Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Leo

SSgt. Mike Mills    

Welcome to this week's installment where all the member bloggers of Wednesday Hero collectively honor many of the real hero's found in this country who's names and bio's have been provided to us for these humble tributes by blogroll creator Indian Chris @ Right Wing and Right Minded.

Many of them are those that have paid the ultimate price for our country protecting it both here and abroad from the many threats we face from our enemies wishing us and them harm, some are not. In either case they are the real American heroes of today and we now both salute and offer our prayers. To join us if you wish to please start by reading the post below.(Introduction courtesy of  Chicago Ray )

 

SSgt. Mike Mills

 

On June 14, 2005 SSgt. Mike Mills's life was forever changed. The HETT(Heavy Equipment Transport System) he was riding in was hit by an IED.

 

The attack resulted a cracked clavicle and scapula bones, dislocate shoulder, broken left hip, 4 out of 5 bones broken in his foot and being set on fire. The driver in the truck behind him ran with a cooler of melted ice which he threw on Sgt. Mills to put him out.

 

He spent three months in the Brooks Army Medical Center at Ft. Sam Houston, TX with the injuries listed above plus 2nd, 3rd and deep tissue burns to 31% of the left side of his body.

 

The first thing he remembers thinking after the attack was that his soldiers needed him and he needed to get back to them. "Then the guilt set in about what I did to my family. I've totally screwed that up. Look at me, no don't. I look hideous. How can I face my kids looking like this. They'll be embarrassed to be seen with me. What if they won't love me anymore? Speaking of love, my wife, oh my god. How can I expect her to stay with me. I'm not a man anymore. She's not going to want be intimate with a freak. What if I can't work, how do I support myself, my family. I had the nightmares and couldn't sleep. I wasn't eating and was loosing weight. I didn't really care. If I didn't start eating, they where going to put the feeding tube back in. Who cares, I've totally screwed up my life anyways."

 

But he found out just how much is wife loved him, when she stood by his side throughout the entire ordeal. She was there for every wound dressing and even learned how to change the dressings herself.

 

 

 SSgt. Mike Mills now runs the site For The Veteran... By A Veteran in which he helps veterans, soldiers and their families find information they may not have been given after their medical discharge or retirement.

 

 

Some may say that Mike gave his country more than enough when he was severely maimed by an IED on that fateful day of June 14, 2005, but Mike continues to give to his fellow servicemen, as well as to his nation!

 

 

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

 

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

 

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.

Tags: Wednesday Hero, Military, War on Terror

"Christmas in Fallujah"

Came across this, thanks to   Paul Rieckhoff

Billy Joel wrote this song based on letters he received from troops serving in the combat zones.

 

Joel gave the song to a virtually unknown 21-year-old singer named Cass Dillon--a guy he chose because he wanted a singer the age of many of the troops in Iraq.
Check out "Christmas in Fallujah" here (with lyrics):

 

Joel and Dillon have pledged the proceeds of the song to Homes for Our Troops

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Let me know what you think of the song...I've already heard from one currently serving soldier,who Doesn't like it....and I'm still undecided, how I feel about it.

 

Quote of the Day

When I got dressed to go to the Wreaths Across America ceremony in Staunton on Saturday

I came downstairs and asked April how I looked?

Her answer?......"Overtly American"

ROFL. This is what I was wearing:

(the picture is me on the left, with my aunt Lynn )

 

Wreaths Across America-Staunton National Cemetary 2007

 

 

Here's the few pictures I took at the ceremony today (my batteries started going out, one of these days I'm going to figure out this whole camera thing)

It was Cold, and we actually had Less of a turnout than last year, but it was still very moving.

