Category: coping

Posted on

Not All Heroes are on the Front Lines. A Marine Saved a Life in California

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it.

___________________________________

My last post a shared some sad stories about heroes who gave their all in WWII. Today I am wanting to share a more uplifting story about a hero that wasn’t on the front lines.

___________________________________

A Marine’s quick thinking meant the difference between life and death for a motorist on an isolated desert road in California last year.

Capt. Stephen Alexander, the executive officer for the Marines’ recruiting station in Dallas, was driving through Elora, California on his way to the Marine Corps ball to celebrate the service’s 245th birthday when a vehicle going the other way lost control and flipped onto its side.

“Once the vehicle came to a final stop, I pulled over immediately,” Alexander said in a press release. The Marine was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal in a ceremony in Texas on Dec. 11.

“There was a vehicle in front of me that also pulled over with [3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment] Marines,” said Alexander, who at the time of the incident was a first lieutenant with 3/4 stationed in California. “I’d never met them before; they were from a different company. We all ran over to the vehicle; at this point the vehicle was on its side and the driver was at the bottom and not coherent.”

The driver was unconscious and critically injured, and the Marines could not open any of the car doors due to the vehicle damage from the crash. Undeterred, one Marine broke through the back window while Alexander smashed through the windshield so that he could start applying trauma care.

“Once they smashed in the window I hopped in and started treating as many injuries as I could find,” Alexander said. “Every once and a while the driver would come back to consciousness and say he couldn’t breathe.”

There was no cell service in that part of the desert, and the nearest ranger station was about an hour away. The Marines would have to make do until help arrived. Alexander found that the driver’s leg was partially severed, so he used belts as tourniquets to stop the bleeding before another Marine provided an actual tourniquet.

“We came to Vegas with our dress blues, not tourniquets or our emergency field kits,” Alexander said. “Had the other Marines not been there, there’s no way I could have acquired the things needed to treat him. I would have tried my best, but there’s not a whole lot I could have done once I got in the vehicle had they not continued to provide whatever resources they could find.”

After about an hour, park rangers arrived, followed by a nurse who took over treatment for the driver. The nurse found that the driver also had a punctured lung which was causing his shortness in breath. After about two hours, a helicopter arrived to take the driver, but it couldn’t find a place to land. Luckily, an ambulance came by, at about the same time and Alexander moved the driver into it so he could get to a hospital.

A former infantry officer, Alexander had been trained for this sort of situation. But in the end, he said no amount of training can fully prepare you for the real thing.

“I think reacting to something like that, you either do or you don’t,” said Alexander. “There’s no Marines Hymn playing in the background as you run across the road; you just do something.”

Alexander himself suffered a traumatic brain injury which could have killed him just four months prior to the car accident. He never expected he would wind up treating a driver suffering the same injuries, he said in the release. Though he never found out what happened to the driver, the quick actions of Alexander and the other Marines deserve praise.

___________________________________________

There are many of these kind of stories I will be sharing in the future. But, my next post will be all about my new book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In an Out of the Trenches of Life.”

___________________________________________

How are you doing my friend? The rush of Christmas and the pandemic that doesn’t allows us to see family, and it can pull us down like a huge magnate.

Hope everything is going great for you, but if it isn’t, remember over 10,370 fellow veterans follow this site, and they all have your back.

However, if it is getting too overwhelming, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. They have highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Don’t take on anything alone in this not so friendly world.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

__________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it.

  • Document
  • Block
Posted on

The Great Generation Gave Their All so we Could Have Freedoms

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it.

______________________________________

One thing we need tor remember is the sacrifice that our brothers and sisters had during WWII.

Here are two stories that are tragic, and we should be so thankful for their sacrifices.

  1. The Tester Brothers, New Victory, Tennessee.

What the Tester family enjoyed more than anything else was making music. On the front porch of their two story clapboard home- what became to be known as “the Old Home Place.” – Millard and Eliza Tester, along with their seven boys an two girls, would assemble a variety of fiddlers, banjos, and other instruments and play the music they learned growing up in the hills and valleys of Northeast Tennessee.

In December of 1943, a note arrived at the Old Home Place, informing the family that a telegram awaited them at the post office in near by Telford. It was Carroll Tester, the youngest of the siblings, and the only one still living at home, that had to go and get the telegram.

She brought the telegram to her mother who had just lost her husband to cancer the year before.

Three times Carroll made the trip to get telegrams, bringing back the sad news that another one of her older brothers had been killed in the war.

