A Ruck to Remember

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Austin Mayfield
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas- --  As the morning sun started to break past the horizon on Sept. 30, approximately 60 Dyess Airmen prepared for a 5.5-mile march during the annual Ruck to Remember event.

The ruck was a remembrance march around Dyess to honor Air Force defenders who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

A special guest that also participated in the ruck was Mrs. Jiffy Helton is the mother of fallen defender 1st Lt. Joseph D. Helton Jr. and founder of the Lt. Helton Memorial Foundation, an organization dedicated to honoring the fallen and those who have fought for our freedom. Lt. Helton was serving as a security forces officer when he died Sept. 8, 2009, near Baghdad of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

"I spoke to Mrs. Helton and asked to use her foundation's symbol for the ruck since I was deployed with Lt. Helton," said Staff Sgt. Andrew Clark, 7th Security Forces Squadron unit deployment manager. "I knew Lt. Helton personally, so when I spoke to Mrs. Helton, she wanted to come down and participate with us."

Mrs. Helton wanted to participate not only to memorialize her son but also to memorialize all the Airmen who made the ultimate sacrifice. The Ruck to Remember meant more to her than just honoring those who have fallen.

"To me, this is a family community spirit that you have and it is your way of celebrating those who have given the ultimate sacrifice," Helton said. "You sacrifice every day and so does your family. I think it strengthens the bond between all of you, and I'm pretty honored that you included us in this event."

Some of the participants' reasoning for joining the ruck were the same: they wanted to honor their fellow security forces members that have fallen.

"I wanted to participate in the Ruck to Remember to honor the sacrifices our fellow defenders have made before us," said 1st Lt. Russell Ahrens, 7th SFS operations officer. "I appreciate all the support we get from not only our squadron but from the rest of the Dyess community."

Clark has organized six Ruck to Remember events for fallen security forces Airmen and continues to show his support for the Airmen who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

"Doing a ruck like this allows us to memorialize the security forces members who have fallen," Clark said. "A ruck isn't an easy thing to do, you need courage and determination to strap on a bit of weight and walk a few miles. Most of the participants who participated in the ruck carried a weight of 35 pounds of more."