Showing posts with label San Diego. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Diego. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Marine Survived 4 Tours, Killed by Hit and Run Driver

Marine drill instructor killed in hit and run near Camp Lejeune
Marine Corps Times
Jeff Schogol
July 26, 2016

During his 11 years in the Marine Corps, Tooley deployed four times: twice to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan.
Police are looking for the driver of a car that hit and killed Marine Sgt. Michael Andrew Tooley earlier this month in North Carolina.

Marine Sgt. Michael Andrew Tooley was killed on July 16.
(Photo: Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.)
Tooley, 28, was a combat engineer whose duty at the time of his death was as a drill instructor with the support battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, said Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Matthew Finnerty.

Tooley's commander, Lt. Col. Tracy Perry, said "the loss of any Marine under any circumstance is a tragedy, especially in this situation."

"We offer our deepest condolences to the family of Sgt. Tooley,” Perry said. “He was a stellar Marine and will be remembered for his dedication to the Corps and the men and women he served with, as well as those he transformed into the future generation of Marines."
read more here

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Listen to Our Veterans Research Found Most Veterans Prefer VA

The next time you hear a politician talk about privatizing the VA remember that it is not what veterans want. They want the VA fixed!
Local VA Leaders Discuss 'Listen to Our Veterans' Data with NBC 7 
NBC 7 News San Diego 
By Wendy Fry 
July 14, 2016 

NBC 7 launched the project on Memorial Day to get feedback about veteran services in San Diego.
Overall, 20 percent of respondents said that programs and services were "outstanding", 26 percent said "good", 25 percent selected "fair", and 30 percent said "poor."
read the rest here

Monday, April 11, 2016

Vietnam Veteran From Florida Had 3 Radios Shot Off His Back

Navy Veteran Had Radios Shot Off His Back In Vietnam
Greensville Sun
Brad Hicks
April 11, 2016

It was Ronald B. Coleman's job to ensure that vital communications were maintained in the most perilous of conditions.

On Saturday, the Vietnam War veteran was surrounded by his wife and friends as he was honored with a Quilt of Honor, Respect and Valor by the Greene County Quilters.

Coleman, 69, was born in Baltimore, Md. When he was around 9, Coleman's father, who worked for what would become the Martin Marietta Corporation, was transferred to Denver, Colo.

After residing in the Mile High City for around eight years, Coleman's father was transferred to Orlando, Fla. In 1967, the 20-year-old Coleman volunteered for military service, opting to do so rather than being drafted. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and achieved the rank of Petty Officer Third Class.

After deciding to enlist, Coleman was soon faced with the decision on where to attend boot camp. His options where the Naval Training Center in San Diego, Calif., or the Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill. "They gave me a choice of San Diego or Great Lakes," Coleman said.

"And that Florida boy did not want Great Lakes," his wife, Darryl, added.

Following this training and about a month after arriving in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang, Coleman was transferred to the northern I Corps at the Cua Viet Naval Base along the Cua Viet River. Coleman said the base was located only around 3 miles from North Vietnam.
read more here

Thursday, December 10, 2015

San Diego Veterans Court Chance for Support System

VA Seeks To Aid Veterans Behind Bars
Program helps San Diego veteran turn life around
KPBS News
By Steve Walsh
December 9, 2015
“They found there is a gap between those who are in custody and those who are getting out,” Angela Simoneau, Veterans Justice Outreach specialist with the VA in San Diego. “Usually, when you’re released, it’s 'here’s a bus token figure out where you going to go.'”
Above: Marine veteran Shaun Tullar talks about his future after
jail from his room at Veterans Village San Diego, Nov. 16, 2015.
(Nov. 16, 2015, Steve Walsh/KPBS)
As part of the effort to end homelessness among veterans, the Veterans Administration has been going into the courts and the prison system, looking for vets who may have been left untreated, once they get out.

In August, Shaun Tullar was spending 90 days locked in the Vista Detention Facility in San Diego County. He joined the Marine Corp, hoping to turn around a cycle of drugs and alcohol that started when his mother died in 2003 — while he was in high school. For a while, the Marines Corp worked.

He was sober through a seven-month tour in Helmond province in Afghanistan, but he began drinking after he came back to Camp Pendleton. He went into a substance abuse treatment program on Point Loma, just prior to leaving the Marines.