The last telegram arrived in January of 1945, and that was the day that music died. Carroll remembered the instruments in the closet that were the banjos, fiddles, and guitars were. They were never strummed again or played again. The memories were too painful of a time and a group of great brothers gone by.

2. The Preddy Brothers, Greensboro, NC.

“Are you sure the skinny kid can fly?” asked Col. John. C. Meyer when he saw the new pilot who had just arrived to join his 32nd Fighter Group in England. The skinny little kid was George E. Preddy, from Greensboro, N.C., and he certainly could fly. George went on to become one of the top P-15 fighter aces of WWII.

George’s younger brother, Bill, also became a decorated P-51 pilot, and both were killed by ground fire. George by friendly fire during the Battle of the Bulge, and Bill while strafing and enemy airfield in Czechoslovakia. in April 1945.

The greatest generation gave their all. They fought. They died, but because of them we are a free nation. NEVER FORGET!!

______________________________________

I am very proud to say I am a veteran. I am sure you are too. We should never be ashamed of our service, no matter when we did it. You didn’t have to earn medals to be a hero. You were a hero the moment you took the oath.

_____________________________________

What’s up? How are you doing? The holiday rush is in full swing right now. It is hard to keep up with the rat race. All of this hustle and bustle can cause anyone to feel drug down like a magnate.

If you are feeling this way. Not to worry my friend. There are over 10,350 fellow veterans here who have you back.

If it is too much for you right now, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will never hang up on you until they know you are OK.

Do not take on this unfriendly world alone!!

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

______________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it.

Posted on

Tough Times for Veterans During the Rat Race of Christmas.

If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it.

______________________________________

It has been a rollercoaster ride this whole week. I am beyond tired, but I am going to post anyway.

I have been “running,” all week. Not to the point where I can brag about my step totals, but just going, going, going!

I had two appointments to go to. A trip to the Oregon Coast. A trip to pick up groceries we had ordered, and much more.

It is called the “rat race,” and I am not able to keep up with it. I haven’t done all of my Christmas shopping yet, but I have to do it online. I am on lock down because of the virus. I have too many health problems. I would be a dead duck if I caught the virus.

______________________________________

First woman to Captain a Nuclear-powered-air craft carrier

The Navy has selected a woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for the first time in American history.

Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt was selected for the position by the fiscal year 2022 aviation major command screen board. Other officers who were picked for nuclear aircraft carrier command include Capts. Colin Day, Gavin Duff, Brent Gaut, David Pollard and Craig Sicola.

Naval Air Forces confirmed the historic selection on Monday, though it’s not known at this point which of the Navy’s 11 nuclear-powered carriers Bauernschmidt will command. 

This isn’t the first time Bauernschmidt has made history. In 2016, she became the first female executive officer of a nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln. As such, she was second-in-command of a crew of about 5,000 people. 

Bauernschmidt graduated from the Naval Academy in 1994, the same year women were allowed to serve on combat ships and planes.

_____________________________________

Airman receives the Air Force Cross

A Special Tactics Airman was awarded the Air Force Cross on Dec. 10 for heroic actions during a 2017 battle in Afghanistan in which he “repeatedly” exposed himself to enemy fire to direct airstrikes.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Alaxey Germanovich, a Special Tactics combat controller assigned to the 26th Special Tactics Squadron, 24th Special Operations Wing, Air Force Special Operations Command, will be presented with the second-highest award for combat bravery by Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett during a ceremony on Dec. 10.

Germanovich was attached to an Army Special Forces team with Afghan Commandos during a mission in Nangahar Provine, Afghanistan, on April 8, 2017. The team was ambushed by enemy combatants, and Germanovich “repeatedly exposed himself to sniper and machine gun fire while directing numerous danger close airstrikes.”

“With the team expending all of their rifle ammunition and grenades, they drew their pistols in an attempt to suppress the advancing enemy,” the release says. “Germanovich directed his team’s withdrawal, then traversed 700 meters carrying a casualty up a mountain to a helicopter landing zone while directing close air support.”

He’s credited with protecting over 150 friendly forces and destroyed 11 enemy fighting positions during the eight-hour battle.

Bed check

How are things going? Is the holiday season catching up to you? Is the rat race too fast?

You are not alone. There are over 10,320 fellow veterans here who have your back.

However, if it is just too overwhelming right now, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and it is free.

Don’t try to take on this world alone!!

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

______________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

_________________________________________

If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it.