Canadian adventurer Robert Young Pelton is attempting to crowd-fund a manhunt for Joseph Kony, head of the African terrorist organization Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), an effort that is making UNC Wilmington student veterans very skeptical.

Pelton, a 58 year old writer and documentary filmmaker who is most known for his “World’s Most Dangerous Places” book and television series, has been fundraising on the website Indiegogo since Oct. 22, 2013 for Expedition Kony. He said he has been tracking Kony since 1993 and has “exclusive contacts with the world’s most dangerous people and / or groups” according to the Indiegogo page.

Evan Hayes, US Army veteran and UNCW student, said he thought Pelton had a difficult road ahead of him considering the US had already sent troops to train the Ugandan military in anti-terrorism.

“These were people that know the country, speak the language, and are familiar with the culture. They have not been successful. So for a small group of police / mercenaries, I could imagine that the difficulties would be multiplied,” Hayes said.

UNCW student and Marine Corps veteran Roel Escamilla had similar reservations.

“He’s got an overinflated sense of himself,” Escamilla said about Pelton pursuing Kony alone, rather than aiding already existing military forces. “As a veteran, I would find it off-putting for a reporter to keep information that is vital to getting a mission accomplished from the military.”

“Various contacts in the region have been sending Pelton updates, radio intercepts and exact locations of Kony for years. Pelton has set up and published the work of extensive ground networks at the height of the war in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somali,” the site reads.

The LRA began in Uganda in 1986 and eventually turned to forcible recruitment to increase their numbers by abducting local children and turning them into child soldiers and sex slaves. In 2006 they were pressured into relocating to the border region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, where Expedition Kony will pursue them. The state department said their number of “core fighters” has since dwindled to about 150 to 200 in 2012.

Expedition Kony states that there is no proof that Kony is still alive or that his rebel army remains a cohesive group, but that they want to put an end to the terrorism for the local people.

“The mission is to put an end once and for all to the millions of dollar’s wasted, thousands of victims harmed and find Kony.”

Pelton plans on bringing a team of film makers and potentially a few top donators along with him on the hunt. While he is known for side stepping legal barriers to “find people who don’t want to be found” as he is often quoted saying, Expedition Kony said it will follow local laws.

“All actions we take will be lawful and within the permissions of the host nations. We will also coordinate with local police, military and other units to deconflict our efforts and support others,” his website reads.

Pelton is also unclear about what he plans to do if and when he locates Kony, stating only:

“We will extend his group every effort to communicate with us and surrender peacefully…Any rewards (very public, high dollar rewards offered by nations are actually quite difficult to collect) will go towards subsidizing our project and compensating Kony’s victims.”

Expedition Kony on Indiegogo will stop collecting funds on December 22. Pelton has currently raised $8,630 of the $450,000 expedition goal.

“If we are funded, we will find Kony,” the Expedition Kony Indiegogo page concludes. “If we don’t, you will know exactly why the world and $200 million cannot locate one man.”