This book was written by George, one of the soldiers I met when he was deployed to Iraq. In his book, Within the Warrior There Lived a Broken Child he tells of his life, the decisions he made, the mistakes he made as well as the mistakes others made that affected him. He also tells of his deployments in Iraq, the people and politics involved as well.

I've read the book from cover to cover and I couldn't put it down. George is a great guy and an inspiration. I've included one of the photos he emailed during his second deployment.

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful and safe New Year. May God keep you safe and healthy.
From Our Family to Yours.

Its been awhile and I must apologize. I can't believe its almost Christmas already. This year has flown by. I've been in college full time as well as looking for a part time job here in the middle of "lay off and shut down land." This is not really the way I wanted this year to go, but it has been very busy.

I decided to take a year to get a certificate in HVAC-R so I can volunteer with the many organizations and projects that are starting to pop up to support wounded heroes and their families. This year would also give me the time I need to find out exactly what I have to do to be able to do what I want to do for the rest of my life. As always, I went in thinking I had done my homework only to find out that I hadn't.

This last June I was fortunate enough to set in on a conference that dealt with returning military and PTSD. As the only student among professionals I left the conference with mixed feelings. I can't believe that these professionals are so uninformed about PTSD. I had asked my advisor about taking the PTSD 101 course that is given by the V.A. online. I was met with resistance. So in my own stubborness I decided to learn all I could and make the topic of my research paper all about military related PTSD, exclusively. During the conference I realized the information that was given to these professionals was the same information I had found while researching for my paper. Yes, I was very disappointed to say the least. I had hoped I'd learn something more than what I had found, but that wasn't the case.

We finally have a deployed family support group at the college. We are also working hard to get a warrior to warrior support group going as well. Below is the website to read Mrs. Simpson's journal and to get the information needed for the support group. I heard today that the suicide rate among our OIF/OEF vets are at 18 each day. We as Americans are failing our warriors, our heroes. Just because the wounds aren't visible doesn't mean they aren't there. We must realize that PTSD is normal, its our brain's way of trying to rationalize the completely irrational events we survived. It won't go away, we can't expect to forget, but we can learn to process and deal with it so we can learn to live on. As civilians we can't possibly begin to understand what happened, so we shouldn't pretend to. The warrior to warrior support group helps our warriors work on their experiences together, talking with people who have the same experiences.

***** Please pass the following information to everyone you know, this is from Barbara Allison-Simpson and it is the information needed to start a Warrior to Warrior Support Group anywhere. http://journals.aol.com/ballisons/announcing-warrior-to-warrior-su/  

I've always believed that people come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Tomorrow is the 1 year anniversary since Clay was killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan. He is one person I will never forget. I am very blessed to have known him and very proud of him for serving our country.

http://www.iraqwarheroes.org/adamkavicius.htm

For those of you who have and are serving our country I want to tell you THANK YOU for everything you do. Thank God for you. God bless and protect you and bring you home safe to your loved ones. You are my heroes. Keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.

Hello, my name is Bob Calvert, Host of the "Talking with Heroes" Program.
www.talkingwithheroes.com.  We began this program on the internet a little
over a year ago to give our men and women in the military an opportunity
to share their mostly untold stories about helping people in the areas in
which they serve. In October 2006, we took our program over to Iraq.  All
of the interviews are currently archived on our website under the past
shows/archives section for all Americans to listen to.

A few days ago, we returned from our second tour in Iraq. On this past
trip, Jim Martin, CEO of Altitude Sports and Entertainment from Denver,
Colorado accompanied me. Jim Martin and Altitude aired all the segments
from our October interviews in Iraq on their Network. The interviews we
recently completed in Iraq will also air on their 10 State Cable Network
as well as reach many subscribers to Dish Network and DirecTV.  You will
be able to watch as our heroes talk about the progress being made in Iraq.

I can assure each of you that the training and mission in Iraq is in fact
working and we will show you the proof in the interviews we did with an
Iraqi Air Force General and his Colonel as well as over 40 military
personnel with the Air Force, Marines and Minnesota National Guard.
Everyone mentioned is also involved in the training of the Iraqi Air
Force, the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police.

We had the privilege of being embedded for three days in Rawah, Iraq with
the Marines and the Iraqi Police, living with them in the middle of Rawah.
We accompanied them on both daytime and nighttime convoys throughout the
city and surrounding areas along the Euphrates River. We also accompanied
the Marines on a foot patrol in Rawah.

