Veterans Ride 600 Miles for Fallen Brothers

By Joseph Baroud, RLn Contributor

Fourteen veterans, who were wounded in combat, took the Never Quit Challenge, Sept. 8 through 11. The challenge included a 600 mile jet ski course from Morro Bay to San Diego.

In the challenge’s second year, veterans who received purple hearts stopped in Santa Barbara, Long Beach and Catalina Island. The challenge concluded on the evening of Sept. 11  at the Stone Bistro’s Liberty Center, Point Loma for a 9/11 tribute.

“It’s great, getting back together and having that camaraderie that you don’t get in the real world — the civilian world,” said 3rd Ranger Battalion Kyle Butcher, one of the veterans who was part of the challenge.

The prior year’s challenge took place between Key West, Fla. and New York City. Event organizer Shawn Alladio said the location change each year is what makes the competition unique.

The event supports the Marsoc Foundation, Station Foundation, and Phoenix Patriot Foundation. All three support veterans and the families of fallen soldiers.

It’s called the Never Quit Challenge for a reason: The waters are choppy and unpredictable, creating a greater challenge for wounded veterans. One rider was using prosthetic legs, but zero riders complained or quit.

“It’s kind of a hardship,” Alladio said. “The challenge is very difficult. It’s painful at times because it’s a lot of hours on the water. What we’ve experienced the last two days, it’s been very windy. And, so, the wind has affected the surface texture of the water and that’s really slowed down a lot of the projections of the timelines,”

“The Pacific Ocean doesn’t play any favorites,” Barry Baker said, who was one of the event’s organizers. “It delivered some smooth riding and then there were times where it was very challenging, knocking people off of jet skis and such. It was great. It was challenging.”

Baker is one of three riders who never served on active duty. He is an alumni with the K38 Rescue Program. Barry rode from Long Beach to Catalina and back, while the second of the three, Allatio, rode the whole 600 miles.

Butcher was shot three times while on duty in Iraq. He enjoys the brotherhood that he experiences with the riders who are fellow veterans, which he says is lacking in his day to day life.

“It’s a hardship,” Butcher said. “It wasn’t fun. Most people think riding jet skis is fun, but we’re riding jet skis 600 miles in some pretty rough water. Each one of those boats have a fallen brother on it. We look down at that when times get hard and tough, it’s like, you know it’s not about me, suck it up. That’s why its called the never quit challenge. There’s no quitting.”

Next year’s challenge will take place between Galveston, Texas and Miami.