Remembering Our American Veterans: A War Story for All to Remember & Concern for our Returning Veterans

We must remember that freedom is not free. Remembering those who have fought and died for our great American Republic is something our country should always do.

I think of my fellow veterans who have served to fight evil while preserving freedom around the world. So many times, others discount all who have served based on what their mission was. I say all who have served are American heroes, weather they were state side or on the battlefield.

When I served in the Gulf War, the heroes were the people who were based with 10 tents in the middle of desert as they cooked hot chicken soup for us at 2 AM as we came off patrol, freezing in the desert. It was the truck driver who drove up food and supplies to everyone or the clerk that managed all the logistics of supplies and troops are just as much heroes in my book. It was the people in a US Army supply company who set up a small base camp and built actual hot showers out of wood 2 x 4’s and plywood for us to use as we passed through that area. There were times where we had no showers for weeks. The reality check is that so many Americans do not understand that we soldiers took field baths with only a bucket of water in the field. That is what soldiers do. The people who were brave to build a small base camp in the middle of the desert so we could have a hot shower and meal were fantastic.

When I fell about 1 AM out in the middle of nowhere and cracked my head, bleeding, it was the Reserve doctor that I found at a very small base camp 20 miles away out in the middle of nowhere, who just happened to be visiting a command base camp, who patched me back up again. We were short people on security patrol that night, so in just a few hours, I was back out in the dark doing my thing with my team.

I thanked the cook who made fresh hot bread and food for my team and I when we came back from patrol. My guys and I would walk into this one small camp in the middle of nowhere, where nobody would be in this tent at 4 AM except one guy. He was the cook who stayed up all night, and asked us if we were ok and if could he make us some hot chocolate, coffee or even make us a hot meal. The cook would have things like brownies, cup cakes or fresh nut bread, fresh fruit and hot coffee waiting for us. So many Americans have no clue how all this really matters.A mere THANK YOU from our team almost made the cook cry in pride.

These are the heroes in my book. Let us not forget the thousands to soldiers who are still overseas in the Middle East who are doing these things today.

Freedom has never been free. It comes with a heavy price.

In the Military we do not have political correctness as in the civilian world. There is no division by race, religion or income class in the military. There are just American (soldiers) veterans and that is all we see. It is time that the rest of America adopt these core values. In the active duty military units there is no race card. If America following the social rules that the US Military has, then America would not be such a polarized county. By US Charter and the US Constitution, the Military condemns, and in the past has fought and died to prevent socialism, racism, dictatorships, fascism and Marxism/communism from operating on US soil. If our schools taught to condemn these evils, then America would once again be united.

I want to add that while there are radical Muslim groups such as ISIS who are just killing everyone, other Muslims who do not support Sharia law. There are many Muslims who I have met that are more caring towards Christians than many people in America. 99% of the Muslims in Saudi Arabia will help you. You can knock on any door for help, or even ask for water or food and their tradition is to open their home and they help you. Before the war started, when I was using a single pay phone along a desert road I ran out of the coins needed. A Muslim man with his wife, pulled up out of nowhere to make sure that I was OK because it really was a pay phone in the middle of nowhere. I was trying to call home since the phone was in a safe area. They gave me more coins to call home and I did not even ask them for anything at all. They saw I was short coins. They refused for me to pay them dollar for the local coins and thanked me for being in Saudi Arabia and protecting their country.

I had so many Muslim families in the Middle East invite me for tea and even to sit with the for hot meal with their family. Yes, my team and I accepted many times.

I will never forget a shop owner in Saudi Arabia. He knew our unitwas suddenly arming up and getting ready to head out north bound to Iraq. He gave me a very large boom box radio that also received short wave radio so we could listen to the American Free Radio music and receive the BBC news in the middle of nowhere. The tradition is to give him something in return. Being a soldier, I had nothing to give back to him back except an extra unit patch that I had. He refused for me to pay for the radio. It was a brand new radio he sold in his store. I could only give him my deep gratitude. When our ground invasion started at 1:00 AM my team and I could hear the reports of Iraq bombings in real time on the short wave radio listening to the BBC re-transmitting CNN, as we drove north.

