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LRMC 2005
Visit
09-12-05 I have arrived here in
Germany and
other than being tired and on the wrong time zone all is well.
I start Red Cross training Monday and then other in processing
after that.
Karen
09-15-05 I’ve had shots because the military lost my records in the big
military database in the sky and the paper shot records I had
were not up to date enough. I can not start working until my
shots are up to date on official records.
Karen
09-19-05 They are in urgent need of AT & T or MCI 120 minute (no more than
that) phone cards. They also said to spread the word that they
DO NOT WANT TOILETRIES. They have been sending their stuff
into the field and even the field locations are saying PLEASE
STOP!!! I have a Red Cross training class in about a hour so I
have to go. More later.
Karen
09-20-05 I went to the chaplains clothing closet today and I found the
last two pairs of shoes that we sent back in Feb or Mar on the
shelf still with the sponsor labels on them. The volunteer in
the clothing closet said that most of the shoes that we sent
were gone in less than a month. I don't remember the exact
number but I think it was close to 200 pairs or was it 300?
I also saw the book that everyone signed from the benefit at
the Lorton American Legion on the table as you walked into the
Chaplains office. It is with boxes of candy and the pastries
that Bernie sent.
I bagged some candy today for the welcome bags and went
through custom forms to be entered into a data base for thank
you letters. It was strange seeing my name and our project
come through on the other end. If and when they need more bags
they have to be half gallon size, snack size is too small for
movies in them. However, right now there are no movies and we
have more than enough bags.
There was a
young man in the clothing closet when I was there talking with
Jennifer, the volunteer and chaplains staff. The chaplain’s
staff was telling the volunteer about our project and the
young man came up and said to tell each of you "THANKS" He
said that you truly did not know what this meant to him. He
said that
it was over 100 in
Iraq
when he left and even tho to us this was sweater weather,
he had his long johns on and was wearing two sweat shirts. He
is coming back to the
States on Friday.
Karen
09-21-05 I
labeled and packed 120 candy welcome bags with music DVD's
(there are no movie DVD's) phone cards and candy (that we
shipped, that was a nice feeling).
1 box of Nathan's shipment of jackets arrived today; maybe the
other will arrive tomorrow. We had to unpack them at the post
office since the box was too large for the car. Then one of
the chaplains' assistants helped us get them into the
hospital. The reaction from the office was "WOW, you guys buy
NICE stuff". Don't you know I was proud as could be? I gave
them an address to a GySgt in the Balkans who has 300 marines
looking for items that we have so that shipment will go out
very soon.
Karen
9-22-05 Someone asked me a long time ago "Why we don't pack ready made
back packs or gym bags?" So if you ever want to know why we
don't pack our back packs or gym bags ready to go with little
shampoos, toothpaste, toothbrushes, boxers, t-shirts etc.,
it is because I just spent the entire afternoon
unpacking these items from groups that spent their time
packing this way. The reason being the troops come in looking
for just shampoo or just boxers, or the group will pack med
briefs with an x-large tee, so it all gets unpacked here. Some
of the guys are going back down range and don't have the room
for all the extras in these prepared bags. OK just had to get
that out of my system.
I meet some
very wonderful guys today. One particular young man happened
to receive a package of boxers that we shipped. When he saw
the tag he said something about it and I said that was a group
that I was part of in the
States. After he realized that we honor Fallen Heroes
he asked if we could honor two friends of his, SPC Carter and
SGT Ruth of Eco. 1-15 INF BN 3 BD 3ID. I have no other
information as of now but I'm sure we can find them on the
net. He was in need of sweats, guess what the shirt was ours!!
He began to tear up. He said that he had come back to the
States during a mid tour break and had been spit at. He
thought that there would be more of a welcome then there was.
He was surprised at the support that this group gave. (I
believe the shirt was from Kathy's family and the boxers were
from Sherry's family). He told me that he wished there were
more like me that supported the troops in the states and I
told him "Honey, there are!!" and I gave him a hug. After
clothing this young man from head to toe and making sure to
take into account his injuries we said goodbye and he asked if
he could come back tomorrow to maybe pick out some books. The
reply is of course. So my request to you is now show this
young man that he is truly supported. If you send me a PRIVATE
email I will give it to him if he does come back tomorrow or
next week. His name is XXXX. Please do not mention injuries or
the incident on his mid tour break,
just that we support him 100%.
