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expecting me to return when the tour was over. I imagined it was the same for these soldiers and their families. Yet they didn’t make it home. As a father and husband I thought a great deal about the well-being of my family, especially if something were to happen to me while deployed. I was no longer treating the children of service members in the comfort of the Pediatric clinic. I was no longer talking with families about when mommy or daddy left for Iraq, how long they had been gone, and when they would be coming home. I was now treating the deployed service member themselves and I had become one of the deployed dads I had heard so much about. My primary military duty was now to the soldier but there was still a big part of me that wanted to |
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I would say the “spirit” behind Operation IronFamily emerged during my medical training as a pediatric resident. I came across an increasing number of families whose lives had been touched, and in some cases dramatically changed, by the deployment of a loved one to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was my job to care for the children of our military. In the three years of my education at the San Antonio Military Pediatric Center, I treated sons and daughters of Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, and Sailors. I saw first hand how deployments can impact a family and how the death of a loved one can change their lives forever. My duty as a military doctor called on me to care for and about patients and their families, to practice medicine with empathy.I arrived at Camp Taji about 6 |
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months into my unit’s deployment. I was coming in as a replacement for another physician who would be returning to the United States. The soldiers of the 1-7 CAV, or Garryowen, had arrived in mid November 2006. Barely one month after landing “boots on ground” four soldiers were killed when an Improvised Explosive Device hit their vehicle. Two more soldiers died in the next 3 months. I wasn’t in Iraq when these soldier’s lives were cut tragically short. I never met them, but I felt I owed them something. I felt it important to remember their service and honor their memory. I thought about what it must be like for their families. I had just left my family standing at the airport, waving goodbye as I boarded the plane, fully |
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continue taking care of their families. I knew there was something that could be done to reach out to the families of our fallen service members. I felt I was being called to serve in a combat zone by caring for the medical needs of soldiers and the needs of their families. When I left for Iraq my daughter was 2 ˝ years old, my son had just turned one, and my wife was 3 months pregnant with our third child. There is no amount of preparation for the kind of separation a war |
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brings and there is no doubt that part of my motivation for this cause stems from being away from my own family. This was something I could do for my family and for all military families. I consider it a great honor to have others help and support to my family while I am away. For example, when my son Vincent John arrived a little early and in a rather dramatic fashion, I was literally humbled to tears by the outpouring of support my wife and children received. I wasn’t |
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able to make it home in time for his birth, but just knowing they were in good hands made all the difference in the world. Military families often sacrifice so much and through Operation IronFamily it is my hope to give something back, to say “Thank You.” Read more & find out how you can contribute to Operation IronFamily online. |
Operation IronFamily
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IMPORTANT REMINDERS Applications for College Scholarships are due by April 30th to be considered for the Fall Semester and October 31st for Spring Semester. Financial applications are due by the end of each quarter in order to be considered in the following quarter. All applications must be completed in full and must include all supporting documentation as noted on the application. Please remember to check your submission before forwarding to us. |
Inside this issue:
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Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund, Inc. |
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January 2008 CFSRF NEWS CF |
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James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world |