In another small town, as Military Police we had the leeway to be in town to keep all US troops out of the villages to reduce the risk of sniper or other attacks against the troops. At that time, is was the US Army Military Police who secured many roadways, convoys, runways/airstrips for the 101st to fly in up to us, area security, smaller towns and villages while the 101st pushed into the larger areas and towns.

When we wanted a hot meal, a restaurant owner allowed us to sit in a safe and secure area in the far back of this restaurant to eat a great meal. There we where loaded down like Rambo inside. One of our guys had to hang back to guard the Humvee who parked in the back. We ate where many people from the front could not see us, and we ate at a table with our backs to the wall. The owner was so nice. When prayer time came, and they lock up all stores and pray five times a day. The shop owner said it was ok for us to stay as he locked the front door which is normal as all businesses close and lock up for prayer time. We got a little nervous, but it worked out ok as he left his wife there to serve us, which is highly against normal tradition during prayer time.

My thoughts and prayers consistently go out to those who were hit hard with road side bombs and attacks, especially in the 2003 second Iraq war where Iran supplied troops and supplies to hit our guys in 2004 - 2010 as DC said nothing as our guys were in more than a cold war with Iran on Iraq soil. My unit re-deployed back 2 or 3 times where guys were killed. Sometimes I think that if I had left my company with 30 employees and re-deployed with them in the 2003 war, that I could have save some of the new guys. Many people do not realize that the 2003 Iraq war had very very experienced war vets where they had to learn fast. it was a hard choice as if I had gone for another tour, the 30 families in my business could have lost their jobs while I was gone. There were many experienced war veterans who experienced this same cross road back then.

One thing that I will never forget is as a Team Leader, I told my guys that we have a job to do there. However, I told them that we will not be doing stupid things like crawling into holes or into bunkers like in the movies. If we find a bunker, merely blow it up and move on. I told my guys that coming back with all of our fingers and toes was clearly a mission goal. Many Americans do not realize that many teams performed well right up to about 2004 when Iran funded and trained people in Iraq to make IED's (roadside bombs). That was a nightmare for everyone after that time. Our Team was merely lucky in the Gulf War. That is all it was. Luck. When I look at the IED nightmare after 2004, those soldiers were like supermen fighting in that escalated environment. Do not forget that the cooks, the truck drivers and supply clerks where suddenly getting hit by merely driving down the road then.

It is these stories that the American media never speaks about. Yes, there are many bad guys in a war zone. Yes, innocent people get killed in the cross fire in war. However, there are many good people who just want to live in peace where they are, and they do not want to force their religion on anyone. They just want to live a normal happy life.

To the many Muslim families who opened their homes to my team and I, who gave us a hot meal, who gave us safety to cool down and rest from the 115 degree heat, who always invited us to sit for tea with them in the shade, who truly cared for our safety and blessed us to serving to protect them, I say thank you.

Working with the Younger Returning Veterans

This year, I wish to share a story with you about our veterans returning home from the war who suffer from serious PTSD.

When I was a First Responder to the Florida Keys after Hurricane Irma in 2017, I teamed up with about 16 younger veterans who served in Iraq around 2010. They were younger. We traded war stories as set up base camp and helped hundreds of hurricane victims there. We were 45 miles away from all support and FEMA because we know how to do that. After all we were war veterans. I want to tell you about something about what I am seeing from many of the younger veterans who served in the Iraq war from about 2006 to 2011.

Many of these veterans were forced to do 3 and 4 tours in the war zone. It was too much. Many of these veterans who served with high honor and bravery now have serious Post traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). Out of about 16 younger veterans I worked with in the Florida Keys, at least 7 had PTSD at horrible levels. One minute they would be a great normal person. Then 2 minutes later a person could change into a high rage, angry person over nothing. It was not healthy and certainly not good.