“I felt very optimistic about the future. I had a lot of good things in place, however my support network wasn’t out here,” he said.

Then, on Jan. 20, 2012, one week after he left the Marines, he got a call from his sister.

“I got a phone call from my sister, found out my brother had died in Afghanistan,” he said.
read more here

Friday, December 4, 2015

Female Iraq Veteran Says "It’s About Time" For Combat Jobs

‘It’s About Time,’ Says San Diego Female Combat Veteran On Pentagon Decision 
Historic decision opens approximately 220,000 military combat jobs to women
KPBS News
By Susan Murphy
December 4, 2015
“Most people didn’t know I was a female because you’re completely covered in flak jackets and Kevlar."

Women can now serve in all military combat roles, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Thursday.
By Susan Murphy Natalie Slattery, a Navy veteran who served in ground combat in Iraq in 2008 as a convoy gunner, talks about her experience outside the San Diego Veterans Museum in Balboa Park, Dec. 3, 2015.
The historic decision will open approximately 220,000 jobs to women and clear the way for them to serve in battle-hardened roles, including the Navy SEALs, as long as they can meet the rigorous requirements.

Carter also acknowledged that women have been serving for years on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m very happy that they’ve made it public now for people to know. It’s about time," said San Diego Navy veteran Natalie Slattery, 28, who served in ground combat in Iraq in 2008.

Female pilots flew through combat zones, female medics treated the wounded on the front lines and all-female teams known as “lionesses” accompanied troops in house-to-house searches.

Slattery was a convoy gunner — a position that wasn’t typically open to women.

“I was that person you see on top of all the trucks and in all the gear,” Slattery said.
read more here

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

US Navy "Moral Injury" Step In Healing Souls

Soldier’s journey to heal spotlights ‘soul wounds’ of war
Associated Press
JULIE WATSON
Published: August 23, 2015
The Navy now runs one of the military’s first residential treatment programs that addresses
the problem — the one that Powell found.
This March 17, 2015 photo shows a photgraph of now-retired U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Marshall Powell standing with a U.S. Army MEDEVAC helicopter in Iraq during his last tour to the country, at Powell's brother's house in Crescent, Okla. Powell, who served as a military nurse in Iraq and Afghanistan, was deeply haunted by his experiences, and nearly lost his own internal war with depression before finding meaningful help.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — “It was just another day in Mosul,” the soldier began, his voice shaking. Sgt. 1st Class Marshall Powell took a deep breath. He couldn’t look at the other three servicemen in the group therapy session.

He’d rarely spoken about his secret, the story of the little girl who wound up in his hospital during the war in Iraq, where he served as an Army nurse. Her chest had been blown apart, and her brown eyes implored him for help. Whenever he’d thought of her since, “I killed the girl,” echoed in his head.

Powell kept his eyes glued to the pages he’d written.

He recalled the chaos after a bombing that August day in 2007, the vehicles roaring up with Iraqi civilians covered in blood. Around midnight, Powell took charge of the area housing those with little chance of survival. There, amid the mangled bodies, he saw her.

She was tiny, maybe 6 years old, lying on the floor. Her angelic face reminded him of his niece back home in Oklahoma.

Back in the therapy room, saying it all out loud, Powell’s eyes began to fill just at the memory of her. “I couldn’t let her lay there and suffer,” he said.

A doctor had filled a syringe with painkillers. Powell pushed dose after dose into her IV.

“She smiled at me,” he told the others in the room, “and I smiled back. Then she took her last gasp of air.”
read more here

Sunday, July 12, 2015

MOH For 1869 Battle During the Indian Wars, Finally Buried With Honor

Civil War-era soldier buried at San Diego national cemetery
Associated Press
By JULIE WATSON
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Army Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Gendron carries the remains of Army Sgt. Charles Schroeter, who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry in an 1869 battle during the Indian Wars during a service with full military honors at Miramar National Cemetery Thursday, July 9, 2015 in San Diego. Schroeter’s remains were located only recently, when the Congressional Medal of Honor Historical Society traced them to San Diego’s Greenwood Memorial Park, where they had rested since 1921. The remains were interred in an unmarked crypt, along with other unclaimed remains.
(Chris Carlson, AP / AP)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Civil War-era Medal of Honor recipient forgotten in an unmarked grave for nearly a century finally got a funeral Thursday when he was given full military honors and reburied at a national cemetery.

