run for the fallen

Last weekend, we participated in the Run for the Fallen here at Benning. Brad actually got up and ran 12 miles before we went over to the event at 8:30! It was a one mile walk/run. We figured we would walk, but Brad told Walker that if he wanted to run we'd run at his pace. We ran a lot more than I expected. I didn't bring my phone to the run, so I didn't take any pictures there, but we stopped at the Ranger Memorial afterwards.
The Run for the Fallen here was sponsored by the 75th Ranger Regiment so they had names of all of the fallen rangers from The War on Terror. When we got there to register, there were still about 20 names left on the table that had already been printed. There were also blank forms if you wanted to fill in a name. We decided that we didn't want any of the names to be left on the table so we all took a different name to wear.


We looked up some of our names in the book a the memorial and found their markers...

Wilson ran for PFC Thomas. He was 18 when he died in a helicopter crash in 2007. We didn't know this until we got home (where I looked up each soldier's story); but the ranger Wilson ran for, and the ranger I ran for SPC Garbs, died in the same helicopter crash. SPC Garbs was 20 years old.
Walker ran for PFC Garza who was 19 when his vehicle left the road and crashed into a river in Jalalabad on our anniversary in 2005. Brad ran for SGT Regan who was 26 when he encountered an IED in Iraq in 2007. All of these men represent families that have given the ultimate sacrifice. All we know about them is that they gave everything for our country. I hope the families know that they are not forgotten.

I'm glad we got to go out and participate in this event. It was solemn. It was both encouraging and sad to see my friend, Mandy's husband's name on some of the tags. This war has demanded a high price.