Other items
of interest. Please forgive me I don't remember names but I
saw sponsors from IN, CA, KY, go out today. I do know that
these sponsors went out to day also Kathy, Dad, Sherry, Lehn,
Stafford American Legion, and Civitan Club. They still have
some of our sweats from our Jan shipment that are just going
out.
They are in
need of WOMANS SMALL sweats;
there are .
I'm really
tired right now and can't think of anything else to let you
know.
Karen
9-24-05 Today (Saturday) I had not planned on going into the hospital to
work but after getting an email from the office that they were
very busy I jumped in the shower and went right over. All of
our sweat suits may have not gone out last winter but they
sure are going out now. I don't even look at the sponsor
labels any more because most of them on the shelves are ours.
I do have to
tell you a funny situation that happened today. We had about 3
guys in the clothing closet and they were picking out their
items. One of the guys kept looking at me and looking at the
package of boxers in his hands. I went and asked him if he
needed help. Some of them are on some strong meds and get a
little distracted. He said "No, but why is your name on my
boxers". It took me a minute to realize he had one of our
packages and I was the sponsor and he was looking at my Red
Cross name tag. So I told him about our project. Both of us
thought that was very cool.
The weather
here is cool but sunny but these girls & guys are freezing
when they come in. So I'm glad we sent the jackets when we did
and there is another group that sent wind breakers that some
of the guys are taking. They are red and not going over so
well but soon it will be to cold for them and they will have
to be stored anyways.
I'm still not
sleeping through the night. That is it for now.
Karen
9-28-05 I meet a man today who received the Purple Heart. He joined the
U.S. Army because his friend died on Sept 11 at the towers. He
is giving 6 years of his life to honor his friend. He told me
about the friends that he has made and lost in this war. He
has my email address if he so wishes for us to honor any of
them.
I meet a
young man who was wheel chair bound. It is amazing the
determination to overcome these young people have. After being
in a chair after my foot surgery I know how difficult it can
be to maneuver on the ground but he would not allow us to help
him.
For the
American Legion people here, I meet 2 gentlemen from American
Legion Post 1. They had come in to help pack boxes but just as
with anyone they have to go through the Red Cross Orientation,
Training, Occupation Health Check and I forget what the other
office was called, then you get to start.
For those of
you that are local to my area and have seen my POW/MIA jacket,
WOW, I have never had so many comments about a jacket before.
I will be walking down the side walk and get this hand gesture
from someone I have seen earlier in the day. You know the one
that says TURN AROUND so they can show whoever they are
walking with the back of my jacket. But I'm very proud to wear
that jacket and very proud to be able to help these great
people here.
My time here
is going way to fast. It is a magnet that pulls me every
morning and it is difficult to leave at night. I can't even
think about leaving in Oct my heart goes to my throat each
time I think about leaving here.
Well,
starting to get sappy and it is late so I will close.
Karen
P.S. Thanks,
Sue,
that is one very thankful military member on this side. I had
one young man that came in today that was very amazed at all
the things he received. He said that he did not think anyone
back home cared any more.
P.S. We are
looking for any information about groups (Church groups, Civic
Groups, Schools, Scouts etc) that you might hear about that
are sending items to the hospital. If you could provide an
email address, web site or phone number to me about these
groups we would appreciate it very much. We are going to try
to curtail the items that we don't need and have them send the
items that we do need. We need all the help we can receive in
this effort. THANKS!!!
Karen
10-04-05 Today was much slower with patients than yesterday but I was very
busy packing, unpacking and sorting boxes.
Yesterday I
helped a young man who was in a wheel chair. I'm not sure what
his injuries were but I'm guessing it would have been private
in nature. He came to the hospital with only a pair of shorts
and a t-shirt. The weather here has turn cold and rainy. So I
knew when he came in he had to be cold. His liaison was
talking with another volunteer on the other side of the
clothes rack. He was just sitting there shaking from the cold.
So I asked him if he wanted to put on the sweats pants and the
zip up hood right then. He looked around and said he did not
think he could. I smiled at him and whispered "OH, their not
watching we can do this". The zip up hood sweat shirt was
easy, but the pants were another issue. We had to do both
ankles at the same time then up very slowly, but we got it and
when we went around the clothes rack and he was dressed
everyone was shocked. I asked him about his shoe size and
thank God we had his size. He could only wear one shoe at the
time but we slipped the other next to him in the chair. He had
the biggest smile on his face. I was asked today why and what
I got out of doing this? It was the smile on that
kid’s face, just makes your heart 10 times bigger.
