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Date: 8/4/2021
SOMERS, CT – The bond between members of the armed forces who have served together is famously strong, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be tested. A man from Somers, CT spent over a decade separated from his friend and fellow marine, not by distance, but by the internal struggles many combat veterans face.
Noah Cass and Eddie Ryan went through the Marine School of Infantry together and eventually were deployed in the same unit. The two became close friends. “Eddie and I had the same sense of humor, the same work ethic. We worked hard together,” Cass said.
While serving on the western border between Iraq and Syria in 2005, in an incident of friendly fire, Ryan was shot in the head with two rounds of tank fire.
“It was grave at first,” Cass said. “I thought he was dead.” Ryan's family was flown to his bedside at a German hospital where the marine was not expected to live.
However, despite his wounds, Ryan did live. He now requires the use of a wheelchair and has limited use of his right arm. He has also had some strokes in the wake of his head trauma and his vocabulary is limited, Cass said. Despite this, Ryan still has his sense of humor. Cass said that people try to inspire Ryan, but find that he inspires them, instead. It wasn’t until nearly a dozen years after Ryan’s injury that Cass could experience his friend’s inspiration for himself.
By 2016, Cass avoided seeing Ryan for 11 years, despite living just one state apart. Cass’s time and experiences in Iraq had left him with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and survivor’s guilt.
“I carried a lot of guilt from nothing happening to me,” Cass explained. “I didn’t think I was ready,” to see Ryan. Finally, he said, “I realized it was time.”
Cass decided that he would make the reunion about more than just seeing a friend after more than a decade. He wanted to use the occasion to raise money for Ryan and awareness about the struggles of injured service members.
“I had used running as a transition tool to get me back into civilian life,” said Cass. He decided to run from his home in Somers, CT to Ryan’s home in Lake George, NY – 145 miles. Two of Cass’s running friends, Kevin Coughlin and Tim Sheehan, decided to complete the athletic feat with him. When Cass told his wife, he said, “She didn’t expect it to be as big as it was,” but, “she knew it was something I needed to do.”
Cass reached out to Ryan and his family, who are his primary caretakers, to get their blessing. Cass said, “It kind of motivated him to work on his physical therapy through the winter.”
Tim O’Donnell, who had worked with Cass previously on a documentary about running, partnered with Jon Mercer and volunteered to make a film documenting the run and the friendship between Cass and Ryan. From there, “Tougher Than a Tank” came together. As is explained in the film, the name came from a joke that Ryan had made. When someone told him that he was tough to have survived tank fire, Ryan responded, “Tougher than a tank.” Eventually, actor and producer Casey Affleck heard about the project and signed on as an executive producer, contributing financial backing to the documentary.
Since Ryan had accumulated more than $50,000 in medical bills on top of what the Veteran’s Administration (VA) covered, Cass began crowdsourcing donations with an original goal of just $1,500. He shot past that amount and, after increasing the goal to $5,000 and then $10,000, ended up raising $14,000 online and another $4,500 in cash donations.
Coughlin, Sheehan and Cass set off from the last’s home in the spring of 2017. The three ran 70 miles, including over the Berkshire Mountains, on the first day alone. “The Berkshires were the biggest hurdle. It was pretty much all uphill.”
The second day was 55 miles – more than two marathons – through the state of New York. The last day was a little over 13 miles. Cass said the last day was short on purpose to give the runners the shortest distance when they would be the most exhausted, but also, it allowed them to reach Ryan’s home early enough in the day to spend time together and celebrate.
When the three runners arrived in Lake George, a crowd with Ryan and his family at the center greeted them. It was an emotional reunion. Describing how it felt to see Ryan again, Cass told Reminder Publishing, “I don’t want to compare it to the birth of my kids, but it was up there with life moments.” Since the run, Cass has kept in touch with Ryan. “His dad and I talk regularly and if Eddie’s awake, we’ll talk,” Cass said.
“Tougher Than a Tank” screened in Somers on July 23. Cass hopes the film will create more awareness of the financial weight that injured service members find themselves under and the limitations of what is covered by the VA.
To help Ryan with his ongoing medical care, visit http://www.helpeddieryan.com. For more information on the film, “Tougher Than a Tank,” visit https://www.pixelapicturafilms.com/project/tougherthanatank.