{"id":189710,"date":"2024-05-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=189710"},"modified":"2024-05-30T18:14:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T18:14:04","slug":"fort-cavazos-hosts-carry-the-load-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=189710","title":{"rendered":"Fort Cavazos hosts Carry the Load event"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Miguel Sarmiento, Air Force veteran, Dallas Police Department retiree and volunteer with the nonprofit Carry the Load, displays the ruck he uses for walking with the nonprofit to recognize and remember fallen military members and first responders.
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\n Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division Horse Detachment sign their names on the Carry the Load banner before the ceremony honoring the nonprofit May 23, 2024, at the detachment’s building at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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\n Command Sgt. Maj. Calvin Hall, U.S. Army Garrison-Fort Cavazos command sergeant major, signs his name on the Carry the Load banner before the ceremony honoring the nonprofit May 23, 2024, at the 1st Cavalry Division Horse Detachment at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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FORT CAVAZOS, Texas<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Remembering all those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in protection of the nation is the load that those who live on carry. Fort Cavazos recognized Carry the Load, a nonprofit organization that goes above and beyond to honor the fallen, in a ceremony May 23 at the 1st Cavalry Division Horse Detachment at the installation.<\/p>\n

Carry the Load was founded in 2011 by two Navy special operations forces Sailors, or SEALs, who were compelled to honor their fellow Sailors they lost while on active duty. The organization conducts a month-long tribute for fallen military members and first responders in May, with five different groups walking five routes across America \u2014 the West Coast, Mountain States, Midwest, New England and East Coast \u2014 that all come together to meet in Dallas for the two-day Memorial March.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cover all 48 continental states and about 20,000 miles combined,\u201d said Hunter Lovelace, assistant relay manager and media liaison for the West Coast.<\/p>\n

Discovering Carry the Load was life-changing, Lovelace said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first day on the Midwest route, we had five Gold Star Families \u2026 and speaking to those families just immediately put an imprint on me and put the exclamation point on why we are out here,\u201d Lovelace explained.<\/p>\n

Air Force veteran and former Dallas Police Department officer Miguel Sarmiento carries a backpack while walking with Carry the Load, but said it\u2019s not about the physical weight he carries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a ruck, but to me the ruck is symbolic because Carry the Load is more than just how much weight you have, it\u2019s who you\u2019re carrying for,\u201d Sarmiento said. \u201cAnd, a lot of times, that\u2019s even heavier than a 30-pound ruck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with the name and information of his nephew, Army Spc. Thomas Garces, who died while on deployment to Iraq in 2004 with the Texas National Guard; Senior Cpl. Norman Smith, a fellow fallen DPD officer, and Jonah Hernandez, a fallen Las Cruces Police Department officer, Sarmiento wears death statistics of police officers on his backpacks for people to see and to \u201ccarry the load.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 I want to make sure nobody forgets so I carry their names,\u201d Sarmiento said, \u201cand I carry as many people as I can on my backpack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The West Coast group stopped by Fort Cavazos, where the Great Place took the time to thank them for their efforts and dedication. The ceremony included an invocation from retired Maj. Gen. Robert L. Halverson, words from guest presenter retired Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk I and a playing of the national anthem and other music by retired Sgt. Maj. Morris Hickman and retired Staff Sgt. Carl Hutchens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an absolute honor to be here today and participate in this (ceremony),\u201d said Command Sgt. Maj. Calvin Hall, U.S. Army Garrison-Fort Cavazos command sergeant major. \u201cI would like to personally thank the Carry the Load organization for celebrating and honoring the sacrifices made by our nation\u2019s military, law enforcement, fire fighters, rescue personnel and, most importantly, their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two-day rally in Dallas celebrates our nation\u2019s heroes, remembers our fallen but, most importantly, unites us as a community committed to a common purpose: to never forget \u2014 to never forget those who\u2019ve paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom,\u201d Hall added. \u201cThank you again for your support and allowing Fort Cavazos and the 1st Cavalry Division Horse Detachment team to be a part of this meaningful event. Never quit, never forget, always remember.<\/p>\n

Colton Morrow, an ambassador for Carry the Load, thanked Fort Cavazos for hosting the West Coast group.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t do it for the buzz,\u201d Morrow said. \u201cYou don\u2019t do it to say, \u2018Yay, us.\u2019 We do it for the ones who never came home. One of the hardest things to hear is \u2018on behalf of a grateful nation.\u2019 We owe it to them and their families to show up and say thank you and never let these people be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ceremony was followed by lunch and refreshments provided by a local chapter of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, who also escorted the West Coast group\u2019s travel bus onto the installation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the least we can do,\u201d said retired Command Sgt. Maj. Bruce McMillan, senior road captain for CVMA Chapter 23-5. \u201cFor us being veterans this is our \u2026 wind therapy. It lets us feel free and, also, to honor what we\u2019re doing so anything that has to with veterans and first responders, this is something that we do naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on Carry the Load, go to\u00a0https:\/\/www.carrytheload.org\/<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Miguel Sarmiento, Air Force veteran, Dallas Police Department retiree and volunteer with the nonprofit Carry the Load, displays the ruck he uses for walking with the nonprofit to recognize and remember fallen military members and first responders. (Photo Credit: Photo by Ayumi Davis, Fort Cavazos Public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189712,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=189710"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189716,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189710\/revisions\/189716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/189712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=189710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=189710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=189710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}