Valour-IT

From Soldiers' Angels:

Dear Angels and Friends,

Today we're focusing Project Valour-IT because it is integral to the recovery and reintegration of wounded warriors who return from combat severely injured and facing a very different life than they left.

A Valour-IT laptop connects recovering warriors with their personal support system, which has a remarkable effect on recovery and morale.  According to a physical therapist who routinely works with the wounded, "their connection to the world via the Worldwide Web seems to assuage a threatening depression and apathy that many of our wounded warriors experience during their recovery.  The results of your [Valour-IT] program greatly exceed what one would expect from such a simple act as giving them a laptop...it so clearly enhances their hope, which always translates to a more speedy recovery."

Check out these three stories that demonstrate the power of Valour-IT! 

First up, Justin Clark speaks for himself:

I am a recipient of a Valour-IT laptop.  With that [laptop] came the ability to communicate again, as my speech was impaired and I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury!  I want to say thank you to all that donate and organize the Valour-IT program.  Without it, we service members would be high and dry because the military doesn't provide electronics like computers with software to communicate with!  The Valour-IT program is one-of-a-kind and it's definitely a working program that gives 110% to those in need of assistance...Again, thank you to Soldiers' Angel's for this wonderful program!

Getting a Valour-IT to laptop as soon as possible after injury creates the greatest benefit, as SPC Lund's story illustrates.  He lost both his arms in a blast and must rely 100% on his voice to use a computer to connect with his world as he recovers.  His laptop motivates him in physical therapy!

For Sgt. Tomlinson, a Valour-IT laptop is a ticket to college independence despite partial paralysis in his arms.  He spent two years recovering and is now transitioning to post-military life.

For all three of these warriors, a Valour-IT laptop not only boosts their morale and enriches their lives, but puts the power to shape their futures within reach no matter their physical capabilities.  More than words, more than sentiment, more than gratitude, a Valour-IT laptop is a gift beyond measure!

How can you help with the fundraising competition to ensure more severely-wounded heroes like these benefit from this amazing project?

The best thing you can do is spread the word!

So far, we've raised $7,000 through the summer fundraising competition.  That's a great start, but it's only 7% of the goal we need to meet demand.  Fortunately, bloggers are stepping up to help, and aligning with a team to bring others on board and motivate donations (all funds raised go to ANY service member in need of Valour-IT, regardless of branch).

Once again this year, the small-but-powerful Marine Corps team leapt into the early lead, but now the Army and Navy-Coast Guard teams are surging.   But where are the Air Force team supporters?  If you know people who would like to help Team Air Force make it a contest, share this link!

Almost daily, Angels volunteers at military hospitals across the U.S. meet warfighters returning home after being grievously wounded in combat.  We must do all we can to lift their spirits by demonstrating to each of them that we know who they are and we support them.  Please contribute in whatever way you can, including passing this email along to your friends and family in order to share this great opportunity to give back to those who have given so much for us.

Every $5, $10, $50 or $100 gets us closer to the next laptop for a wounded warrior like SPC Lund, Sgt. Tomlinson or Justin Clark.  Please help by forwarding this email and clicking here to donate today!

Wingtip to wingtip,

Patti Patton-Bader
Soldiers' Angels
www.soldiersangels.org

It was the first time I felt whole since I’d woken up wounded in Landstuhl.

–Major Charles "Chuck" Ziegenfuss, on using a voice-controlled laptop

Mike Stokely

Specialist Michael J. Stokely was born on 6 June 1980 to Robert E. Stokely and Melissa Gardner.  Specialist Stokely enlisted in the United States Army on 13 March 2000.  He completed Initial Active Duty Training and Advanced Individual Training as 31U Signal Support Systems Specialist at Fort Gordon, Georgia and later awarded 19D Cavalry Scout.

Specialist Stokely was assigned to Echo Troop 108th Cavalry in Griffin, Georgia.  Specialist Stokely was assigned to Truck E26 as a Dismount Scout.  Specialist Stokely deployed with the Echo Troop 108th Cavalry on 17 May 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Specialist Stokely’s awards include: Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Combat Action Badge.

Specialist Stokely is survived by his wife Niki.

What good can come from tragedy?  This.

Almost there....

The nice thing about putting together a fundraiser is that I have the keys to the castle, as it were.  I have control over when it ends. 

Therefore, since I didn't consider mid-month pay, I will leave the links up for people to donate to VALOUR-IT for a while longer.  I'd really like us to make our $100K goal.  We are close--so very close.  As the last hours of 14 July set on America (way out in American Samoa) we had raised a total of $82,887.

Team Totals:
USN $7881
USAF $8181
USMC $24,177
USA $31,703

Overall winner? 

The wounded.  Thanks everyone for your support.