The Army gave Sgt. Charles Schroeter a rifle salute and a bugler played taps on the cloudy morning at Miramar National Cemetery. Scores of veterans from past wars ranging from Vietnam to Afghanistan attended the ceremony. Some dressed in uniforms and dresses from the Civil War era. Among the crowd were two Medal of Honor recipients.
read more here

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Navy Chief From Michigan Died At Sea

Sailor Who Collapsed at Sea Was Chief 
Jason May, of Chesterfield, Mich., 38, complained of chest pains and collapsed in the Middle East on a ship carrying Camp Pendleton Marines.

Patch.com
By MIRNA ALFONSO (Patch Staff)
July 1, 2015

A sailor who died aboard the San Diego-based USS Essex -- carrying Camp Pendleton Marines -- was a 38-year-old senior chief petty officer, the Navy announced today.

Jason May, of Chesterfield, Michigan, complained of chest pains and collapsed during routine operations Monday, according to the Navy.

Medical personnel were unable to revive him. read more here

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Rank Trumped Rape For Female Sailor To Get Justice

Mother of former Navy sailor opens up about her suicide 
ABC 10 News
Michael Chen
Jun 8, 2015
On a June night in 2011, Cesena shot and killed herself in her Spring Valley home.
SAN DIEGO - For the first time, a mother of a former Navy sailor is opening up and pointing the finger at the Navy's actions in the death of her daughter.

More than a year after Katie Cesena enlisted in the Navy in 2007, her mother says her daughter, serving on the USS Sterett, told her she had been raped by a shipmate in San Diego - the incident involving a knife and a hotel room. “She said she wasn't meant to survive the incident and if it happened again, she would not,” said Cesena’s mother Laurie Reaves.

Reaves says her daughter reported it to her superiors.

“They told her he had been questioned, and she was told, ‘it’s not that we don't believe you, but he outranks you,’” said Reaves. read more here

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Marine Broke Record But Didn't Walk The Plank

Former Marine Officer Breaks World Record Plank to Benefit Semper Fi Fund 
NBC San Diego
By Monica Garske
May 30, 2015
George Hood, 57, spent a total of five hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds in the abdominal plank position on Saturday in Oceanside
A former U.S. Marine officer from Carlsbad, just north of San Diego, crushed the world record for the longest plank Saturday, raising money and awareness for wounded warriors in the process.

Former Marine officer and retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent George Hood, 57, spent a total of five hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds in the abdominal plank position at the Junior Seau Amphitheatre in Oceanside as he broke the Guinness World Record previously set at four hours and 26 minutes by Mao Weidong of Beijing, China, last September.

Before Weidong took the title, Hood held the planking record at four hours and one minute, which he set in June 2014.

The athlete and fitness professional’s planking feat – dubbed “The People’s Plank” – doubled as a fundraiser to benefit the Semper Fi Fund for injured U.S. service members, a charity that’s near and dear to Hood’s heart.
read more here

MOH Sgt. Charles Schroeter No Longer Lost Soul

Medal of Honor soldier set for reburial
The San Diego Union Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
MAY 30, 2015
Civil War-era cavalryman will be reburied at Miramar National Cemetery
Nearly a century after he died and was placed in an unmarked, communal crypt in San Diego, a Civil War-era soldier who received the Medal of Honor will be returned to his comrades-in-arms.

Sgt. Charles Schroeter will be buried at Miramar National Cemetery in July with full military honors, including a mounted Army detachment from Fort Irwin.

“We’re happy to be able to correct this mistake. It’s really important to us — even though he’s gone, he’s still a soldier,” said Kenneth Drylie, spokesman for the National Training Center at Fort Irwin.

“You never leave a fallen comrade.”

No one really knows why Schroeter, a cavalryman who bore saber scars and bullet marks from fighting Confederates and Indians, had no one willing to claim his ashes.
Throughout history, 3,493 Medals of Honor have been awarded. Of those, Morfe estimated there are still roughly 200 “lost souls” whose grave sites are unknown — like Schroeter’s until recently.
read more here

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Former Navy SEAL Convicted of Fraud

FORMER SEAL WHO STOLE OVER $1M FROM OTHERS SENTENCED
San Diego 6 News
By SD6 Jenny Day, Heidi Kwon and CNS
Story Published: May 6, 2015
"You tarnished the good SEAL name," the judge told the defendant. "You screwed up. You have to take your lumps for it. The damage here is immeasurable."

