THE HEROES THAT INSPIRE THE CALENDAR
One of Operation Calendar's missions is to raise money through the sale of our pin up calendars for seriously wounded troops and their families, and we are also committed to raising awareness of some of the challenges that our men and women in uniform and their families face. Many of the wounded require months and months of rehabilitation that is physically, mentally and emotionally difficult, and it is often financially debilitating to their families.
Click on the links below to learn more about some of these brave Heroes.
HEROES IN THE NEWS:
November 24 , 2007
Marine didn't recognize signs of brain injury
USA TODAY
Marine Lance Cpl. Gene Landrus was hurt in a roadside bomb attack outside Abu Ghraib, Iraq, on May 15, 2006, and faces medical separation from the Corps. He's also up for a Purple Heart. Along with 20,000 other veterans, he's not included in the Pentagon's official count of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's because Landrus' wound was to his brain and hidden from view...
November 18 , 2007
Forgotten Heroes
Newsweek
After returning from Iraq in late 2005, Jonathan Schulze spent every day struggling not to fall apart. When a Department of Veterans Affairs clinic turned him away last month, he lost the battle. The 25-year-old Marine from Stewart, Minn., had told his parents that 16 men in his unit had died in two days of battle in Ramadi. At home, he was drinking hard to stave off the nightmares. Though he managed to get a job as a roofer, he was suffering flashbacks and panic attacks so intense that he couldn't concentrate on his work...
November 12 , 2007
Mild traumatic brain injury the 'signature wound' of the Iraq war
Santa Barbara News-Press - Santa Barbara, CA
The bomb, two large artillery shells buried at the side of the road, exploded just a few feet in front of the Stryker. Ten days later: Same Stryker vehicle, another patrol, another explosion, more injuries. Two months later: Sgt. Brian Kerrigan and Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Du are still feeling the effects. It's referred to as mild traumatic brain injury, or mTBI, to distinguish it from more severe cases in which patients must relearn to walk or talk, or worse. They can have persistent headaches, feel restless and tired, be easily frustrated and irritable, and have trouble remembering things or doing more than one task at a time. All can lead to trouble at work and home, especially when symptoms are compounded by the anxiety, depression and other mental health issues that many soldiers bring home from combat...
November 10 , 2007
‘I Want to Live for My Guys’
Newsweek
An Iraq vet adjusts to life without legs. Marissa Strock spent six months training the Iraqi police force. On Thanksgiving Day that year, while patrolling the southern Baghdad area known as the "Triangle of Death," the Humvee on which she was the gunner was hit by a command-detonated IED. It was a violent blast that instantly killed both the team leader, Staff Sgt. Steven Reynolds, and the driver, Spc. Marc A. Delgado. Strock was thrown backward by the explosion and knocked unconscious. In addition to her leg wounds she had traumatic brain injury and a broken wrist, collarbone and arm, and more. Cranial swelling left her in a coma for nearly a month. Few expected her to survive. She subsequently had both legs amputated below the knee...
October 30 , 2007
Female soldier back from Iraq determined to recover
Inside Bay Area - Oakland, CA
Mariela Mason pressed her lips into a thin line and clenched her walker with both hands. The tiring trek of about 150 feet was just a short part of the 27-year-old former soldier's long road of recovery from the brain injury she received when she was hit by a vehicle in Iraq. About 10 percent to 20 percent of the war's veterans have had a mild form of the injury, such as a concussion, the Army has found. Severe cases such as Mason's are rare but disabling and require extensive rehabilitation and often lifelong care...
October 12 , 2007
Soldier with local ties seriously wounded in Iraq
Cleveland Daily Banner - Cleveland, TN
Christopher H. Bagwell and his squad leader were the only two survivors of a 12-member squad decimated when an Iraqi youth detonated explosives wrapped around his body. She said the young soldier told her he had just passed the youthful bomber with his squad leader, with his squad following behind handing out candy to children. The Iraqi village was believed to be a friendly zone for the U.S. military. The youngster, believed to be 10 to 12 years old, detonated the explosives as the soldiers were walking by...
September 29 , 2007
Wounded veterans, their families suffer economically
Union Tribune - San Diego, CA
He was one of America's first defenders on Sept. 11, 2001, a Marine who pulled burned bodies from the ruins of the Pentagon. He saw more horrors in Kuwait and Iraq. Today, he can't keep a job, pay his bills, or chase thoughts of suicide from his tortured brain. In a few weeks, he may lose his house, too. Gamal Awad exemplifies an emerging group of war veterans: the economic casualties...
September 28 , 2007
Veterans of PTSD
PBS
Bouts of fierce anger, depression, and anxiety that previous generations of soldiers described as "shell shock" or "combat/battle fatigue" now earn a clinical diagnosis: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the show, we spent time with Iraq War veteran Michael Zacchea, a Marine lieutenant colonel who trained Iraqi troops and fought in the battle of Fallujah. Haunted by the violence he saw there, Zacchea and other soldiers diagnosed with PTSD now face what could be a lifelong struggle to leave the horrors of war behind and reclaim their once-peaceful lives...
