To set the tone for the event, Chief Jacob King of the Wright-Patterson AFB Fire Emergency Services Department, and Maj. Russell Gheesling, 788th Civil Engineer Squadron commander, climbed the tower, with King carrying the American flag. At the top, King posted it there for the day. The national anthem was played over the facility’s speaker system, followed by a moment of silence.
“I was honored to participate in this run because, to me personally, 9/11 was the day where a common bond between first responders and emergency responders across our country and our nation’s military was solidified,” Gheesling said. “As a CE squadron commander, I’m proud to stand with my firefighters and remember the service of so many heroes on that day, and in the operations since that time to bring justice to its perpetrators.”
“We participated to show we will never forget the loss of the 343 firefighters who died trying to save citizens in those towers,” King said, “and it is an honor to provide a tribute to my brothers and sisters who lost their lives on 9/11, and for the loss of our military members since.”
The Wright-Patt fire department calls the facility where the stair climb was held the twin towers as it is one of the tallest building on base.
“To climb in honor of our fallen in our ‘twin towers’ allows to me to think about the sacrifice in the similar space,” King added.
Dozens of climb participants, either as individuals or as teams, had three hours to climb the Bldg. 620 tower as many times as possible. Participants ranged from active-duty, civilians and contractors to other people with base access and a tie to the Sensors Directorate.
The individual Tower Challenge – male category was won by Ryan Gilbert who climbed the tower 35 times in three hours for a total of 8,855 steps up. Karynn Sutherlin, the individual Tower Challenge – female winner, logged 34 stair climbs in three hours for a total of 8,602 steps up. A vertical mile is 32.5 climbs, so both Gilbert and Sutherlin climbed more than a mile.
The Speed Climb, during which competitors were timed to see who could climb the fastest, resulted in Ryan Druss from the National Air and Space Center, winning the male category with a time of 52.96 seconds. Karynn Sutherlin won the female division with a time of 1 minute, 43.67 seconds.
“Trippple Threat,” a Speed Challenge relay team, logged a time of 1 minute, 23.79 seconds to reach the top of the Sensors tower. The team consisted of Audrey Robinson, Deborah McGraw and Regina Redwood.
Overall, $1,269 was raised to be donated to the American Red Cross Hurricane Harvey relief fund.
Daniel Koranek, a computer scientist within the Sensors Directorate and one of the event’s organizers, said the event is about remembering the heroes and victims of 9/11. The event’s T-shirt design portrayed a “word cloud” with relevant 9/11 terms and words.
Oval stickers indicating the level of participation achieved were a new part of the event this year.
“We want people to take a step back and think about what we observe on 9/11,” Koranek said. “Also, we want people to think about ways to get fit. Climbing stairs is a great way to do that.”
Franklin Fanning, chief of the Aerospace Components and Subsystems Technology Division, Sensors Directorate, said he wanted to participate in the event to help remember the 9/11 first responders and to raise needed funds. He climbed the tower twice in 2016 and three times this year.
“It’s one of the ways we can remember as a country and as members of the Air Force – not only the sacrifices that were made on that day but every day since,” he said. “I have a new appreciation for what the first responders went through every time I climb the tower. To think they did it with a bunch of gear on their backs and maybe carrying a person down is pretty amazing to me.”
Fanning thanked the base firefighters for their dedicated service and for keeping base personnel safe.
Felicia Harlow, a Sensors Directorate computer research engineer, participated last year and came back for a repeat this year as part of Team “One and Done.”
“I’m from Long Island, New York, originally and I was active duty on 9/11, visiting friends in Boston that day,” she said. “I was supposed to fly out on Sept. 12.
“When I go up, I think about the firefighters in the towers, climbing up and not knowing what they were going to see or whether they would come out. I stop at the top and think about them for a bit. This has a lot of meaning for me,” she said.
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