We spent time with the Minnesota National Guard Military Transition Team
and the Iraqi Army. While there, we conducted an interview with a
high-level military official within the Iraqi Army.

It is my most sincere desire that before the end of January 2007, to have
in place, the complete set of interviews on the "Talking with Heroes"
website www.talkingwithheroes.com.  I am currently working on ideas that
will allow everyone involved with a website to be able to be able to link
to these interviews from their own websites.

Next month, we will announce that edited versions of the videos will air
on Altitude Sports and Entertainment, which is currently viewed by
millions in 10 states along with some Dish Network and DirecTV
subscribers. You will be amazed with the footage that was filmed while we
accompanied the convoys throughout different areas of Iraq.

While we've been here in Iraq, we have been reading the daily editions of
Stars and Stripes and reading about other Iraqi towns where the Sheiks,
Tribal Leaders and Iraqi Townspeople are working side by side with our men
and women in the military to take control of their towns and cities. The
reconstruction progress is expanding as well as the Iraqi Police and Army.
I have already been asked to come back in a couple of months to go to more
cities where the insurgents are being rooted out.

It is with great honor that we are able to interview our men and women and
bring back to you the American people their mostly untold stories.

The Main Second Iraq Tour webpage is now on TalkingwithHeroes.Com in the
Talk Show schedule section.  Most of the people we interviewed are listed.
 We will divide these interviews into one-hour segments for the Internet.

Please allow me to invite each of you to help us by sponsoring one or more
of these programs. You will receive high visibility by being one of the
second Iraq talk show sponsors. I wish we could put everyone on for free
but I ran out of personal money over a year ago. Therefore, we are relying
on those of you who feel led to help us get the word out. The sponsorship
is $100 per page for our Second Iraq Talk Show. You will be thanked at the
top of the page where everyone will be able to see your ad as they go to
listen to the shows. We will post your name, organization and website
address.

Already listed on all of them is www.soldiersangels.org  and
www.anysoldier.com. Both of these organizations have helped tremendously
on this Second Tour. We invite you to be part of this project as millions
of Americans find out about these interviews.

To become an online sponsor, you can go to the "Become a Sponsor" section
and go to the level one or level two sponsorship order pages. Put the
number of talk show pages you wish to be listed on.

In addition, we invite each of you to please forward this email to others.
Those listening on Sunday nights to the "Talking with Heroes" Programs
have consistently grown as many of you have told others about the program.
We have a great opportunity to give millions of Americans the opportunity
to hear the great work that has been and continues to take place in Iraq.
The sacrifice being made by our men and women everyday is incredible to
watch and experience.

I also want to say that many of our military personnel asked us not to
forget the families back home and the sacrifices they make every day their
loved ones are overseas. On one of the talk shows, we talked about the
extension of the Minnesota National Guard as they have been extended. Many
of them will have been away from their homes for over a year and a half.

I agreed to ask every American to thank a family. Whom do you know who has
somebody serving in Iraq or Afghanistan or other area of the world? The
soldiers thought it would be great if millions of families back home could
get emails, phone calls and thanks in person for their sacrifice and
service to our country.

It is our responsibility as a country to support the hard work being done
successfully by our brave men and women as well as the brave Iraqis.
Thank you for your support

Blessings
Bob Calvert, Host www.talkingwithheroes.com
Email: bob@youngheroes.us

_______________________________________________
Talkingwithheroes mailing list
Talkingwithheroes@youngheroes.us
http://youngheroes.us/mailman/listinfo/talkingwithheroes_youngheroes.us

 

Hello
This is a brief update. There are two new links on our
www.talkingwithheroes.com Home Page. I have copied it below so you
will know what to look for:


CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEWS RELEASE SENT OUT ON JAN 24TH BY ALAN GRAY
AT NEWSBLAZE.COM ABOUT OUR SECOND TRIP TO IRAQ!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN AS JUDY PIAZZA WITH THE STUDENT OPERATED PRESS
AND HOST OF THE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE CHATS WITH BOB ABOUT THIS SECOND
TOUR IN IRAQ.

We have a new Blog also that you are welcome to post messages on.
There is a link to it from our home page. Or you can email me with
your feedback on what was said on the interview.

Thank you to those of you who have emailed me offering to help us get
the word out about the interviews we did in Iraq.

Thank you

Bob Calvert

www.talkingwithheroes.com
_______________________________________________
Talkingwithheroes mailing list
Talkingwithheroes@youngheroes.us
http://youngheroes.us/mailman/listinfo/talkingwithheroes_youngheroes.us