Every year since 2018, student veterans attending Auburn Univeristy and the University of Alabama participate in Operation Iron Ruck, a 151-mile march from either Auburn’s football stadium to Alabama’s, or vice versa, in an effort to raise awareness for veteran suicide. This year, 50 students trained for 12 weeks and put the rivalry on the gridiron aside to march from Tuscaloosa to the Plains from Nov. 24 to 27. Each veteran was carrying a 22-pound ruck sack full of household toiletries and other personal necessities that were donated to the Tuskegee Homeless Veterans Shelter. Monetary donations were given to Mission 22 and Three Hots and a Cot, orginizations that help veterans by means of donations. Furthermore, the group carried the game ball for the Iron Bowl along with 22 sets of dog tags in remembrance of soldiers lost.
