A local combat veteran of the Afghanistan War and a motorcycle association member is helping plan and organize a rally to escort the body of fallen Marine Rylee McCollum back home to Jackson, Wyoming, on Friday.

Cpl. Phillip Baldwin, of Fort Hall, is a member of both the Idaho Veterans Network — a Boise-based group of veterans who advocate, share information and solve problems for veterans and their families in crisis — and the Ogden, Utah-based 49-2 chapter of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association. Baldwin has been working tirelessly with other veteran advocates to prepare a large procession for McCollum, who will arrive in Jackson from Dover Air Force Base on Friday.

“It’s been difficult waking up in the mornings sometimes after McCollum and the other Marines were killed,” Baldwin said. “It has had quite the impact on me for sure. This is an emotion I have felt before when I was going through what I did. Going through all of this makes me want to help out as much as humanly possible, even if it just means making a few essential phone calls to help spread the word.”

McCollum, a 20-year-old native of Bondurant, Wyoming, and a father-to-be, was one of 13 U.S. armed services personnel killed by a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 26. Last week, officers from the Jackson Police Department, U.S. Marine Corps and Teton County Sheriff’s Office escorted McCollum’s family into Jackson.

Coordinating with other motorcycle riders in East Idaho, near Boise and around Utah, Baldwin hopes to organize at least 100 riders to rally at the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel and Casino on Friday morning, he said.

“We got in touch with the chief executive officer of the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel and Casino, Ray Barlow, and he said he would definitely be interested in accommodating us during the ride,” Baldwin said. “He has agreed to let all of the riders meet in the southeast parking lot of the event center and will provide food and beverages to those in the rally before we head out.”

Barlow said all of the riders who meet at the rally point will be able to eat a free hamburger or hot dog and a free drink.

”This is all about supporting our country and our military,” Barlow said. “We have several veteran employees who are valued team members and this is a fallen comrade of theirs, so we’re more than happy to help out and be as supportive of we can.”

Riders will travel together from the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel and Event Center in Fort Hall on Interstate 15 past Idaho Falls, past Swan Valley and and ultimately into Jackson, Baldwin said.

“There are people coming in from Boise, Utah and East Idaho with no specific starting point,” Baldwin said. “We are planning to rally at the parking lot on Friday morning sometime and we’re still waiting on an exact head count, but we’re shooting for at least 100 riders.”

Ryan Blair, a Jackson resident, veteran of Iraq and a friend of McCollum’s family says the tentative plan right now is for first-responders and military personnel to stage at the Jackson Hole Airport around 3:30 p.m. for the arrival of McCollum’s body.

All of the motorcycle riders planning to participate in the procession are to stage at the Jackson Town Square at the intersection of Broadway Avenue and Cache Street at 3:30 p.m.

First-responders and military members will travel south on Highway 89 to North Cache Street and then west on Broadway Avenue with the motorcycle riders joining in as the procession passes the town square. The procession will continue on West Broadway Avenue up to Scott Lane, at which point all members of the procession will peel off and McCollum’s family will privately receive his body and transport it to the mortuary, Blair said.

Service arrangements for McCollum have not yet been finalized, but the tentative plan is to host it toward the middle to end of next month, said Blair, adding that McCollum’s family is hopeful some of his fellow servicemen will be able to attend.

“Something that has happened across this country over the past decade is people have forgotten what it means to be patriotic and what it means to actually love your country,” Blair said. “Unfortunately, through the events that happened in Kabul, that sent a shockwave through our country and people have realized there are men and women out there who put their lives on the line and die for their country, willingly.”

Blair continued, “Many people in this country are realizing what it means to be an American and how much we need to appreciate and respect the people that work to give us the rights and the freedoms that we have. When something terrible like this happens, and on this scale, it’s something that we must honor and say thank you for.”