“The nation made a promise to our fallen brothers. TERRA Search aims not only to fulfill that promise but to build a generational bridge that will continue recovery efforts and keep the issue of our MIA mainstream in American thought.“
Colonel (USA, RET) PJ Dermer - TERRA Search Founder & President
TERRA Search was established by Colonel (USA, RET) PJ Dermer in October 2020, to passionately take the mission of recovering the nation’s MIA to a higher level and forge interest in the Veteran community for generations to come. Since 2014, PJ, a service-connected disabled Veteran, has dedicated considerable personal time and resources to support the U.S. Government’s mission to account for all U.S. military personnel listed as MIA from past conflicts around the world.
PJ has volunteered in myriad recovery operations in Europe and the remote South Pacific, acting as a direct interface with the U.S. and host nation governments, and spending a lot of time in the dirt. The establishment of TERRA Search was simply the next step in a lifetime of direct service to the nation and to his Veteran family in arms.
Prior to the establishment of TERRA Search, PJ was a career Army officer. He entered the Army in the Vietnam era, joining one of the first all-volunteer cohorts. His career spanned 30 years of military and post-conflict civil-focused operations, spread over a breadth of challenging spectrums. PJ embarked upon recovery operations six years ago as a volunteer with a private organization. He had tried to volunteer directly with the U.S. Government, but as is still true today, no channels exist for Veteran volunteers. PJ recognised while participating in these recovery operations that the nation’s contemporary conflicts, since the Vietnam era, resulted in very few unaccounted-for personnel.
This reduction in MIA numbers from more contemporary conflict, however, also created unintended generational gaps via personal linkages to the nation’s long held tradition of the POW/MIA mantra “We Will Never Forget.” Simply put, the responsibility of finding those from previous conflicts lay with former generations. With this trend and other contemporary issues constantly grabbing the nation’s attention, PJ believes renewed effort and energy is necessary to maintain our nation’s long standing promise to the servicemen and their families in accounting for those still missing. Establishing TERRA Search LLC., was the result of PJ’s recognition of the impetus for current and future Veteran cohorts to be the vanguard to keep our nation’s promise and carry the torch before it’s too late.
Veterans leading the effort to recover their own is a natural fit.