--Chuck

P.S.  Like I said, the links are all still open, so feel free to donate.
Main Campaign http://tinyurl.com/66lhyh5
Army Team: http://tinyurl.com/6zmob7h
USMC Team: http://tinyurl.com/3tqsahw
Navy Team: http://tinyurl.com/4y6orqp
USAF Team: http://tinyurl.com/6j93wbp

From a Different Position... Part IV

//Read Part I, Part II, Part III.

Chuck was doing more than blogging on his lap top; he was working, thinking, creating, and best of all healing.  Just when the road seems so well paved with answered prayer my faith needed another trial.  Long ago, I decided God was never going to be finished with me.  He would always have more lessons for me to learn and I had chosen to be his willing student.

 One evening Carren and I were visiting with Chuck and the nurses let us stay a bit later than usual.  Even though we were tired, we lingered in his room chatting up a story or two, like only women can do.  The humor wagon was on a roll and we three were all on board.  Chuck had plenty of medication on board after his surgery earlier that day and as they say was feeling no pain. As the evenings comedic narrative waned Chuck said he was feeling tired and had a bad headache.  The nurse came in and reminded us of the time.  Carren and I got the message and bid him good night and he asked the nurse for something for his headache.  We walked back to our room at the Malone House and crawled into bed.

 Not twenty minutes later the phone rang and we were instructed to get back over to the hospital, NOW!  No information, just return quickly to Chuck’s room.  Carren and I ran as fast as we could.  Arriving on his ward we found they moved him to another ward where they packed him in ice, Chuck had spiked a fever of 106⁰.The boiling point of brains cells, which can cause permanent damage, coma, and delusions.  Dreadful questions inundated our thoughts.  We knew we would have to wait for information on his condition and what had caused the fever.  The physicians needed time to find the right pieces to the puzzle of what had gone wrong with Chuck’s body.

  Again, I prayed, “Please heal him and God what are you trying to teach me this time?”  I did not grasp this turn of events, nevertheless, I knew well enough that I was NOT in charge of my sons healing, God was.  The physicians were able to answer our questions within twenty-four hours.  Chuck had brought home six different strains of bacteria when he was blasted into the canal in Iraq.  I have always told him not to pick up strangers.  Of course, he didn’t pick them up, they hitched a ride, and everything wants to go to America, go figure.  Healing began as soon as the prescribed antibiotics were begun.

 Now you might think God was reminding me, that he was in charge.  At first, I thought so too.  As I took more time to review the past few days in my mind, the lesson was God’s way of preparing me to be vigilant.  God had recognized I had begun to shelter the events of the past few weeks in the thought, all was going great and would continue to progress in a positive nature.  In a wink of an eye I was reminded how changes can take place and turn effectively into challenges.  Healing was going to begin again for my son.  I needed to be vigilant since the building blocks to healing could be new, long, short lived, redundant or exhausting.  Nevertheless, healing would be building blocks and the keystone was Faith that God Will.  I would have to be ready to support my son's recovery even when I knew it would cause him pain to begin again.       

From a Different Position... Part II.

This is Part II.  To see Part I, go here.

Every two to three days he returned to the OR so the bandages could be removed, the wounds cleaned, and the new bandages replaced.  Sounds easy, just like when we get a cut, Band-Aid off wash with soap and water, Band-Aid on ta-da all done.  Not so much.  Surgery days meant blood transfusions, more antibiotics, more pain medication and optimistically more healing.  The wounds on his legs were huge; and once they were reduced in size then the surgeries for the skin grafts began.  The skin was removed from one part of his body and placed on another.  Think of severe sunburn where the skin has blistered and come off and the skin underneath is exposed to the air.  Or how about the pain where a shoe or boot blister has broken and the skin peeled away.  Now put that pain on a patch of skin the size of a very large frying pan at multiple sites.  I silently cried for him those days.

Chuck’s left hand looked like something “Young Frankenstein” (Gene Wilder) put together.  The front line medics and doctors did the best they could when you consider the severity of the different wounds they had to deal with on the battlefield.  The right hand thumb was shattered and the size of a “Johnsonville Bratwurst” and the rest of that hand swollen to match. Fortunately, his hand doctor was the best of the best and those surgeries began a few weeks after the leg surgeries and would last for at least five more years.  His face was swollen and covered in a slathering of antibiotic ointment to heal the burns of the blast.  His teeth were loose and jaw hurt making it hard for him to open his mouth very wide.

I’ll take a side note here and tell a funny story.  Chuck did not ask for anything except for pain meds.  Then about the third day in Intensive care, he asked for a bendy straw.  It would make taking oral meds so much easier.  Carren and I were desperate to help in any way we could, so we went in search of a simple bendy straw.  Even one of his friends who came to the hospital and works in the DC Area went looking for a simple bendy straw stopping at every hamburger fast food place he came to for several days with no luck.  Carren and I asked everyone we saw, nurses, cafeteria people, Post Exchange employees; we even went to the Red Cross.  The janitor thought we were crazy when we asked him.  In all of DC and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, we searched.  After days of looking, we never did find one; however, we had a good time looking.  Sending Carren and I on a simple bendy straw search was a gift from Chuck to us.  Searching for that straw took us out of his hospital room and gave us something to do and helped for a short time to relieve some stress in those first days.  Chuck was taking care of us while we were to be taking care of him.