 

Tags: Wreaths Across America

Soldiers Angels Web Surfing

My weekly post with a Sampling of what's out there in the blogosphere by,and about,

Soldiers Angels

 

In the News

Soldiers Angels Network (which is a great place to find out stories in the news about Soldiers Angels)  had this story posted earlier this week

JCC students 'adopt' a soldier]Indy Star.com

 

Across the Ocean

From Soldiers Angels Germany comes two posts  Going Home

and  Clark-Wells Wedding at BAMC

Willie posts appreciation on   A German-American Friendship Bracelet

 

In the USA

Soldiers Angels Texas told about   Pearl Harbor Remembered,66 years later

Tanker Brothers passed on a press release  From Nashville,TN

 

"New-to-me" Angels

Politically Incorrect and Loving It  urged folks to  Be an Angel..Adopt a Soldier

and   Generic Blog   has adopted Two soldiers! Hurray!

 

Utterz for Our Troops

Don't forget this program   Utterz for our troops

SoldiersAngels.org and EmailOurMilitary.org have joined with Utterz com
to give everyonea new way to say send good wishes and holiday greetings
to our service men and women.

To create a good wishes/holiday greeting for our troops, follow these simple steps. Utterz will make donations to Soldiers' Angels for each person who does!

 

Remembrance

And lastly,  Life in the Northeast , as she does every Sunday, posted   Remember

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That's it for the sampling of this week's past postings. This meme will be on hiatus next week, as we're traveling to the 'Great White North' to celebrate the holidays with family! :)

 

Tags: Soldiers Angels

Utterz for our Troops

From the   Soldiers Angels website   comes yet Another way to send messages to the troops this holiday season!

(and Utterz will make donations to Soldiers Angels for each person who does!)

Click here: Utterz - Utter for our Troops

 

 

Want to see what some of them look like?  Go here  http://trooputterz.blogspot.com/

 

 

(You Know we're going to do this for Our Soldier....I'll post up a link after we get this done! :)

 

 

Tags: Utterz, troops, soldiers angels, emailOurMilitary

Wednesday Hero

This Week's Hero Was Suggested By Louie

 

Bill Juneau 36 years old from Rush City, Minnesota November 27, 2007  

Welcome to this week's installment where all the member bloggers of Wednesday Hero collectively honor many of the real hero's found in this country who's names and bio's have been provided to us for these humble tributes by blogroll creator Indian Chris @ Right Wing and Right Minded.

Many of them are those that have paid the ultimate price for our country protecting it both here and abroad from the many threats we face from our enemies wishing us and them harm, some are not. In either case they are the real American heroes of today and we now both salute and offer our prayers. To join us if you wish to please start by reading the post below.(Introduction courtesy of  Chicago Ray )

 

 

 

Bill Juneau 36 years old from Rush City, Minnesota November 27, 2007

 If there was one thing Bill Juneau loved as much as his country, it was his dog, Jake.

 

The accident-prone black Lab, who has been hit by two cars, had a toe amputated on his right paw and survived eating 42 candy bars in one sitting, once fell off a dock and through the ice on a lake while Juneau was hunting withhis best friend, Dan Bock. Bock said Juneau jumped into the icy, chest-deep water to save his dog.

"He threw that wet dog on the deck and sacrificed everything to save him," said Bock. "Bill's just that type of guy."

Juneau, a 10 year veteran of the Chisago County sheriff's deputy, was in Iraq helping to train Iraqi police recruits when his convoy was hit by and IED 50 miles outside Baghdad.

 A spokesperson for DynCorp, the private firm Juneau was working for, said Juneau was driving the lead vehicle in the large convoy that included U.S. Army personnel as well as members of the Iraqi National Police Force. The convoy was headed for a scheduled training mission. An Iraqi translator and a U.S. Army soldier sustained injuries in the blast as well.

His twin sister, Bridget Sura, said he wanted to help Iraqis rebuild their country and create better lives.

 "He would often sugar-coat the bad stuff, because he wanted us to know about the positive things," she said. "But we still worried every minute of every day."

Another reason he joined was because he loved adventure, she said. While with the Chisago County Sheriff's Department, he started and led the country's SWAT team. Jake, his dog, has been embraced by Juneau's sister's family.

 "He has more lives than a cat," Sura said, adding that they recently discovered a chocolate stash he'd hidden in his kennel. "Jake is a part of my brother," she said. "He[Bill] will be missed by a lot of people. This will leave a hole in a lot of people's hearts."

 

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.

Tags: Wednesday Hero