From Afgahanistan to the Cotton Row....

4 Huntsville soldiers to run Cotton Row in Afghanistan

Monday, May 31, 2010

Huntsville Times

As you read this, our nation remains involved in two wars: Iraq and Afghanistan, where brave men and women serve daily, fulfilling their sacred oath to "bear true faith and allegiance" to the Constitution of the United States, the cornerstone of our democracy.

Since the beginning of our nation, thousands have served in similar circumstances, and equally thousands have paid the ultimate price for "we the people."

Freedom is not free, and the holiday we commemorate today, Memorial Day, is that one special occasion where we as a nation pay homage to those in the Armed Forces who have died for a cause greater than self. We are the beneficiaries of their great sacrifice and their ever-living examples of honor, selfless service, integrity and courage.

For those actively serving today, Memorial Day is not only a day of mourning for fallen comrades in arms, but a solemn renewal of our duty, recognizing that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.

The annual Memorial Day Cotton Row Run, in particular organizer Wayne Smith, has long paid special recognition to those members of the military who are serving in far-flung parts of the world, especially those in combat.

This year for the first time, four members of the 1960th Contingency Contracting Team, based in Huntsville, will be participating from two locations in Afghanistan: Kandahar and Bagram. Their plan is to begin the run early in the morning before the heat (120-plus degrees) and dust make it too tough to turn respectable times in to the run officials; they remain very competitive.

For these Alabama Army National Guard members, Huntsville is home; it is where they will return to and live after their 12-month deployment. Each is a volunteer and on his second combat deployment.

The four soldier runners are Capt. Jeff Campbell, Staff Sgt. Lesly "Rich" Richardson (Kandahar Airfield), Capt. Todd Floyd and Staff Sgt. Daniel Martin (Bagram Airfield). They see their participation in the Cotton Row Run as an affirmation of their role as citizen soldiers, and connection to the family, friends, and neighbors who continue to sustain them in all they do.

In the King James Bible (Ecclesiastes 3) there is a paragraph that talks to the seasons of one's life. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up?

Memorial Day is that time to "build up," in the sure knowledge that we are a nation blessed with patriots, both past and present.

To Capt. Jeff Campbell, Staff Sgt. Lesly Richardson, Capt. Todd Floyd and Sgt. Daniel Martin, we thank you and wish you Godspeed and a safe return home to Cotton Row Run 2011.

Maj. Ken Arnold, a contracting contingency officer with the 279th Army Field Support Brigade out of Huntsville and a former Huntsville city councilman, returned last November from Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he wrote a weekly Soldier's Diary chronicling his six-month deployment.

(P.S. Run times were: Todd 23:32, Daniel 27:34, Rich 29:37, Jeff 34:15)