They say men have selective hearing, well Chuck certainly did.  One eardrum was gone and the other severely damaged.  Eventually they replaced both of them and his hearing is now selective but not because of the injuries just because he is as guy.  I say that with a wink and a smile.

When the many days of surgery slowed to having weeks between them, another form of pain was to come.  It is called rehabilitative physical therapy or the torture department.  The physical therapy is the test of endurance and emotional strength, which begins to build our wounded soldiers into stronger individuals.  In surgery Chuck was oblivious to the reconstruction that was taking place. He dealt with the physical and psychological pain when he woke up.  Now the daily routine would add a new dimension to the profound elements of recovery.


To be continued...

Editor's note:  I never did get my damned bendy straw.  --Chuck

Do you know how to eat an Elephant?

It's been a long six years, looking back on things.  40 surgeries.  Learning to walk.  Learning to open and close my hands.  Learning to write.  Learning to check, and recheck, the temperature of everything before I grab it.  Learning how to work a door knob.  Learning my physical limitations, and learning the penalties for ignoring them.  Many, many painful months of rehab.  Narcotics addiction. Becoming a cyborg. 

It's been a long journey, to be sure.  From my position, now, it seems like it wasn't that bad--just something I had do do.  From my position, then, it looked like I was going to have to scale the Himalayas with nothing but a bobbin of thread, a highlighter, and a half-empty bottle of hot sauce.  It seemed, at times, like the odds were insurmountable--and worse, not worth attempting.  I simply didn't have the tools to try.

There's only one way to eat an elephant:  one bite at a time.  But in order to start, you have to have an appetite.

You have to have the desire to start.

There was a time when that desire didn't burn inside me.  A time, albeit brief, when I was without hope... when I took that long hard look at what my future was going to be and couldn't see a happy, or even reasonbly tolerable end.  There was a time when it seeemed like all the good things were behind me.

People wanted to help.  People believed in me enough to stay, to care, to give.  People, some who I'd never met, some who only knew me through these missives on my blog, people who cared enough to help a soldier who had stumbled, if not fallen.  It was through the generosity of these people that I was given a laptop and equipped it with software that would allow me to actually use it, even though my hands were little more than swollen bags of hurt.  I could reach out to my soldiers--I could email them, chat with them, assure them that I was going to be okay, and that they needn't worry about me, and stay focused on the mission.  I could keep blogging--an outlet that I maintain is a phenominal way to let go of emotion and frustration--I could share, I could tell the story of one soldier through his recovery--especially after leaving the hospital.

But it was never about me.  It was about the struggle.  It was a narrative of the trail blazed by others, and followed by many.  My narrative only sought to illuminate the darker parts, highlight the dangerous curves, and tell those who were behind me, looking farther up the trail, what they could expect over the next ridge.

From my bed, and later, from my couch, I was once again leading.  Instead of leading a company of soldiers in combat, I was leading families, friends, fellow wounded, and all manner of caring people throughout the country.  We were taking this journey together--and through it all, I was not alone.  

Right now, in Military medical facilities all across the country, there are servicemembers--Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Soldiers who are in that exact same place.  They are looking at their bandages and wondering how they will ever do something as simple as tie their shoes, or button their pants.  They are worried that they will be dependent on someone else for the rest of their lives.  Many are wondering how long it will be before they can rejoin their comrades in combat. 

It's a big elephant, when you look at it that way.  It would take me months to be able to tie my shoes.  Putting on a uniform that seemed to be made by someone with stock in the button industry wasn't just a chore--it was something that required help.  But I started taking those bites--one at a time.  I learned to do those things, I gained strength in my hands and legs again.  I learned to manipilate objects. 

So I was eating one bite at a time.  I had an appetite.  An appetite that would never have been stoked, had it not been for the donations of many people across the country who made it possible.  And that elephant has been getting smaller every day.  Through the kindness and generosity of  American citizens, we have been able to provide, free of charge or obligation, computers, voice control software, and rehabilitative technology to thousands of servicemembers who were looking at that elephant and feeling not the slightest bit hungry.  But once they could reconnect with their world, once they could return to doing things they used to, or learned new ways to do things (like how to slide change off a countertop when 1/2 your hand is gone) they got hungry for elephant, and started devouring it.

