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Dog Tags

Photo By Staff Sgt. Joseph Morgan | Members from the 124th Security Forces Squadron participate in a 9/11 memorial ruck...... read more read more

BOISE, IDAHO, UNITED STATES

09.24.2022

Story by Staff Sgt. Joseph Morgan

124th Fighter Wing

In the cold, early morning hours of September 24, 2022, members from the 124th Security Forces Squadron gathered in the shadow of a soldier's cross, silently assembling their rucksacks as Master Sgt. Nate Towers, SFS first sergeant, handed out dog tags, one by one. The dog tags weren’t theirs, but those of security forces members who died during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Those dog tags provided the cadence for this year's memorial ruck march as they rattled and clanged against the members’ chests.
“When we think we are completely depleted with nothing left to give, the body has approximately 40 percent more push remaining,” said Staff Sgt. Adam Isla, a SFS flight chief. “If we get to the point where we’re tired and can then remember that the person around our neck gave everything — sometimes that can help draw out that remaining push.”
Every September, in an effort to never forget the lives lost on 9/11 and the lives given in the war that followed, memorial marches like this one take place across the military. During this march, members travel or ruck 9.11 kilometers. The soldier’s cross and the dog tags are an added layer of remembrance at some memorial events. The dog tags and the sounds they make drive home the poignancy of this event.
“That’s a daunting sound for me personally,” said Isla. “I’ve worked in the honor guard and attended many military funerals and buried many of my friends. Hearing those dog tags when you feel tired or exhausted is kind of their way of saying, ‘Hey, push through. I’m here. Do it for me.’”
The phrase that permeates this time of remembrance is a call: Never Forget. And while this phrase calls us to not forget the lives that were lost, it also asks us to not forget what America became in the wake of 9/11.
“When I think of the phrase ‘never forget’ it reminds me of how we became the nation we are today and of what it means to keep it alive and to remember the sacrifices that were made,” said Staff Sgt. Bianca Barnes, a SFS assistant flight chief. “It wasn’t just military - it was EMTs, firefighters, and everybody working together.”
“When 9/11 happened, our nation was somewhat torn, but that brought us together,” said Isla. “Race and religion didn’t matter and we came together as a nation. Today we should look back and never forget that. We came together then and can come together again now.”
During this 21st year of remembrance of the events that transpired on September 11, 2001, the 124th Fighter Wing, with the sounds of dog tags rattling and the call to never forget ringing in ears, compels all Airmen to remember who we lost and who we became.