“P

owerful. A great lesson in
leadership.
” That’s how for-
mer Metro Detroiter Greg
Kaplan, 37, describes the bike ride he took
with retired Army Col. Chris Kolenda on
Oct. 22.
Kaplan and Kolenda rode the final
leg of Kolenda’s 1,700-mile Honor Ride
to remember the six fallen soldiers in
his 800-member paratrooper unit in
Afghanistan on the 15th anniversary of
their deaths: Pfc. Chris Pfeifer, Sgt. Adrian
Hike, Spc. Jacob Lowell, Ssg. Ryan Fritsche,
Capt. Dave Boris and Maj. Tom Bostick.
Kolenda told CNN’s Jake Tapper he
undertook the Honor Ride to bring aware-
ness that these “six fallen heroes were

flesh-and-blood Americans, not just names
etched in granite.
”
His even bigger mission? To raise aware-
ness about PTSD and addiction in veterans
and raise funds to help veterans and fam-
ilies recover from combat’s psychological
injuries and achieve new dreams.
According to Kolenda, whose ride started
in Spalding, Nebraska, on Sept. 25, more
than 7,000 American service members were
killed in the post-9/11 wars. Over 30,000
have died by suicide — that’s four times
higher than combat fatalities. Many others
suffer substance abuse, broken relation-
ships, depression and other challenges.
So how did Kaplan, a nice Jewish boy
who grew up in Farmington Hills, had his

bar mitzvah at Congregation Shaarey Zedek
and attended Camp Ramah, end up accom-
panying the colonel as he visited the sixth
grave on his ride?
It has to do with the bike the colonel was
riding.

PLANNING THE HONOR RIDE
When Kolenda began to plan the Honor
Ride, he said he didn’t want to just
drive to all the gravesites because that

An Honor Ride

JACKIE HEADAPOHL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

10 | NOVEMBER 10 • 2022

Former Metro Detroiter takes part in 1,700-mile
ride to honor fallen soldiers and raise awareness
about PTSD and addiction.

Kolenda is with other members of his
Airborne unit at Arlington National Cemetery.

Retired Army Col.
Chris Kolenda and
Greg Kaplan

OUR COMMUNITY