I also
realized today the number of our young men wearing hearing
aids. It just hit me today after seeing about 4 of them come
in back to back. I talked to one young man last week but it
was today that I realized that we have a lot of them are
wearing hearing aids.
A patient I
spoke with put a twist on the care packages they are receiving
down range. I was explaining about huge amount of toiletries
that we have and he laughed and said they have several connex
full at his camp. He said that the American people are very
generous, but they have so much of it they can not give the
stuff away to others in the field. He comes from a camp with a
very small exchange. (For non-military here that means they
have a very small store). He also explained that people give
as if they were the only ones giving to a group, not realizing
that there might be 200 or more other people that give to the
same group of 100 deployed people. He asked me if I knew what
140 to 160 degrees inside a connex did to deodorant, can of
shaving cream or shampoo. He said that they have sent thank
you letters to people thanking them for their support, and try
to nicely say thanks but no thanks but it still comes. He also
explained that if the storage of those items was all it was
then they could handle it a little easier but all those boxes
cause more convoys. Then he said with convoys come the risk of
losing our buddies or our own lives for more of the same stuff
that we don't need. WOW, did that open my eyes a lot!! He was
not the only one in the clothing closet and they were all in
agreement with the amount of stuff they have at their camps,
especially toiletries. One of the guys said if there was a
group in the field that did not have any, WHICH HE DOUBTS, (He
was at a FOB) he would rather see it go from site to site in
the field then have resources wasted the way they are now.
I have done a
lot of hmmmm's since I have been here. Views from the hospital
staff, liaisons, the drivers that transport the patients every
day, the chaplains, the other Red Cross volunteers and how we
all interact with the patients differently and the patients
themselves. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!!
Karen
10-05-05 Judy, I have a problem with releasing an address to 1000's or
even 100's of people. It puts her son in greater risk.
Chaplains are
upset that their address is out there on as many sites' as it
is with incorrect needs of the clothing closet.
I know that a
couple of the guys
have come in complaining about a site that I know some
of you use. They said at first they thought it was a good idea
but then once the address was out there they could not turn
the shipments off even tho their address was not being listed
anymore. One marine said this morning that his group came into
the field and "Adopted" 3 connex full of stuff left from the
previous group. They took it all out and
destroyed it. They are giving stuff to the Iraq
communities because they don't have a need for it or it has
gone bad in the heat.
We also
discovered that Iraq seems to get more attention than
Afghanistan. But there are places even there that have more
than enough stuff. A Major this morning said they are
receiving swifer wet mop things. He said "what are we going to
do with those, we don't have floors." The captain from Iraq
said they did not need another package of baby wipes. From
what I can figure out people are taking items from different
list or guessing and just filling boxes with it.
William,
who is a member of this
Yahoo group,
spent his birthday in Iraq. I sent him 1 package for his
birthday. I tried to make it items that I knew he would like
and items he could share and enjoy with his friends. I don't
think receiving 2 or 3 thousand birthday cards that he would
have to worry about anthrax would have been the way to go. I
know that my space in my tent in Bosnia was VERY small (5x8).
That space had my cot and had to hold all my gear I sure would
not have wanted 2 or 3 thousand cards in it. I can't imagine
how William did it at Christmas playing Santa for us.
I just know
that unless I'm
told exactly what a group needs, item 1, item 2 and item 3,
we are not sending it. I'm not saying don't give, we just have
to do it smart.
Karen
10-06-05 This was the busiest day since I have been here. I got
hit hard this morning with patients, sometimes up to 8 or 9 at
the same time. I almost broke down and cried today with a
patient but I managed to hold it and talk him through his pain
spasm he was having, thank God! Just thinking about him brings
tears to my eyes.
I am usually
the only volunteer working in the morning; sometimes the only
one working all day which is usually not a problem but this
morning was difficult. I had a lot of patients in the clothing
closet that I had been helping when this young man (28-32)
came in and I knew right away I had to help him fast. I ask
him to sit in the chair and I got him shoes, I was on one knee
in front of him, when the pain hit bad, he lean forward and he
had his forehead on my shoulder and I could whisper in his ear
to breath slow and relax. I just kept talking him through the
breathing. It took 3 or 4 minutes before we could get the 2nd
shoe on. He whispered in my ear "I hate pain, I can't take
this." I just wanted to take it for him. The only thing I
could think of to whisper was "I know hun; it will get better
trust me".
