Supporting Soldiers With Thousands Of Steps

While their husbands and wives are fighting on the front lines, some Army spouses are participating in a year-long challenge themselves.

It’s called the Walk to Afghanistan. Spouses of soldiers who deployed in February plan to walk the distance from Ft. Carson to Kandahar, Afghanistan in one year. That is about 7,537 miles.

Among the small group of walkers is Army wife Nicole Lance. She and her husband, Andy Lance, were high school sweethearts. While they separated for awhile, they got back together when he joined the Army.

The couple married in June of 2009 and have a son Benjamin.

Soon they were waiting to hear when Andy would be deployed. “Kind of this looming thing over us the whole time, then we got the date,” said Nicole.

Andy left for Afghanistan in February and will be gone for a year. During this time, Nicole and her group hopes to finish their walk.

“Ben gets credit too if I take my stroller for my mileage,” said Nicole. She has already logged 46 miles since February.

Nicole said their group has logged a total of 1,587.

The Walk to Afghanistan is a special project promoted by the 569 Family Readiness Group, a soldier family support group.

Andy Lance is currently in Afghanistan. He is a part of a combat engineering unit that does route clearance.