Police Unit y Tour McGuire Air Force Base reservists
Flying high
Amidst all the hugging and exhaling from Unity Tour riders when they arrived at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, a reunion erupted.
Emmitt Matel, a retired member of Upper Saddle River Local 215, found Edison Local 75 Sergeant Dave Tingle. Rich Hanratty of Gloucester County Local 122 and an officer with the Gloucester County Sheriff’ s office joined them, and Len Warner of the Mount Laurel Police Department completed the gathering.
The four officers serve in the reserves at McGuire Air Force Base. They are aircraft maintainers and security enforcers with the 514th Air Mobility Wing. Making many training rides together after a weekend day at the base led them to share this moment in Washington D. C.
“ Being part of the military family and being part of the police family is pretty important,” noted Matel, who was on with Upper Saddle River for 25 years.“ The brotherhood of all the officers who are here and the camaraderie that we have helps us push through to remember all the survivors and all the officers who came before us and gave their lives for our communities and our freedom.”
The reunion had a bit of a sneak preview when the four friends managed to see each other in the line of riders coming into the Memorial. As they grabbed some shade afterward, they reveled in a
From left, Dave Tingle of Edison Local 75, Rich Hanratty of Gloucester County Local 122, Len Warner of the Mount Laurel Police Department and Emmitt Matel, a retired member of Upper Saddle River 215.
bond that reached a new level through the Unity Tour.“ The fact that you have your Unity Tour family, your military family and your department family is a great feeling,” Tingle shared. �
Mitchell Krugel
www. njcopsmagazine. com ■ JUNE 2018 45