We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to send a soldier home after spending 9 months in Afghanistan. She just returned from Afghanistan this past Friday and was trying to get home for post-deployment leave in time for Christmas. Craziest thing ever, she got stuck on the highway heading to the airport due to an accident. When she arrived they had already boarded the plane and when the gate agent called to see if they would hold the plane they did not (I know, it ticked me off too). She was struggling getting another flight before Christmas and it also meant eating up what little precious leave time she had just waiting to find a new flight. In a crazy sequence of events they got in touch with Wings for Our Troops "in loving memory of CPL Chad S Wade" and we were able to get her on a new flight tomorrow. She will be home for Christmas and as an added bonus, her father reached out to me and said he had not had all his daughters home at the same time in over four years. What a happy daddy he must be right now.
WFOT could not do this without the kindness of others giving to our foundation which makes all of this possible. For all of you that have ever given or helped with this foundation, you should feel very good and proud for giving back to a soldier that has sacrificed so much.
Merry Christmas to all our Troops and my God be with you always!
Friday, December 21, 2012
Friday, November 30, 2012
Amazing Young Men...
I hope all Gold Star families are as blessed as we are. Since losing Chad two years ago tomorrow, there has barely been a week during this almost two years that I haven't heard from at least one (sometimes all of them) of them at least once a week.
I've spoken with some Gold Star moms whose fallen heroes were in other branches of the military and they never have heard from any of the guys in their son/daughter's unit. I'm so sorry for them for not having that connection like we do.
There is truly nothing like the brotherhood I have seen in my son's unit. They genuinely love him and they love me and my family.
It's not only the guys from the USMC that continue to check on us and love Chad just as much. His high school buddies love him and miss him so much as well and I see it every day. They too with either reach out to us or send a picture of their children just to brighten our day.
None of these young men and women have to do this, they want to do this. They do not do it out of duty or obligation either. You can tell they truly do love us and miss Chad like we do.
I want to honor them today as I weep for my son, I have tears of joy for knowing these guys will forever be a part of our family. There is more comfort and peace we get from that than words could truly express.
Thank you to all the "Nuts & Nutetts and our bonus boys from the USMC, Across the street Justin, Brandon, and the families of these amazing young men and women for raising amazing kids to be the thoughtful and caring young adults they are today. You did good!
As we face the two year mark of Chad leaving this earthly world please know that each and everyone of you make him and us proud by going on with your lives and honoring Chad by keeping us close to your hearts and most importantly for loving and remembering Chad always. We love you for that!
I've spoken with some Gold Star moms whose fallen heroes were in other branches of the military and they never have heard from any of the guys in their son/daughter's unit. I'm so sorry for them for not having that connection like we do.
There is truly nothing like the brotherhood I have seen in my son's unit. They genuinely love him and they love me and my family.
It's not only the guys from the USMC that continue to check on us and love Chad just as much. His high school buddies love him and miss him so much as well and I see it every day. They too with either reach out to us or send a picture of their children just to brighten our day.
None of these young men and women have to do this, they want to do this. They do not do it out of duty or obligation either. You can tell they truly do love us and miss Chad like we do.
I want to honor them today as I weep for my son, I have tears of joy for knowing these guys will forever be a part of our family. There is more comfort and peace we get from that than words could truly express.
Thank you to all the "Nuts & Nutetts and our bonus boys from the USMC, Across the street Justin, Brandon, and the families of these amazing young men and women for raising amazing kids to be the thoughtful and caring young adults they are today. You did good!
As we face the two year mark of Chad leaving this earthly world please know that each and everyone of you make him and us proud by going on with your lives and honoring Chad by keeping us close to your hearts and most importantly for loving and remembering Chad always. We love you for that!