I whispered
and asked him if he need a wheel chair back to the room and he
said no they (the doctors) told him that he had to start
walking. I told him that might be true but he did not have to
do it all at once. We waited about a minute more and I helped
him up and got him back to his liaison but it took me a minute
before I could turn around and go back into the clothing
closet to help the rest of the guys. It was much quieter when
I turned around and looked at everyone. I guess they might
have been watching us.
In the
afternoon it let up a little bit. Then while I was waiting for
the bus to come home one of the liaisons had a patient, whose
humvee was hit with IED, which needed clothing but the
chaplains had left for the day and I did not have the keys
anymore. I sat and talked with him while they were trying to
find out if they could find his bags from down range. His
hands are badly burned and his face was slightly. He will be
transported out very soon to the burn center. We sat and
talked for about ½ hour. He is from XXXXX and his family does
not support what he is fighting for. He believes that this is
something that we had to do for the people of
Iraq and he
HATES CNN. He said that was the worst thing when they came
into the country.
Karen
10-7 2005
Judy, You know what it is, it is being vested. Not for pay
but for the fact they are a human being, they are someone’s
son, daughter, father, brother or sister.
There was
another young man in today and he was quit badly chewed up
from shrapnel from a tank mine that ripped through his humvee.
I first put a pair of footy socks on him and he said "MMM, you
just don't know what a good pair of socks feels like". His
feet were bad but those socks must have felt really good. He
had just the hospital gown on and I asked him if he would like
some pants and he said that he could not wear them due to his
leg being so heavily bandage. I went to the store room and
brought back some
break-away pants. I asked him if he had anything under
the hospital gown. He said yes and I started to unsnap the one
side of the break a way pants and he untied his robe and there
he stood in his boxers. I have to admit I was expecting a
little more than boxers but he was so excited about those
break-away pants it did not seem to bother him. I had
to do most of the clothing since he only had ½ of one arm to
work with but when he left he had socks, shoes, some boxers
for later and SOMEONE else to help with,
break-away pants, and a zip up hoody. He said he was a
new human being!!! He was having some kind of reaction to the
drugs and he was itchy. He kept trying to scratch his back on
everything. I gave him a good back scratch and he said he
would be back down tomorrow after they give him his pain shot,
because the walls just don't scratch like that. My son use to
like my back scratches. He goes back into surgery Friday to
remove more shrapnel from his eye, arm and leg. Please keep
him and all these kids in your thoughts and prayers.
I was
speaking with a guy who works with patients coming from down
range. His patients stay at Ramstein. These are patients that
come straight through on the aircraft or that stay at Ramstein
for a few days. He got wind of me and our project. They are
kind of the forgotten ones and could use our help. They make
trips to LRMC for whatever supplies, sweats, shampoo, pj's,
boxers etc. LRMC has to give them. We might also be getting a
request from a small hospital in the field that does not seem
to be getting any or much support.
Karen
10-8-05 Sue, I
give these guys hugs all the time. I always ask first if it is
ok to give them a hug and I have never been told no. When I
hug them I tell them thank you for everything they have done
for me and my country and I support you. So I will give the
next guy a hug for you.
We have a FOB
that needs help now! They are under fire all the time. They
get very little if no packages (last package was received 5
weeks ago). I can't tell you where they are but they are
requesting just about everything. We need trial size shampoo,
shaving cream and lotion (not hotel size), candy lets get
someone in the group to take charge to do something special
for Thanksgiving and Christmas that we can send ASAP. No
SINGLE blade razors. I know they are more expensive but the
other stuff is crap and the guys hate them. We need letters of
support maybe from a school or scout troop.(DO NOT SEAL THE
ENVELOPES) We need BEEF jerky, disposable cameras. Let’s get
talking so that we know what each other is sending so that we
don't end up with all the same item.
Karen
10-10-05 Friday was a slower day. Most of it was sorting in the stock
room. I did speak with the nurse from down range and she will
be going back down on Monday or Tuesday.
I find it
amazing what some people will send to the hospital!!! Some of
it we just can not use and must give to Goodwill.
I spoke with
the Mr. T; he does the ordering for the clothing closet. What
a job he has! He has such a terrible time getting supplies in.