There are wards full of wounded, right now, that need their lives restored.  They need to be shown that they can still do things they have always done.  They need to know that people care about them and their needs.  They need your help.   Milblogers are trying to raise $100000 in the next two weeks to continue our mission of helping these wounded servicemembers.  100K is a pretty big elephant.  Not to beat a dead horse, but to mix my metaphors, there's only one way I know to eat an elephant.  I don't expect anyone can donate $100K (but if you can...) but everyone can help take a bite--whatever you can give.  Just as importantly, share with your fineds, family, social networks, facebook frineds, that weird stalker from linkedin, your daughter's myspace followers, whoever.  At the top of this page you'll find a link that says "te!! a friend" and gives you ways to share this all over social media, blogs, facebook, twitter, you name it. 

Project VALOur-IT (Voice Activate Laptops for Our Injured Troops) provides computers, voice control software, and rehabilitative technology to our wounded.  It is funded through donations only.  It is part of Soldiers Angels, a 501 c. (3) charity (which means all of your donations are 100% tax deductible) and every red cent of the money you donate goes dierctly to the troops.  None of it pays for overhead or "administrative fees." 

Life is tough.  It's tougher when your crippled.  It's a lot less tough when you're crippled and feel like the people you were defending appreciate the sacrifice.

--Chuck

It's the little things

An Army Lieutenant Colonel wrote to Soldiers' Angels last week, asking for help boosting the morale of his Soldiers in Afghanistan. He also shared why it matters so much...

What you, your staff and donors do is remarkable. It makes a huge difference. I know that you will say that it is small, but it is these small things that make the huge difference and that the Soldiers remember.

Read the whole thing.

You can help. There are currently 1031 Heroes waiting to be adopted.

Reuters reports on Valour-IT

Click on this link to read a report from Reuters about Project Valour-IT. And don't forget to spread the word to all your friends!

Thanks!
The Mrs.

Go ARMY Team!!!

Project Valour-IT, Carren's perspective

Project Valour-IT is more than giving a laptop and voice-activated software to our wounded warriors. It's about bringing a sense of normalcy, outreach, and an outlet to our service members who shed their blood, sweat, tears, and body parts on the battlefield.

Chuck started this blog in March 2005, just 2 months into his deployment to Iraq. It quickly gained readership and became his outlet on many fronts. He told me he didn't want to "burden" me with things he was thinking about, so his blog became his outlet. I didn't really "get" the whole concept of a blog at first, then, when he was wounded on 21 June, a mere 6 months into his deployment, I began to understand the power of this blog.

While in the hospital at Walter Reed, Chuck wanted to blog SO BAD that we even tried to have him dictate what he wanted to say while I wrote it down (on paper). After about 5 minutes, we both became frustrated and stopped. I felt helpless. I couldn't help him say what was on his mind and he couldn't type it out. It was tense in the room for a while as we both tried to figure out how to resolve this issue.

Shortly thereafter, Chuck spoke to Patti Patton-Bader (founder of Soldiers' Angels) and he asked for a laptop. Patti sent him a laptop and we were thrilled! We set it up in his hospital room with a sense of relief and resolve to our previous frustration. Then, when Chuck tried to blog... he could only get a few sentences out. Both of his hands were heavily bandaged and he could only use two of his fingers on his right hand. His left hand, at that point, was useless. Fortunately, Chuck's few sentences sent overwhelming responses of Dragon Naturally Speaking software.

Once again, Chuck was able to blog. This is a post he wrote just before Project Valour-IT kicked off in 2005.

Not only was Chuck able to blog with his new laptop and voice-activated software, I was able to relax a little bit more. Instead of trying to figure how to get Chuck some sort of outlet, I knew he had one. Instead of going to the Mologne House every night, wondering how Chuck will manage throughout the night, I knew he had an outlet. Instead of feeling guilty as hell when I went somewhere without him (for ME time), I knew Chuck had his connection to the outside world.

The laptop and software were truly a gift that can not be put into words. Even after Chuck was initially discharged from Walter Reed, we returned MANY times for subsequent surgeries. His Valour-IT laptop and software were always there for him, especially when he couldn't type with his hand(s). I could go on all day about how amazing this program is...

This post is not a request for donations, although that would be wonderful. The intent of this post is to give you my perspective of how Valour-IT can be so healing to our wounded warriors and their families. If anything, I ask that you share this post with everyone in your e-mail/facebook/blog list and let them decide whether they want to donate.

For those who decide to donate, please click here. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

A great Offer, and I need your help to make it work

That's right folks, yours truly is a featured speaker at the Blogworld and New Media Expo in Las Vegas from 15-17 October. I will be moderating and Participating in the Panel on "The Best MilBlogs You've never read" representing the Combined Arms Center and Command and General Staff Colleges' blog, as well as conducting many interviews with industry leaders to find ways the Army can better use Social Media and Web 2.0 applications for my Master's Thesis.

Additionally, I will be hanging out at the Army and Soldier's Angels booth, giving demonstrations of the VALOUR-IT Laptop and telling people all about the many programs Soldier's Angels has going on around the world.

While all that sounds fun (and exhausting) I will be burning the midnight oil, networking with other milbloggers, and non-milbloggers, to try to get them on board with the annual Valour-IT fund drive. When I am not doing that, I may investigate some of the famous Las Vegas Historic and Cultural attractions, to better understand the nature of this fascinating city.

