For Rick Casillo, the Iditarod means more than just mushing.
Battle Dawgs Kennel is also trying to fight suicide among our country’s veterans with the Stop 22 campaign (for the 22 veterans who end their lives every day). This year, Casillo was asked to carry a soldier’s dog tag to Nome.
Through warrior camps at the kennel, Casillo’s team brings warriors up to Alaska to learn a bit about mushing, hunting and fishing, and help train the dogs. For Casillo, the team concept transcends mushing. “They gotta rely on the guy to the left and the right of them. I have to rely on those dogs in front of me.”
Rookie Al Eischens isn’t alone on the trail to Nome.
Carried with him are the ashes of his daughter’s aunt, Helen, who passed away from a rare form of leukemia. Originally from Savoonga, Helen’s ashes will be returned home to the Bering Sea.
He is also carrying the ashes of his friend’s wife, Debbie. His friend asked that her ashes be spread along the Yukon under the northern lights. And his friend Clint’s ashes, at the direction of his sister, will find a final resting place in moose hunting area between Huslia and Koyukuk. Eischens is dedicating all his miles to Pediatric strokes and Pediatric brain cancer.
