'Honor the fallen and support the living': Retired U.S. Army Col. praises Morgan County's Ryan Fritsche
Retired U.S. Army Col. Chris Kolenda knows what it means to risk his life to serve others.
The retired colonel served four combat tours in Afghanistan and led the 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is often referred to as Task Force SABER, for more than a year from May 2007 to August 2008.
Kolenda, a current resident of Milwaukee resident originally from Nebraska, is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
One member of Kolenda's unit was Morgan County native, and 2002 Martinsville High School graduate, Army Staff Sgt. William Ryan Fritsche, who was killed in the line of duty on July 29, 2007.
Fritsche was one of six paratroopers from Task Force SABER killed in action in Afghanistan that year.
In honor of those six men, and to help raise awareness for the veterans who deal with the torment of war after their service, Kolenda is taking a 1,700-mile bicycle ride from Spalding, Nebraska, to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
As part of his "Fallen Hero Honor Ride," he is stopping at the graves of the six men from the unit who were killed in 2007.
During his bike ride, the retired colonel has already visited the graves of Pfc. Chris Pfeifer in Spalding, Nebraska; Sgt. Adrian Hike in Carroll, Iowa and Spc. Jacob Lowell in Ellwood, Illinois.
After Thursday's stop at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, he will continue through Indiana to Ohio to get to his next stop — the grave of Capt. David Boris in Minersville, Pennsylvania.
His final stop along his ride on Oct. 22 is at the grave of Maj. Tom Bostick at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
While at the grave, Kolenda offered a few of his fondest memories of Fritsche.
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"(Ryan) had a particular challenge where we had just become part of the 173rd Airborne, and we had to send a whole bunch of people to Airborne school, we had to send a couple hundred people to Airborne school," Kolenda said. "And we had to do all of this before we deployed to Afghanistan. So, we had to get them back in time to train them up and get that all done."
Kolenda referred to the task of getting everyone trained as "mission impossible."
Getting the soldiers through school so they could be ready for training and combat was one of Fritsche's tasks.
"And one guy did it," Kolenda added. "And that was Ryan Fritsche."
Kolenda noted that everybody in the unit thought the world of Fritsche.
"He was something special to us," Kolenda said as he told Fritsche's mother, Volitta Fritsche, that he feels fortunate to have known Ryan.
Volitta said Ryan was determined fight in combat, knowing he was putting his life on the line.
"Ryan was in the Old Guard, they wanted him to stay in The Old Guard (3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment), but he was determined that he was going to combat, his choice," Volitta said Thursday. "He re-enlisted to go, so he made that choice. I can't be mad at that. I'm so thankful that if you have to lose a kid, that he died with a purpose."
The Old Guard largely serves in ceremonial roles within the U.S. Army.
When it came time for Ryan to re-enlist in 2006, he requested a transfer to a combat unit.
During his time in The Old Guard, Ryan would tell Volitta that he needed "to be over there with my guys."
"From the day he signed up for the military, until the day he got killed, he was 100% in," Volitta added. "And I can't help but believe that even if he knew the outcome, he would still do it. It is in my heart that way, I can't change it."
30,000 veterans lost to suicide
While honoring the six men in the unit who gave their lives in combat is one reason for the ride, another reason is to bring awareness to the thousands of veterans who have died by suicide since Sept. 11, 2001.
He said some veterans are able to pivot after service and find a new purpose pretty easily.
"Other struggle for a long time," Kolenda said. "And if we are not careful sometimes that struggle crosses the line into depression, self-harm, substance abuse and death by suicide."
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Kolenda noted the nation has lost more than 7,000 service members in action in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"Over 30,000 veterans since September 11 have died by suicide, more than four times (those killed in action)" Kolenda said. "Within our own unit, within our own group of 800, we have now lost more to substance abuse and death by suicide than were killed in action."
In order to help those veterans in need, Kolenda founded the Saber Six Foundation to find new purpose and belonging.
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"That is what the ride is all about," Kolenda said. "To honor the fallen and support the living."
More information about Kolenda's ride can be found online at honorride.us.
Contact Reporter-Times, Times-Mail and Spencer Evening World editor Lance Gideon at lgideon@reporter-times.com or 765-342-1543. Follow him on Twitter: @LanceOGideon.
This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Retired U.S. Army Col. Chris Kolenda honors Ryan Fritsche