At least 8 of them told me about the massive medications they took daily and about the health mismanagement from the VA. They all wanted to help the hurricane victims and they did, but is was messy. My point is that many of these veterans where unemployed and needed help. Others in the same younger age group were off duty volunteer firemen who in my view also suffered from PTSD.

The government is not helping them. The VA pays a mere $120 to $600 a month to most disabled veterans and that is it. These same guys drove to Houston to help after the hurricane there. A week later they drove to the Florida Keys after Irma crushed the South Florida and the Keys. No income and little money, but they still went. I know besides helping people, that this type of disaster environment was actually therapeutic for many of them.

While some of the veterans had serious PTSD problems. they are not bad or dangerous people. However, I was concerned why they showed up in the Florida Keys dressed in full battle clothing and gear, carrying AR-15's, with 6+ extra 30 round ammo magazines, with a pistol on their hip. When I arrived, I made it very clear that there will be no shooting of any kind. We set up an base camp 45 miles west where FEMA or law enforcement was based. I explained that if any large group of hurricane victims wanted to overrun the food and water supply base along a private air strip, that we are going to merely step back and allow them to take it all. The veteran lead there, a 32 year old women who lived in California and drive to the Hurricane zones here, unemployed with PTSD did not like my comments about all the weapons. You can say it went down hill from there with her and several others who dressed up and were "armed up" like they wanted to invade Baghdad again. Yes, she came from CA to Florida in full gear and heavily armed as well.

One veteran even had a silencer on the end of his AR-15. That was nuts. I had to step in, step on some toes, and made it clear that nobody is going to be shot over food, water, looting or anything. I explained to them that I took a 11 person medical team to Haiti in January 2010 where 200,000 died, no government and no law enforcement. Over 1 million Haitians roamed the streets 24/7 there, and I took care of my team just fine wit no law enforcement anywhere. My team in Haiti was not armed, but we operated smart and safe.

At that time where was no power, not running water, and the heat index was about 103 degrees and the team had about 3-4 hours sleep per night. A bad environment for tempers to become short. These veterans where out of state and were not climatized to work in 103 degrees. I finally got them to slow down in the heat as they were burning out fast. They had no rest for 3- weeks as they all came from Houston mess to the Florida mess. I got them to agree no to carry the AR-15's and store them in a house with the owner we based camped at. A good step in the right direction.

I told the Florida Keys veterans team that we can make arrests for looting homes or if there is a local hurricane victim being attacked no doubt we will take action, but there will be no shoot outs. None of these young veterans even lived in Florida. Their help was greatly appreciated, but I stressed hard that they were not going to get into any shootouts. Several of these guys truly wanted to find any reason to start shooting in a night fight there, and I made it clear that this was not going to take place. When a sheriff drove by our base camp about 11 PM to see how we were doing, one of the guys actually asked about if they could shoot a person under "Stand Your Ground" laws. The answer was yes. Afterwards, I again stress that they should learn to defuse a problem and not draw a weapon and escalate it. I was the only trained Military Police Officer in the Group. When Governor Scott reopened all the roads into the Keys and we know there were massive new food and bottle water points, I flew back into Tampa Bay on a private plane. I was beat. The heat was really bad down there.

I bring this up because our Veterans Administration is not helping. Many of these kids are not holding jobs. Instead they are given buckets of medication from the VA and then ignored with a $200 monthly disability check.

American veterans have fought and died for America and world freedom and peace. It is time to provide better medical care for our veterans and provide many of them will full disability checks plus housing and food allowances to keep them from going homeless. This is what is needed, yet our Congress continues to fail them.

It is time that all schools and colleges once again teach what has been sacrificed for those who have never served at all.

I wish to add that it is the duty of everyone in our country to respect the American flag and to always stand up for our veterans and the national anthem. Not doing so it not a protest. It is just dishonorable and disgraceful.

Black flags represent ISIS / Radical Dictatorships. Flags that are all red or red and black represent the communist movement on US soil.

In America, our flag represents Freedom and Equality. learn the difference because we are now seeing these other flags everywhere across America today.