying details of their life and service on the base. Valor House in Jonas nominated several veterans for the projects, one of which was Wargo."The cutouts in the center were given to the families to make local monuments where those veterans live," Mark Baylis, founder of Valor House, said. "It's a national tragedy, we're losing way too many veterans to suicide, 22 a day. … It's a lot of people."Baylis said that despite the fact that many people are familiar with PTSD, not enough time and energy is focused on helping those who come back from service with difficulties."The reality we can't escape is, if I go someplace and I speak publicly about homeless vets, you can't get through the crowd of people coming around to help you. If you say you need help and resources to prevent veteran suicide, all you hear is crickets. It's time for a change," he said.Butch Zacharias, a First Cavalry Division Vietnam veteran from Effort, volunteered to supply the materials and do the welding to mount the cutout to a base. Zacharias is familiar with the troubles of acclimating to life after service, and the difficulties that can result from a lack of treatment."How many people did what this young man did?" Zacharias said. "There's a reason for it, and the average person doesn't understand it because they didn't see it, they didn't hear it, and they didn't smell it. Therefore, to try to explain it to someone else, what it's like. … We know what that man went through, but you don't."Wargo, Baylis and Zacharias are hoping that the displays will promote better communication between servicemen and civilians, along with better care for veterans.Near the end of May, the statue will be taken to Harrisburg and serve as part of the memorial in the capital. By mid-June, Wargo's memorial will come to rest in Lehighton."Our legislators have to walk right by it when they're going in and coming out of their offices," Wargo said. "Hopefully it raises awareness that veteran suicide is a big problem. We need to do something about it. It just can't be private organizations stepping up, we need something more."The group is hoping that Wargo's cutout will, along with the other Mission 22 projects, create a connection between communities and their veterans, fostering a sense of unity and support for those who need it the most."I'm very, very proud of the support of all these people and organizations," Wargo said. "When you start talking about veterans, they support you 200 percent. It does your heart good. That's what this is all about."