Sergeant Jamie O'Dell Maugans struggled with weight his entire life. In 1997, he made the heroic decision to join the United States Army. His career of choice: Explosive Ordinance Disposal - EOD. Jamie was over the weight limit at the time in 1997 and was not allowed to enlist until he lost nearly 30lbs.

Through sheer will, determination, and exercise (and some coaching from his Recruiter), Jamie was able to shed the weight in just under a year...safely and permanently. He enlisted in the Army in 1998, and trained for an entire, grueling year in his craft; disposing of unexploded ordinance.

If anyone on the planet needs these brave men and women, it's the people of Afghanistan. In early 2002, Jamie and his unit received the call to deploy to that very country. Their mission: located and destroy Taliban weapons caches, most of which were dangerous munition dumps left by the Russians in the 1980s. Very unstable and exceptionally dangerous.

In April of 2002, after just a few months in the country, Jamie and other from his unit were sent out to a weapon cache that is now believed to have been booby-trapped by the Taliban. During their diffusing of the munitions, Jamie, along with Justin Galewski, also of Kansas, and two additional soldiers were killed when the trap went off.

Sergeant Jamie O'Dell Maugans was the first soldier from Kansas killed in either of the two wars we are currently engaged in. Unfortunately he was not the last. To date, 420 service men and women from Kansas have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Join us for this event to both honor Jamie's sacrafice and to let others in the state of Kansas know we too can fight obesity and conquer this epidemic plaguing our country.