11th Annual Ride Remembers 'Red Bull' Soldier

Photos: Dan Sesker Memorial Poker Run

Organizers of the 11th Annual Dan Sesker Memorial Poker Run are taking on-line registrations for the Sun., May 29, 2016 event, which takes place during Memorial Day weekend.

The event commemorates Iowa Army National Guard Sgt. Dan Sesker, killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (I.E.D.) on April 6, 2006 in the vicinity of Tikrit, Iraq. He was nine days short of his twenty-third birthday.

The event will start and finish in Ogden, Iowa. Day-of-ride registration and sign-in will be 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the Ogden city park.

In a poker run, registered participants are dealt random cards and each stop along a designated route. At the final stop of the day, the participant with the highest poker hand wins a pot of cash. Raffles, T-shirt sales, and other fund-raising efforts may also take place during the event. There will be food, drinks, and entertainment at the end of the ride, according to organizers, and the event will be held rain or shine.

James "Juice" Justice and Dan Sesker

Sesker was a member of Troop C, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment (1-113th Cav.), both then and now part of the Iowa's 2nd Brigade, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division. In his role as a citizen, he was a youth counselor and part-time police officer. He learned his fiancée was pregnant with their first child while he was deployed, and looked forward to his future role as a father. S

esker was friends with many citizen-soldiers, including Staff Sgt. James "Juice" Justice, who was himself killed in action during a later brigade deployment to Afghanistan. Proceeds for 2016 poker run event will go to:

• The Gage Sesker Trust Fund
• Iowa C.O.P.S.
• Sesker Memorial Scholarship

A Facebook page for the event is here.

A website is here.

When available, the 2016 route map will be posted here. Via social media, organizers have announced stops will include:

• Ogden
• Boxholm 
• Grand Junction 
• Jamaica 
• Woodward 
• Ogden