Photo By Sgt. Nicholas Holmes | Sgt.1st Class Augusto Piñeiro, a combat engineer and platoon sergeant with Company B,...... read more read more
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FORT STEWART, Ga. – The current record for the longest distance ran while wearing a gas mask is 41.01 miles and was set in Washington, D.C., on October 25, 2015, by former Marine Aaron Benningfield according to Record Setter’s website.
On May 20, 2016, in Greenville, South Carolina, Sgt.1st Class Augusto Piñeiro, a combat engineer and platoon sergeant with Company B, 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, will attempt to break this record.
“I am not doing this for me, I am doing this to bring awareness to the organization Operation Enduring Warrior,” Piñeiro explained. “I want to show wounded service members that we can achieve our goals with hard work despite injures.”
Operation Enduring Warrior, or OEW, is a veteran operated non-profit organization with a mission to honor, empower and motivate wounded service members through a physical, mental and emotional rehabilitative cycle modeled for overcoming adversity and hardship through innovation, teamwork and perseverance, according to their website.
In his fourteen years of service Piñeiro has deployed a total of seven times, to South America, Iraq and Afghanistan. He was awarded three Purple Hearts while deployed to
Afghanistan in 2012.
Piñeiro said experiences during this deployment were vastly different from his previous deployments.
“During my 2012 deployment to Afghanistan I was in at least eight [improvised explosive device] blasts and lost six of my guys,” Piñeiro said. “This deployment really affected me.”
Running became Pineiro's escape from the distressing realities of the deployment.
“Every time we came off mission I would get on the treadmill and just run for hours,” Piñeiro said. “Running was a coping mechanism that got me through that deployment. While I was running I wasn’t thinking about getting blown up and all of the loss I was experiencing.”
However, the traumatic experiences were difficult for Piñeiro to manage after returning home.
“When I came back I was at a low point in my life. I struggled with [post-traumatic stress disorder] and fought suicide,” Piñeiro said. “By getting involved with Operation Enduring Warrior and the support of my wife, I got through these difficult times.”
His participation with OEW allowed him to focus his energy toward recovery and encouraging other wounded warriors to do the same.
“My involvement with Operation Enduring Warrior has taught me that we can all achieve our goals, regardless of the obstacles we may have to overcome,” Piñeiro said. “I want to be an example of this for wounded warriors who may be feeling helpless.”
Piñeiro's supporters are confident in his ability to set a new record.
“He is a beast always out there training hard,” said Sgt.1st Class Joel Torres, a horizontal construction engineer and platoon sergeant with Company B, 9th BEB. “I am sure he is going to smash the record.”
“He has been very motivated to break this record,” said 2nd Lt. Mehmet Bahadir, platoon leader with Company B, 9th BEB. “He has been training for months. It’s like he doesn’t know what it means to get tired.”
Piñeiro's goal is to break the current record by running 100 miles with the gas mask in a 29-hour time span.
Months of training, dedication to the OEW and encouragement from his supporters has built Piñeiro's confidence.
“I am ready for this. I have been training for months running between ten and fifteen miles a day,” Piñeiro said. “It is going to be difficult but I have support coming from all over; my family, platoon and leadership will keep me motivated through this.”
| Date Taken: | 05.09.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2016 16:29 |
| Story ID: | 197709 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT STEWART, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 343 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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