Since his sophomore year at Union Pines High School, Shayne Carlson, 21, has dreamed about pulling up to the Atlantic Ocean, throwing down his skateboard, and skating west.

Six years later, Carlson's adventure has finally come to fruition. He and three friends embarked Saturday on a 10-week trek across the United States via skateboard to raise money and awareness for families and soldiers of the U.S. Special Operations Command.

The trip honors Carlson's father, Master Sgt. William "Chief" Carlson, who was killed on a mission in Afghanistan's Khan Pass in October 2003. He was part of Special Operations ("Special Ops"), an elite unit of highly trained officers and enlisted soldiers that conducts specialized missions for the U.S. military. Carlson's unit, which responded out of Fort Bragg, was tracking individuals believed to have had involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

Equipped with several skateboards and an old Volvo station wagon, Carlson, a Woodlake native, and his crew, Team Chief Coast 2 Coast, hope to skate 2,879 miles from Virginia Beach, Va., to Venice, Calif.

His friends, Kris Wahl, of Whispering Pines, and Alex Squadrito and Erin Rhodes, from Wilmington, are all along for the ride.

As the team passes through 10 states, skating into towns and cities along Interstate 10, they will stop at military bases to meet families of Special Operations officers and talk to communities about the sacrifice of soldiers and military families.

Mom Worried but Proud

All money raised on the trip will go to the Operational Advocates Supporting Injured Soldiers (OASIS) Group. The nonprofit organization, formed in 2008, seeks to advocate for active duty and former U.S. Special Operations Command members and their families to make sure that they receive adequate assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"It's really nice to be able to do something for my dad and the Special Operations because the war happened in 2001, and people have already forgotten about it," Carlson says. "People are still dying overseas to protect people they don't even know. I just want to get people thinking about it past the one-year mark that they actually did think about it."

Carlson says he grew up around the "supers" - intelligent, strong, confident and brave individuals of Special Ops, who chose to leave civilian life for the call of duty.

He knows the impact of that sacrifice on soldiers' families.

"People that don't have family members in the military can't relate to people who have family members who are," he says. "In that aspect, they just don't know how hard it is for wives and children to not have their husband or their dad six months out of the year."

Though Carlson has been planning for this trip since February, he only recently told his mother, Cheri, about his idea.

"First she was worried," he says. "Then I showed her 30 pages of notes from all the research I had done."

Carlson's mother, like many military wives, raised Shayne and his older brother, Shaun, while juggling a full-time job when her husband was deployed.

"It was hard on her, especially when Dad died," Carlson says. "But she never really showed it. She's probably the toughest person I've ever met or ever known."

Now, as his mother watches her younger son begin his own mission to honor his father, she backs him with full support.

"As a mother, I am very worried, but I'm also very proud," Cheri Carlson says. "I know this is his way to give back and to acknowledge how much he misses his dad. He's trying to let people know that this is still going on and affecting so many families."

Following Dad's Example

Carlson's mother has reason to worry. A trip covering almost 3,000 miles is daunting for a person driving a car, let alone for a person propelling himself on a skateboard.

"I've got a route mapped out that involves country roads - hopefully paved ones," Shayne Carlson says. "Basically, we're hitting every single city that we can, which will make it safer for us off the highway."

Carlson is also confident that his team will have the physical endurance to complete the journey.

"We've been skating a lot recently," he says, "but I also train a lot of [mixed martial arts] and jujitsu. I've always been active - running, jump-roping, lifting weights. I'm sure our bodies will get the picture."

At night, the team plans to camp, couch-surf or sleep in a hotel if they can find a place -willing to donate a room.

While Carlson isn't worried about the physical capabilities or the demands of planning such a large venture, he's a little nervous about having to relate his story to so many others.

"I wouldn't say I'm totally 100 percent comfortable," Carlson says. "But I know for a fact that it's going to help a lot of people - just the awareness. You know that people are out there losing their parents and losing their brothers and losing their -children. We're not the only ones."

Though his father was gone half of the time when he was growing up, Carlson remembers a man of honor who was the "cream of the crop" in his unit.

"He was about getting the job done, whatever job that may have been," he says. "He was probably only home about six months out of the year, but when he was home, I definitely took advantage of it."

Carlson vividly remembers the day he learned of his father's death. He came home from babysitting at a neighbors' house and heard his mother in the living room with two men.

"I couldn't tell if they were laughing or crying - it was just loud," he says.

When they told Carlson the news, he was in shock.

"I didn't believe it," he says."Of course it was hard to realize that he was never coming home. I was never going to see him again."

Carlson sees the trip as a chance to live up to the example his father left him.

"I've been blessed with having him as a dad to show me what I can be, and that it's possible to be the best person that I can be," Carlson says.

He is also glad to have some of his closest friends accompanying him.

'Gotta Keep on Moving'

Carlson and Kris Wahl have been friends since they were freshmen in high school. They both remember skating around downtown Southern Pines when they were younger.

Wahl only met Chief Carlson once, but he remembers the man's lasting impression.

"He was really confident, with a calming sort of air about him," Wahl says. "I really respected the man, even though I only shook his hand and talked to him for about 10 minutes."

Both look forward to experiencing the "true flavor" of the country in a way that few can claim.

Wahl quotes Ernest Hemingway when talking about the trip: "It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them."

Luckily for Team C2C, skateboards have four wheels instead of two.

Though he is a student studying biology at UNC Wilmington, Carlson spent the spring semester at home taking courses at Sandhills Community College, which he says gave him the opportunity to plan the trip.

In February, he began e-mailing companies asking for support.

Sponsors, such as the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Wounded Wear, Arbor skateboards and Loaded Boards have donated money and skating gear for the team.

Oakley donated $10,000 toward the purchase of food and gas for the trip. AT&T Inc. donated iPhones so team members can check in with loved ones back home, update their website and check maps in case they have to reroute their course.

Carlson knows that a lot of uncertainty awaits him on the road, but he knows that with the support of his friends, family and military communities across the country, he can make his dream a reality.

"In this life, you can't give up," he says. "You gotta keep on -moving, keep on making things right for your loved ones and your friends and basically, just living a life that you can be proud of."

Contact Hannah Sharpe by e-mail at hannah@thepilot.com. For more information about Team CC2C's journey and to donate to Carlson's cause, visit www.chiefcoast2coast.org.