Patriot soldier takes on 260-mile team challenge

FORT STEWART, Ga. - "I didn't know what level of commitment it was going to take until we really got into it," said Sgt. 1st Class Chad Charles, with Battery B, 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery Regiment, or the Patriot Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. "I was on my second [leg of the race] and I thought: What did I get myself into?"

Charles, the platoon sergeant for 1st Platoon, Btry. B, was a member of a team "Run (D) HHB," a team comprised of soldiers and military spouses from 3rd ID, which ran in the Run for the Heroes-Run Across Georgia event, May 24-25.

Run for the Heroes is a charity run for teams and individuals which consists of a 260-mile run between Fort Stewart and Fort Benning, which supports the House of Heroes, an organization which honors and serves military and public safety veterans as well as their spouses.

Charles, a native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, said he ran about 37.5 miles in the race, five miles more than the average for team participants. Each team member ran multiple legs of the race ranging from five to nearly eight miles each.

"It's a challenge and that's what I wanted," Charles said. "How many people really run three times a day and that three runs is something like 15 or 16 miles together?"

"On the day of the race, you just tough it out," added Charles. "You put it all out there."

And Charles' eight-man team did put it all out there. Starting at 4 a.m. Saturday morning, Run (D) HHB spent 40 hours and 15 minutes pushing through fatigue, dehydration and sleep deprivation to make their way to Fort Benning on foot.

"I lost 6 lbs. over that 40 hours," said Charles, adding "I drank probably 3 gallons of water during that time."

"I think everybody got maybe 4 hours of sleep for three days," said Staff Sgt. Kurt Hahn, an air defense artilleryman with the division schools section, and the team captain for Run (D) HHB. "We sweated out a lot of water weight."

Between legs, Charles' wife would drive him to his next start point or to cheer on his teammates at their next stop, but he said his passenger seat wasn't the most conducive sleeping position following grueling runs over sometimes hilly terrain and added that she provided the extra motivation to complete the event.

"If you think I was going to give up in front of my wife..." the 14-year Army veteran said with a grin and a chuckle.

Charles said he wanted to do this race as soon as he heard about it.

"He was the first to pipe up," Hahn, who organized the team said. "I didn't have to sell him on it at all."

Charles spent the months before the event training by running every day, sometimes twice, and putting 30 to 50 miles a week on his running shoes, but he wasn't doing it alone.

"I would kind of push his cardio endurance for the first couple of miles," said Sgt. 1st Class Nickolas Flowers, the division tank master gunner. "Then we'd slow it down, but he got progressively better."

"I was running with him probably 15 to 20 miles weekly," Flowers added.

Flowers described Charles as a hard worker, someone who can do a thankless job and have pride in just getting the job done and added that while they trained together Charles shaved nearly a minute off his mile pace time.

"He's determined," Flowers said. "Put something before him and he'll get it done."

Charles' attitude reflected Flowers statement.

"Our goal was just to finish it and that's what we did," Charles said.

"I don't think you can stress enough the accomplishment of it as a team or an individual," Flowers added.

"Once the pain settles, then you can start talking about the good times we had," said Hahn.

"It was fun," added Charles with a smirk. "Misery loves company."

Related Links:

The 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division DVIDS page.

The official 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart Facebook page.

The official 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Facebook page.

The official 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart website.

The official 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division website.