“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

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