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Soldier honors commission with 26-mile march

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Alexis McGee
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST --  Second Lieutenant Bonnie Mattingly completed a 26-mile march March 25 in White Sands, N.M., to honor her commission this past November.

She completed the march as a participant in the White Sands Missile Range 23rd Annual Bataan Memorial Death March held at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

"It took a long time for me to commission and I kept saying that if my commission ever went through I was going to do something big to celebrate," said Mattingly, 99th Regional Support Command family readiness support assistant and detachment officer in charge for the 393rd Medical Logistics Company at the Kelly Reserve Center here.

For many people, marching 26.2 miles would be enough of a challenge, but Mattingly desired more. Adding to the difficulty of marching the distance, Mattingly competed in the category known as the military heavy division. This category required participants to carry a 35-pound pack during the marathon march. Bags were weighed at the beginning and end of the march to ensure people in the heavy category abided by the requirements.

"I loaded my pack with bags of rice to meet the weight requirement," said Mattingly, a native of Middletown, Del. "People weren't allowed to load their packs with rocks, sand or anything that could be picked up along the route. This prevented people from discarding materials along the way to lessen the load and then picking articles up as they neared the finish line."

The food used to add weight were collected at the end of the march and then donated to local food banks.

This was Mattingly's first time participating and she said the most challenging part of the event was neither the weight of her pack nor the distance of the march, but instead the mental aspect. Having done several marathons in the past, Mattingly said she was used to people lining up along the entire marathon course to provide support. She said this event was different though because she was alone for much of the competition.

"During the second half of the march there was no one by my side," said Mattingly. "It was all I could do just to keep going. It was so hard."

The difficulty of the march did not discourage Mattingly from hoping to compete in the event in the future and encouraging others to participate as well.

"I'm absolutely doing it again next year," said Mattingly. "You don't have to be a PT superstar to do the march. You just have to want to succeed."

The event was life changing for Mattingly and made her appreciate the opportunities she's been given.

"This event grew me as a person," said Mattingly. "Participating in an event with this much historical significance makes you think twice about military service. I don't want to be the girl who thinks the Army owes her something. It's a privilege to wear the uniform. Not a right."

Mattingly completed the march in 11 hours and three minutes, but said the time isn't what was important to her.

"This isn't a competition," she said. "It's about memorializing the people lost in the Bataan Death March and honoring those who survived."

The event is held annually to memorialize the World War II Bataan Death March. The original 128-mile forced march resulted in the deaths of thousands of American and Filipino prisoners of war at the hands of their Japanese captors.

"Whatever I had to prove to myself, I finally proved it," said Mattingly. "I can do more than just talk about being a soldier, I have what it takes to actually be one. If I have a point in my career where I come a cross something that is really physically demanding I know I actually do have what it takes now to get through it. Just having confidence in that is something you can't put a price tag on it. I feel like there's nothing I could be asked to do that could really be too hard."