From hero to hero

A man stands in line at a Dairy Queen, wearing a Vietnam War veteran hat. Jacob Ryun doesn’t know him, but he steps forward, extending his hand for a handshake. In his palm is a medallion – a gift for this veteran and a symbol of their connection.

“They don’t know I served. And they don’t have to know,” retired Chief Master Sgt. Ryun says. He served as the Aircraft Communications Maintenance Chief in the North Dakota Air National Guard’s 119th Wing. But his rank isn’t what he wants this veteran to know about him. He simply thanked the man for his service and said, “Somebody is here for you, still.”

Coin check In the military tradition known as a “coin check,” service members challenge one another to produce their coins in an exchange, often in a bar or social setting. Anyone unable to present a coin owes the challenger a drink. But if a military service member offers a coin in return, the tables are turned and the challenger must buy the round of drinks. The custom reinforces connections between military service members.

Louder than words
Over the years, Ryun has given and received many of these challenge coins. It’s a longstanding tradition in the U.S. military. Service members typically receive them for accomplishments, at special events or through these personal exchanges. Beyond keepsakes, they represent camaraderie and belonging.

Ryun and other members of the 119th Wing, the Happy Hooligans, were once volunteering on an Honor Flight when a man in a wheelchair was struggling to find the name of his friend on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Ryun found it and made him a rubbing to bring home.

“The guy didn’t speak very much. But he reached into his pocket, pulled that out and gave it to me,” Ryun says, holding up the coin he received that day in one hand and placing his other across his heart.

Moments like that mean everything to Ryun. They are proof two strangers who share military service understand something about each other’s lives without saying much at all.

Community watch
Those connections may matter more across rural North Dakota, where support systems often depend less on nearby services and more on the people willing to pick up the phone, stop by or keep an eye out. Ryun has come to learn this especially after moving onto his ranch in Woodworth.

Although his military career could have sent him around the world, he and his wife, Kristine, wanted land, animals and the kind of caring neighbors you can really only find in rural America. The kind who quietly kept watch for years and through many harsh winters, as Kristine and the kids held down the ranch while Jacob was on duty. The kind who kept a path cleared through the snow for the school bus because that’s what neighbors do.

From their little slice of heaven in Stutsman County, they discovered a place where people may be farther apart, but somehow closer than ever. Jacob, a director for Northern Plains Electric Cooperative, finds ways to be that neighbor for others. He’d once created bonds with his heroes by just extending his hand. So, he keeps reaching out.
Buddy check

The first invitation to the Ryun Ranch Shoot came nine years ago. It began as a thank you to his military buddies who helped on the ranch. But it became a weekend of camping and marksmanship challenges that now fill a dire need for connection in a small town like theirs. The invite-only event now includes local first responders, law enforcement and firefighters who also answered their community’s call to serve.

“A lot of guys come to be competitive. But there are some that just come to talk and visit. Because they need to,” Kristine says of the annual event that has become a way to check in on each other.

Standing by Jacob’s side for 24 years of service, Kristine knows the bonds they’re growing each summer on the ranch will have ripple effects. That’s why the shoot is a family tradition, where kids and spouses make memories together.

“I can tell you, as a spouse of someone in the military and a parent, it’s good for the kids to have that time,” she says. “They see a lot of the being gone, the missing events, the delayed holidays. That’s the side of military service they see, what’s missed when their parent’s not here.”

Heroes Compass
The Fargo-based nonprofit Heroes Compass has donated to the Ryun Ranch Shoot to help expand and sustain the service provided to families. The nonprofit serves military, police, fire and emergency medical technicians, like four points of a compass.

“A lot of these heroes in small towns are volunteers,” says Tim, Jacob’s old friend and the founder of Heroes Compass. “In so many of the areas we serve, we see that they are so deeply impacted.”

In four years, the organization has given more than $150,000 back to heroes, through donations, scholarships, care packages and other support. Yet, some of its greatest impact fits in a pocket.

The Heroes Compass challenge coins Jacob carries are waiting for the next handshake, the next connection from hero to hero. It’s a small gift, but a reminder whether neighbors are miles apart or generations apart, no one who serves is entirely alone.

Learn more about Heroes Compass at heroescompass.com.

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Hope Sisk is managing editor of North Dakota Living. She can be reached at hsisk@ndarec.com.