5k Run/Walk Remembers Iowans, Supports the Living

More than 1,000 runners, walkers, and support volunteers participated in the 4th Annual Remembrance Run Sun., Sept. 29 at Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines, Iowa. The 5k run/walk event commemorates approximately 120 Iowans and military service members with Iowa connections who have died in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere from combat, illness, suicide, or accident since the Iraq War began in March 2003.

The last Sunday in September is traditionally Gold Star Mother's Day. Informally, the date is often also called "Gold Star Family's Day." A presidential proclamation this year made it both.

Iowa Remembers Inc.

American flags, as well as names and pictures of those to be remembered, lined the last stretch of the Remembrance Run route. High above the finish line, a large American flag was suspended between two aerial trucks provided by MidAmerican Energy Co.

In keynote remarks spoken from the bed of a pickup truck, Jeni Carney Green likened the gathered crowd to a "support brigade." Nearby, a group of Green's friends and family wore T-shirts bearing the 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (34th Inf. Div.) shoulder patch, and the name of her late husband Scott.

Master Sgt. Scott Carney was a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Inf. Div., killed Aug. 27, 2007 in Western Afghanistan's Herat Province, while deployed on an Embedded Training Team (E.T.T.) mission.

"[Y]ou brought food after the funeral. Or you babysat. Or you helped address thank-you cards. Or you talk about the fallen," Green said to the crowd in thanks. "You listen at every birthday, anniversary, and special occasions—like graduations—that they've missed. You listen, you tell their stories, and ... you remember."

The 5k run/walk is a fund-raising event for the non-profit Iowa Remembers Inc., and helps underwrite an annual weekend retreat for surviving Iowa family members. The retreat is administered by Survivor Outreach Services Iowa on the same weekend as the annual run. According to a recent Army news release, Survivor Outreach Services maintains connections to 56,000 military families nationwide who have lost a loved one in service to their country.

"The Survivor's Outreach Services is kind of a big process, but a simple concept," says Hal Snyder, chief of the Wounded and Fallen Branch, U.S. Army Survivor Outreach Services. "It's to continually link our surviving families to the Army for as long as they desire; that they remain part of the Army family. That is a promise that has been made to our surviving families and it is part of the job of S.O.S. to honor that promise and to provide the services and support that link these families to the Army."

Before the event, Central Iowa businessman Craig Sommerfeld performed a fly-over in a T-34 "Mentor" painted out as a U.S. Marine trainer.

Armed with a microphone and an air horn, KJJY radio personality Eddie Hatfield joked with the first wave of runners, saying the 5k event was actually 26.2 miles long.

Runners had the option of being timed. All timed results are here at this link. The top men's results were:

• Cole LaFollette, 16, of Des Moines: 00:18:10.6
• Mark Moore, 28, of Des Moines: 00:19:11.3
• Donald Hurt, 29, of West Des Moines: 00:19:49.0

Top women's results were:

• Erin Cahalan, 15, of West Des Moines: 00:19:30.1
• Lindsey Schwarck, 22, of Ankeny: 00:21:03.9
• Julie Spieker, 37, of Urbandale: 00:21:08.2

World War II and Korean War veteran Arthur Ryden, 98, of Cherokee traveled most the 5k route in a wheelchair, but made sure to walk across the finish line with the help of family members. He was commemorating his brother, Arnold Ryden, killed in the Battle of the Bulge.

Iowa remembers.

Carney Posthumously Awarded Infantry Badge

I mentioned in an earlier post that my unit, the Headquarters Company of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 34th "Red Bull" Infantry Division, lost a soldier while he was deployed to Afghanistan as an Embedded Training Team (ETT) member in Aug. 2007. Sgt. First Class Scott Carney was killed in a non-combat Humvee accident in Herat Province.

Carney, 37, was survived by his wife Jeni and twin sons Jacob and Justin. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant. I've previously tried to describe how his family continues to be present in the life of my unit. Words may fail, but memory lives.

In a ceremony earlier this week, Carney's family was presented with his Combat Infantryman Badge, or "C.I.B.") The CIB is awarded to soldiers the rank of colonel or below, who hold an Infantry Military Occupational Specialty (M.O.S.), and who actively engage a hostile force in combat. There are those--myself included--who regard the CIB to be one of the highest awards available, because is celebrates the role of the Infantry soldier as the single-most important person in the Army. Without him, we could not close with and destroy our country's enemies. Without him, every other kind of soldier would just have to pack up and go home.

Carney was involved in combat operations qualifying him for the CIB on June 18, 2007, when he provided suppressive machine-gun fires as a vehicular gunner in Farah Province, allowing the extraction of Afghan National Police (A.N.P.) and U.S. military personnel who had come under fire.

