PHILADELPHIA –
Supporting warfighters daily in their careers at Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support inspired two Army veterans to continue their military support “offline.”
Army retired Sgt. 1st Class Robert Pineda, a supervisory kitting and medical/surgical material planner in the Medical supply chain and Army retired Master Sgt. Jose Moraga, a customer account specialist on Clothing and Textiles’ Army recruit training center team completed the Army’s annual running event this fall.
Pineda and Moraga were amongst approximately 35,000 runners to participate in the 38th Army Ten-Miler Race held at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. October 9.
Pineda said he was inspired to participate in the race for the first time in 2022 with the encouragement of his friend Moraga who participated for the seventh year in a row.
“I’ve done seven races, and the two [events] prior were virtual, so it’s such a blessing to run these events in person, it’s definitely a morale booster,” Moraga said. “You always run into people at these events.”
While completing last year’s virtual race at a local track, Moraga saw other runners supporting the Army Ten-Miler.
“While going out, someone else had on the race shirt,” he said. “They were Army vets.”
For this year’s race Moraga trained on an at-home exercise bike where he’s also in community with other veterans that helped keep him motivated to train.
Pineda trained on his own in his neighborhood.
“The training that I did was pretty much on my own,” Pineda said. “I would’ve loved to train with Jose but I’m a turtle compared to the way he runs. And plus, we live about an hour away from each other.”
Moraga said the comradery motivates him to challenge his physical limits.
“The physical part [of running] is actually pretty demanding,” Moraga said, “but when you’re surrounded by almost 30,000 fellow runners, with probably 90 percent having some tie to the Army, whether they’re active duty, veterans, spouses, contractors, that support the US Army; you kind of forget about the physical part of it and just enjoy the run so much when you’re surrounded by folks and there are helicopters flying around.”
Since its inception in 1985, the Army Ten-Miler has raised more than $8 million for the Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs, according to the Army Ten-Miler website.