Photo By Master Sgt. Kap Kim | Air Force Airman 1st Class Izaiah Ortega, a 20th ASOS TACP, leads the “memorial...... read more read more
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FORT DRUM, N.Y. - Four years ago, Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Eric Rankin wanted a way to both cope with his personal loss and also help the families of fallen airmen.
As the superintendent of the 20th Air Support Operations Squadron on Fort Drum, Rankin helped pass along the message that none of those who have fallen in defense of the nation should be forgotten.
So, along with hundreds in and around Fort Drum, members of the 20th ASOS braved the snow and cold weather March 26-27 to go on a run that would not only honor the fallen, but also assist in taking care of the Families through monetary donations.
The 24-Hour Challenge, sponsored by the TACP Association, is in its fourth year, and Rankin, whose original idea grew from eight locations to more than 30 internationally, helps raise hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. In 2012, Rankin and the eight teams helped raise $7,000 for the families. Last year, the event raised $85,000. This year, they have raised more than $130,000 with more than 37,000 total miles covered by 33 different locations.
“It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said Tech. Sgt. Clifford Jackson, a TACP member who organized this year’s event for the 20th ASOS.
According to the TACP Association’s website, a tactical air control party usually consists of a team of two or more U.S. Air Force tactical air controllers. It sometimes includes an air liaison officer, who is assigned to a U.S. Army combat maneuver unit. TACPs advise ground commanders on the best use of air power.
For Rankin, the annual event, held during the last week in March, commemorates the month that the TACP community took its heaviest losses. It is when he lost a close friend, Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason Faley, a TACP who died March 12, 2001, in Kuwait.
“He was a part of the family and spent a lot of time with us,” Rankin said solemnly. “That one was very tough.”
The race started at 1 p.m. Thursday with a moment of silence for the 10 TACPs they have lost since the late 1990s. Although it began with handful of runners, walkers, ruck marchers and pets, many others showed up during the 24 hours.
Team Red, White and Blue and a team representing Theresa Primary brought racers and their pledges. The entire race was run around a half-mile course around the 20th ASOS’s headquarters.
Rankin, who originally pledged 30 miles – three miles for each of the fallen, decided to run another 10 miles.
“You all impressed me beyond belief,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Montgomery, 20th ASOS commander, to his airmen after the race. “Thank you from me and for the Families we are doing this for.”
The goal of each team, or location, is to outrun the other teams. This year, Team Drum crushed last year’s total with 1,564 total miles.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Dominic Archuleta, a TACP with 20th ASOS, ran with last year’s winning team while deployed to Forward Operating Base Lightning in eastern Afghanistan. He and Jackson planned to split 100 miles, but fell short 10 miles.
“I can tell you that it was rough,” Jackson said. “I lost my toenails running on those rocks.”
At a higher elevation, blackout lights after sundown and a rocky trail made running on the FOB harder, but Archuleta said he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“For those who gave everything, what’s four, five or six hours gonna do for me?” Archuleta said. “This time, I’m running because I made it back. … I’m running this one for those guys who didn’t make it back.”
Aside from the race, the TACPs never let a moment go by without honoring their fallen. From their break room in their headquarters they call the “heritage room,” with the photos and award citations of their fallen, to their physical fitness sessions that end with an exercise they call the “memorial pushup,” where they honor each with pushups, they know it’s all about never forgetting what they have given up.
“If we lost one, we all feel it,” Jackson said. “Whether or not emotionally, we feel it in the workload – we all feel it.”
For more information about the TACP Association, visit www.USAFTACP.org.
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.08.2015 15:03 |
| Story ID: | 159432 |
| Location: | FORT DRUM, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 315 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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