What we can order and get labels on and get to him in 3-4
weeks takes him months. I have given him some of my contacts
for ordering from Lands End so maybe that will help the
process.
I meet a
young man who will lose his leg once he gets back to the
states. He has nerve damage that can not be repaired and they
will have to take it off. His liaison came down Thursday to
get clothing for this young man's roommate. I had given her
(the liaison) black
break-aways, white long sleeve t-shirt, a black hood
sweat shirt and black knit hat. The liaison said that the kid
who was being dressed and the kid who will lose his leg were
going on and on about how sharp he looked in his new duds. She
was asked to come back down Friday and get the 2nd kid the
same out fit. Well, I did not have a second black hoody but I
had a medium grey one so I gave her that.
She asked me
if I could take the clothing up to give it to him. OF COURSE
!!!! I did not know what to expect but when I walked into the
room there was a young man about 23 He had a few incisions on
his face but looked great. We talked for about 15 minutes. He
told me that he was going to lose his leg when he got back to
the states and will get a super human leg. He had such a
positive outlook. He was glad to be alive because his buddies
did not make it that day. I gave him my card for honoree
information for a shipment. He left Saturday for his flight
back to the
States.
Some of you
may know and some of you may not. Last March? I convinced the
liquidation company for The Athlete's Foot Store to give us
all the shoes they had left over from their court ordered
bankruptcy. One of the conditions was that I had to take
EVERYTHING that was left in the store. Well, we had baby
shoes, hundreds of shoe laces, sports cleats, reflective
safety vests, red and blue footies and gel shoe insoles. I
gave the sports cleats to the local schools, some of the shoe
laces went to K-2 graders for crafts, the baby shoes went to
the Woodbridge American Legion children's project, and the
safety vests
went to a Boy Scout Troop that does parking for arenas in
AL.
It was the
last two items that had me for a loop since I did not want to
throw them out but knew no one that wanted them. The guys in
the field do not like the gel insoles for their boots and
these were mostly woman's sizes. WELL, I was talking to the
Chaplain who works on the mental health ward and he said those
guys are forgotten a lot and they only had the hospital slip
on slippers. I told him about the little footies I had and
asked if they could use them. He checked with the ward and IT
IS A GO. Brian has mailed them to me and I will take them in
tomorrow.
The gel
insoles are also here and will be given to the hospital staff.
So, that means that all the items given to us from the
Athlete's Foot Store found good homes and of it was taken
to the dump.
Karen
10-18-05 It is late but I wanted to check in and let everyone know that
the young man that I sat with before his surgery and
afterwards is doing fine. He is 20 and was JUST A LITTLE BIT
WORRIED about his surgery. He was shaking so bad when I met
him that it felt like an earthquake on the bench. Anyways, he
is good. He has 2 weeks recovery here and I do not know if he
will go back to the
States or back down range. Total recovery time is 6 to
8 weeks so I'm hoping he goes back to the States. His unit
leaves
Iraq in Dec anyways so no big loss if he is not there. He
wanted BK today and I brought it up for lunch for him.
It will be a
sad day on Thursday when I fly from here. Tomorrow being my
last day is depressing. I have met some of the most wonderful
and caring people you could ever meet. This has been very
rewarding and THE best volunteer work I have EVER done and I
have done a lot through the years. Thanks to all of you that
have supported the effort while I have been here. When I get
home I will start right away on getting everything shipped to
OUR guys.
Karen
10-19-05 I went by and visited a site where out-patients
are billeted. It was interesting to see how they are taken
care of there and the support we can provide that area.
Karen
10-24-05 I want to tell you about Nick. I met Nick Friday the week before
I left. He was at the bus stop and was pale and his hand was
shaking. I went and sat next to him and asked if everything
was ok. Mind you Nick looked all of 20 and I found out later
he was only 20. He told me in a slight southern draw that the
doctors were going to put a tube down his throat and cut him
open and put wire mesh in him. Well, I knew something was not
right about the wire mesh part but I told him everything was
going to be ok. I told him that he was at a good hospital and
he would be just fine and not to worry. I normally did not ask
what was wrong but I asked him what type of surgery he was
having and learned he had a rather bad hernia that had to be
fixed ASAP. I also knew that he was not having wire mesh put
in. He told me that first they were going to send him back to
the
States but it needed to be fixed now and his dad was
going to try to come here but that money was an issue. He
would just feel better if he had family with him. After
talking to him for about 10 more minutes I told him that if he
liked I would meet him before surgery and sit with him. I
would also wait for him to come out so that he would have
someone there that he knew. He looked up from the ground and
said "You would do that". I told him that I would and we made
arrangements to meet at the ER entrance at 0715 Monday
morning. He was not there at 0715 or 0730 or 0745. I got
worried that he had jumped on an aircraft back to the
States since he was talking about that on Friday to
have his surgery stateside. I left ER to find a friend to help
me track him down. I went back to ER just in time to get a
phone call from pre-op that Nick was up stairs waiting for me.
