First, I'm not much of a writer, my grammar is atrocious and I only witnessed a fraction of the stories that were told. If you were there, please add your stories and recollections. This is what I sent to my daughters school and some others that asked for a recap. Close your eyes occasionally and try to picture the looks on their faces and ours as we're all touched.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Good morning:
On Saturday, the Houston and Austin Cobra Clubs made our Christmas run to San Antonio, Brooke Army Medical Center to visit wounded soldiers and their families. Here’s some of the story.
We arrived at our rally point just outside the “Lonesome Dove Land & Cattle Co.” ranch on Saturday morning at 10 am. While we transferred over $8,000 in donated shop supplies, one of our club members put on his Santa outfit. He fired up his bright red Shelby Cobra and brought up the rear along with the “Red Sled” and trailer loaded to the hilt with a wide assortment of body shop supplies. Leading Santa into the ranch was a line of 30 replica Shelby Cobra’s, all on their way to spend the day and show our appreciation to 30 wounded soldiers and their families.
We were greeted at the Ranch by 50 men, women, soldiers, their children, KENS News and the local newspaper, all cheering and taking pictures. We shut off the our cars and the children immediately began running towards us. BE CAREFUL, the side pipes are VERY hot, you’ll burn your legs. One of the wounded soldiers shouts back, “what if you don’t have any legs”? Our first taste of the reality of the day was at that point. After being introduced to all the soldiers, we popped our hoods and answered questions for about 30 minutes. They’re just like most other young men, they love cars.
That’s why the “Automotivation” program was started. To give them something to get their minds off their injuries and focus on something they can call their own. They come to the ranch from BAMC, 5, 6, 7 soldiers a day, in between rehab and surgeries, to work on their cars and donated cars for hours, sanding, priming, painting, doing body work, maintenance and repairs, in three shops donated by the owners of the ranch Molly and Hugh Long, both who served in the military.
After the question and answer session, the shout came out, “Take us for a ride”. We gladly loaded them up, one at a time, wounded, their kids, a few wives and took them on a short but very spirited ride on the main road outside the ranch. The looks on their faces when we returned was priceless. Smiles from ear to ear. These guys stared death in the face and survived, so when we asked them, “Do you want to go fast” the answer was “Yes sir”. We left our marks on the road that day, a few burnouts, a couple of donuts and memories that will last forever.
Lunch was provided by a local Bar B Q restaurant. This was a good time to sit down with the soldiers, allow them to open up with their stories, where they’ve been, how they were injured, where they’re from and where they’re going to from here. It was difficult to hold back the tears but we had to. These young men, burn victims, amputees and some with traumatic brain injuries, they don’t want you to feel sorry for them, they want to know someone cares about their sacrifice. They’re just kids, like mine and yours, doing a job with unbelievable heroism. Major General Russell Czewr arrived just as lunch was finishing up to thank us for everything we did. He informs me “what you and the Cobra Club are doing helps tremendously with the moral and rehabilitation of the wounded.” In appreciation of our efforts he present me with the Generals “Challenge Coin”. I told him it was an honor and accepted it on behalf of everyone that participated this weekend. We also presented Janis at Operation Comfort with an envelope containing over $3,000 in cash, checks and gift cards to be used to purchase more shop supplies. Several members made gift bags for the soldiers. These contained blankets, hats, pens, autographed Hooters Calendars, 100 Run N Gun T’s from the Austin club, snacks and lots and lots of baked goods to bring back to the hospital.
Chris, a young man who left the Army in ’05 was showing us around, introducing us to everyone and answering many of our questions. At 25 he looked like the kid next door. He told me about the “Sled Hockey” team they started. Sleds with two ice skates underneath, you sit down on them and propel yourself around the ice with two poles, spikes on one end, hockey stick on the other. He tells me “Full Contact”, I’m trying out for the Para-Olympics team next year. I have this puzzled look on my face, he notices it and pulls up his pants leg and tells me he lost his leg in Iraq, an IED while he was driving a fuel truck.
I’m not a great writer and I didn’t hear all the stories told that day but we left that day changed people. 50 of us, mostly focused on ourselves and our cars, now with a new focus, these soldiers, their stories, their recovery, just kids that want to go back to being regular guys, get a job, have a family and live in the greatest country in the world. I only have a few pictures right now, here’s the link for them and the link for the newspaper article from the event.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/military...than_cars.html
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...localeid=en_US
More pictures to follow.
For more information on Operation Comfort and how you can help out go to>>>
http://www.operationcomfort.org/
PS: Jay, thanks for bringing this to my attention. My family and I will never forget this day.
Merry Christmas to everyone and God Bless the soldiers.