When four girls from the Red Willow-Richards family march Saturday on the Pine Ridge reservation, they will be honoring their father's extraordinary sacrifice.

Staff Sgt. Jim Richards, originally of Pine Ridge, now with the 3rd Infantry Division, is on his third tour in Iraq - or his fourth, if you count Desert Storm in 1990.

The Walk to Iraq to honor soldiers begins at 10 a.m. at Porcupine. (Registration is at 9 a.m., at the Porcupine clinic.) However, 19 reservation teams already have logged 4,000 of the goal of 13,500 miles.

Many of the teams are marching to honor relatives. "It's kind of a family thing," organizer Percetta Red Willow-Richards said.

She got the idea for the walk at the 3rd Infantry Division's home base, Fort Stewart, Ga., where she and her husband are stationed. Her sister, Pauletta Red Willow, who runs the Pine Ridge emergency youth shelter, helped organize Saturday's events.

The Red Willow sisters say the walk is expanding to other reservations, and they invite other communities to participate, too. (Call Pauletta at 1-605-454-1111 for more information.)

Jim and Percetta's daughters are Kelsey Richards, 15; Francine Richards, 12; Jaime Red Willow-Richards, 10; and Ake'Win Richards Red Willow, 4.

The two younger girls have "Red Willow" last names to preserve the naming tradition, Percetta Red Willow-Richards said. Another Lakota tradition - close extended families - also has helped her family survive long separations from Jim.

Pauletta, Percetta and another sister, Charla Red Willow, all take care of each other's kids. "We're raising each other's families," Pauletta joked. In fact, niece Kelsey is living with her at Wounded Knee and attending Red Cloud Indian School with Pauletta's daughter, Amandaline Ecoffey, 16. (Amandaline was named for a grandmother who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.)

Percetta also said she and Jim were better able to cope with multiple deployments because they already had 14 years in the military at the start of the Iraq War. "We were already doing some post-Army planning," she said. "If we were just starting out, I don't know if we could have handled it."

In fact, when Jim retires in 19 months, after a 20-year career, they plan to build a house or move a home to the Pine Ridge reservation. ("You can't just move into a place," she said, because reservation housing is scarce.)

Percetta also is in a two-year management training program with Indian Health Service in Aberdeen, where she lives with her three youngest girls. She hopes to get an IHS job near home.

Meanwhile, Pauletta Red Willow and her husband, Richard Ecoffey, have helped Jim and Percetta's kids and stay connected to the Pine Ridge communities where their parents grew up. (Francine and Jaime recently took up barrel racing.)

For now, Percetta and her daughters are in almost daily contact with Jim via telephone and e-mail, which are both available in an otherwise Spartan tent city in Ramadi. (He's a communications specialist.)

"He's roughing it," Percetta said.

She's roughing it, too, working hard to prepare for life after the military back home on the reservation. "I guess after so many years, you just learn to go day by day," she said. "Everything's in kind of a holding pattern."

She says the Walk to Iraq is helping her family stay focused on the future. "It keeps you motivated," she said.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com

Pine Ridge 'Walk to Iraq' a 'family thing'

By Bill Harlan, Journal staff

When four girls from the Red Willow-Richards family march Saturday on the Pine Ridge reservation, they will be honoring their father's extraordinary sacrifice.

Staff Sgt. Jim Richards, originally of Pine Ridge, now with the 3rd Infantry Division, is on his third tour in Iraq - or his fourth, if you count Desert Storm in 1990.

The Walk to Iraq to honor soldiers begins at 10 a.m. at Porcupine. (Registration is at 9 a.m., at the Porcupine clinic.) However, 19 reservation teams already have logged 4,000 of the goal of 13,500 miles.

Many of the teams are marching to honor relatives. "It's kind of a family thing," organizer Percetta Red Willow-Richards said.

She got the idea for the walk at the 3rd Infantry Division's home base, Fort Stewart, Ga., where she and her husband are stationed. Her sister, Pauletta Red Willow, who runs the Pine Ridge emergency youth shelter, helped organize Saturday's events.

The Red Willow sisters say the walk is expanding to other reservations, and they invite other communities to participate, too. (Call Pauletta at 1-605-454-1111 for more information.)

Jim and Percetta's daughters are Kelsey Richards, 15; Francine Richards, 12; Jaime Red Willow-Richards, 10; and Ake'Win Richards Red Willow, 4.

The two younger girls have "Red Willow" last names to preserve the naming tradition, Percetta Red Willow-Richards said. Another Lakota tradition - close extended families - also has helped her family survive long separations from Jim.

Pauletta, Percetta and another sister, Charla Red Willow, all take care of each other's kids. "We're raising each other's families," Pauletta joked. In fact, niece Kelsey is living with her at Wounded Knee and attending Red Cloud Indian School with Pauletta's daughter, Amandaline Ecoffey, 16. (Amandaline was named for a grandmother who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.)

Percetta also said she and Jim were better able to cope with multiple deployments because they already had 14 years in the military at the start of the Iraq War. "We were already doing some post-Army planning," she said. "If we were just starting out, I don't know if we could have handled it."

In fact, when Jim retires in 19 months, after a 20-year career, they plan to build a house or move a home to the Pine Ridge reservation. ("You can't just move into a place," she said, because reservation housing is scarce.)

Percetta also is in a two-year management training program with Indian Health Service in Aberdeen, where she lives with her three youngest girls. She hopes to get an IHS job near home.

Meanwhile, Pauletta Red Willow and her husband, Richard Ecoffey, have helped Jim and Percetta's kids and stay connected to the Pine Ridge communities where their parents grew up. (Francine and Jaime recently took up barrel racing.)

For now, Percetta and her daughters are in almost daily contact with Jim via telephone and e-mail, which are both available in an otherwise Spartan tent city in Ramadi. (He's a communications specialist.)

"He's roughing it," Percetta said.

She's roughing it, too, working hard to prepare for life after the military back home on the reservation. "I guess after so many years, you just learn to go day by day," she said. "Everything's in kind of a holding pattern."

She says the Walk to Iraq is helping her family stay focused on the future. "It keeps you motivated," she said.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com