The Greatest Salute: LSU ME Freshman Marches 323 Miles for Veterans

February 27, 2020

Colin Raby walking down beach carrying flagBATON ROUGE, LA – Founding Father George Washington once said, “The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.” This is a sentiment LSU Mechanical Engineering freshman Colin Raby of Baton Rouge now understands after having recently completed a 323-mile ruck march from Baton Rouge to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to raise awareness and donations for U.S. veterans and their families.

Though not in the Army, Raby and fellow Air Force ROTC cadets Austin Firmin, Zach Toups, Dylan Cone, and Ben Flickinger, alongside Marine Cameron Richards and National Guardsman Jake Engle, decided they wanted to march to raise money for two organizations that support veterans—K9s for Warriors and the National League of POW/MIA Families. The group’s goal is to raise $8,000 online and divide the donations between the two charities.

“We chose K9s for Warriors because it helps those who fight and come back with issues, and POW/MIA Families helps the families of those who fought and never came back,” Raby said. “I don’t think there’s enough we can do for the veterans and their families who are suffering.”

In the fall of 2019, the group began planning their five-day ruck march along the Gulf Coast. For those unfamiliar with a ruck march, it’s a training exercise performed by soldiers in the Army and entails walking 10-20 miles at a fast pace over rough terrain in boots, fatigues, and a helmet while carrying weapons and a 45-pound backpack.

“It’s not just physical, but mental training as well,” Raby said. “Physically, it’s not that hard. You can have aches and pains but we’re going to keep going even when we’re under stress. The ruck marches get you comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

The group began their march on a cold, rainy morning on Jan. 3 at LSU’s Military Science building. The dreary start had the team questioning if they had made the right decision.

“The weather was horrible the first day,” Raby said. “We were soaking wet all day. We started to question the possibility of this but the clouds subsided and the sun came out.”

In order for everyone to make it to the end, the team strategized and decided to split into two groups. Group one would walk 24 miles in eight hours while group two rested in the chase vehicle, which they used to hold supplies and serve as their safety buffer on the busy highways. The groups would then alternate walking and resting every eight hours. They set up checkpoints along the way that were 24 miles from each other so they would know when to switch.

Group of ROTC members holding flag“It was a constant game of leap frog,” Raby said. “Within group one, we split into four-hour segments. So I walked with someone for 12 miles, then we handed off the POW and American flags to the next group, who walked the other 12 miles.”

By day three, Raby said they lost all track of time.

“Sometimes we would wake up and it would be dark the entire time we were awake, and it would just be getting morning when we went to sleep,” he said. “Then we’d wake up and it was daylight for our shift.”

For the first two days, the group just ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and snack bars they had brought with them. On day three, the Air Force Association met them on the road to give them a cooler of Subway sandwiches, Gatorade, and water. Police officers also stopped them on the dark road one night to offer them a bag of bananas and oranges.

Other gifts along the way were more poignant. One passerby whose brother was missing in action in the Vietnam War said he appreciated what they were doing and gave them a prayer bracelet.

“What surprised me, and how we knew we were doing something good, was how much support we had,” Raby said.

By the end of the ruck march, things started to look up. The days were sunny, with Raby finishing his last leg watching the sun come up along the beach.

“It was motivational,” he said. “It would have been a lot harder to finish had the weather been nice at the beginning and harder at the end.”

When the group was five miles out from Eglin AFB, the seven of them joined together to walk. They began seeing the Eglin signs, with the AFA once again showing their support. As they neared the base, jets flew overhead, taking their practice flights while military personnel were just leaving work for the day and offering friendly honks to the group as they drove by. Some of the group’s family members were also there to greet them.

“Once we got there, there was a collective thud from dropping our bags,” Raby said. “I said, ‘We’re just going to sit down for a second.’”

The rain, cold temperatures, dark roads, wet socks and swollen limbs couldn’t deter Raby and the group from accomplishing their mission.

“There were a whole bunch of metaphors I thought of while doing this march,” Raby said. “When you’re on a dark road at night, it’s like being in a tough situation in life but you keep going. I like the quote, ‘The journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step.’ Eventually, there will be the dawn.”

To donate to the LSU Detachment 310 Ruck March, visit  https://www.gofundme.com/f/det-310-ruck-march.

 

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Contact: Libby Haydel

Communications Specialist

ehaydel1@lsu.edu

225-578-4840