Want to join me?

THIS IS AMAZING:

The CEP of the Blogworld New Media Expo, Rick Calvert, thinks we can get 200 people to the milblog track,and is willing to back that with up to 200 free memberships.
He has challenged me to get the word out to as many military members (current and veteran), milbloggers, milblog readers, military supporters, and others as possible, particularly in the California,Arizona, Nevada region.

First, if you could please help cover the challenge (By telling everyone you know--dust off the email lists, put up a flyer, invite your mom, etc.) and share that anyone currently serving or former service who drops my buddy Blake a line at
blake@blakepowers.net
with BWE09 Registration in the subject line,
and tell him in the body who they are, they will get a code for a free
registration. (That's a $500 value!)

Second, ALL milspouses, spouse bloggers, and military supporters (including my readers) can also get a code if they do the same!

Third, if you blog at an organization site (WLF, AL, VFW, NSA, NASA, heck, any alphabet soup), and could post something there, it would be very much appreciated.

Fourth, if you know any bloggers in CA, NV, AZ, please ask them if they will help push this. If you know anyone on radio, television, newspaper in that region, please reach out to them also. (This includes calling your local radio and TV stations and asking them to mention it--and that they can find the instructions for this FREE registration by visiting WWW.FROMMYPOSITION.COM

Finally, stay tuned as we may need someone from each branch of the service there if we can pull something off. The charity shoot is off for now, but we may have something almost as fun to raise money for Valour-IT. Waiting to see if Rick can pull it off. (And if anyone can Pull it off, He can.)

--Chuck

SA Germany needs your help!

All summer we have been experiencing a very large number of incoming medevacs, particularly from Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, the past several weeks have been even worse. We are in urgent need of the following items. Please help if you can. Please also pray for our patients and staff during this very difficult time.

Thank you.

MOST NEEDED:
- Sweatpants and Zippered Hoodie Sweatjackets (M, L, XL - Gray, Black, Dark Blue)
- Blankets of Hope
- Lounge/sleep pants/pj bottoms (M, L, XL)

2ND MOST NEEDED:
- Undershirts and plain T-shirts (M, L, XL)
- Shorts, baggy basketball-type (M, L, XL)

3RD MOST NEEDED:
- Men's Boxerbriefs (M, L, XL) 2nd choice boxers. Please do not send "tightie whities"
- Socks

COMPLETE LIST OF ALL NEEDED ITEMS CLICK HERE
- Please do not send clothing sizes Small, 2X, or 3X.
- Please do not send books or magazines.

Please send items to:

MTD
Attn: Soldiers' Angels
CMR 402
APO AE 09180

Important:
- Please email me mphillips AT soldiersangels DOT org when items are shipped.
- Include a note with your name, Email address, and brief description of items sent in your packages. Without this information, we will be unable to confirm their receipt.
- Please allow 6 - 8 weeks for receipt confirmation.

Combined Federal Campaign

Soldiers’ Angels is CFC #25131 in the Combined Federal Campaign.

The mission of the Combined Federal Campaign is to promote and support philanthropy through a program that is employee focused, cost-efficient, and effective in providing all federal employees the opportunity to improve the quality of life for all.

CFC is the world's largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaign, with more than 300 CFC campaigns throughout the country and internationally to help to raise millions of dollars each year. Pledges made by Federal civilian, postal and military donors during the campaign season (September 1st to December 15th) support eligible non-profit organizations that provide health and human service benefits throughout the world.

PARA donation to GBR-IV

Mr. Completely just found out what PARA is donating to the GBR-IV raffle.

He says it best: WOW.

And all proceeds go to Valour-IT.

--Chuck

"He has no personal effects... "

"He has no personal effects. The only things that came with him from downrange[to Germany] were an envelope with a couple of [military challenge] coins and his Soldiers' Angels backpack."

That, in and of itself is a powerful statement.

About 10 last night, a friend of mine from college called to tell my Mrs. her husband (also another friend from college) was wounded in Iraq. His leg was badly injured, and he was in Germany, but would be transported to WRAMC soon.

The Mrs., who has walked many miles in those shoes.

Then I did something that I absolutely hate having to do: I shot a red-star cluster (a flare we use in the army that shoots a rocket up to about 250 feet and then shoots a shower of bright red sparks. In training, it is used to alert everyone on the battlefield that a serious real-world injury has happened, and mark the location for pickup.

In war, it is used to tell the helicopter where to land to pick up the casualties.

My figurative red star was fired out into the community of milbloggers and more importantly, Soldier's Angels. Between the time I found out (actually before) a Soldier's Angel in Germany was present, holding his hand, making sure he was comforted and taken care of, contacting his spouse, who was back in the states trying to wrangle arrangements for their two kids. (Sound familiar so far?) and the time I woke up this morning, SA-stateside had energized their wounded team, making sure that he (and the other critically wounded patients flying in today) would have someone waiting on them.