September 6 , 2007
Dog helps injured soldier's rehabilitation
The Virginian-Pilot - Norfolk, VA
Since the September 2005 bomb blast, Army Spc. Jim Benoit has survived 80 surgeries, defied doctors' predictions that he would never walk again, gotten married and is preparing to move into a new home that volunteers in his hometown of Wharton, N.J., are building for him. But there's been one other factor in Benoit's remarkable transformation: his four-legged friend, who flunked out of guide dog school because of a fondness for food...
August 26 , 2007
Wounded Marine stays positive despite injuries
Gloucester County Times - Woodbury, NJ
Marine Corporal Raymond Douglas Hennagir III was nearly killed by an improvised explosive device (I.E.D.) in Zaidon, Iraq, an explosion that took both his legs and four fingers from his left hand. Hennagir awaits his prostheses displaying no signs of bitterness, no remorse, only hope as he plans the rebuilding of his life...
August 22 , 2007
Words Unspoken Are Rendered on War’s Faces
The New York Times
One of the more shocking photographs to emerge from the current Iraq war was taken last year in a rural farm town in the American Midwest. It’s a studio portrait by the New York photographer Nina Berman of a young Illinois couple on their wedding day. The bride, Renee Kline, 21, is dressed in a traditional white gown and holds a bouquet of scarlet flowers. The groom, Ty Ziegel, 24, a former Marine sergeant, wears his dress uniform, decorated with combat medals, including a Purple Heart. Ms. Berman photographed several others beginning in 2003. Spc. Luis Calderon, Spc. Sam Ross, Spc. Robert Acosta, Sgt. Jeremy Feldbusch...
Photo Gallery: PURPLE HEARTS
August 16 , 2007
Rowan soldier wounded in Iraq
Salisbury Post - Salisbury, NC
Pvt. Joshua Karnes was injured by a bullet or shrapnel in Iraq. It took nearly 100 stitches to close the wound. The incident happened last Thursday when members of Joshua's infantry unit were going from building to building in one of Baghdad's seedier neighborhoods. They were searching for insurgents...
August 13 , 2007
Camden soldier wounded in Iraq
Hillsdale Daily News - Hillsdale, MI
Sgt. Abram Marvin, 24, of Camden Township, is being treated for injuries received during an ambush by insurgents outside an Iraqi police department Aug. 9. Preliminary reports provided to the family indicate Marvin and his colleague came under attack and gunfire in the early morning hours of Aug. 9. Marvin suffered several injuries as a result of shrapnel from the grenade attack, including a broken leg and open surface wounds...
August 4 , 2007
Concert to benefit recovery of injured Fayetteville soldier
Northwest Arkansas Times - Fayetteville, AR
Pfc. Adam Watkins, 21, was seriously injured May 21 when the Army Stryker vehicle he was driving ran over an improvised explosive device. Watkins suffered secondand third-degree burns to his arms, back, head and buttocks as well as some second-degree burns to his face. He also sustained a compound fracture of both tibia bones in his lower leg and broken bones in one foot. Since arriving at Brooke Army Medical Center, Adam has undergone several skin graft surgeries as well as surgeries on both legs...
July 31, 2007
Arkansas Soldier Injured in Iraq Recovering at Walter Reed
KATV - Little Rock, AR
It was then-20-year-old Spc Marco Robledo's second tour of duty. The explosion has left the now-21-year-old missing both an arm and a leg. Robledo also suffered a collapsed lung in the attack, and 60% of his body was covered in burns from where he laid on the road to receive his initial treatment...
July 15, 2007
Shot while ‘minding my own business'
MSNBC.com
Deierlein was shot by a sniper while attempting to provide security for garbage collectors in the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya in East Baghdad. Deierlein recounted the incident in this e-mail message sent to his friends, family and colleagues from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. "I was shot by a sniper on Sept. 9. The round shattered my pelvis and sacrum."...
July 15, 2007
Military burn unit filled with pain, hope, humor
Union Tribune - San Diego, CA
Sgt. Merlin German burned over 97 percent of his body. Nearly 17 months in the hospital. More than 40 surgeries, and counting. Practically everyone who has met the Marine describes him with one word: miracle...
July 7, 2007
Wounded Marine to return to county
Centre Daily Times - State College, PA
Sgt. David "D.J." Emery Jr. from Bellefonte nearly killed by a suicide bomber while serving in Iraq is expected to return to Centre County today for the first time since he was wounded. His legs had to be amputated and one arm was put back together surgically...
July 7, 2007
A Wounded Local Hero Gets A Visit Home
The Hartford Courant - Hartford, CT
On Feb. 20 Army Spec. Michael Brown was on his fourth mission after the bomb blast. Insurgents on top of a building in Ramadi fired at his patrol. Brown's vest stopped four bullets; a fifth ricocheted and hit him. It shattered his pelvis, broke his tailbone, lacerated his right kidney and ripped up parts of his intestines before exiting his abdomen. Since then he has spent 100 days in Walter Reed for surgery and treatment. He needs a cane to walk and faces more surgery, including a 10-hour operation in September to treat a bone infection and abdominal damage...
