Two Purple Hearts after surviving two attacks in Iraq within two months

Travis is the Marine friend I requested prayer for starting back at the end of July.

He is here at home for now and recovering, while undergoing to therapy for the injuries he received

On his right leg, just below his knee, he has a four inch wound with about 20 stitches. That leg doesn't work too well right now, so Travis is using a cane to hobble around. His back is another problem area as two vertebrae in his back are sitting at an angle.

Just a few days ago the Marine Corps’ second-in-command came all the way to Anderson to visit and award Sgt. Tollison two Purple Hearts for his service in Iraq.

Travis said, " To have him — the Marines’ assistant commandant — come down, that shocked me. We got guys getting really messed over there I am just thankful to be alive and to have all my limbs.”

Most of us here safely at home stateside can't even come close to understanding what it is like over there in Iraq. A great number of those serving are involved in hostile action. To survive being hit in an attack is one thing. But to survive being hit twice is amazing.

Travis survived an attack a few weeks earlier when he was hit by a round fired by Iraqi insurgents from a high-powered rifle. But it was the second time that is the reason he is home right now. The second time it was a roadside bomb.

Why would someone volunteer to go there?

For Travis that is an easy question to answer.

He has been a Marine for about 12 years. Rising to the rank of Sgt. But most of that service has been spent teaching and training and has never been put to the test. “For eight or nine years, I trained other Marines. “Its like practicing for the team but never getting a chance to get in the game. I was excited to go over there. But at the same time, I was apprehensive.”

On April 10, His unit the U.S. Marine Corps’ 13th Marine Expeditionary shipped out to Al-Anbar Province Iraq

The first few months were routine but that changed in late June

http://charlesrcole.blogspot.com/search?q=danger+is+real

On June 27th, Travis and his squad of Marines were patrolling some streets on foot when they heard gunfire. Before they could figure out where it was coming from, he felt a thud to his back.

“It felt like somebody kicked me. For about two seconds I was really scared. I could feel liquid running down my back.”

His first thought was blood, but the liquid turned out to be water from the camelbak canteen strapped to his back under his Kevlar vest. That vest stopped the high-powered round from piercing his back. He walked away with a serious bruise, but still alive.

The second attack was different.

A little more than a month later on July 30th and during a patrol, a unit of Marines found a building stashed with weapons. Weapons for the insurgents. Travis was sent with Marines assigned to link-up and destroy the weapons.

They never go there.

Before the meeting could happen, the truck filled with him and 13 other Marines was hit by a roadside bomb.

“The last thing I remember… I went to pick up the radio. And then it was lights out,”

When he came to, he couldn’t feel his legs, he could hear people yelling. The rest of the squad had escaped the blast and were screaming for him to get out burning wreckage.

He climbed out of a hatch and flung his body over the side of the truck,

Injured and bleeding he was flown to another station in Iraq, then onward to Germany.

By Aug. 2, he was back to American soil at the Naval Hospital Bethesda Md.

Travis was released on medical leave and has been allowed to spend it in Anderson with his family but is going for treatments to AnMed.

He'll be home for a few more weeks. Staying with his family while he continues to heal. But he is in some ways ready to get back.

“My unit is supposed to be coming back in late November. I want to be there when they come back.”

My sweetie made a wonderful new dish. Pasta, sausage, and loads of cheese ( low fat as always ) It was made with Penne Pasta. She informs me the is pronounced 'Pen Nay' not 'Pen Yeah' or as I said it 'Penny'. No matter, what ever it was wonderful.

Tomorrow morning there is another chance to view the Lunar Eclipse

It's not great viewing time but it is fairly good.

On Tuesday Morning very early the moon enters the Earth's full shadow, or umbra, at 4:51 a.m. EDT. It enters the total-eclipse phase at 5:32 EDT and the event ends after sunrise on the East coast.

Only in the West will the entire eclispe be viewable. It will be cut short in the east because of the sunrise,

Maybe we will get a few cloud breaks.

We held a party for mom's birthday. Kristie and I had so much fun last time we decided to make this one Hawaiian themed also. Kristie made an apple-roasted chicken and some other tropical dishes while I fixed the decorations and provided the music.

Kevin had missed on seeing mom, his grandmother on her actual birthday so he drove up from Athens for the first time by himself. She was so surprised and glad he came. Way to go Kevo. I think the evening was a hit and the food was a perfect.

Love You Mom....

Happy Birthday

The city of Anderson, the downtown businesses along with Anderson University held a big Welcome Back Students street party Friday night. It was pretty good. They had a great band playing at the court house and free food. What's not to like. A thunderstorm came-up right in the middle but it passed fairly quickly. That thinned the crowd somewhat but those who stuck it out were rewarded with a good time.

About a week and a half ago I finally got to see Bourne Ultimatum. I had plans to be there opening night, but something came up. It was worth the wait.

You really need to see all three of these movies close together in in order. They tell a continuing story.

