Sunday, December 14, 2008
Meeting Old Friends in Phoenix
Wow that was an amazing little reunion, and we even made some new friends too!
UPDATE: Russ from KNIX has posted OVER 60 PICTURES from the EVENT!!!! Thank you Russ!!!!
We just left the Phoenix rally, I have a lot to talk about so I can't write it all right now but here are some pictures real quick!!!
So the scoop that I failed to give you on our last post was the significance of meeting old friends out in Phoenix. Tonight's rally at the VFW reunited MAF with our old friend the Chaplain Rachael Coggins from the U.S. Army Reserve. We met Rachael in 2007 when MAF sent a team to Iraq to hand out Christmas and Holiday cards to the troops in Baghdad, where MAF also saw firsthand the kind of work our troops are doing in Iraq.
Before making it to Iraq we had to stop off in Kuwait, which is basically where almost everyone going to Iraq has to cycle through. We had to stay in Kuwait for several days waiting for visas to be approved for entering Iraq. While we were waiting there we befriended Chaplain Coggins who was able to show us all around the huge Kuwait base and engineered many opportunities for us to meet and talk to the troops.
She once got Melanie and Debbie Lee an audience of over 300 troops and they gave Debbie a standing ovation, it was really an amazing sight to see. She also organized a meeting where we were able to think troops on their way back home to America on emergency leave. Basically meaning there was a family emergency at home and we were able to thank those troops on their way back.
It was during that visit that Melanie met the recruiter who carried the hero bracelet of the Marine who he recruited and wanted Melanie to find the boys mother and give her the bracelet. She finally tracked down the other some months later but reunited her with the bracelet.
Well it has been almost a year now since we last saw Chaplain Coggins but in the time since we last saw each other she has returned to the U.S. and now lives outside of Phoenix, so she showed up at our rally today and reunited with Debbie Lee and Mary and I. It was awesome to see Rachael again and we even found out that she had gone and written a book about her experiences in Kuwait.
Being a chaplain, one whom the troops come to confide in, to talk about their problems and seek advice, Rachael had a lot of interesting perspectives and stories that different troops had told her about their service in Iraq or Afghanistan. Her book is a chronicling of those stories and she calls it Gateway to Iraq: A Chaplain's Story.Rachael also informed us that Chapter 15 or the 24 chapter book is about MAF!!!
Can?t wait until it's available in stores!
We also met another gold star family at this rally. Nick and Martha Aguilar live in Phoenix with their family. Martha?s brother ,Emigdio Elizarras who was killed during an IED attack in Afghanistan on February 28, 2006. He was 37 years old and had 20 years in the U.S. Army. He volunteered to serve in the Middle East and was deployed with U.S. Army Special Forces. Here is a photo of their family.
Our hearts go out to the Aguilar family for their loss. Master Sgt. Elizarras sacrificed a lot for his country, as many have done. They have sacrificed more than anyone should ever be asked to and they did it without fear or without even flinching from their duty.
Where would this country be if we could not count on such men with nerves of steel and infinite determination?
