Airmen trek GC for fallen comrades

BILOXI, Miss. - Airmen from a special tactics unit in San Antonio, Texas, are making an 830-mile trek across the Gulf Coast (GC) to Hurlburt Field in West Florida to pay tribute to the late Staff Sgt. Dylan Elchin – one of 20 special tactics personnel killed in action since 9/11. The group crossed the halfway mark March 1 in Biloxi, Miss. The special march has happened five times. The late Staff Sgt. Elchin was a combat controller deployed to Afghanistan. The march means “a whole lot to us both personally and as an enterprise,” Chief Master Sgt. Jeff Guilmain told WLOX-TV. Elchin was killed in November 2018 when the vehicle he was in hit an improvised explosive device. The march is full of symbolism. The airmen carry wooden totems with the names of special tactics airmen killed in action. In a way, those who were lost are also making the trek. Another symbolic tie can be found in the journey’s start and end points. Special tactics training begins at Lacklin AFB, Texas, and ultimately graduates from the special tactics training squadron in Hurlburt Field. Two of the 20 special tactics members, from Gulf Coast states, to die in action since 9/11 include Senior Airman Mark Forester of Tuscaloosa, Ala., a Special Tactics Combat Controller, died Sept. 29, 2010; and Staff Sgt. Forrest Sibley of Pensacola, Fla., a Special Tactics Combat Controller died Aug. 26, 2015. (Source: WLOX Biloxi 03/01/19)