Their Stories
In my work joy at the Fisher House and BAMC barracks, I get to hear so many hero stories. Not only their experiences, but the stories they are hearing from their units still in Iraq.
I recently received an e-mail with a story about a male marine who had "mistakenly" received a female gift box that included tampons. Long story short, it told of him having "accidentally" picking up the tampons with other items as he headed out on a patrol. As I began to retell this e-mail to one of my soldiers, a Columbian whose story I will tell later in this post, he stopped me saying, "I know what you're going to say, and I can tell you I have saved my fellow soldiers's lives in the Colombian Army using tampons. He also told me that he'd go to the PX in Iraq and buy them, despite the embarrassment. He always carried them into battle. I mentioned it to this hero today, and he told me that they've known this "secret" weapon in the field for a very long time. I learn from these guys constantly.
One of the Fisher House residents I've posted about before has captivated anyone who comes into his purview. Last night a local church, Greek Orthodox St. Sophia's, came to cook for our wounded warriors. The menu was a traditional one, and the residents were looking forward to the experience. Seventy meals were delivered to the wounded warriors across the street in what my hubby terms as the "outpatient residence". When all was cleaned up, and the group was car-pooling off the post, someone noticed that "Jim" was missing. Calls from vehicles were exchanged, and alas, no one had Jim. Someone called Jim's cell phone. It seems Jim was so involved in conversation with Matt, he missed the connection. Am I surprised? Not at all!
Changing pace, our Soldiers' Angel Convention in San Antonio this past week was an amazing time. The first night was a meet & greet at the Marriott Riverwalk. Many heroes about to be deployed, in some cases deployed AGAIN, were in attendance. Then on Thursday night, the Angels hosted a barbecue at the Fisher Houses. The turnout was the largest I've seen from both the Fisher House residents and the "outpatient residence" as hubby as renamed the barracks. Photos of this even will be offered on the Soldiers' Angels website in the form of a CD. Several dozen disposable cameras were handed out randomly to attendees, so the results should be fascinating!
I was too busy with barracks business on Friday to attend any events...if there were any, but apparently other Angels were cruising the Riverwalk, and came upon a swearing in ceremony of Heroes who were re-upping, i.e., extending their term of service to our country. They made the acquaintance of a young soldier who writes articles for his battalion's news magazine. They took him to lunch, and he asked for a local contact (they were from Florida) to interview for his publication. They gave him my name and phone number. I met with him this past Friday. I'll try to link to the mag in a later post, but my reason for relating this is a question he asked me. It's one I've been asked many times in other venues, and it is one I have prayed to be able to answer without dissolving into a sobbing ninny. God answered my prayers, and as I told the reporter "I don't want to see what happened to my friends coming home, happen to these warriors." I got an unexpected answer. He told me of a female airman stationed in Monterey, CA, who was driving to the linguist school she attends. She was driving by an anti-war demonstration, in uniform, with her window down. As she drove by the left-wing moonbat congregation, one of them threw a scalding hot cup of coffee into her open car window. Having grown up in Southern California, I'm sure that God is happy that I am no longer living there. Can we insert C-4 into the faults and just float the whole state off into the ocean....right after I get all my family and friends out of that land of fruits and nuts? Please?????????
Now back to heroes: My Colombian soldier I mentioned above is one for whom I am working as hard as I can to make a new American. This young man, who was crushed by a tank in a fire fight in Iraq, is an example of why we need LEGAL immigration. Jaime will not even receive a purple heart, because it was OUR tank who crushed him (excuse me, but there is something wrong with a system that will not give a purple heart to a hero who was fighting on our side in a fire fight! Did Pat Tilman get one?). I asked him recently what made him come to America to volunteer to fight for us. He was from a very prominent family, and wanted for nothing. So why? The reason, he told me, is that his cousin was killed in Iraq fighting for America. Colombia, he said, had no freedom, and he wanted to fight for something...for freedom! He left his young wife of 4 months. He wants to make our military his career. Getting his citizenship status, and getting his wife to America is my most recent pet project!
Working with heroes could not be more rewarding. I get far more from them than I will ever be able to give.