He had taken pain meds the night before and over slept. He
had taken a taxi and gotten to the ER when I left to track him
down.
When I got up
stairs, the nurse that walked me to his room told me that he
really thought a lot about me being there for him and was
scared that I had left ER and would not be there for him.
When I walked in the room this young man had a smile of
relief on his face. We talked about his family, the weather,
the hospital, the war and the surgery. I told him the best
thing was to relax. I told him that when I have surgery I sing
to myself and I have had more than one doctor tell me that I
have entertained them in OR singing the Yellow Submarine or
the Itsy Bitsy Poky Dot Bikini. Nick thought that was funny
but I told him just think of a song you like and it will relax
you. About 5 minutes later they came in to take Nick and gave
him a large shot of something to relax him. As they took him
down the hall I got the thumbs up over every ones head.
While he was
in surgery, which was to take an hour, I went to the clothing
closet and got him a bag of clothes and spent some time down
there waiting on other patients. I went up to Nick’s
ward about the time he was to be out but he did not come out
of surgery for another 1 ½ hours.
When he did
come to the ward he was still asleep. The nurse said that he
was difficult to wake up so I started talking to him asking
him way he was being so difficult and I had been there waiting
on him just as I had said so he had better open those eyes of
his. He opened his eyes and with VERY glassy eyes looked at me
and said YOU ARE HERE. I talked to him for about a minute more
and I asked the OR nurses how it went and they said that he
was very entertaining. I just said OH YEA. She said that he
was singing Mr. Bo Jangles. I just had to laugh. Nick kind of
rolled his head toward me and pointed his finger at me and
said it was all my fault. The nurse said that he was very
relaxed and surgery went well.
After we got
him moved to his bed and they got all his vitals and they left
I told Nick that I had put up all his clothes and got him new
clothing from the clothing closet. I showed him where I had
put everything in the closet and he just looked at me and said
"I LOVE YOU" I had to laugh a little because his eyes were so
glassy still. I said "I love you to Nick, now listen your
wallet is on this shelf." And he said "OK, but I really do
love you" I just gave up on telling him were his stuff was and
went about calling his parents and his girl friend. It took
about 20 minutes to get through to them but with calls
finished I told Nick bye and I would stop in to see him before
I left for the day. When I went back at the end of the day he
was still sleeping off the surgery and pain meds.
I saw Nick
twice a day until I left
Germany. He
was in lots of pain and was due to stay in
Germany for
two weeks and then to return to Iraq, even tho his recovery
time is 6 to 8 weeks and his unit is due to leave Iraq in
early Dec.
The Col at
the Chaplains office heard about Nick and me and called Public
Affairs. They called the Stars and Stripes and AFN and both
came in to do a news release about us the last day I was in
Germany. I was asked WHY a lot. Why did I go with him? Why did
I come to Germany? Why did I work 8+ hours a day? I don't know
the answer to that. But I do know that out of all the
volunteer work that I have done this has been the most
personally
gratifying to me. Someone told me that they thought that it
was because you got to see the wounded and be with them. I'm
not sure that is it. I think it is because the smallest things
mean the most to these troops. I put a pair of socks and
shoes on a young man whose feet were very bad. I was being
very careful not to hurt them. When I looked up he had tears
in his eyes. I told him I was very sorry for hurting him and
what could I do to help him. He told me he was not in pain.
He said that he could not believe that I put socks and shoes
on his f****** nasty feet for him and he thanked me. HE
THANKED ME!!! He got those feet defending MY freedom and
giving the Iraqi people freedom that they have never had
before and HE thanked me. Does anyone see something wrong
with that picture?
Karen Grimord
P.S. I have
more pictures for the web page as soon as I get caught up
around here.
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