They'd contacted his spouse again, making sure that anything she needed was also getting taken care of. Did she need someone to watch the kids? The dog? Did she need someone to run errands so she could take a nap? Was there anything at all she needed? Not to mention getting her information--gleaned from thousands of patients and families Soldiers Angels has cared for--to help her ask and answer the questions she had yet to think of. Other Angels were securing a beach head for her--making sure she was taken care of logistically at Walter Reed. Everything they could possibly do to pave the way, allow her to focus on her soldier, is being taken care of. (How many of you know there is a dunkin' donuts and a subway in the lobby at WRAMC, or would even think that she might want some gift cards for them?) SA already purchased them!

As a leader, one of the scariest places to be is when you don't know what it is that you don't know. You can't be sure if you've planned for the most likely possibilities if the battlefield is too uncertain, or if you are entering an area that you never dreamed you'd be entering. You are planning in a vacuum of information, on unfamiliar terrain, and have no idea what you need to do to make progress. Soldiers Anglels tries to fill that information void--to help those spouses figure out what they need to do, to prioritize what needs to be done, to provide that much-needed information and prioritization to a spouse who is on an emotional precipice. Moreover, they make sure that no soldier goes unloved--whether it's holding hands in the ICU in Germany, or in Walter Reed, or Brooke Amy Medical Center, or Bethesda, or Balboa, or anywhere a wounded soldier finds himself.

It's so much more than holding hands, though. They are there helping soldiers and their families recover and cope. They are making sure that not only are their needs met, but that they are cared for, emotionally, physically, and mentally. They show that those of us who are keeping the homefire burning are also standing ready to help when a soldier returns home, broken and battered, but not out.

And it started with a backpack, a small bag continaing the items a wounded soldier would need most. You don't really "arrive" in Germany, as much as you are born there: naked, bleeding, in pain, unsure of your surroundings, not knowing anyone and wondering what in the hell just happened.

If you've not joined soldiers angels yet, please do so. There are many ways you can help, either through time, monetarily, visiting, writing a letter, or adopting one of over a thousand soldiers who have asked

• Donate a backpack
  
• Donate items for a backpack
• Make a Blanket of Hope

Make the "cars for clunkers" pretty irrelevant, huh? (but does make the VA "wanna die yet" checklist even more important.)

--Chuck

Gift giving

I am trying very, very hard to get to the gun blog rendezvous this year. The biggest hurdle is the Army (right now) giving me the time off to do it. It means I have to add work on an already heavy workload ahead of time, AND keep up with my work while I go, but it's worth it.

I went two years ago, when they selected Valour-IT as their charity to raise money for that year. Since then, they've added Valour-IT as their permanent charity.

Like I said, I'm trying really hard to get there. There's a donate button over there on the left side of the page (it's the big yellow one that says "Donate") that will help me pay for the trip, which is gonna run about $800 for air+hotel. The best part? Any donations going there go thru paypal, which in turn is going to result in my writing about guns, shooting guns, encouraging other people to buy, shoot, and carry guns.

I am going to be addressing the gathered bloggers, journalists, groupies and sponsors about several things, primarily Soldier'sAngels and Valour-it, as well as Why I serve, and how they can continue to help.


As many of you have read here, this year they are selling raffle tix for a gun, ( a very, very nice gun) a training session at frontsight, and well,

a Para USA GI Expert that you need not be present to win! In that same drawing, you can win a certificate for four days of training at Front Sight in Nevada. Valued at $2,000, you can use it for one four-day class or two two-day classes.

IF YOU ATTEND you can purchase raffle tickets that might win you another Para pistol, or a Hi Point 9mm Carbine. Or you might win a framed Heller Kitty t-shirt autographed by Alan Gura! Other sponsors include (but are not limited to):

Steel Challenge Shooting Association

National Shooting Sports Foundation

Brownell's

GLOCK

Dillon Precision

Lucky Gunner Ammo

Natchez Shooter's Supply

Midway USA

Remington

Nosler Bullets
Remember, Paypal is asshats, but : luckygunner is now handling the online auction tix sales.

And please, hit that donate button.

--Chuck

Sarah is good and knocked up

I can't say that I had nothing to do with this, because in a way, I did. I didn't donate any DNA or anything, and my Mrs. didn't either.

Our very good friend, Milblogger and and Soldiers Angel Sarah is with child. Her husband is currently in the 'stan, doing sooper seekrit squirrel stuff and she's at home doing long cellular division. This is their fourth try, and the only one that has made it this far (she's got weird genes. Like an X-men mutant, but without the cool costume.)

Go over to her site and wish her well.

Or so help me...

--Chuck

Way to go, J.R.!

