BAGHDAD, Iraq -- More than 400 service members and civilians gathered outside the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade headquarters on Camp Victory for the 5K Plus Run for Home race early Sunday morning.
"We thought it would be a good way to bring everyone together one last time before the unit redeploys back to the states," said Lt. Col. Christine M. Nichols, the brigade's infrastructure project manager.
Nichols was responsible for coordinating the race with Camp Victory's garrison command.
The brigade commander, Col. Kent Crossley, Portland, Ore., echoed Nichols comments regarding the purpose of the race.
"We have grown together as a unit, I have to keep reminding myself not all of us are headed back to Portland, more than 50 percent of the headquarters is individual augmentees from various states," Crossley said.
One of those augmentees, Maj. Larry Milam from Amarillo, Texas, had open heart surgery last March. He refused to let the triple bypass keep him from deploying. Members of the unit, including Nichols and Crossley, stood cheered from the finish line as Milam completed the 3.64 mile race.
"It's all mental. If you think about what you can't do, you are already defeated," Milam said. "I wasn't done, I started thinking about all the things I could do instead. A year ago I would not have been able to run this race.
"We don't quit no matter what, that's one of our values," he said.
The 364th deployed to Iraq to support the civil affairs battalions throughout Iraq, assisting them with personnel, logistic and communication issues. In addition the unit also conducted missions of their own.
Some of the projects included Iraqi Federal Police training in Baghdad, midwifery classes near the Syrian border and a goats for widows program in southern Iraq near Basrah.
"We taught widows basic herdsmanship skills, along with ability to process the milk," said Maj. Jeff Hafner, 364th Civil Affairs Brigade agricultural officer.
"We then provided them 10 goats and 30 days of feed to get them started. The kids from those goats were then taken to conduct the project again, so it has sustainability," he said.
Hafner was the first member of the unit to cross the finish line at 22 minutes. The first 250 finishers were awarded t-shirts donated by Oregon's Bowerman Athletic Club, a running club started by Nike and named after the company's co-founder.
"The Nike employees at the Beaverton campus will actually be doing a shadow run 5K on the 19th back in Oregon," said Lt. Col. Scott Matti, plans officer.
Matti had been home on leave when the BAC expressed interest in sponsoring the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade's 5K Plus Run for Home race.
