33 NEW YORK New Yorkers are used to seeing unusual things, but 36 Soldiers carrying 45 pound MOLLE packs, got a second look from even the most jaded resident, as medics assigned to the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry conducted a 6 mile ruck march through lower Manhattan on May 16.
The medics kicked off from the New York Army National Guard battalion’s historic Lexington Avenue Armory home in the early morning hours.
They headed east towards the East River and FDR Drive and the followed the highway south to the Williamsburg Bridge connecting Manhattan to Queens. They turned around and came back.
The civilians along the route looked at the Soldiers curiously and took pictures as they moved through the neighborhoods. The Soldiers told the onlookers that they were conducting training they hadn’t been able to do before due to COVID-19 restrictions.