SAN DIEGO - A former U.S. Navy SEAL was convicted of fraud, grand theft and tax evasion all totaling nearly $1.2 million. He stole from a dozen investors in a failed business endeavor, including 11 active and retired SEALs, and was sentenced Wednesday to six years and eight months in state prison.

Jason Matthew Mullaney, 43, pleaded guilty last September and agreed to make full restitution of more than $1 million.

Mullaney, who served in the Navy for 13 years, was successful in the mortgage business before starting a money-lending business which ultimately failed, said defense attorney Patrick Dudley.

Mullaney apologized to everyone who trusted him with their investments and in some cases their life savings. He promised to repay all victims.
read more here

Monday, April 27, 2015

Veteran Shot to Death Trying to Save Woman

Wife of Marine veteran mourns his death after he was shot to death in Ohio while visiting family
10News Digital Team
Apr 26, 2015
SAN DIEGO - A woman in Oceanside is mourning the death of her Marine veteran husband who was shot and killed in Ohio while he was trying to break up a bar fight.

Lydia McJilton said her husband Josh McJilton saved her life when they met and married five years ago. She said she was lost and he became her best friend. She believes Josh died a hero.

He was visiting family in his hometown of Wauseon, Ohio, and was at a bar when he noticed a fight starting between a man and a woman in a car.
read more here

Monday, April 6, 2015

Oregon Marine Killed In Motorcycle Accident Escorted Home

Community Shows Respect for Fallen Soldier's Return Home 
KDRV News
KASEY KERSHNER
April 5, 2015

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. -- Dozens of people lined Highway 99 in Central Point on Saturday night to honor the homecoming of a fallen soldier.

The body of Corporal Nicholas Hart with the U.S. Marine Corps was escorted to a Central Point funeral home by local police, military groups, and civilians who wanted to show their respect.

Last Friday, March 27th, 21-year-old Hart was in an accident on his motorcycle and died near San Diego.

On Saturday, his body was flown to Portland so it could be brought to Southern Oregon through a dignified transfer.
read more here

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Sailor's Dogs Stolen From Car Include PTSD Service Dog

Thieves steal service dog from sailor's car
ABC 10 News
Robert Santos
Mar 2, 2015

A sailor visiting Southern California had two of her dogs stolen out of her car. One of them is her service dog, which she desperately wants back.

Sandy Roberts shared her story with 10News anchor Robert Santos, hoping to help police track down the thieves.

Roberts thought something was strange when she returned to her car Saturday morning and did not hear her dogs.

"They're usually very, very excited to see me," said Roberts.

This time, her two dogs, which were left in the front seat, were gone, including her service dog Lola.

She helps with Roberts' overall mental health, including coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I really need her back," said Roberts.
read more here

Monday, February 2, 2015

Ex-Navy SEAL Accused of Scamming Other SEALS

Ex-Navy SEAL faces up to 12 years for scheme that ensnared brothers in arms
FoxNews.com
By Malia Zimmerman
Published February 02, 2015

A Navy SEAL who admitted he shattered the elite special force's code of brotherhood by stealing from his brethren to finance his luxurious lifestyle and gambling faces up to 12 years in prison, not to mention the scorn of men who served with him but now consider him “the most repugnant scum on Earth.”

Jason Mullaney, part of SEAL Team Five until 2003, convinced 11 SEAL team members and one civilian to invest a collective $1.2 million into his company, Trident Global Financial Holdings.

Named after the Trident SEAL symbol, Mullaney said his company would award loans to credit-challenged small businesses and individuals for high interest rates, secured with assets that covered the principal and profit. Investors would receive back their investment plus a 24 percent profit within a year, Mullaney pledged.
Former Navy SEAL Jason Mullaney tried to change his plea, but a judge would not allow him to.
(Courtesy: 10News ABC)
“Jason, I wish you the worst and hope that you rot in Hell for what you did to all of us – you are the most repugnant scum on Earth.”
- Former Navy SEAL Alexander Sonnenberg

Instead, Mullaney ran a pyramid scheme, and, rather than repay investors, he spent their money on a new Mercedes Benz, an extravagant home and on gambling in Las Vegas, according to prosecutors. And even though Mullaney pleaded guilty to four charges on Sept. 8, 2014, including three counts of grand theft and one count of securities fraud, he has shown no remorse, and even tried to revoke his plea, a maneuver that was nixed by the judge last month.

