Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Mitch Kriebel, Master Sargeant, U.S. Army, formerly of Garfield, at Dalla Dam, Afghanistan in 2012.
Mitch Kriebel, U.S. Army master sergeant, originally of Garfield/Belmont, will run a 31-mile trail run in New Auburn, Wis. Saturday with a ruck sack on his back to honor the late Ryan Thompson, the Kittitas police officer killed in the line of duty in March 21, and Cowlitz County deputy Justin DeRosier – a former deputy with the Whitman County Sheriff's office – who was killed on duty April 13.
Kriebel is stationed with the non-commissioned officer academy at Fort McCoy, Wis.
"I would love to run for every fallen officer and first responder; there's just so many," he said.
The sack will weigh 35 pounds – mainly in bags of rice – for Kriebel's race April 27 that will be his fourth of its kind, one of which he raised $5,000 to run in "The Bataan Death March" in March at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. He carried a 42-pound sack for the 26.1-mile event.
Kriebel running these "rucks" followed a broken back in Afghanistan, later surgery and recovery to remain in the Army, for which he is now a 15-year veteran.
"I wasn't going take my health for granted again, so I started doing these Rucks," he said. "My goal is to serve the community that's always served me."
The New Auburn run, called the Chippewa 50k Trail Race, is the first Kriebel is doing by himself.
"This is not about me, it's about the cause," he said.
He will also carry a "Thin Blue Line U.S. Flag" – for which a hundred Fort McCoy (reserve) soldiers signed and it will travel to Kittitas, being passed from state patrolmen from Wisconsin to here.
Kriebel joined the Army in 2004, after a series of troubles with the law while a student at Garfield/Palouse High School and a semester in the football program at Western Montana.
"For two years I was at a dead end, going nowhere," he said.
At Gar/Pal he was part of back-to-back state champion basketball teams in 2000-2001. He also played football and baseball.
"I'm sure most from the area do not remember me unless you followed Garfield/Palouse sports back in the early 2000s, or police reports around the same time period," Kriebel said.
He is the son of Randy Kriebel and Marletta Sisak.
School of Coles/Swinney
The Wisconsin run has a time limit for all racers of 11 hours and 30 minutes.
Organizers will grant Kriebel a half-hour head start.
A Gofundmepage has been set up for donations which will be sent to the Kittitas Police Department and Colville County Sheriffs department. Part of the Kittitas money will go to Officer Benito Chavez, who was wounded in the incident in which Thompson was killed.
After Kriebel's latest race, he will prepare for a transfer to Dallas, Texas, to the Army's 176th Medical Brigade.
He'll continue with what he indicated his Garfield roots prepared him for.
"The Army's easy after playing sports for Tim Coles and Steve Swinney," said Kriebel of the two basketball coaches. "I've never seen intensity like those two can bring. They are mentors that definitely shaped my mental toughness."
While serving in Afghanistan, Kriebel received the Whitman County Gazette, a subscription given to him by grandparents Dennis and Joeva Conrad of Palouse.
One time, an issue was dropped in a mailbag from a helicopter in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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