Thursday, May 2, 2024
The good works of Sgt. 1st Class Riley Stephens are remembered each year with a fund-raising ruck around the time of his death. The Army Green Beret Special Forces medic was killed in action by small-arms gunfire during a battle on Sept. 28, 2012, in Wardak Province, Afghanistan.
At that time, the Department of Defense announced that Stephens’ death had pushed the U.S. death toll in the war in Afghanistan to the 2,000 mark.
This year’s event to honor Riley, a Tolar High School graduate, was dubbed Ruck Forward — a 22K and 5K ruck/walk held Saturday, Oct. 1
Ninety percent of the funds raised go toward the Hood County Fallen Veterans Memorial, and 10 percent of the funds raised will go to the Riley Stephens Memorial VFW Post 7835.
The event also brings attention to the average of 22 military veterans nationwide who are lost each day to suicide.
A round of whiskey and tea shots were passed around so that Riley’s dad Mic Stephens, with Riley’s younger brother Ken at his side, could raise a toast to the memory of his soldier-son.
Ken Stephens, who retired in 2017 as a Military Police Sgt. 1st Class, took the lead in this year’s event. Riley’s stepmother JoAnn Stephens said that she was pleased with the inclusion of noting the suicide awareness aspect. “Riley was all about that,” she said.
