[TruthNtegrity]

When I got to Sgt. Santos room he was gone, and the reason was - he was in physical therapy. When he came back, he was walking (!!!!!) on crutches, but walking. I let out a "HooHah" and he broke into a proud grin.

I had printed out a few of the comments mystery-ak had made on various threads, that her hubby, his 1SGT had said, about his "boys" and handed him the paper. He read it, top to bottom, and then looked up at me, misty-eyed, "We got pretty much to be family over there."

I brought him chips, Hostess pastry and candy, and he accused me of wanting to make him fat! I said, "No just get you strong enough to run a mile."

We talked about his passing his fitness quals and apparently he thinks he will and that the Flight Surgeon will find things for him to do - "you know because of my back." He's been in for 17 years and he's not sure he's going to stay in.

Then I talked with a Rick Diaz, who had been a passenger on that Chinook on Nov. 2. He's the saddest story - he was supposed to be on a flight today, to go to Minneapolis VA hospital because they specialize in brain injuries. I don't know if he has more surgery ahead of him but he seemed to know that he had a lot of therapy ahead of him. Now, he was still in hospital blue cotton Hospital-issued pajamas. I said to him, "Do you know that the Red Cross has clothes - sweats, underwear, socks, sneakers and phone cards that we've sent here for you guys?" He had NO clue.

As Gerald Santos told me, unless you have family or friends who can go down for you, the Red Cross doesn't exactly come to the wards and make the items available. This made me so MAD. It's like the World Trade Center all over again - we sent in Millions of Dollars in aid and they SAT on it. So, I asked him if there was anything I could get him, and he asked me to get him a phone card. He hadn't talked with any of his family in Oklahoma for over a week. I went flying down to get a phone card, and couldn't convince them to give one to me.

I called MJY1288 and IF Rick doesn't get out on a flight tomorrow (he was supposed to leave today but there was something wrong with the plane), MJY1288 will take him the phone cards he has.

I talked with MJY1288 and told him what was going on with respect to the Red Cross. I told him to take the phone cards that people from FR have sent to him, and take them DIRECTLY TO the wards, and hand them out.

I am so ANGRY with the Red Cross!!!! Here they tell us to stop sending stuff, that they have to sort out what they have, and they aren't bothering to GO TO the wards, to make sure that guys without family or friends, can get the stuff we've sent. Yikes, I'm still angry over it!

I want everyone to pray for Rick Diaz and that he be completely healed. I prayed with him, and he seemed so relieved to have me pray with him. He is a treasure.

Gerald Santos thinks he will be leaving next week, to be sent to a VA Hospital in Ohio, near his home.

God bless these warriors.

[TruthNtegrity]

Please use your ping list to this post above.

The important part is that we need to take items directly to the troops.

The Red Cross doesn't let the soldiers know that these items are available and unless a wounded soldier has family or friends there, to go down to the Red Cross office for them, they are NOT receiving the items that have been sent.

I suggest that if any of you want to send phone cards or have us who live near WR buy clothes, do that and we'll take the items directly to the wards, and hand them to the guys DIRECTLY.

Once again, the Red Cross is just not telling us ALL of the story.

[mystery-ak]

lets get the word out about the Red Cross....bump

[Soaring Feather]

He hadn't talked with any of his family in Oklahoma for over a week.

This is so sad. Thank heaven you went there. Thanks so much for praying with him.

[blackie]

God bless these warriors ~ Bump!

[McGavin999]

Thank you SO much for doing this. I'm on the other side of the country or I'd be there with you. You're right about the Red Cross, something really needs to be done about that. If anybody can figure out a way to make them more responsive to our guys, it's the Freepers.

[Darksheare]

"I said to him, "Do you know that the Red Cross has clothes - sweats, underwear, socks, sneakers and phone cards that we've sent here for you guys?" He had NO clue. "

I'm close to babbling incoherently on this one.
FAMPListers, soldier info ping.
See TruthNteg's post, of which a small quote is above.

