A Weekend Well Spent
December 24, 2007
Last week, I received several phone calls concerning service members. The first concerned Pfc Shaun Robey, wounded infantryman from the 3rd ID. He has been at Walter Reed for more than a few months and the surroundings have been wearing on him. Well, I am happy to say that I, along with Sharon Hyland from A Hero’s Welcome and Gunny Hoffa, spent a couple hours Friday night, 21 December with Pfc Shaun Robey, and he is back in the fold. He lit up when we treated him like what he is: a battle-hardened warrior, not fine china. Too often, too many people with kind souls and good intentions want to treat these kids as delicate. They are not, and when I treated him like a warrior he responded. Shaun lost his left leg to an explosion and vehicle roll-over, but has promised to go for a run with me this Spring. I plan on holding him to it. He also wants nothing more than to remain in the Army. There are currently 27 amputees serving in the combat theater, so his hopes are not impossible. He is still without a home, but I know we will somehow rectify that before he is ready to leave Reed. I will keep you all posted.
We were also contacted last week by the 1st Sgt of the 104th Cavalry. One of the wives of a deployed Sgt was having plumbing problems. The toilet was leaking through the dining room ceiling and the kitchen faucet would not shut off completely. Len Law, Lenny Francis and Bill Crean of the Philadelphia Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Society leapt to the challenge as soon as I reached out. Within 2 days a plumber from the Local had gone out and fixed all the problems; on a Saturday no less. The plumber even refused any tip because, as it was told to me, “Your husband’s fighting for all of us.” Congratulations to them and the PVVMS Leadership for that.
Finally, I spent Sunday, 23 December at Arlington National Cemetery. A fellow Eagle had asked me to visit his father, SGM Elwood G. Near while I was in DC. I did visit the SGM and gave him my best parade ground salute; which caused him angst from above I am sure. A close look at his marker though will tell you why he deserved it. Manchu Sergeant Major. The honor of spending time with you was mine.
Immediately after my visit with the SGM I noticed three freshly dug graves. They were 1st Sgt Rafferty, Cpl Shah and Cpl Singh, an Irish catholic, a Muslim and a Hindu, KIA in OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, forever united in their sacrifice. The thing that is best about the military is that we do serve together, regardless of race, creed, religion or national origin. No one cares who you are or where you came from when you’re watching their six. They only care that you do your job. I presented each one of these men who have given the highest sacrifice my best parade ground salute and left Arlington a little better than I was.
Thank you my brothers and sisters for having served. It truly means the world to me to be counted among your number, both as a veteran and an Eagle. And for those who did not serve, but still stand with us I say, I am indebted to you for wanting to stand with us. Merry Christmas to you all. Manchu.
Chris Hill
National Director for Operations
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Chris, Merry Christmas and God bless you for all that you do. There will never be enough thanks for your patriotism and dedication to our troops, but I want to express my thanks to you.
Chris, I cannot tell you what an uplifting recount of your efforts has done for our family (personal and Eagles). You do so much. Bless you and have a Merry Christmas from the pepco eagle family.
I would like to wish Pfc. Robey a very Merry Christmas from out here in far Hawaii . Aloha!
chris, gunny and sharon -
thank you
pfc robey - we love you
That’s a good work my brother.
Thanks
Ed
I cant seem to find the comment page that had the address to send donations for Shaun’s mom. I mean the one in NC. I wanted to include it in a letter to the editor about Shaun and his Mom.
They were interviewed on a local tv station but I failed to give the reporter the address or give it to Shaun’s Mom to be included in the broadcast. It was shown this past Saturday which I missed . I did read and saw the interview on the tv stations website.
AP