{"id":289192,"date":"2024-09-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=289192"},"modified":"2024-09-27T06:29:33","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T06:29:33","slug":"hundreds-join-camp-zama-suicide-prevention-ruck-march-join-global-effort-to-raise-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=289192","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds join Camp Zama suicide prevention ruck march, join global effort to raise awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Hundreds of community residents participate in a suicide prevention awareness ruck march Sept. 20, 2024, on Camp Zama, Japan.
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\n Hundreds of community residents participate in a suicide prevention awareness ruck march Sept. 20, 2024, on Camp Zama, Japan.
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CAMP ZAMA, Japan \u2013 Hundreds of Soldiers, family members and civilian employees joined an early morning ruck march here Sept. 20 to help raise awareness for suicide prevention.<\/p>\n

The event, coordinated locally by the U.S. Army Garrison Japan Religious Support Office, was part of a worldwide grassroots effort organized by a Soldier in the United States.<\/p>\n

Camp Zama\u2019s event featured remarks from USAG Japan Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Damon Saxton, a 2.2-kilometer march, and breakfast on the chapel\u2019s outdoor patio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited to see so many people here today,\u201d Saxton said as he opened the event and explained the day\u2019s course.<\/p>\n

He stressed that the 2.2-kilometer distance was symbolic to recognize the unfortunate fact that, on average, it\u2019s estimated 22 veterans take their lives daily. The rucks \u2013 or backpacks the participants carried \u2013 were meant to symbolize the burdens that \u201cwe all carry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something to be thinking about as you\u2019re out there rucking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Command Sgt. Maj. David Rio, garrison senior enlisted advisor, said a non-commissioned officer stationed in Virginia had originally reached out asking if community members in Japan wanted to participate in what he hoped to make a worldwide event.<\/p>\n

Rio said he thought it was a great idea and would complement the other planned community suicide prevention awareness month events.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important because it reinforces the message and the meaning behind suicide prevention month and our tie-in to the global effort really shows just how far, through some simple efforts, you can expand a message across the world,\u201d Rio said.<\/p>\n

One participant, 78th Signal Battalion\u2019s Cpl. Kevin Atkins, said he was glad the march was offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to come out here today and show everybody that no matter what happens \u2026 we can always band together and push forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the great participation by community residents was inspirational.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there are people who\u2019ve lost battle buddies, friends, and family, and I just wanted to show that we could \u2026 unite together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

U.S. Army Garrison Japan news<\/a><\/p>\n

USAG Japan official website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Hundreds of community residents participate in a suicide prevention awareness ruck march Sept. 20, 2024, on Camp Zama, Japan. (Photo Credit: Tim Flack) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Hundreds of community residents participate in a suicide prevention awareness ruck march […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289194,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289192","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\/289192","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=289192"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289197,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289192\/revisions\/289197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/289194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=289192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=289192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=289192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}