Midway Route Coordinator Newsletter – July 2026

My name is Randy Sheets, and my road name is “Stinger”.

I was honored to be your Midway Route 2026 Assistant Route Coordinator and even more honored to have been confirmed by the BoD as your 2027 Run For The Wall – Route Coordinator. I’m happy to announce that my nomination for your Midway Assistant Route Coordinator is Mark Brundage, road name “Ox” and your Midway Road Guard Captain is Ryan Long, road name “Pipes” were confirmed by the Board of Directors.

A bit about me, I’m an Air Force Veteran who served from 1976-1980.  My career field was in Telecommunications.  After basic training in San Antonio, I did my technical school at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS.  After tech school, I was stationed at Carswell AFB in Ft Worth, TX.  It was a SAC base at that time, and I always enjoyed watching the “Buffs” come and go as it meant freedom to me.  In 1978, I was stationed in Okinawa at Kadena AFB until I was honorably discharged in May of 1980.  After that, I turned my Air Force training into a career, first by working in the Cable TV field as a technician and eventually as the Technical Operations Manager with Comcast in Indianapolis for 17 years.  I then took a Sr. Sales and Engineering position in the field of video transport over fiber optics until I retired in 2023.

With respect to the Run, my FNG year was in 2014, the year of the first Midway route.  I rode in the pack in ‘14 & ’15 because, like a lot of our riders, I did not have enough vacation time to go “All the Way”.  In 2016 I gained another weeks’ vacation and my wife at the time asked me what we are going to do with that extra week and I replied, “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to Ontario”.  Once I recovered from the frying pan hitting me in the head I was able to go to Ontario.

2016 was my first year in Leadership.  I was a Tail gunner with the trailer platoon.  What an experience that was.  From 2017 on, other than the covid years, I was a Road Guard.  In 2024 & 2025 I had to tap out due to a hip replacement in April of ’24 and another medical issue grounded me in ’25.  I thought ’26 might be in jeopardy as I needed a redo of the previous hip replacement which I had done just 6 weeks before KSU in Ontario.  I was determined to ride, but hadn’t really ridden in 3 years as I was in some state of recovery from surgeries.  I must agree that it is true that if you don’t practice your skills by riding you lose them and this showed for sure during  the Run, so the moral of that is, besides hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, you need to practice, practice, practice!

You know that the Run, besides all the fun, camaraderie, seeing familiar faces, renewing friendships and meeting new folks, the Run, or as I like to say, the mission is to promote healing and demand a full accounting for our lost men and women who have not yet come home.

FNG’s – Friendly New Guys / Gals

Our FNG’s are the one thing that makes RFTW so meaningful.  Everyone is welcome to ride with us as having served is not a requirement.  If you go all the way or just a day or two you will find a caring and open atmosphere so, please keep coming back and tell all of your friends and family about RFTW and invite them to join us.

The 2027 route KSU is May 19th at 07:00 from Ontario, CA. Registration will open on September 11, 2026, and the hotel list comes out in early January.  The Midway Itinerary will be developed by our State Coordinators and released in early ’27.  Updates to follow on these important dates.  If you are interested in filling a Leadership position then go to the link and fill out the request form.   Volunteer Sign-Up – Run For The Wall®

As we celebrate America’s 250^th birthday this month and as we move forward, we must all remember that “Freedom isn’t free”, it was earned and is maintained with the blood, sweat and tears of our soldiers, sailors airmen, marines and patriots who have made America what she is today, a bastion of freedom and the envy of the world.

In closing, 2027 is going to be a remarkable year for the Run. We will continue the mission to promote healing among all veterans, their family and friends, to call for an accounting of all POW’s and those still missing in action, to honor the memory of those KIA from all wars and to support our military personnel all over the world.

Say their names.

Never forget.

This is why we ride.