It would be nice if the media covered these events more and even gave us a heads up so we could participate and donate. Oh, thats right- they are too busy covering the negative stories to have time.
Posted on 11/27/2005 10:07:08 AM PST by radar101
CAMP PENDLETON – All morning yesterday, Dawn Halfaker dashed after a running back and nabbed a blue flag off the opponent's waist in a game of flag football. But she rarely held the ball.
A little more than a year ago, Halfaker, a retired Army lieutenant, lost her right arm after a rocket-propelled grenade tore it apart in an ambush in Baquba, Iraq.
Twenty-six teams of men and women played eight games of flag football simultaneously on a vast field at Camp Pendleton. Yesterday, Halfaker and her mother, Connie Halfaker, were among more than 400 participants at the All-Star Buddy Bowl, an annual fundraiser for families of fallen military personnel and for those disabled in the line of duty. Twenty-six teams of men and women played eight games of flag football simultaneously on a vast field at Camp Pendleton.
Before the games began, organizers announced that the event already had raised $80,000 through corporate sponsorships and private donations. The goal is to raise $100,000 this year.
Steve Halfaker of Ramona, Dawn's father, stood on the sidelines with a huge grin on his face, watching his daughter and wife play football.
"She was in a coma for 10 days," said Halfaker, who is the superintendent of Lakeside Union School District. "It's wonderful to see her recovery come full circle."
As a teenager, Dawn Halfaker regularly made newspaper headlines as a star basketball player at Rancho Bernardo High School. She also played basketball at West Point before she graduated in 2001 and joined the military police.
In Iraq, she led a platoon in charge of the Diyala Province police station, where they trained Iraqi policemen and guarded a prison. After the ambush attack in June 2004, Halfaker returned home and became one of the first five military women who have lost limbs from combat injuries in Iraq. Halfaker now works as a contractor for the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.
These days, Halfaker says she tries to remember things she took for granted before her arm was amputated.
"Like being able to feel a basketball in my right hand," she said.
Yesterday's event began 28 years ago in Point Loma with a group of high school buddies who got together around Christmastime to play flag football on the beach. They called the friendly competition "Buddy Bowl." Marine Maj. Nico Marcolongo began playing with the group in 1991. Eight years later, Marcolongo turned Buddy Bowl into a fundraiser when, a week before the scheduled event, a 1st Force Reconnaissance Company helicopter crashed off the coast of Point Loma, killing four service members. The group raised $550 for the families of those who died.
In 2003, Marcolongo and his wife formed the nonprofit Buddy Bowl Inc. to run the annual charity event out of their Solana Beach condominium. This year, $60,000 has been donated to Del Mar-based Challenged Athletes Foundation's Operation Rebound program for veterans. An additional $10,000 went to North County Honor Campaign, which provides educational funds for the children of North County service members killed in the war.
This year's Buddy Bowl was played in the honor of Marine Maj. Ray Mendoza, who was killed Nov. 14 in New Ubaydi, Iraq. Mendoza, 47, was assigned to the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. His wife, Karen, was presented with flowers at the opening ceremony.
Ray Mendoza's brother, Jermaine, said the family decided to attend the Buddy Bowl to be close to Ray. The Marine's family live at Camp Pendleton and participated in the Buddy Bowl every year.
Booyeon Lee: (760) 737-7566; booyeon.lee@uniontrib.com
There is a picture of Halfaker with the article.
Support the troops ping
It would be nice if the media covered these events more and even gave us a heads up so we could participate and donate. Oh, thats right- they are too busy covering the negative stories to have time.
Bump and a hug!
Ms.B
True support for the troops
BTTT
Out Troops Rock BTTT
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