Red Ribbon Week raises awareness, recognizes winners

FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. -- The local Red Ribbon Week campaign, Oct. 26-30, 2020, came to a close today after a week of activities supporting the nation's oldest and largest annual drug prevention awareness program.

Fort Huachuca kicked off the week with a formal proclamation signing by Col. Jarrod Moreland, garrison commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. James Prasse, garrison command sergeant major, followed by virtual video assemblies in each of the schools and a week’s worth of special activities supporting this year’s theme, “Be Happy. Be Brave. Be Drug Free.”

“Our on-base schools will be participating in this campaign with an opening video from Army leadership, school principals, the signing of the Red Ribbon Week proclamation, and remarks by the Fort Huachuca Accommodation Schools Superintendent Mark Goodman,” said Joseph E. Hatch, Army Substance Abuse Program manager at the Soldier & Family Readiness Center. “Students and parents are given the opportunity to sign the pledge in school, to make the world a better place, keep their dreams alive, and help others and keep themselves drug-free.”

The Red Ribbon campaign's mission is to encourage children, families and communities to live healthy, happy and drug-free lives. According to the campaign’s website, www.redribbon.org, also serves as a reminder that we are all empowered with shaping the communities around us through positivity, bravery and strength.

“This week was an opportunity to unite as a community around the common purpose to help our children make a commitment to live drug-free and to avoid those destructive decisions that can destroy your dreams,” said Mark Goodman, superintendent, Fort Huachuca Accommodation School District.

“Addictions and destructive decisions can haunt individuals and families for years,” Goodman said. “Through active communication and support, we can provide our children with the resources to grow up drug-free.”

It will be a successful week if we were able to effectively communicate the decisions our children make will determine their destiny and limit their dreams, Goodman added. Fort Huachuca schools closed out the week of activities with a special award in the Red Ribbon Week door decorating contest. Kristine Blocker’s sixth-grade class at Colonel Smith Middle School was recognized as the first place winner of the contest for their comic book door

art featuring this year’s campaign theme, “Be Happy. Be Brave. Be Drug Free.”

“During this campaign, wearing the red ribbons represents our pledge to live drug-free honoring Enrique ‘KiKi’ Camerena, and all who lost their lives in the war against drugs,” Hatch said.

The national Red Ribbon Week Campaign honors Enrique Camarena Salazar, known as Kiki, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps before starting his law enforcement career and becoming an intelligence officer for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1975.

In February 1985 Camarena was kidnapped by drug traffickers in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.

His efforts exposed the world of drug trafficking and what traffickers were willing to do to maintain power.

Saddened by Kiki’s death, his friends, family and people in his hometown, Calexico, California, began wearing red ribbons in his honor and to raise the consciousness of the destruction caused by drugs.

In memory of KiKi, California teacher David Dhillon and former California Congressman Duncan L. Hunter put together Camarena Clubs in high schools. Club members pledged to lead lives free from drug abuse to honor the sacrifices made by Kiki and others on behalf of all Americans. Club members presented the Camarena Club Proclamation in 1985 to then-First Lady Nancy Reagan, bringing it national attention.

The National Family Partnership coordinated the first National Red Ribbon Week in 1988 and it has been an annual event ever since.

“We encourage everyone to take the time to remember these heroes,” Hatch said. “Talk to your kids about the dangers of drugs and the importance of living drug-free.”

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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 964 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.

Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.

We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/