CWG-6 hosts Illuminating the Darkness Walk

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Ruben Reed | Cryptologic Warfare Group SIX (CWG-6) held its sixth annual Illuminating the Darkness Walk on Fort George G. Meade’s Gaffney track Sept. 24. The opening ceremony included remarks from CWG-6 and Fort Meade Garrison leadership, a ribbon cutting, and a personal story from a CWG-6 Sailor.  

UNITED STATES

09.24.2021

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Ruben Reed 

Cryptologic Warfare Group SIX

FORT MEADE, Maryland – Cryptologic Warfare Group SIX (CWG-6) held its sixth annual Illuminating the Darkness Walk on Fort George G. Meade’s Gaffney track Sept. 24. The opening ceremony included remarks from CWG-6 and Fort Meade Garrison leadership, a ribbon cutting, and a personal story from a CWG-6 Sailor.
The 12-hour walk, organized to raise the Fort Meade community’s awareness of suicide prevention, was held during the night to symbolize the walk from the darkness of suicide to the light of hope of a new day’s sunrise. Nearly 400 participants walked and gathered to compete for total distance walked as well as interact with displays from community organizations bringing awareness to suicide prevention and mental and physical health.
The Department of Defense theme for Suicide Prevention Month is “Connect to Protect: Support is Within Reach.”
Laurie Hanley, the resiliency officer for CWG-6, spoke about how excited she was to see everyone in-person and the areas of focus at each display around the track helping to build awareness and resilience
“As you walk around the track tonight you’re going to find tables that are focused on helping you to build up your own resilience by addressing different areas like building hope, and positivity and mindfulness,” said Hanley. “We have tables dedicated to mental health, physical health and spirituality because I personally think that the absolute best way to prevent suicide is to become the most resilient person that you can be.”
Petty Officer Kinley Weber shared a personal story about her connection to suicide and the strength she found in the support of her family and friends.
“Before I joined the Navy and made the excruciating effort at turning my life around, I was victim to serious depression, anorexia and bulimia,” said Weber. “Suicide is not a taboo topic. It’s a very real issue that has a right to be discussed openly. It’s events like these that bring us back to that awareness. It helps us connect to our hearts as well as the hearts of others.”
Commodore, CWG-6, Capt. Holly Yudisky, also helped set the tone for the event during her opening remarks.
“Hope not only makes us endure more, it makes us want to make our lives better, it motivates us into action,” said Yudisky. “As we walk tonight and as we connect, let us also remember that those connections provide hope to overcome our hardships. I know that with our connections there will always be someone there to pull us out of the water.”
The six person team who came in first place for the competition to walk the most miles was Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66, walking 173 miles with 90-100 pound rucksacks. Second place was Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group, walking 145 miles, and in the third place came the Navy Detachment at the Defense Information School (DINFOS). Each member of the three placing teams won prizes as well as the top three performing individuals. Lt. Stephen Veres, assigned to Cryptologic Warfare Activity 65, walked 26 miles, Seaman Han Puyu, assigned to Navy Det DINFOS, walked 16 miles, and 1st Sgt. Jerome Hill, assigned to 742nd Military Intelligence Battalion, walked 14 miles.
CWG-6’s primary mission is to deliver information warfare capabilities to the Navy by providing and deploying trained Sailors, expertise, and equipment to conduct signals intelligence
and cyberspace operations for naval and joint forces.
For more information and news from CWG-6, visit https://www.navifor.usff.navy.mil/cwg6/ or
www.facebook.com/CWGSIX.

• Date Taken: 09.24.2021
• Date Posted: 10.08.2021 09:58
• Story ID: 407014
• Location: US