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| In Afghanistan |
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| Probably having way too much fun |
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| Brothers to the end |
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| 4th of July in Iraq with RoRo |
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| Seth and Chad |
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| Some of our adopted sons (honoring Chad's Mt. Dew t-shirt) |
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| Rob and Abby |
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| Zach & Chad |
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| Both Desi & Tyler and Emily & Clint honored Chad at their weddings (so grateful) |
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| Getting ready to load the bus at Camp Pendleton heading to Afghanistan |
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| One Booher sporting his t-shirt Reed had made |
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| These guys continue to show up and honor Chad... We love ya'll! |
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| Spratt and Zach once again, honoring Chad |
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| I'm sure they were behaving... Chad, Spratt, & Seth in Cali |
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| I think he thinks he is too cool for school. :) |
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| Beach fun! |
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| Oh no, if Chad is dancing, he is feeling pretty good... :) |
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| Some of the "Nuts" honoring their buddy... Love you guys |
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| Amazing Love |
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Our unseen heroes
We are all about making sure our troops know we appreciate them and we are supporting them now more than ever we see this on a daily basis. There are some "unseen" heroes that don't get the same type of recognition and/or support and appreciation that our troops receive. To me, those "unseen" heroes are the spouses and families. They sacrifice so much of their lives to support their Marine/Soldier and if their Marine/Soldier is injured they are the ones that are the main caregivers and continuing to fight this war on the home front. My heart goes out to all of these heroes seen and unseen and I want to bring attention not only to them, but also a group of volunteers that are helping these young men and women and their families move on after becoming a Wounded Warrior. Please take the time to check out this link "Homes for Our Troops" at http://www.homesforourtroops.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MarshallKennedy and listen to one of our local Marines, SGT Kennedy and his wife's story. You will be touched. We are joining the effort to build this home for this Wounded Warrior as well as many others throughout Tyson and in our community. It is heart warming to see how much love and appreciation is out there for these young men and women as well as their families.
During this holiday season let's not just pick up a gift, but give of your time. Obviously financial support is always needed, but not everyone is blessed enough to do that, but we can all give some of our time to help. I would imagine nearly every community has organizations that could use volunteer workers or help with fundraisers, etc.
If you have children, what a great way to teach them the gift of giving of yourself above receiving a toy or a new outfit. Show them by example how we can support our Troops while they are deployed and when they return home. I guarantee you will not only give them a lesson they will forever remember, but one that will help them in their years to come.
Thank you and God bless this charity "Homes for Our Troops".
During this holiday season let's not just pick up a gift, but give of your time. Obviously financial support is always needed, but not everyone is blessed enough to do that, but we can all give some of our time to help. I would imagine nearly every community has organizations that could use volunteer workers or help with fundraisers, etc.
If you have children, what a great way to teach them the gift of giving of yourself above receiving a toy or a new outfit. Show them by example how we can support our Troops while they are deployed and when they return home. I guarantee you will not only give them a lesson they will forever remember, but one that will help them in their years to come.
Thank you and God bless this charity "Homes for Our Troops".
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Veteran's Day
Veteran's Day is fast approaching and I wanted to take my chance to thank our Veterans. I would like to take it a step further as well by thanking those who are still serving today and our fallen heroes.
I would encourage you that when you see someone in uniform or you can just tell they are or were in the military to take a moment to say thank or better yet, purchase their meal, coffee, etc. to show how grateful you are for their service. It will make their day and as an added bonus, it will make you feel good.
I do want to address some idiotic things I've unfortunately either over heard or read lately and this is for those people who say some of the most ignorant things about our military and the war. One of the comments I've read lately was that our military troops deserve to die. Really? That is beyond ignorant to me. You obviously have no one close to you serving or that has been killed in action, but remember, there are people out there reading your stupid comments that do or have lost a loved one (me for one, lost my only child to war) so imagine how these people feel when seeing your hateful words. I for one hope you struggle sleeping at night and when you look in the mirror I hope you see as much ugly looking back at you that I feel for you when reading your words.
Yes, I get that they volunteered to join especially during a war, but guess what you idiots that make those idiotic comments, if it weren't for these young men and women volunteering, there would have been a draft and I have to believe many of you saying these things would have been drafted and you would be one of them, but you were forced to go and these young men and women entered on their own free will for whatever their reasons were.
Many of them enlisted after 9/11 to make sure we never had to expeirence that again in our country. Some (like my son) enlisted because he knew he needed to get on a better path and college wasn't for him so he felt this would give him the skills and experience that would help him get into law enforcement. Some enlist so they can actually pay for college if they couldn't afford it otherwise, so before you start throwing your hurtful words around stop and think if they hadn't volunteered you might be on the front lines yourself so you above anyone else should be the first to tell them thank you rather than wishing them dead. I truly hope you lay your head down each night on your pillow and toss and turn all night long until you can see things a bit more clearly and less selfish! Shame on you that say things like that. A spouse, parent, family members, and friends can see your words and they are struggling each day to just take a breath and then you go and write something like that. May God have mercy on your soul and you know who you are!
As for me and my family, we will always thank and appreciate everyone of our military men and women and will always support them in every way possible and our foundation is just a small way for us to do that.
I am proud to say that we have extended our foundation to all branches of the military now. If anyone out there reading this knows someone who is an active enlisted Marine/Soldier and they need help getting home before and/or after deployment, please send them our way. We are ready to send another one home so their family and loved ones can spend as much time with them as possible before they leave again.