Image Credit: Justin Maxon/The New York Times Story by By JOHN BRANCH

J. R. Salzman, who lost an arm in Iraq, with his sister after winning his seventh logrolling title.

By JOHN BRANCH

Published: July 27, 2009

HAYWARD, Wis. — Sgt. J. R. Salzman remembers reaching for his ballistic glasses just as the roadside bomb blew apart his right arm. He remembers being unable to reach the handle of the Humvee’s passenger door and realizing that his arm was instantly shortened. He remembers the look on the face of the medic.

Just about everything from Dec. 19, 2006, when he was in the lead truck of a tanker convoy in northwest Baghdad, is lodged in Salzman’s mind. That includes what he thought when he realized he would not die: I’ve still got my legs. I can still logroll.

And that explained why Salzman cried when he won his seventh men’s logrolling title at the Lumberjack world championships on Sunday, his first with a prosthetic arm.

“It’s what I do,” he said in the quiet shadows after a lengthy standing ovation. “This is my life in the summertime.”

Salzman won the event five years in a row, from 1998 to 2002, and again in 2005. In between, Jamie Fischer won two titles, then another in 2006.

Salzman was in Iraq by then. Still nagged and inspired to serve by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he had joined the Minnesota National Guard. He eloped with his girlfriend just before he was sent to Iraq in March 2006.

She saw him again on Christmas Day at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Salzman’s right forearm was a stump. His left hand had severe nerve damage and was missing its fourth finger. Trauma to the brain left him without much of his memory. Some old friends, whose faces look familiar, can see the damage in his arms but do not quite understand why Salzman cannot always remember their names.


Logrolling brings comfortable familiarity and therapy. But it is not the same as it used to be. Salzman, 30, still has the quick feet and strong legs required to spin and stop the floating logs in a high-speed attempt to make an opponent fall. Arms, however, provide balance. There is a lot of semicontrolled flailing in logrolling. Even splayed fingers can be the difference between getting wet and staying dry.

Salzman’s carbon-fiber prosthetic — “my Tinkertoy arm,” he called it — is waterproof and hollow. Inside are thin rolls of lead for weight. In last year’s event here, he filled it with sand from the shore of Lake Hayward to try to find the right balance.

He was matched with Fischer in his first match last year. Salzman lost.

“I was in good physical condition,” Salzman said. “Emotionally, I was a wreck.”

He had one and a half pounds of lead in the arm, which made it lighter than his left but heavy enough to provide counterbalance. He and Fischer met Sunday in the best-of-five finals.

The two fell into the water almost simultaneously in one match, and Salzman won the point. When Fischer fell in to decide the title, Salzman slid into the water and the two embraced. Salzman waded to the dock, where his sister Tina, a 10-time champion at the Lumberjack world championships, had shouted encouragement, and clung tight.

Salzman admitted he had struggled to find the right balance to his life. He imagines bombs around every corner and in every box along the road. He bolts awake at night. He and his wife, Josie, live in Menomonie, Wis., where Salzman attends the University of Wisconsin-Stout. He wants to teach technical arts.

“It’s the old joke, the one-armed shop teacher,” he said.

But teaching would allow Salzman to spend his summers logrolling. And as he learned Sunday, that can make him feel whole again.

Gunblog Rendezvous Raffle tickets on sale now... Support Valour-IT!

Hey! Wanna Win One of THESE?
On Line Raffle Ticket Sales Now Open!

That's ParaUSA's new GI Expert entry-level 1911. The specs are:

Caliber: .45 ACP
Barrel: 5 inches, stainless steel
Twist: 1 in 16 inches, left-hand
Action: Single-action, Semi-automatic
Sights: Dovetail Fixed, 3-White Dot
Receiver: Carbon Steel
Trigger: Medium length
Hammer: Skeletonized Spur
Magazine: 8-round with removable base pad (two provided with pistol)
Overall Length: 8.5 inches
Height: 5.75 inches
Weight: 39 ounces
Finish: Covert Black Para Kote™
Stocks: Checkered Polymer
Safeties: Slide Lock, Internal Firing Block, Grip
Additional Features: Lowered and flared ejection port, beveled magazine well, flat mainspring housing, grip safety contoured for spur hammer
MSRP: $599

It looks like a good, solid piece with just enough enhancements to make it a great shooter.

Remember, THIS GUN WILL BE FIRED AT THE RENDEZVOUS. We'll try to clean it up a bit before we pass it on to the winner!

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS
TICKET SALES ARE NOW OPEN!!

Soldier's Angels is running the on-line ticket sales ($10 each, no limit!), and there is also a chance to win a four day training course from the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute worth $2,000!

Raffle Details:

Drawing will be on Saturday evening, September 12th at the
Gun Blogger Rendezvous
at the Silver Legacy Hotel in Reno, Nevada.

The winner need not be present to win.
(But you ought to be anyway!)

