CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - When more than 1,200 runners took off on the annual Reindeer Dash for Cash 5K and 10-mile races, held Dec. 6 in Greenville, North Carolina, they were joined in spirit by groups of North Carolina National Guard Soldiers running shadow races across the globe.
The race is held in honor of U.S. Army Capt. Christopher S. Cash, a NCNG Soldier who was killed in action in 2004 while serving as a company commander in Iraq.
The NCNG units that remember Cash as one of their own-1st Combined Arms Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment and its higher-headquarters 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team-took part in the race and coordinated the world-wide effort to honor the fallen Soldier and his Family. Elements of the 30th ABCT are supporting their third round of deployments since 9/11, including troops serving in Kosovo, Jordan and Kuwait.
The race supports the Captain Christopher S. Cash Memorial Foundation, which was created in memory of, and to celebrate, a man who committed his life to helping his Family, friends, co-workers, community and country. His memory remains present in the hearts and minds of those he touched and inspired with his care and generosity, according to the foundation's website.
"The foundation started about a year after his death," said Sgt. Michael Todd, a NCNG Soldier serving in Kosovo with the 1-120th's sister battalion, the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 252nd Armor Regiment. "It was driven out of his passion for running and his physical fitness and nutrition degrees he earned throughout his military career."
Cash was a native of Maine who settled in Winterville, North Carolina, after graduating from the nearby East Carolina University. The state-side Dash for Cash is held in ECU's Greenville, North Carolina, and all proceeds from the run are awarded as college scholarships through ECU, its Army and Air Force ROTC programs, the NCNG Association Educational Foundation, and North Carolina Wesleyan College.
Cash's love for running and living a healthy lifestyle only bolstered his reputation as a well-respected U.S. Army and North Carolina National Guard officer.
"I never had the privilege of knowing [Cash], but everything I have heard about him has lived on for the past 11 years," said Todd, who has helped with the Dash for Cash since 2007 and wanted to continue with a shadow run for 30th ABCT Soldiers in Kosovo.
Several of today's deployed 30th ABCT officers did serve alongside Cash in Iraq, including Maj. Max Stroud and Maj. Chris Padgett, who are both in Kosovo as operations and plans officers with the 30th ABCT and Multinational Battle Group-East headquarters.
On the day of the fight, Stroud said his platoon of Bradley Fighting Vehicles were attacked while rumbling toward Mufrek traffic circle in western Baqubah on a mission to clear improvised explosive devices.
"Within seconds, the crescendo and accuracy of fire told me that my Soldiers and I faced the fight of our lives," Stroud said.
Cash, who commanded the 1-120th Infantry Regiment's A Company, led three platoons on the tour where his Soldiers provided support and protection to Iraqi citizens. On June 24, 2004, he gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving his country and protecting his Soldiers.
"He was extremely competitive, but always smiling and cracking jokes as he would challenge Soldiers to be more physically fit and run more," Stroud said. "But he loved his Soldiers, and his country and he always put their needs before his own."
"He was not just my commander," Stroud said. "He was my friend."
30th ABCT Soldiers in Kosovo held two simultaneous shadow runs at their deployed locations, one for the MNBG-E headquarters at Camp Bondsteel, and the other at the 1-252nd Armor Regiment's Camp Marechal de Lattre de Tassigny.
"It started out just [the 1-252nd] doing it, but before long we had a shadow run event everywhere the 30th ABCT is deployed, with T-shirts and medals," Todd said.
"I know what it means to lose Soldiers, and having an event to honor them is very significant," said Maj. Lee Pearson, who worked with Todd and organized the Camp Bondsteel race.
Soldiers from Armenia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Turkey joined in the Kosovo shadow runs. Seeing soldiers from MNBG-E's multinational elements coming together to honor a fallen Soldier was rewarding, Pearson said.
"The event was well-received by all on our camps," Pearson said. "We even contacted our units deployed to Jordan and Kuwait, and together shadow runs were organized there."
The 30th ABCT Military Engagement Team, which is supporting a unique mission in the Middle East, organized shadow runs at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center in Jordan and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.
Back in North Carolina, today's 1-120th Infantry Regiment Soldiers took turns carrying their unit's guidon across the Dash for Cash finish line, honoring Cash's service. The battalion's headquarters is based out of Wilmington, while Cash's A Company lies further up the coast, in Jacksonville.
Runner Kate Mo, who was interviewed by the local WNCT news station after the race, said she drove from Wilmington and participates in the race every year.
"To honor all fallen heroes, whether it be someone we lost last week or at home, it's important to honor all of them," Mo said.
The 30th ABCT will strive to honor the memory of fallen "Old Hickory" Soldiers by continuing their legacy of service and dedication. With its roots in the 30th Infantry Division's legacy from World Wars I and II, the 30th ABCT today finds its Soldiers engaged throughout the globe. Beyond its units' ongoing deployments to Kosovo, Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, it is also actively engaged in the NCNG's state partnerships with Botswana and Moldova, all while maintaining a ready force of citizen-Soldiers prepared to support North Carolina citizens in times of emergency.
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