Mark Bryan, a 35-year veteran of the military and The United States Army Special Forces passed through Smithville Monday on a coast-to-coast bicycle ride to try and help gain support for the Green Beret Foundation. Bryan began his trip 88 miles west of Tacoma, Washington, and plans to end up in Wilmington North Carolina a tip of a little over 4,000 miles.
He told the Review that the Green Beret Foundation offers assistance for spouses of special forces members who have died in the service of their country, as well as offering aid to wounded and disabled veterans. While the military helps with support for up to a year after a spouses death in combat, the Green Beret Foundation helps to continue that support.
“In my opinion giving your wife or your husband is the ultimate price you can pay for for your country,” Bryan said. Spouses sometimes take more than a year to get settled after giving the ultimate.
“The government helps for about a year, and then they are on their own,” he continued. Sometimes it is just not feasible for them to get adjusted in that amount of time. The foundation helps fill that gap, and they also help out with scholarships for my brothers in arms who come back less than whole.”
He said the ride, which began on July 28, has been an interesting one, and that he passed through the recent forest fire in California and floods in Colorado. “The fire in Yosemite was pretty exciting, and I treated myself to a hotel room in Colorado to wait out the rain,” Bryan shared.
“I’m not a biker,” he said. “I’m basically just a schmuck riding a bike from coast-to-coast to draw attention to the Green Beret Foundation. It took about eight months planning to get ready for this. I’m pretty well self contained. I carry food and a 1-3 day supply of water, depending on where I am at the time. There’s about 50 pounds of water in the trailer when it’s full,  and when the bike is completely packed and ready, it ways around 190 pounds. I carry spare tires, tubes, axles, a spare chain, even spare brake pads. I use a GPS and sattelite connection, along with a cell phone so I can stay in touch with my wife.”
Interested readers can follow Bryan at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/markbryancoasttocoast/CoasttoCoastRidefortheGBF, or check out the GBF website http://greenberetfoundation.org/.
 The Green Beret Foundation is a 501(c) 3 that provides unconventional resources to facilitate the special needs of our wounded, ill and injured and imparts unique support to the Special Forces community in order to strengthen readiness and uphold Green Beret traditions and values.
The United States Army Special Forces, commonly known as the Green Berets, produces some of our nation’s finest and most elite warriors. They fight across a broad spectrum of missions in the pursuit of freedom for those oppressed and to protect our nation from those who seek to do us harm. They are known as our country's quiet professionals.