As the sun rose over Fort Bliss, hundreds of Soldiers gathered, their attention fixed on a photo raised high by Chad Ballance, senior recruiter for the Salute to Life program. The image was of a six-year-old girl, a poignant symbol of the mission at hand.

“What got me started was hearing about a young child being diagnosed with a fatal blood cancer,” Ballance recalled early during his military service. I decided I was going to do something about that,” “So I started registering as many people as I could, telling them, ‘You could be somebody’s cure. You could be somebody’s cure.’”

This young girl had been diagnosed with a fatal blood cancer, a condition treatable through bone marrow donations, a process managed in the Department of Defense by Salute to Life. Each soldier was offered the opportunity to make a life-changing difference.

For many patients, a bone marrow donation is their only chance of survival. Unfortunately, bone marrow drives had not been prioritized at Fort Bliss for years, with none held for over a decade. That changed when Spc. Christopher Sutton, a satellite communications system operator-maintainer assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, Division Artillery, 1st Armored Division, launched Operation Ring the Bell—now the largest bone marrow registry drive in the history of the Army. Sutton’s drive has already impacted 44 units on Fort Bliss and reached thousands of soldiers with a call to action: save the life of a fellow American, whether in uniform or not.

Sutton’s efforts convinced over 4,000 Soldiers to register in just eleven days. As a result, in just two weeks, the Operation Ring the Bell team has statistically saved ten lives, offering hope to people who otherwise had little hope. Sutton’s ultimate goals are to raise awareness of the Salute to Life program and transform how these life-saving drives are conducted, thereby saving exponentially more lives.

“Operation Ring the Bell is a campaign to modernize and invigorate the Salute to Life Program, especially within the Army,” Sutton explained. “It’s important to me because it’s an opportunity to directly impact and change both the military and my country—to save lives.”

Ballance echoed Sutton’s sentiment, emphasizing the Army’s potential to significantly contribute to this life-saving movement. He noted that the impact would be profound if initiatives like Operation Ring the Bell were institutionalized and integrated into the Army’s training and readiness procedures. The challenge of finding perfect donors is immense, but with its vast and diverse personnel, the Army represents a goldmine of potential genetic matches. This is crucial, considering the 18,000 people diagnosed each year with life-threatening illnesses that require bone marrow transplants, including 500 within the Army itself.

To save a life, a Soldier can start the process by donating a DNA sample via a simple saliva swab. The procedure is straightforward: swab the inside of the mouth, place the swab in a sanitary envelope provided by Salute to Life, and submit it along with some basic information. Soldiers across Fort Bliss praised the system for its simplicity and ease, a critical factor in encouraging participation.

“Once a Soldier understands how simple this program is and realizes the minimal impact it would have on their body, compared to the life-saving impact they could have on someone else, they recognize that we can all make a difference,” Ballance said. “And it all starts with just two swabs.”