I'll just call him Kevin, and he is a Specialist, US Army 48th Brigade Georgia National Guard. He was a member of E Troop 108th CAV - but that unit is no more, having been re-designated recently as Bravo 2/121 Infantry.
Kevin was seriously injured late fall of 2005 - mid way through his unit's Iraq deployment. His Humvee was escorting a convoy when it rolled and he was ejected, nearly killed but now left with serious and permanent painful injuries. Kevin had survived six months in the Triangle of Death where he lost three friends and fellow soldiers to roadside bombs - SGT Mike Stokely (Yusufiyah 8/16/05) and SGT Bobby Hollar and SGT George Draughn (both killed in the same explosion 9/1/05 near Mahmudiyah). In addition, while in the Triangle, Kevin's 108th CAV unit suffered a number of serious injuries from combat related operations and roadside bombs. But, even though they were rotated to seemingly safer duties escorting convoys in other seemingly safer parts of Iraq, the danger was obviously not over.
Kevin is lucky to be alive and suffers intense pain every day and has an arm that he holds in a crooked manner and walks with a noticeable drag type limp. He has had a number of surgeries and rehab, and has more to go. But, with all that, Kevin ran into a wall of more immediate problems - homeless without money or food and a car with an empty gas tank. Caught in military limbo, somewhere in a stack of burecratic paperwork is his paperwork waiting for medical disability finalization which would then start some pension payments coming in. But, in the meantime, and for whatever reason he doesn't understand, his pay was completely stopped prior to the disability kicking in.
Kevin called me yesterday and was in Austell GA - no gas, no money, no where to live. Austell is about an hour or more from where I live. He had my cell phone and managed to get the use of a phone to call me. Through a friend in my church who had a friend in Austell, Kevin was able to get a tank of gas - $52.00 and change. I asked him to come to Newnan where my church was going to put him up in a hotel for a few days till something better could be figured out. With directions in hand, he started our way, arriving later in the night to check in.
But, sometimes things don't go as planned - the computer at the motel didn't show the room paid for and it was at night and rather than call and wake me up at 1:00 a.m., he just slept in his car. Finally, late this afternoon, things clicked and we got Kevin in his hotel room, food to eat for the next few days and a few bucks in his pocket. Arrangements with friends at church and in community are under way to get him some food and gas gift cards and other things he needs until his medical disability pension and social security catches up to him. Others have offered home cooked meals. A friend has offered to let him use a rental house that is vacant for free for a month or so. But, there are things like getting him some furniture up and utilities turned on. We will tackle that come Monday. But for now, he has a clean, comfortable and safe place to stay near my home in an extended stay motel that is paid up through through Friday, April 20.
Kevin has given so much and now finds himself with so little. Yet, he is so appreciative of every little thing, and you can understand he would show his appreciation. But, then he overwhelmed me, for he started writing down the cost of what was down for him this last 24 hours, signed it and said here "this is my IOU to you and your friends and I will pay you back when I get on my feet." I had to turn away for I did not want to cry in front of him. He wants to pay me and others back - after all he has given and is yet to endure for the rest of his life?
And then, he said it - words that made me feel so proud to be an American and to have had my boy serve with him in Iraq - "If I were medically able and could go back to Iraq, I would so I could help finish the job." Where do we find soldiers like this? And how blessed we are that we did.
God Bless you Kevin, and we will not forget what you have done for America, and as long as Mike Stokely's family has bread, so will you, for as Mike would have seen after you if he were here, so now will we.
Robert Stokely
proud dad SGT Mike Stokely
KIA 16 Aug 05 near Yusufiyah south of Baghdad
Kevin's friend and fellow E Troop 108th CAV 48th Brigade GAARNG soldier
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