Pittsburgh-area veterans, supporters gather for 5K to support Wounded Warrior Project

For the Wounded Warrior Project’s Carry Forward 5K in Pittsburgh this year, Army veteran Jake Tihey carried a flag.

Last year, the 33-year-old mechanic from Verona carried his daughter the distance, which equates to about 3.1 miles.

Tihey’s load was lighter this year because his daughter, now 8, wasn’t feeling well. But the weight of his little girl is lighter than the load many service members carry, literally and figuratively, during and after their enlistments.

Saturday marked the seventh year Wounded Warrior Project has held its Carry Forward 5K in Pittsburgh, spokesman Julian Routh said. It’s a fundraiser the organization holds at locations across the country to support its services and programs.

They counted more than 85 participants who raised at least $3,800 through donations, Routh said.

“Pittsburgh made a real difference in the lives of veterans today,” said Shawn Seguin, alumni manager for the project and a Marine Corps veteran. “Our Carry Forward raised vital funds that will fuel life-changing programs for wounded veterans and their families.”

The Carry Forward City Series began Aug. 16 in San Diego and continues Sept. 13 in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 25 in San Antonio and Nov. 8 in Jacksonville, Fla.

Participants can carry a flag to show support and patriotism, or a weight representing the responsibilities veterans bear while serving the country. Those who want to be “fierce” carry another person to symbolize one warrior carrying another in their time of need.

In the Army from 2011 to 2015, Tihey said he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a vehicle accident seven months into a tour in Afghanistan in 2013, after which he spent three months at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He is now a peer support group leader with the project.

“I like the camaraderie,” Tihey said before the group headed out to either walk or run the 5K along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, from PNC Park to the bridge to Herr Island and back. “I enjoy how people come together to help a cause and come together for a purpose.”

Darryl Jackson, 55, of Morningside is part of the peer support group with Tihey. Retired after serving first in the Marine Corps and then the Army, he said the group’s monthly meetings offer veterans a place to talk about things they can’t discuss with civilians, who, he said, won’t understand “the lingo.”

But Wounded Warrior Project puts on other events, such as the 5K, where they can just have a good time, he said. Jackson did the 5K with his wife, Melissa, and son, Darryl Jr.

“We’re carrying it forward,” he said.

Tiffany Rocco, 53, of Swissvale works for the project as an office services specialist. With her sister, Michelena Rocco, she took part in the 5K in honor of their father, Michael Rocco, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War and was 86 when he died Aug. 9.

“I’m very proud of what he did in the service,” Tiffany Rocco said. “A lot of my family and friends served, and I’m proud of each and every one of them.”

Rocco said she is the first person veterans see when they walk into the Wounded Warrior Project’s local office at Parkway Center in Green Tree.

“For me, it’s a way of keeping that community service tradition going,” she said. “It’s great to see so many here supporting what we do.”

An opening ceremony for the 5K included an honor guard from North Allegheny High School’s Air Force Junior ROTC program, and choir directors from East Allegheny High School who sang the National Anthem.

Tyshawn Jenkins, 43, an Air National Guard veteran from Asbury Park, N.J., shared how Wounded Warrior Project helped him after he was injured during a deployment to Qatar in 2015.

Healing veterans’ invisible wounds, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, is just as important as treating the injuries that can be seen, he said.

Jenkins, who enlisted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, credits the project with giving him another opportunity at life.

With help, veterans can do more than survive — they can thrive, he said.

“I was broken. I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Jenkins said. “What you do, it matters. It saves lives.”