Ride for Light

 Please consider donating to help fund Perry’s ride. Here is his story.

 Being in the military we got used to doing the necessary things and I have to take a trip to do something necessary. It has been gnawing at me long enough that my life just let me continue to move without moving forward. This journey may help me do just that. 

On April 24th 2012 I received the phone call I was afraid of. My friend, Sergeant Kristopher M. Cool, took his own life. It shook me more than any of the others before or since. It didn’t shake me just because he and I were so close. It shook me not just because he was gone. Not because I couldn’t stop it. Not just because the world needed him(it did and still does). It shook me because I was in that same frame of mind. 10 years later and a ton of loss, I fight the anxiety and depression sometimes minute by minute. But, I’m still on this side of the grass. I need to do this for him……and for me. 

The hole he left in this world cannot be filled. The people who loved him never got to say goodbye and they carry guilt for not being able to save him and an anger that he wouldn’t let them. I carry that every single day, for him. Seeing this unfold in real time with his family and mine, has helped me seek help for my issues and has made me try harder to check myself. The plan for this trip had always been about collecting some of Kris’s ashes to spread on Sicily Drop Zone but it has become so much more. It also makes me reach out to my other brothers-in-arms. We all have our demons and we all feel alone. I need to do this to show that even by myself, I am not alone. I am traveling this country to see my people and let them know that they are not alone. The soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors that I call my family. My journey will take me across this country and I will see these folks. To show them the love and reinforce the bonds of brotherhood that time cannot erase. I will collect Kris’s ashes and he will ride home with me. Back to Bragg.