The SEALs had no idea they were cheated until some tried to collect on their investment. Mullaney, they reported to the FBI and San Diego District Attorney on April 27, 2011, had vanished with their money.
read more here

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Convicted Ex-Cops Stole Medications From Sick

Married Ex-Cops Sorry About Crimes, But Get 3 Years in Prison
Times of San Diego
POSTED BY ALEXANDER NGUYEN
JANUARY 30, 2015
“These two have betrayed the badge,” the prosecutor said. “They were wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

Two married former San Diego police officers who broke into people’s homes while on duty and stole prescription painkillers to feed their drug addictions were each sentenced Friday to three years in state prison.

Bryce Charpentier, 32, and Jennifer Charpentier, 42, pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit a burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime — possession and sale of a controlled substance — selling or furnishing a narcotic substance and possession of a firearm by an addict.

The Charpentiers admitted sending text messages to each other in order to set up burglaries in which they stole prescription drugs from people with whom they had contact while on duty. The defendants also admitted stealing Hydrocodone and selling the drug, even taking one of their four children along on one of the deliveries, authorities said.

Bryce Charpentier — a six-year SDPD veteran — apologized to the San Diego Police Department and the community for his actions, saying he became addicted to painkillers because of post-traumatic stress disorder along with disc, hip and spinal pain.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Tag, arguing for a seven-year prison term for Jennifer Charpentier and six years in prison for her husband, said the defendants stole from the sick in order to get high.

“These two have betrayed the badge,” the prosecutor said. “They were wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
read more here

Sunday, November 9, 2014

American Legion Veterans Center At Risk of Closing

Veterans center at risk of being shut down
FOX 5
BY ELLINA ABOVIAN
NOVEMBER 6, 2014

SAN DIEGO — A veterans community center in Linda Vista is at risk of being shut down for not having a wheelchair-accessible elevator to accommodate older and handicapped veterans.

The American Legion Community Center, built in 1972, does not meet current California handicap codes and must install an elevator.

The center is considered a second home for its nearly 400 members, said Marine veteran and Legion 1st Cmdr., John H. Priess.

“We have a special connection with each other and it’s a place we can come to and relate to each other,” Priess said. “To walk through this door, it’s like walking back into the military and being amongst the people I served with in the Marine Corps.”

The center is especially important to those members who suffer from PTSD and consider the Legion a place of therapy.

“People don’t feel like they belong in other places once they get out, and we feel like this is a home where we share our brotherhood,” said Sam Flores, a Marine veteran who fought in Afghanistan.
read more here

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Marines trying to give first aid face assault charges?

Caught on Body Cam: Marines, Police Brawl
NBC San Diego
By Omari Fleming
November 4, 2014

Two Marines are charged with assault and battery against San Diego police officers – and part of the incident was caught on police body camera.

The attorney for one of those Marines, 21-year-old Robert Reginato, is calling it an abuse of power.
“You got two Marines that will be kicked out of the Marine Corps as a result of this if convicted of those felonies, which started as giving First Aid to an unconscious person they never knew,” Neuharth said.
read more here

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Fruits of deeds and courage of paralyzed veteran

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 23, 2014

About a month ago Wounded Times posted the story of Randy Abbott "Paralyzed veteran beaten and robbed causes international reaction of love." What got to most people was not as much about what he did in the military, but what he did with his life after an operation to help him ended up paralyzing him.
When asked his reaction to the outbreak of love and compassion generated by his story, Abbott is visibly shaken.

"When I have people who don't even know me and they call me from Hawaii, Australia and France and say 'Hey, just get back in the water and surf and you're gonna be ok. We love you buddy!' That means a lot to me."
KUSI News San Diego

Randy does what he can to help others enjoy surfing but more than that, he's helping them learn they can still enjoy life no matter what happened to them. To know that having a disabled body does not mean the person is disabled by the limitations.

Yesterday when I got home from work, there was an email from Randy with a message to call him. I wasn't sure who he was like most of the time when a veteran contacts me. I called, left a message and he called me back last night. No one knows about the conversations I have with veterans and they never will unless the veteran wants to share something. In this case, after you read what he wrote, you'll know why this story is different.

