FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- They are a speckle of blue in a sea of green. Air Force Tactical Air Control Party specialists more commonly operate alongside Army units than they do among other Air Force personnel. Out of this oddity, TACPs have generated a strong sense of community among themselves. The bond is their duty, and whether deployed or in garrison, distance is not a factor among their community members.
Every March, TACPs around the globe simultaneously dedicate 24 hours to carrying their colors and counting the miles in remembrance of those in their community who were killed in action or in training.
Members of the 20th Air Support Operations Squadron, whose mission is to advise the 10th Mountain Division (LI) on battlefield air operations, took part in this global TACP community event March 30-31 inside a half-mile loop around their compound on Fort Drum.
"It's in memory of our fallen," said Chief Master Sgt. Eric Rankin, 20th ASOS superintendent. "The event raises awareness, but it also raises funds so we can help our personnel through the TACP Association."
Rankin explained the way it works.
One person carries the TACP flag at all times during the 24-hour period. They can run, walk or ruck march with it until they need to hand it off. Anybody else can be running, walking or rucking during any given time throughout the event, but the flag is always moving.
All of the miles from the participants are tracked and added up at the end of the 24-hour period. They start at noon, and the flag keeps moving until noon the next day. The entire able-bodied unit and volunteer participants all run together for the first and last hour.
"We normally turn it into a festivity," said Airman 1st Class Justin Byington, a joint terminal attack controller for 20th ASOS. "You're pretty much given these two days to hang out with your buddies and go run. We keep ourselves physically fit while enjoying our time with one another."
Byington volunteered for a midnight start time running shift. For the first and last hours of the event, he opted to carry the 20th ASOS physical training log on his shoulders with a partner. The log weighs 108 pounds.
"The second hour walking with the log was the hardest shift," Byington assured. "We had to keep swapping shoulders."
Byington pointed out the physical efforts of others, highlighting a 55-year-old mother whose son is a TACP member currently stationed in Texas. She traveled with her parents from New Hampshire to Fort Drum to participate in the event. She ran 60 total miles throughout the 24-hour period.
This year, the 20th ASOS had 88 participants. They raised $2,647 for the TACP Association. All together, they traveled 1,307 miles on foot, which is the equivalent of walking from here to 20 miles past Fort Riley, Kan.
These are the numbers for Fort Drum alone, but Rankin noted that this is a global TACP community event. Every one of the ASOS units run together during the timeframe if they are capable of doing so. From Fort Bragg, N.C., to Fort Stewart, Ga., to Fort Riley and the TACP schoolhouses, everyone participates.
Rankin is closely connected with this event because he actually created it while serving in Alaska before his tenure at Fort Drum. He chose the timeframe for a reason. Three TACPs were killed in action or in training during the month of March. The timeframe seemed fitting.
What also is fitting for the occasion is that Rankin's very last action with the 20th ASOS would be this event he created. He would go on to make a permanent-change-of-station move to Fort Hood, Texas, the following day.
"It's ironic because I've been here three years, and it works out exactly the same," Rankin said. "(Just before) I PCSed here from Fort Bliss, I did the event. Then I out-processed and left to come up here. My very last event here is this as well."
The 20th ASOS along with the TACPs serving throughout our military get stationed with the Army, but they aren't of the Army branch. They are of the Air Force branch, but they traditionally do not serve alongside the Air Force.
So how do you define such a unit? The TACP flash gives a good explanation.
"The TACP colors are blue, green and red," Byington said. "The blue represents the Air Force and what we bring to the fight. The green represents the Army that we're backing up and fighting with. The red connects both of them together. It represents the Tactical Air Control Party and the firepower that we can bring when we work as a team."
Within a sea of green, there is a speckle of blue. It is the 20th ASOS, and members just carried their unit's colors 24 hours straight for a total of 1,307 miles to honor their fallen.
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