James Chopik photographed on his snowmobile during a training ride in Alaska in November 2022. (Jeremiah Brewington)
A U.S. Air Force veteran who recently died while snorkeling in Okinawa helped launch an Alaska organization that takes veterans out on the grueling Iron Dog snowmobile race.
James J. Chopik, 48, a civilian employee who deployed to Japan with the 90th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, 3rd Wing, from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, died Wednesday at Odo Coast, a popular beach in Itoman city, Okinawa.
Chopik, of Wasilla, Alaska, was part of a team of three veterans that ran the noncompetitive Iron Dog Expedition Class snowmobile race in February 2023, according to team member Jeremiah Brewington.
The Iron Dog is described as the world’s longest snowmobile race. The competitive Pro Class covers more than 2,500 miles across 23 communities in Alaska, according to its website.
Brewington, an Alaska native, served as a construction engineer with the Army from 1995 to 2013, separating as a staff sergeant.
Brewington first ran the Iron Dog in 2022 with a veteran’s organization, Battle Dawgs, he told Stars and Stripes by phone Thursday from Wasilla. The following year, Brewington, Army veteran Trent White and Chopik entered the Expedition Class as Operation Iron Warrior, a team with Battle Dawgs.
From left, James Chopik, Brent White and Jeremiah Brewington with their snowmobiles during an inspection before the Iron Dog snowmobile race in Alaska in February 2023. (Jeremiah Brewington)
Operation Iron Warrior later became an independent nonprofit with Brewington as its president. “Our objective is to reduce the number of service member suicides by reuniting warriors with a mission to complete the Iron Dog race,” according to its mission statement online.
Chopik tried to stay active with the group, but “got really involved with work,” Brewington said.
“We still take veterans up every year,” he said . “When James and Trent and I did it, it was kind of the infancy [of Operation Iron Warrior].”
Chopik was a quiet person, but the camaraderie that grew during the five-day, 1,500-mile Expedition Class run from Big Lake to Nome, brought him out of his shell, Brewington said.
“When you put a bunch of veterans through a high-stress situation that they have to rely on each other, it builds that bond back,” he said. “… It was amazing to watch him grow as a veteran, coming out of the down into the uphill side of things — the lighter side of life.”
White, who served from 2002 to 2008 and separated as a specialist, remembered Chopik as a top-notch mechanic who the team relied on to keep the sleds — called snowmachines in Alaska — working.
“I think there was more joking and screwing around than anything,” he said by phone Thursday from Alaska. “He had speakers inside his helmet. I think every time I pulled up to James, he was just sitting there with his helmet on, bouncing his head listening to the beat of the music and stuff. He was in his happy place.”
Chopik took pride in his active-duty Air Force service and his later civilian work, White said.
In July 2011, Chopik, a technical sergeant and team chief with 673rd Security Forces Squadron at Elmendorf, participated with a team of 30 in the Air Mobility Command Rodeo airlift skills competition at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., according to an Elmendorf news release.
White said Chopik had plans to tackle the Iron Dog Pro Class race next year.
“He loved the sled life, that was his thing,” White said. “He knew sleds top to bottom, inside and out. I know he was riding every winter, and I hope wherever he is, hopefully there’s a sled there for him.”
