In honor of Veteran’s Day, Movember is paying tribute to the courageous members of the US military by sharing stories from Veteran Mo Bros.

Lieutenant Zachary Scheel has been a Mo Bro for the past four years. He has put moustaches on military helicopters, created a men’s health day and a 5k race for his Naval base, and organized a Movember date auction for his Stanford Graduate School of Business program. Zach’s Movember beginnings date back to 2009 when he dedicated his first Movember moustache to a friend and his father. As the years progressed, his involvement with Movember inspired more and more friends to open up to him about their prostate cancer stories. These moving encounters with friends have helped Zach experience firsthand the power of the Mo. “Something as simple as a moustache removes those barriers to have an open conversation about men’s health with guys.” Lt. Scheel and his team raised over $60,000 for Movember in 2012 and for Movember 2013 Zach and all of the Stanford Grad Students are off to a great start with big, hairy goals in mind.

Mo Bro Brandon McKinney was medically discharged from the United States Navy due to testicular health problems. Problems that, to this day, doctors do not know the cause of. While Brandon was going through initial treatment all of the men in his department decided to grow out their Mo’s to show their support. Since then Brandon has been a strong advocate for men’s health awareness and is an active fundraiser for Movember. “It is important that guys know there is nothing to be embarrassed about or ashamed that they have testicular health issues. It is important to get checked out at the first sign of discomfort or abnormality so it does not get worse. Even though the doctors could not diagnose the problem for me, maybe with more awareness or research they can help other guys down the road.”

A student at Columbia University and a U.S Marine Corps Veteran, 26-year-old Nick Hesselgrave is a first year Mo Bro, who has already put together a 40-member Mo Team. By using his extra-curricular involvement in the university’s veteran community and heavyweight rowing team, he has inspired his community to join Gen Mo. His main motivation for joining Movember this year comes from his personal beef with cancer. Nick’s father passed away when Nick was only twenty years old, and his family did not know his father had cancer until an autopsy was conducted. Nick stresses the importance of early detection. “Like many men, my dad was the stubborn type when it came to seeing a doctor. I think a higher level of awareness about the gravity of men’s health issues could have made my dad more flexible about preventative medicine and possibly saved his life.” Even though Movember 2013 is Nick’s first year as a registered Mo Bro, this is not his first time rockin’ a Mo. “During my enlistment in the Marines, I once was deployed to The Republic of Georgia. I shared a tent with two Georgian soldiers who both had thick moustaches. They encouraged me to grow one too and although mine was pathetic in comparison, we kind of developed a bond over having moustaches. I believe that participating in Movember can have dynamic impact on camaraderie among Columbia Milvets as well as the Crew Team.”

We salute all the military Mo’s who have rallied to join our Movember moustache army and fight the good fight for men’s health. Thank you for all your service.