CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - Road marches have long been a fixture for Army Soldiers. Whether it’s to display their physical prowess, meet an annual requirement or just prepare for the physical demands of a deployment, most service members have at some point donned a ruck and charted a course.
Soldiers deployed to Kosovo with the Multi-national Battle Group East once again carried on this Army tradition when more than 220 Soldiers from eight nations gathered on Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, to complete the 5th Annual March for the Fallen.
The event offered Soldiers a way to remember their fallen comrades while competing in one of three categories: a 5-kilometer run, a 14-mile ruck march and a 28-mile ruck march.
Although the routes, distances and weight requirements differed for each category, the overall theme and inspiration remained the same for each Soldier.
For Army Maj. Tommy Guthrie, the brigade adjutant with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, the march is an opportunity to recognize Service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the country.
“This is also an opportunity for us to recognize their families, friends and colleagues and is a way to help us all move forward,” he said.
Others agreed.
“What inspires me about this event in particular is that we are doing it to honor fallen warriors from any unit and any era,” said Army Maj. Gen. John Gronski, deputy commanding general for the Army National Guard, U.S. Army Europe.
Before the start of each event, participating Soldiers attached photos and other items of remembrance onto their clothes and rucksacks for inspiration and motivation.
Guthrie reserved his ruck for a comrade who died in Iraq on June 15, 2007.
“I am doing this for a Soldier near and dear to my heart, Master Sgt. [Arthur] ‘Artie’ Lilley,” said Guthrie. “He was a great man, a great American and he is dearly missed.”
Although it has been more than nine years since Guthrie lost his long-time friend and battle buddy, he said the pain is still there as he remembers that day vividly.
“I just remember being home and getting the call from a good friend of mine,” said Guthrie, fighting back tears. “It took us all off guard. I can remember I was just happy when his family received him Caution-home.”
Still reeling from the loss, Guthrie, a company commander at the time, gathered his Soldiers and took them to pay tribute to his friend.
Left with just the memories of Artie, Guthrie still makes it a point, when home, to visit Artie’s dad and share stories.
It’s those memories, Guthrie said, that pushed him get him through the grueling ruck march.
“Some time has gone by since the event and it makes me feel good at this time in my life to do this to recognize Artie and his family,” he said. “It’s a way for me to throw on my ruck and let it help bring me a little solitude and let his family know that his sacrifice will not be forgotten and I want them to know we are doing this for him.”
Gronski, who was the brigade commander for the 2nd IBCT, 28th ID during the unit’s 2006 deployment to Iraq, said he also found inspiration from two fallen Soldiers: Lt. Col. Michael McLaughlin, who he served with in Iraq, and Maj. John Alexander Hottell, a Vietnam veteran.
McLaughlin was the first officer in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard to die in action since World War II when he was killed by an improvised explosive device during a dismounted patrol in Ramadi, Iraq, in January 2006.
Unlike McLaughlin, who served alongside Gronski, Hottell died in Vietnam. Although they never met, Gronski said he admired Hottel for his leadership and commitment to the Army.
“He is quoted as saying, ‘I did not die for my country, I lived for my country’,” said Gronski. “I thought that was just a great way for a warrior to put it… that he would serve and if he was called upon to give his life as he was, so be it.”
For Gronski, it is the memory of his close friend and legacy of the Vietnam veteran that has driven him to complete the 28-mile ruck march every year since its origination.
Although Gronski and Guthrie both found themselves, at times, alone on the ruck march, they both agreed they were never truly alone. Instead, they said they were left with the memories of their friends and the families who carry on their Soldiers legacy as reminders to never quit.
“To the families of our fallen our hearts go out to them,” said Gronski. “Our primary message is we will never forget the sacrifice their loved ones made.”
While the deployed Soldiers completed the March for the Fallen in Kosovo, Pennsylvania National Guard Soldiers and their friends and families hosted their own March for the Fallen event this weekend at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa.