Ricky T. Gravely Sr.
Ricky Tyrone Gravely Sr., retired Command Sergeant Major, works as a civilian for 7th Army Training Command in Grafenwöhr Germany. But many know him as the „Walking Stick Guy“ – he was already fond of German walking sticks with medallions (“Stocknägel”) in the USA and wants to revive the tradition in Germany. He is passionate about crafting walking sticks from dead wood, collects walking stick medallions on his travels and creates his own medallions. He gives the sticks away on the Volksmarch or leaves them on hiking trails as gifts to strangers.
I retired in 2009 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, retired Command Sergeant Major. And out of all the times and places I’ve been, I had never been to Germany. And actually, right when I put it in retirement, I was applying for positions because my wife, she was definitely eager to come back to Germany because she had backpacked Germany in her twenties and she just always wanted to come back. I actually applied and I called her like „I sort of got good news. I actually got referred“ and she was like „You better take it!“ So it was just it was sort of fate how it actually came about. It took me 38 years of government service to finally get to Germany. And I got here like 23rd December 2019. So I had already started sort of making walking sticks back when I was in Fort Bragg. So I guess, you know, I was excited about it when I went back to Fayetteville and I was like, I always wanted to, you know, make hiking sticks and actually come back. And when I found out I was going back to go and actually going to Germany, I got super excited because I, you know, knew about „Stock Nagels“. Also at that time I was calling walking stick badges and finally got the actual name and it was just I was super excited. It’s like, Oh my God, I finally get to live out that passion of, you know, the Volks Marches and the and the Stock Nagels and actually being able to do that. And then I got here and the tradition sort of had died in reference to Volks Marches and walking sticks and, and everyone started switching over to trekking sticks because I guess they’re collapsible. But however, the Stock Nagels can’t necessarily be mounted on those. And so my goal and intentions were to try to bring this back, try to bring back the tradition. So off I went into the woods and I started collecting the fallen trees that I found throughout the woods and actually testing for stability and stuff. But like I said, we can’t go out and harm the environment. We most likely have to go out there. And I had to read up on it to make sure I wasn’t violating any German laws. I was going on a walk one day and I had left, two walking sticks on a trail and a young German lady, she said „Excuse me, you forgot your walking sticks.“ And I said „No, they’re gifts“. And so her son was stuck in the middle between the walking stick and her. And he kept looking and you could see a conversation going back and forth. And I was like, „It’s a gift“ nd she said „No, thank you.“ And then you saw a little bit more collaboration. And next thing you know, the kid ran up and he actually took one. So Mom must have said, it’s okay. And that right there was like you actually seeing at the moment, someone actually taking one and was excited about it – because when he picked it up, he held over his head and he was super excited. And so, you know, just seeing actually seeing that in the moment, you know, I think was up in Garmisch and we left three on a trail. And when we came back, one was gone. So in Germany, I know it’s hard for Germans to see things left as a gift, more or less like they think is taking. And so they probably, every time when they see it, they probably think that someone forgot it or someone left it and they’re trying to get it to its owner. And that’s also what I love about Germany is, you know, honesty. And there, you know, it’s just you. I could leave it somewhere and they would try to get it back to me. But how? I almost wanted to start putting notes in German to let them know it’s a gift so that they’re not trying to find the owner of it, thinking that someone actually forgot it and left it there versus it being a gift to, you know, their kids or somebody else’s on the trails.
Ricky T. Gravely Sr.