Happy
Trails
Newly retired Local 317 member
is walking the Appalachian Trail
to ‘walk off his war’
■ BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
avigating the entire 2,190 miles
of the Appalachian Trail is a
mammoth undertaking that
takes on average five-to-seven
months to complete. And 75
percent of the thousands of thru-hikers who
begin the trek from Springer Mountain,
Georgia, never make it all the way to Mount
Katahdin, Maine. But Vinnie Corsentino, a
veteran of both law enforcement and the
U.S. Army having seen tours in Panama and
Iraq, is less motivated by the challenge or
even the accomplishment of conquering the
trail. Rather, he is simply looking for a way to
“walk off the war,” so to speak.
“I heard that line from a World War II vet,
and it just sits with me,” explained Corsentino, who retired from Readington Township
Local 317 on March 1. “All the years of regimented activity and dealing with who we
deal with on the street; I just wanted to walk
it all off. This is the opposite of everything
I’ve done since I joined the military at age
18.”
On March 12, barely two weeks after taking his final step out of the department as a
law enforcement officer, the 46-year-old
Corsentino – who said he’s “not a big hiker
and not a big camper” – crossed the threshold taking his first step on the Trail. But
because of an illness he came down with
days before, it wasn’t a walk in the park.
N
Readington Township Local
317 retired member Vinnie
Corsentino begins his
Appalachian Trail hike in
Springer Mountain, Georgia.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 55
www.njcopsmagazine.com
■
APRIL 2016
53