[TEXOKIE]

Thanks for the ping and your post 178, TNT.

Dear Father in Heaven,

We ask that you will surround Gerald Santos and Rick Diaz with a very special prayer blanket woven with your healing, comfort, mercy, love, and protection. Wrap them with this swaddling garment to make them feel safe, loved, and cared for. Let them receive at a heart level and in their outer waking consciousness an understanding and a certitude that all will be well. And by thy grace, make it so. Let all be well with them.

Father, we cannot begin to repay these fine young men for the blood they have shed and the sacrifice of their perfect health for us and this nation. Father, please bless them abundantly, and let them and all who have made similar sacrifices be assured of the gratitude from us which they deserve.

Father, we understand that there have been instances where organizations who are supposed to tend to these warriors in our name have failed in their obligations. We ask that you will send legions of angels into those organizations and shake them up with your Light, shatter the matrices of dense thinking and bureaucratic red tape and guide them into a renewal of their original purpose. In the meantime, let those who are stepping up to the plate with caring hearts for these heroes be given the wherewithal and ability to minister to each and every one of them in need of the compassionate grateful hand. Let not a one of them fall through the cracks of our attention.

Father, raise awareness in our nation of the debt of gratitude we do owe these, our finest treasure. Open the hearts of our brothers and sisters throughout the nation and let them be moved to see to it that these and all our veterans are cared for and compensated justly.

We ask for and are expectantly grateful for your divine Will made manifest in this situation.

Amen

[onyx]

Thank you for this ping and for the updates on our heroes.

Like you, I am stunned and angered by the Red Cross --- I think they must be democrats.

I continue to pray for all the guys, but I'll surely light a candle for Rick Diaz tomorrow morning after Mass. God bless them all.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

TNt, thank you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please read TruthNtegrity's #178, about her visit to Walter Reed Hospital to see Sgt. Santos:

When I got to Sgt. Santos room he was gone, and the reason was - he was in physical therapy. When he came back, he was walking (!!!!!) on crutches, but walking. I let out a "HooHah" and he broke into a proud grin.

Then I talked with a Rick Diaz, who had been a passenger on that Chinook on Nov. 2....he was still in hospital blue cotton Hospital-issued pajamas. I said to him, "Do you know that the Red Cross has clothes - sweats, underwear, socks, sneakers and phone cards that we've sent here for you guys?" He had NO clue.

As Gerald Santos told me, unless you have family or friends who can go down for you, the Red Cross doesn't exactly come to the wards and make the items available.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Red Cross is telling Americans not to send anything to Walter Reed, that they are overwelmed with our support.

This Soldier didn't know and hadn't received anything.

Contact the DoD: here. I suggested they fire the Red Cross and hire the Boy Scouts to deliver the Christmas mail. Just make sure our Soldiers know we care!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[hedgetrimmer]

Bump!

[VOA]

check your Freepmail, please...

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

See TNt post #178. Looks like the DC Chapter has some work to do here.

Senator Dole formerly headed the American Red Cross. I think she should get her staff to ask WTF.

[Johnny Gage]

. . . . . . . Johnny Gage MEGA PING . . . . . . .

Freep mail me if you want off my list

Click here for: MORE RED (double) CROSS OUTRAGE! (post #178)

[calawah98]

Red Cross
What an absolute disgrace.
I know my husband was in WW11, and he had no tolerance for the Red Cross. He really liked the Salvation Army, according to him, they were the ones who would help the military guys out.
After 9-11, I have no trust in the Red Cross, what so ever.
Instead of having a good report, that makes us feel a little better about these great kids, we hear this, makes you want to cry, and get really mad at the same time.
Thank you and Mike for all you do, and for visiting them, at least we know the two of you are looking out for them.

[Mr. Silverback]

The thought that there is any holdup in getting this stuff to the troops infuriates me.

This will probably sound selfish, but I just sit here steaming over the image in my head of the Christmas cards I sent to Walter Reed sitting in some in basket somewhere because some Red Cross dip is too busy to take them to the wards.