It is up to the online raffle ticket purchaser to verify that they can legally receive and own this pistol where they live, and the winner must be a resident of the United States. If they cannot legally own this pistol, they are automatically disqualified from the raffle, and there is no substitution or other prize to be awarded. All decisions are final. Raffle tickets sold at the Rendezvous, and raffle tickets sold online will be combined in the drawing.

Important: To win a gun in the raffle, make sure you can legally own it before you buy a ticket.

On-Line ticket sales END on Friday Sept. 4th. at midnight!
If you want to win one of the many, many other prizes being given away, you either have to attend, or you'd better know someone who is! ;-)

Major kudos to Kevin Baker of The Smallest Minority and Kerby Smith of Para USA for their help in supporting the Gun Blogger Rendezvous and Project Valour-IT!

---

Note: The above post was shamelessly stolen from Kevin because:

1. I'm lazy
2. My kids are throwing tantrums--where's my paddle?
   
3. My house is full of half-empty boxes and paper and tape
   
4. I have no shame......

A letter to Angels and all who love the troops...

Dear Friends,

It is heartbreaking when we lose a warrior on the battlefield, and so very shocking when a warrior who seems safe at home falls in an act of violence within our borders. As you probably know, in Arkansas this week, two soldiers who had just begun their service were attacked by a fellow American. Soldiers' Angels is already working hard to give what comfort we can to the families, recruiters, and others involved--please read on to see how you can support them and their families and friends.

At 23 years of age, William Long was a bit older than the average recruit, but he had obviously decided to stand up and be counted as a defender of his country during wartime. Perhaps he made his decision with the example of his father--a former Marine--in mind. Fresh out of boot camp, he was back in his hometown to help the soldiers who had recruited him by sharing his experience of becoming a soldier with friends and acquaintances. Less is known about Quinton Ezeagwula at this time, who fortunately was only wounded and is expected to recover. But the same can be said for him--he had the courage and patriotism to volunteer for the military during wartime, and he had been selected to share his story. Both of them had been recruited by soldiers who worked in that recruiting center.

These two great young men and the recruiters who signed them up are just a sample of the heroes who have stood up to protect us, whose stories are not broadcast so loudly see days. But they are all still out there, serving quietly far away or right here at home as they keep the commitment they made when they signed up for military service in wartime. And they need to know Americans are supporting them. In the middle of this heartbreak, we can stand up and show our support and solidarity with these heroes. If you would like to write a note of encouragement and appreciation to the recruiters in the station where the shooting occurred, please send a card or letter to the following:

Army-Navy Career Center
U.S. Army Recruiting
9112 N Rodney Parham Rd.
Little Rock, AR 72205

You can also show your support right in your neighborhood, as other recruiting stations of all branches are certainly feeling sympathy and concern for their brothers in Arkansas. In this time when the actions of our tremendous servicemen and women aren't always getting the attention they deserve, a thank you and a small gift is a great way to let them know that we remember them and are grateful for their service. Try dropping by your local recruiting station with a dozen donuts and some gourmet grounds to stock the office coffee pot, or maybe have a couple pizzas delivered and bring some sodas and cups/plates. If you've got kids, cards and drawings from them would certainly be appreciated. Recruiting is a difficult job even in the best of circumstances, and these days taking the time to thank them for their hard work is a great way to show your support!

More than ever, we need to be sure the brave men and women of the American military know they have our support and undying gratitude. Let's stand up and shower them in love and appreciation!

Wingtip-to-Wingtip,

Soldiers' Angels

Let your fingers do the walking across your keyboard...

...and raise money for Soldiers' Angels by making your regular purchases! In honor of Military Appreciation Month, eBay is has made this "Spotlight on Servicemen and Women" month, and GoodSearch has made raising money by just shopping online or browsing the web even easier than ever.

Download the GoodSearch Toolbar for Internet Explorer and other web browsers, and you will easily raise funds for Soldiers' Angels every time you shop and search online. The toolbar works with your browser so that every time you shop at one of the more than 1,000 participating top online stores, a percentage of your purchase will automatically go to Soldiers' Angels. The toolbar also includes a GoodSearch search box that donates money to us for every search you make! Just download the toolbar and be sure to enter "Soldiers' Angels" as the organization you want to support. Get your friends and coworkers to download it too, and raise even more money! If you have a website, you can download a GoodSearch badge.

Over at online auctioneer eBay, Soldiers' Angels has been included in this month’s Spotlight on a Cause campaign: Spotlight on Servicemen and Women! This campaign is highlighting nonprofits that help soldiers, veterans, and their families in honor of Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day, both taking place this month. You can support Soldiers' Angels through eBay Giving Works by buying, selling or making an online contribution through PayPal. Just go to eBay.com to:

1. Give products a second life by bidding on items listed to benefit Soldiers' Angels.
2. List unwanted items on eBay with 10-100% of the sale price going to Soldiers' Angels.
3. Make an immediate donation via PayPal through Donate Now

Please help spread the word about these great opportunities to help out Soldiers' Angels!