To all our veterans past, present, and future... THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS! You will always be appreciated by us and never listen to those idiots out there that just have to have something stupid to say. It won't take much to be bigger than those people so be the bigger person and never let their ignorance make you feel bad.
www.wingsforourtroops.com
I would encourage you that when you see someone in uniform or you can just tell they are or were in the military to take a moment to say thank or better yet, purchase their meal, coffee, etc. to show how grateful you are for their service. It will make their day and as an added bonus, it will make you feel good.
I do want to address some idiotic things I've unfortunately either over heard or read lately and this is for those people who say some of the most ignorant things about our military and the war. One of the comments I've read lately was that our military troops deserve to die. Really? That is beyond ignorant to me. You obviously have no one close to you serving or that has been killed in action, but remember, there are people out there reading your stupid comments that do or have lost a loved one (me for one, lost my only child to war) so imagine how these people feel when seeing your hateful words. I for one hope you struggle sleeping at night and when you look in the mirror I hope you see as much ugly looking back at you that I feel for you when reading your words.
Yes, I get that they volunteered to join especially during a war, but guess what you idiots that make those idiotic comments, if it weren't for these young men and women volunteering, there would have been a draft and I have to believe many of you saying these things would have been drafted and you would be one of them, but you were forced to go and these young men and women entered on their own free will for whatever their reasons were.
Many of them enlisted after 9/11 to make sure we never had to expeirence that again in our country. Some (like my son) enlisted because he knew he needed to get on a better path and college wasn't for him so he felt this would give him the skills and experience that would help him get into law enforcement. Some enlist so they can actually pay for college if they couldn't afford it otherwise, so before you start throwing your hurtful words around stop and think if they hadn't volunteered you might be on the front lines yourself so you above anyone else should be the first to tell them thank you rather than wishing them dead. I truly hope you lay your head down each night on your pillow and toss and turn all night long until you can see things a bit more clearly and less selfish! Shame on you that say things like that. A spouse, parent, family members, and friends can see your words and they are struggling each day to just take a breath and then you go and write something like that. May God have mercy on your soul and you know who you are!
As for me and my family, we will always thank and appreciate everyone of our military men and women and will always support them in every way possible and our foundation is just a small way for us to do that.
I am proud to say that we have extended our foundation to all branches of the military now. If anyone out there reading this knows someone who is an active enlisted Marine/Soldier and they need help getting home before and/or after deployment, please send them our way. We are ready to send another one home so their family and loved ones can spend as much time with them as possible before they leave again.
To all our veterans past, present, and future... THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS! You will always be appreciated by us and never listen to those idiots out there that just have to have something stupid to say. It won't take much to be bigger than those people so be the bigger person and never let their ignorance make you feel bad.
www.wingsforourtroops.com
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
2nd Annual Golf Tournament Fundraiser
On your mark, get set, tee off! Saturday, October 13, 2012 my sister and her friends along with High Vista Country Club Mills River will be hosting our 2nd annual golf tournament for Wings for Our Troops "in loving memory of CPL Chad S Wade"!
If you are in the Asheville, NC area and would like to participate, here are the details:
If you are in the Asheville, NC area and would like to participate, here are the details:
Wings for Our Troops
2nd Annual Golf Tournament
Saturday October 13th 2012 at
“High Vista Country Club ~ Mills River”
Please contact Amber Banks (828)712-0542, Jennifer Cole (828) 691-5962
Sign up in advance requested. Please contact us!!!!!!! Thank you
~ Shot Gun Start @ 1:30p.m. ~ 12 – 12:30 Registration~
~4 Man Captain’s Choice ~ $320.00 per Team Entry ($80ea) ~
~ $100.00 to sponsor a hole ~
~ Red Tee’s and Mulligans will be sold ~
~ Prizes for: Longest Drive and Closest to the Pin, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners~
~Raffle Tickets for sale $1ea or 6 for $5 ~ Great Gifts~
~ Dinner will be provided to all “Golfers” at the Country Club after the tournament~ Friends or Spouse may join for dinner for $12.00
~ Donations accepted ~
Please Contact us in advance to secure your spot, this is a wonderful cause and you can follow us on here at www.wingsforoutroops.com and on Face Book (look for Wings for Our Troops) and like us!
We are hoping this will become an annual event and continue to raise money to help our active marines get home before and/or after deployments. We are continuing to reach out to find folks to pick up this cause with other military branches allowing us to help all our military service men and women get home!
I want to give a special thank you to my sister, Amber Paige Banks and her sister in law, Lisa Banks Saye for all their hard work in putting this tournament together and getting all the sponsors and working with High Vista Country Club to make all this happen.
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