He died in a Humvee rollover on Aug. 24, 2007. Although Carney was buried in his green Class A service uniform displaying the CIB--mortuary affairs had documented that he would be posthumously awarded the badge--the official paperwork back here in the states was subsequently twice rejected, delayed by a higher, non-Iowa headquarters' confusion of the two incidents. After more than 2 years of waiting, that was finally and memorably corrected at last week's ceremony, during which Carney's sons were each presented CIB certificates and badges.

The CIB design is rectangular, with a musket imposed on a field of blue, the Infantry branch color. Behind the rectangle is a laurel wreath. The badge is similar but expressly different than the Expert Infantryman Badge (E.I.B.), which is awarded after a grueling proficiency test. The EIB does not feature the laurel wreath.

For a 10-minute YouTube video of the presentation of the award to Carney's family, including remarks made by Col. Tom Staton, current commander of the 2/34th BCT, click here.

The Ghosts that Haunt Us

I mentioned a little while ago that at least one brother Red Bull was heading downrange to Afghanistan with the Vermont National Guard's 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (BCT). In a related item, an Associated Press article from earlier this week does a great job of reviewing the Green Mountain State's contributions to the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The article, bylined by the AP's John Curran, starts off a little tongue-in-cheek, but ends bittersweet. Read the first and last paragraphs, and you'll see what I mean:

Vermont, a bastion of ex-hippies and Ben & Jerry liberals, has another distinction seemingly at odds with its peace-loving, tie-dyed politics: It has suffered more deaths per capita in the Iraq war than any other state.

[...]

A 1,500-strong Vermont National Guard contingent is now headed for a yearlong tour of duty in Afghanistan. At a departure ceremony last month, two mothers of Iraq war dead watched solemnly as 350 troops were sent off to war.

“We get concerned that our mere presence is a bit of a downer for the troops,” said Marion Gray, whose stepson was killed in Iraq. “We’re like the ghost that hovers in the background, and always worry about the soldiers looking at us, knowing that we lost a soldier, if that puts a damper on things.”

The Iowa National Guard company of which I am a proud member has already lost one soldier in Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Scott Carney was an Embedded Training Team (ETT) member in August 2007, when he died in a non-combat-related Humvee rollover in Herat Province. I didn't know him well, but he was a go-to guy, and I like to think that he and his family continue to be role models for us.

His widow Jeni was able to muster the wherewithal to attend one or two unit events after the fact, and her poise and grace and faith were absolutely radiant. It could not have been easy to revisit the armory where her husband once worked every day and every drill. I wanted to personally thank her just for being there, but I felt embarrassed and self-conscious. I felt it wasn't my place to intrude, and told myself that others would do the job for me. I talked myself out of my good impulses.

In short, I was a coward. It won't happen again.

I think about that Vermont stepmother, who was worried that soldiers might take her presence as an unwelcome reminder of the costs and risks of war, and her words haunt me. I developed a habit, a few years back, of pushing myself to personally thank veterans for their service. You don't ask about when and where they served--some vets, after all, don't want to dwell on such details. Others know that you had to be there. But, when you see the "USMC" ball cap or Purple Heart license plate or Vietnam campaign ribbon lapel pin, and you say, casually but sincerely: "Thank you for your service."

While wearing the uniform to a local restaurant or grocery store, I've occasionally been on the receiving end of such thanks. I don't always feel worthy of the praise, but I do feel proud--and humbled--that a fellow citizen has taken the time and effort to cross the distance between us, just to say thanks.

Personally, I try to thank family members, too. If you know what to look for, you can pick them out from a crowd. You'll see people wearing a yellow ribbon, or a pinback button with a soldier's picture on it, or a blue-star flag lapel pin, and you'll know that part of them i downrange, too. As the saying goes, "soldiers train, but entire families deploy."

Want to know what you can do? All you have to say is: "Thank you for your soldier's service. And thank you for your family's service, too." If you can read non-Army uniforms, use "sailor," "marine," or "airman" for Navy, Marine, or Air Force personnel. Not sure of the branch of service? Use the generic term "service member." (One final tip: "Airman" applies to both male and female members of the U.S. Air Force.)

I hope that someone told Marion Gray how much it meant to them that she was there. And I hope you reach out to a soldier, veteran, or family member sometime, just to say thanks.

And thank you for reading this.

(More news on the 86th Infantry BCT moving out here. I can't yet explain the headcount discrepancies; "1,500" vs. "more than 3,000" soldiers, but I'll work on it.)