July 6, 2007
VFW event to aid wounded soldier
The Decatur Daily - Decatur, AL
While a soldier recuperates from a gunshot wound to the head, his Decatur cousin and other Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4190 will help him with a benefit. Commander Tom Pyeatt said the benefit will support the family of 20-year-old Army Spc. Freddy Meyers, of Greenville, Ohio. Stoler said while Meyers was in Germany, surgeons induced coma to drop his body temperature in hopes of relieving swelling on his brain...
July 4, 2007
Real Salt Lake honors wounded soldiers
ABC 4 - Salt Lake City, UT
Real Salt Lake honored two soldiers who were wounded almost died in Iraq. Justin Bajema and Mary Herrera are raising money and awareness for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Herrera was severely injured in 2003 when two rounds from an insurgent's AK-47 assault rifle shredded her right arm. Bajema shows off a nasty scar from a 2004 attack by insurgents in Iraq. The improvised explosive device almost left him without a leg...
June 29, 2007
Injured War Veteran Walks Out Of Rehab Hospital
CBS 2 - Chicago, IL
Doctors Told Wounded Specialist Would Remain In A Vegetative State, But He Proved Them Wrong. Sergeant Eric Edmundson was wounded in Iraq in October 2005, when a bomb exploded under the armored car he was driving. He went into cardiac arrest, depriving his brain of oxygen...
June 28, 2007
Injured Marine listens to baby's birth in Redlands
Redlands Daily Facts - Redland, CA
Lance Cpl. David Carnes escaped death by inches, when the round was stopped by his body armor. But the crushing force of the bullet was enough to cause internal bleeding...
June 24, 2007
Marine begins fight of life
McClatchy Newspapers
Marine Sgt. David "D.J." Emery Jr. never saw the suspicious-looking man whose torso was wrapped in explosives. The man spread his arms wide, like a bird taking flight, and triggered the blast. For weeks, the young warrior's mother, his young wife and the doctors in the intensive care unit of the Bethesda National Naval Medical Center outside Washington had kept him clinging to this side of death...
June 24, 2007
Wounded GI Endures Blindness, Paralysis
The Washington Post
He lies flat, unseeing eyes fixed on the ceiling, tubes and machines feeding him, breathing for him, keeping him alive. He cannot walk or talk, but he can grimace and cry. And he is fully aware of what has happened to him. Four years ago almost to this day, Joseph Briseno Jr. was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range in a Baghdad marketplace. His spinal cord was shattered, and cardiac arrests stole his vision and damaged his brain...
June 23, 2007
‘Slow progress’ for Army officer wounded in Iraq
The Times-Tribune - Scranton, PA
First Lt. Thomas J. Hromisin suffered a devastating blow when he was wounded in Iraq on May 29, just about seven weeks after he was deployed to fight there. Now, the Army officer from Pittston and his family face a new test of their faith. Lt. Hromisin, who already had lost use of his left eye when he was shot in the head, underwent four hours of surgery Thursday in an attempt to save his right eye. But that apparently was unsuccessful...
June 21, 2007
Marine from Collier injured in Iraq
Naples Daily News - Naples, FL
“Momma, I’m not going to lose any limbs,” were the first words Scott Norris told his mother in a Sunday morning phone call from Iraq. Pfc. Norris, a Marine stationed in Fallujah, Iraq, was wounded by shrapnel in both legs and received multiple fractures in his right hand over the weekend...
June 21, 2007
Soldier Returns Home
KDBC 4 - El Paso, TX
Adrian Garcia, returns home after suffering a life-altering injury in Iraq. The 19-year-old soldier arrived in Iraq on March 1, three weeks later his days as a machine gunner came to an end after a grenade hit his hummer. Garcia lost both his legs...
June 18, 2007
Local soldier seriously hurt in Iraq
Daily Press - Escanaba, MI
PFC Robert G. Lamarche was seriously wounded on patrol in Iraq Friday. He is now being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., said Robert’s grandfather, Bob Mcghee, in an e-mail today. Lamarche is on a breathing machine there...
June 9, 2007
Wounded soldier celebrates his luck: Despite losing his legs in a bombing in Iraq, Hanson man moving ahead with his life
The Patriot Ledger - Quincy, MA
Brian Fountaine has suffered, struggled, healed and triumphed for a year now. ‘‘I’m just happy where I am right now,’’ said Fountaine, an Army sergeant and Hanson native who nearly died when two bombs ripped through his Humvee just outside Baghdad last June 8. He lost both his lower legs to the explosions...
June 7, 2007
Paralyzed Colo. Soldier Checks Into Craig Hospital
CBS 4 - Denver, CO
Staff Sgt. Matthew Keil was shot by a sniper in Iraq. The bullet damaged his spinal cord and he is now a quadriplegic. Tracy fought to bring him home to Colorado because they have family here, and because they wanted to go to the world class services at Craig Hospital...
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