I recently received an e-mail with a story about a male marine who had "mistakenly" received a female gift box that included tampons. Long story short, it told of him having "accidentally" picking up the tampons with other items as he headed out on a patrol. As I began to retell this e-mail to one of my soldiers, a Columbian whose story I will tell later in this post, he stopped me saying, "I know what you're going to say, and I can tell you I have saved my fellow soldiers's lives in the Colombian Army using tampons. He also told me that he'd go to the PX in Iraq and buy them, despite the embarrassment. He always carried them into battle. I mentioned it to this hero today, and he told me that they've known this "secret" weapon in the field for a very long time. I learn from these guys constantly.
One of the Fisher House residents I've posted about before has captivated anyone who comes into his purview. Last night a local church, Greek Orthodox St. Sophia's, came to cook for our wounded warriors. The menu was a traditional one, and the residents were looking forward to the experience. Seventy meals were delivered to the wounded warriors across the street in what my hubby terms as the "outpatient residence". When all was cleaned up, and the group was car-pooling off the post, someone noticed that "Jim" was missing. Calls from vehicles were exchanged, and alas, no one had Jim. Someone called Jim's cell phone. It seems Jim was so involved in conversation with Matt, he missed the connection. Am I surprised? Not at all!
Changing pace, our Soldiers' Angel Convention in San Antonio this past week was an amazing time. The first night was a meet & greet at the Marriott Riverwalk. Many heroes about to be deployed, in some cases deployed AGAIN, were in attendance. Then on Thursday night, the Angels hosted a barbecue at the Fisher Houses. The turnout was the largest I've seen from both the Fisher House residents and the "outpatient residence" as hubby as renamed the barracks. Photos of this even will be offered on the Soldiers' Angels website in the form of a CD. Several dozen disposable cameras were handed out randomly to attendees, so the results should be fascinating!
I was too busy with barracks business on Friday to attend any events...if there were any, but apparently other Angels were cruising the Riverwalk, and came upon a swearing in ceremony of Heroes who were re-upping, i.e., extending their term of service to our country. They made the acquaintance of a young soldier who writes articles for his battalion's news magazine. They took him to lunch, and he asked for a local contact (they were from Florida) to interview for his publication. They gave him my name and phone number. I met with him this past Friday. I'll try to link to the mag in a later post, but my reason for relating this is a question he asked me. It's one I've been asked many times in other venues, and it is one I have prayed to be able to answer without dissolving into a sobbing ninny. God answered my prayers, and as I told the reporter "I don't want to see what happened to my friends coming home, happen to these warriors." I got an unexpected answer. He told me of a female airman stationed in Monterey, CA, who was driving to the linguist school she attends. She was driving by an anti-war demonstration, in uniform, with her window down. As she drove by the left-wing moonbat congregation, one of them threw a scalding hot cup of coffee into her open car window. Having grown up in Southern California, I'm sure that God is happy that I am no longer living there. Can we insert C-4 into the faults and just float the whole state off into the ocean....right after I get all my family and friends out of that land of fruits and nuts? Please?????????
Now back to heroes: My Colombian soldier I mentioned above is one for whom I am working as hard as I can to make a new American. This young man, who was crushed by a tank in a fire fight in Iraq, is an example of why we need LEGAL immigration. Jaime will not even receive a purple heart, because it was OUR tank who crushed him (excuse me, but there is something wrong with a system that will not give a purple heart to a hero who was fighting on our side in a fire fight! Did Pat Tilman get one?). I asked him recently what made him come to America to volunteer to fight for us. He was from a very prominent family, and wanted for nothing. So why? The reason, he told me, is that his cousin was killed in Iraq fighting for America. Colombia, he said, had no freedom, and he wanted to fight for something...for freedom! He left his young wife of 4 months. He wants to make our military his career. Getting his citizenship status, and getting his wife to America is my most recent pet project!
Working with heroes could not be more rewarding. I get far more from them than I will ever be able to give.
Amazing. Simply amazing.
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Thanks for telling the stories and thanks for what you do for our troops.
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