Citizen commandos show spirit, raise $12,500

  • Published
  • By Jasmine DeNamur
  • 919th SOW Public Affairs
At 2 a.m. April 28, the majority of Duke's reservists were in a dream land, enjoying the good night's rest of a weekend slumber. For a small group of reservists, 2 a.m. was filled with the energetic rally toward the fight against cancer. 

By May 15, the wing's Duke-It-Out Relay for Life team learned that their yearlong effort of raising money paid off big: $12,500 big. 

"We did everything from selling cookie dough, Boston butts, and coupon books to bagging groceries, hosting a golf tournament, and yard sale to raise the money that we did," said Senior Master Sgt. Christine Cox, Duke-It-Out team member. 

It's a good cause. What a lot of people don't know is that there have been more than 30 people from Duke that have died from cancer, she said. 

"We've touched so many families," said Master Sgt. Debbie Haveard, Duke-It-Out member and cancer survivor. "Crestview alone raised more than $53,000 toward Relay for Life including the contributions we made." 

The evening began at 7 p.m. April 27 and lasted through the next day's lunch time. The team's campsite, held on Crestview's Old Spanish Trail, was decorated with Duke Field memorabilia, to include a painting of an MC-130E Combat Talon I aircraft with the names of the wing members that have passed due to the illness. 

This year's theme was "Heroes," and the Duke-It-Out members decided on Citizen Commandos for their team name. 

"For the second year in a row, we won best campsite by the cancer survivors there," said Sergeant Cox. 

The painting by Senior Master Sgt. Denise Doman glowed in the dark and was really neat to see in the evening, she said. 

Throughout the evening, Duke-It-Out members competed for 'spirit points' that were given to team members in amounts of 500 to 100,000 for activities completed with team spirit. 

Activities that filled the evening included karaoke singing, gross food eating contests, dancing, and even a "Mz. Relay" drag queen get-up, in which the bravest man of each team dressed as a woman and performed. For two years in a row, Duke-It-Out's contestant has been Tech. Sgt. Christiaan Becker. 

"I have a lot of fun doing it for such a great cause. The only bad thing about it is looking at photos and watching the video of me the next day," he said. 

Other highlights of the event included winning two trophies for relay activities and creating the longest ever recorded Congo dance line with more than 60 people dancing in sync behind each other the next morning. 

"We were out at 6 a.m. the next day rocking to music. It's really a fun night. You can't help feeling good when you leave the event, no matter how tired you are," said Sergeant Cox. 

Each member of the team wore a custom made shirt, with the team's theme across the top and the phrase below it, "Lighting up the night, helping in the fight against cancer," portraying the essence of the Duke reservists and their mission to help those around them.