WASHINGTON — A 20-year military veteran has been running 22 miles a day all throughout Virginia since late August and he’s still running.
Ivan Raiklin, who is serving in the National Guard and active duty, is running for his fellow veterans and plans to run a total of 1,776 miles.
“I’m doing an awareness campaign for the 22 veterans that die by suicide daily,” Raiklin said. “Each mile represents one of our lost brothers and sisters.”
He said the awareness campaign is to give back to the military, especially the Green Beret and Special Operations communities, of which he is a part, “by raising awareness of one of the big issues that a lot of people don’t want to talk about … post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury and things that lead to the veterans’ suicide.”
When Raiklin’s finishes his patriotic “1776” mile run, he’ll have hit every county and city in Virginia.
He was originally scheduled to end his run on Veterans Day, but Raiklin and his unit were deployed to help relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey in Texas. Now he hopes to complete his run near the end of November.
Raiklin said he is also using this run as a listening tour across the state, since he’s exploring the idea of running for U.S. Senate in 2018 to represent Virginia. He views being a U.S. Senator as another opportunity to serve his country.
Virginia has a large military population and Raiklin believes that someone with his background, who has a better understanding of the issues and problems that veterans face, can make a difference.
Raiklin is also raising money for five charities: Green Beret Foundation, Task Force Dagger Foundation, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Victory-4-Veterans and the Wounded Warrior Project.
The first $22 of every donation goes directly to the organizations. The rest goes towards Raiklin’s U.S. Senate Exploratory Committee. He’s testing the water to see if there is enough support and financial backing to announce a run for U.S. Senate.
Raiklin lives in Fairfax County with his wife and two sons. He currently commands a National Guard special forces unit in Texas.
