Team USX to Live Stream Mount Everest Expedition Brief June 17

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - Jun 16, 2016) - Veteran U.S. Expeditions and Explorations nonprofit, USX, successfully completed their inaugural mission by summiting Mount Everest on May 24, while raising awareness for soldier and veteran post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Team USX will formally brief the news media and the public on their Veteran Everest Expedition during a welcome home celebration, taking place at 7 p.m. ET, June 17 from Zac Brown's Southern Ground headquarters in Peachtree City, Georgia. The panel brief, to be moderated by Emmy Award-winning tech expert Katie Linendoll, will be streamed live at: http://southernreel.com/usx. 

Panel members will include Team USX climbers, 2^nd Lt. Harold Earls, USX co-founder and president, and an active-duty basic infantry officer assigned to the 3^rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia; Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy, an active-duty Army officer and former field artillery officer currently studying to be a civil affairs officer at the US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; retired Staff Sgt. Chad Jukes, who lost his right leg while serving as the lead gun truck commander on a supply convoy in northern Iraq; Tommy Ferguson, Everest on-site base camp manager; and award-winning filmmaker, Dr. Dave Ohlson. 

"During our panel discussion we plan to dive a little deeper into our experiences with the Everest expedition and the next steps for USX," said Earls. "This first veterans expedition accomplished the goal of bringing a broader awareness to soldier mental health and PTSD that many of our veterans struggle with every day. In future expeditions we will be planning a variety of challenging expeditions that are specifically focused around research initiatives. This is a much larger part of our mission, and we believe veterans will play a critical role in this work."

One of the topics Team USX plans to cover during their panel brief is the medical research initiative executed during the Everest expedition. Led by Ohlson, Team USX gathered data on the risks of pulmonary edema at high altitudes. 

"The No. 1 cause of death from altitude related illness is high altitude pulmonary edema. It is a difficult condition to predict, but having a better understanding of the fluid build up in the lungs at certain altitudes could help save the lives of climbers," said Ohlson. "The data we gathered on all the Team USX climbers with a portable ultrasound at different altitudes during the Everest climb will help contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between fluid in the lungs and blood oxygen saturation. Our next step is to analyze the data and submit an article to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal." 

Earls said the uniqueness of USX expeditions is the focus on the connection between recruiting veterans to be part of extreme expeditions and their participation in research initiatives like the pulmonary edema study they successfully carried out during the Everest expedition, and to continued commitment to raising awareness and advocating for the needs of veterans. To learn more go to: http://www.usx.vet.