March Aims To Raise Awareness On Veteran, Soldier Suicide
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – On this Memorial Day, one Minnesota group is honoring those who served and came home only to take their own lives.
Operation: 23 to Zero is a grass roots organization designed to help stop the massive rates of veteran and military suicide through awareness and support.
"We walk to the cemetery to remind ourselves of the brothers and sisters we have lost not only here at home but also abroad," said organizer David Peters.
On one of the hottest days of the year, a group of former and current military service members, moms and dads, brothers and sisters were focused on something more pressing than the heat.
Their mission was to remember those who died for our freedom and to help those suffering in silence, in an effort to stop the 23 veterans and current service members who commit suicide every day.
Jennifer Klindworth marched Monday for a member of her unit, Drew Logan.
"He was our mechanic down at the 79th down in Wabasha, Minnesota, and unfortunately he lost his life due to suicide, so I wanted to make this ruck to kind of remember him because he was a good guy," she said.
Most who take part in the Remember the Fallen Ruck March do so in full gear.
"We put on gear, we put on packs that have weight in them to weigh ourselves down, symbolizing the struggles and some of the weight that people go through every day," Peters said. "We walk to the cemetery to remember the brothers and sisters we have lost."
It's during the four-mile walk that memories of those lost take over. It's the weight of those memories that drives them forward.
Together as one unit, the walkers hope to help their brothers and sisters suffering from the effects of war. They want them to know they are not alone.
"In order to raise the awareness and save folks, it's a group effort," Peters said. "We need families, we need friends, we need fellow brothers and sisters in arms to look out for each other and look for warning signs in helping each other in the most basic way."
This is the sixth year Operation: 23 to Zero has sponsored this Remember the Fallen Ruck March. They say it's their way of never forgetting the high cost of freedom.