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Not every day do have the opportunity to meet a group of people like our team did last week. On Wed. of last week there was a group of injured soldiers that toured the shop. Everyone in the shop was welcome to go talk to them and show there respect for what they have been thru. Towards the end of the day I saw the tour walking around the shop. They looked like they had seen enough cars for the day and wanted to see something different. So on my way to practice I told the tour guide to bring all the soldiers out to practice if they were interested and they could watch practice and then have a chance to get involved. So we headed out to practice not thinking anything else about it. About ten minutes into the practice we saw the whole tour coming out to practice. In all I think there were 25 soldiers of all ages, races, and genders. We ended up getting three of the guys to help with the sign board, rolling tires, and catching tires. They ended up doing a great job and really enjoying there time out at practice. What people need to realize is that these soldiers were all injured in ways that we cannot comprehend unless you ve been to war. All three guys behind the wall helping out had lost there legs. The guy that was helping roll my tire in was named Patrick. He was a 22 year old kid who was blown up in a Hum V less than 12 months ago. I tell you this story because he told me and I think he would want it shared. He was blown up by a roadside bomb that sent the whole front of his Hum V 50 feet in the air. He told me that when he landed he was knocked out and that he didn't regain conciseness until a week later. He said that all he remembers is that when he went into the war he was 225 lbs. and when he woke up a week later he was 155 lbs. He was an awesome guy to talk to and his attitude was like nothing I had ever seen before. Not only did he loose both his legs but he broke his back. So in less than 12 months he has been able to get over all those injury's and participate in Cup pit practice. I thought it was awesome. He was just one of 25 soldiers that was out there and everyone of them had the opportunity to change tires, jack the car, or carry tires if they wanted. We even got to do a pit stop on an officer who was in a wheel chair and unable to do anything on the car. He had a hard time speaking but when he finally got out what he was trying to say he told us," My friends are gonna be so $#@!# jealous."
http://blogs.thatsracin.com/overthewall/2007/03/soldiers_come_t.html