Slight SPOILER BELOW

Bourne Ultimatum starts off at night at the end of The Bourne Supremacy with Bourne still in Moscow fleeing from the police (presumably it's right after he confesses to the Russian girl that he killed her parents).. It continues the same line as before with Jason trying to find out who and / or what he is.

In some ways this is the best of the three, it's VERY action packed. The best scene from the entire trilogy comes in the form of a foot chase through Morocco, and in my humble opinion, the second best scene comes in the car chase at the end.

This time it's personal. Jason Bourne is really angry and confused by the agency that took his identity, killed his girlfriend, and keeps thinking of him as a threat. So the continue trying to assassinate him. He sets his sights on the source to find the men or man who turned him down this path.

END SPOILERS

My only real criticism of Bourne Ultimatum was too much use of hand held camera. I like that at times because it puts the viewer into the action somewhat. But in this case they used it too much, too often and too long each time. It did help with the style, but it made it very hard to follow the action, and at times just plain made me dizzy. Otherwise a fantastic flick. One I will add to the other two in my collection.

Last night we had dinner out with Blake for the first time. We met Amy, Joel, Ashley and for the first time,Blake at Ruby Tuesday. It was a blast and he was the perfect little gentleman. He just laid in his carrier and grinned at all of us. I know at his age ( one Month ) he really can't see everything but he seemed top really study the brass trumpet hanging on the wall.

We finally got the car back from the air conditioner shop. It was there 10 days. 95% of the delay was not their fault I am sure. The first replacement they put on was also bad and then a few issues beyond their control delayed them further. But it is home now and not a minute too soon. Kris's car which has been down several days goes in tomorrow.

Sam and I were hanging around the airport last night. We wern't doing much, just talking about taking the radio to the shop on Monday. Yes the number two com is semi inop. We were aware of a plane landing and of the rapidly building thunderstorms, but gave it no real thought. Turns out the plane was passing through and landed because of a misfiring engine. It was a young guy about 20-21 who was heading home from taking his flight test. He passed. Welcome !! A brand new pilot. He made the right choice. Those storms became very big and violent quickly. It was already after hours so the airport shop was closed. And his phone was dead. But somehow he noticed us and Sam being an A & P mechanic we grabbed the tools and figured out his problem within 20 minutes it was fixed. ( bad $30 spark plug ) But Steve ( the new pilot ) knew enough not to challenge the storms. And called his father, also a pilot who drove up from Jefferson, Georgia and they spent the night in Anderson. The old saying if you absolutely have to go ...drive if you got time to wait ..fly.

The fun never stops. I just got a call from the air conditioner shop. They finally got the new unit installed on my car, were checking everything and would you believe it. Then the new one started making a clunking grinding sound. It too was is bad. They have ordered another new one but it will not be ready today. Eight days and counting. To their credit I really don't think the shop is at fault here.

In other fun news. Our dishwasher ( the automatic one ...not me ) did not rinse the last load completely. Is it the next item we have to replace? The trouble shooting guide seem to indicate the soap is OLD and that may be the problem. We just bought it at Sams last week.

Finishing up with good news. My arm is hurting much less today. It may not actually fall off unexpectedly at Dinner tonight.

Time to make a BiLo run.

Life is good.

We had our first 100% attendance homegroup in a long time Sunday night. Summer has been tough on our respective schedules. Both Ben and Mahalie and Amy any Joel brought the NEWEST members this week. Trey and Blake.


After homegroup we dropped by the construction site to tour Amy and Joel's new house. It's gonna be nice. Ashley and I had a good time talking decorating ideas.

Then Kris and I went on to Firehouse Subs. No
celebrities this week, but the meatball sub was good.

Joe Sangl would be proud of Kris and I when it comes to our attitude about new cars. Our "family" car is several years old. Most people
would have traded-up by now, but we figure it gets us from point a to b and we can make a lot of repairs for the price of a new vehicle. Besides it gets good mileage.

We put a new air conditioning system on it about two months ago. But it locked up and quit working. Under warranty thankfully. So it went back to the shop. But because of a problem beyond their control has caused them to become far behind and it is still there.

Normally that would not be a problem because we still have two other cars. However on Friday Kristie's car the " ' lil Dragster" developed a dead battery. It is eight years old so I was not surprised. Bad news, the jumper cables are in the other car which is in the shop.

So I hooked the charger to it and hoped it would regain enough juice to drive to the shop. But it would not start the next morning. Not even a grunt. So I planned to just take the battery out take it to the store and get a replacement, but would you believe it. I could not get the terminal off. The side post screw is stripped and no amount of twisting and wd40 will break it loose.

Worse still the screws are made of lead and are soft so the socket is now slipping on it as the edges are beginning to round out.

If it still won't start or continue to run I may have to cut the cable off and replace it too. I dread that because it goes somewhere under the car and disappears.

I'll figure out something when I get the other car back. Meanwhile guess I'll just drive my sweetie to work. On my way to the gym.