Randy said he wanted to apologize for lying. Still not sure of who I was talking to, I could hear the emotion in his soft voice. After a while it sunk in that I posted his story but I was still confused over the apology. The thing about his story that was reported in the news, wasn't about his military service, but was about what he did with his life afterwards.

Had this story been about his service in the military with him thumping a chest full of medals that turned out to be one of the thousands of frauds running around the country trying to get something for themselves, I would have understood the pain in his voice as I spoke about forgiveness, but it wasn't. It was a story of a veteran taking something bad that happened to him and making lives better for others.

I asked him if he lied about any of that and he said he didn't. That was all I needed to know because the simple fact he wanted to find forgiveness for something few knew about was humbling as well as inspirational.

I thought about how many times I've screwed up as a human in my own life, just like everyone else. I thought about my Dad doing the whole AA steps of making amenze knowing it was out of his power what people did with it but in his power to change his own life from that moment on. Just like every other human on the planet we can't change the past but can change with the next breath we take.

In Matthew 7, Jesus was addressing the difference between what men say and what they actually do.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The fruits of Randy's deeds are shown on the faces of all the kids and others he's met over the years. There will be some unable to acknowledge his actions are inspirational and change lives because they want to hold onto something wrong as if it will make them feel better about themselves.

Randy is like others in many ways. All of us can say whatever we want and many times we regret what we say. It takes a lot of courage to admit we were wrong and apologize. After being married for 30 years, I can attest to that fact of life and honestly I don't think I'm done needing to tell my husband I'm sorry for something plus the other way around. We've been married this long because we can see ourselves honestly knowing we are far from perfect. (I still haven't figured out how he puts up with me.)
Do Not Judge
7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

When I told Randy he was already forgiven, he was quiet for extended time. Then he said "I do believe that." Then I asked him to do something for other veterans out there being tormented by something they think they did wrong. Knowing the power of forgiveness, I asked him to help others seek it for themselves. Without hesitation, he agreed. He knows what it feels like to have the weight on his soul but he also knows how being relieved of that empowers this moment on.

Randy showed courage when he joined the military just like everyone else along with compassion enough to be able to risk his life for the sake of others. Last night it required a tremendous about of courage for him to call someone like me not knowing how I would react or what I would do with what he had to say.
To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to acknowledge that I was dishonest about my military service. I have no excuse for my actions, dishonesty is dishonesty, and to those I have offended and or hurt I ask for your forgiveness. I did this with no malicious intent to hurt anyone or to gain anything, again to those I have hurt or offended I ask for your forgiveness.

After I was paralyzed and found myself dealing with all the medical issues and trying to learn how to live with being paralyzed, I wondered how many other people were dealing with the same thing. Thinking about all the things they will never be able to do again. I decided to start The View From 42, to help other people learn to live beyond their disabilities. Not knowing what it would become or how it would actually work. I have done no fundraiser; I have taken in no donations or financial contributions, I have funded everything from the beginning and to this date by myself. Do to some medical complications along the way things got put on hold for a time being. At first it was just going to be training service dogs for people, then after starting surfing and getting more active I realized how this help me and thought it could help other people.

People reached out to me for assistance with wheelchair purchases for their children, family members and or friends. Then people started asking if I could take them surfing, or help them get surfboards or wetsuits. I started of with tacking single individuals surfing with the help from volunteers. Bringing young people with disabilities and there families out for what we called a Southern California Surfing Experience. Then it turned into bigger one-day events with participants coming in from out of state. This was all done to help people with disabilities learn how to live beyond their disabilities, like I had done. A simple thing like a custom wheelchair or a surfing event put on just for them opens their mind to thinking about living their life beyond their disability. They start to see themselves as a person who has a disability instead of a disabled person. There is a difference, a big difference.

I still plan to continue to do this at whatever level I can; I am not sure how that will be now. This is a true honest desire just to help other people who have disabilities and have a desire to live beyond them.

Again I apologize for my dishonesty and misleading statements, and ask for your forgiveness.
Sincerely;
Randy
Email: pleasenojunk@mail.com

This was at the bottom of his email
A persons ability to enjoy life should not be hindered by their disability or their lack of accessibility to the world. Do not tell us what we can not do, help us do what we want to do.