Remembering Our Fallen U.S. Military Heroes

I've created a new blog ---

Remembering The Fallen

Military Times has an amazing site - - -

Honor the Fallen - - -


Honoring those who fought and died in
Operations Iraqi freedom and Enduring Freedom.   There is a search area
on the database at the Military Times site.    I'm gathering the names
and information and listing it day by day on this site.



I wanted a place where on that day, I could remember ALL who
have given their all. 

My heartfelt prayers for the family and friends
of these heroes.

In Memory of ALL U.S. Military Heroes

Please Help Support Former Army Captain Sargent Binkley

Sargent is the son of Jane Ellen and Ed Binkley.   I know Jane Ellen
from a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder web site of which we are both
members.   

Being the Mom of a United States Air Force Staff Sergent, I know very
well that this could be my son Vincent in this picture.   

I've pulled some info about Sargent from his web site.   Please read this
or go to this web site and read more.
Sarge Binkley needs OUR HELP !!!!!

There are addresses listed at the site help out in a letter writing
effort and also phone numbers to call.   

If this were my Vinny, I would be pleading for your support....
and you know what, once you are a military Mom, they ALL FEEL like
my kids....    SO I AM PLEADING !!!!!!!!

If you can't find the time, or don't wish to write a letter, prayers are most
welcome, not only for this young man, but for all who live with the horror
of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

THANK YOU SARGE for your service and I pledge to support you !!!!

 

http://supportsarge.org

 

 

 

Sargent & his Mom Jane Ellen

 

.

Under California's strict mandatory minimum sentencing laws,
US Army Captain Sargent Binkley is facing at least 12 years in state
prison. If you know Sargent and/or are opposed to mandatory minimum
sentencing, please read the following. You can help.

Update 3/18 Sargent's Santa Clara court date has been
postponed until mid-July, with the San Mateo court date likely to
change as well. This delay gives us more time to push the county DAs to
take a settlement. Your letters and phone calls are helping - keep them
coming!

Sargent Binkley committed two robberies in 2006. These
crimes were desperate attempts to obtain the painkillers he became
addicted to after sustaining injuries while serving abroad. These
injuries were repeatedly misdiagnosed and mistreated by the military
medical system, resulting in Sargent’s downward spiral of addiction. He
harmed no-one, took no money, and turned himself in. Under California’s
minimum sentencing law, no judge can commute his sentence to one more
in proportion to his crime. Sargent has been in jail for over a year
and a half and faces final sentencing soon in Santa Clara County.

We support the elimination of California's excessive mandatory
minimum sentencing laws, which give the power usually reserved to
judges over to District Attorneys. But changing the law takes time that
Sargent Binkley doesn't have. Public pressure is the only thing that
may cause the respective District Attorneys to reconsider; please help
us in this fight by writing a letter or making a phone call as soon as you can.
Two minutes of your time can help persuade District Attorneys Deborah
Medved and Steve Wagstaffe to apply a more equitable and appropriate
sentence, and obtain justice for Sargent Binkley.

About Sargent

Sargent
Binkley was born and raised in Los Altos, California. He attended Los
Altos High School, where he excelled in school while playing on the
football and rugby teams and becoming an Eagle Scout. Binkley’s goal as
a teenager was to work hard enough to enroll at the US Military Academy
in West Point, NY. He succeeded, and matriculated there in 1993. After
graduation in 1997 he entered the US Army, completing the airborne jump
course and the notoriously difficult Ranger training.

Sargent was sent to Bosnia after his graduation, where he served as
a peacekeeper by guarding the mass graves of genocide victims. From
there he was sent to Central America, where he participated in drug
interdiction operations. At one point he was ordered to open fire on a
truck that contained a civilian teenage boy, an act that haunts him to
this day. While on duty in Honduras, he fractured his pelvis and
dislocated a hip. This injury was consistently misdiagnosed by Army
physicians over the next several years, resulting in chronic pain and
an addiction to prescription painkillers.

Sargent was honorably discharged out of the Army in 2002 and
returned to civilian life. He worked for a time until his chronic pain
and addiction destroyed his ability to be productive. He moved back
home with his parents, who paid for a diagnosis by a private sports
physician. The private doctor used a high-resolution MRI and found
tears in the cartilage of his left hip, injuries that the military
medical system had been unable to find. Surgery finally fixed the
problem. After this his prescriptions from the VA were discontinued but
his addiction remained, compounded by a psychiatric diagnosis of
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Sargent held up two Walgreens pharmacies in 2006 – one in Mountain
View on the twentieth of January, the second in San Carlos on the third
of March. He used an unloaded gun, harmed no one, and left only with
bags full of painkillers. Shortly after the second robbery he turned
himself in. After a year and a half in custody, he is working his way
through a drug rehabilitation program as he awaits trial.

administrator – September 8, 2007  –  7:58pm

Medical Appt - Update

HI Family and Friends,

After a very thorough appointment with the cardiologist,
he

does not think there is anything seriously wrong.

 

He did schedule a stress test and echocardiogram on April 29.

(That will be done there in his office)

(echocardiogram is a test that uses sound waves to
create a moving picture of the heart.

The picture is much more detailed than x-ray image and
involves no radiation exposure.)

 

He went over my medical history, listened to my heart ALL over
my

front and back.   Had me sit to listen, had me lay down to
listen.   Listened to

the pulse in my neck, and feet and in the tummy area.   

He is running the tests just to be certain.   

As he was leaving he said......... 'Well, I'll see you when you
schedule those

appointments, and I'm glad there was nothing seriously wrong'. 

SO............  GREAT NEWS...

Thanks everyone for your prayers and keep saying just

a few until I have the final word.   :))))))))

Love

Deb

Split Second Change of Emotion

Kevin is our youngest child.   He will be 12 this summer.
He arrived as an old soul.    Not even minutes old in his
Daddy's arms, he was quiet as a mouse and literally
studying the features on his Dad's face. 
I commented to Michael right away about how intently
he was looking at Michael's features, in a slow deliberate
motion.

I usually say that NOTHING this child does surprises me.
But......... I was surprised last week.     Did I just say surprised,
a better word would be SHOCKED.   

It was Thursday of last week and I had walked in Kevin's
room to put some clothes away.   As I turned to walk out
of the room, I noticed he had written on his wall.....

I SUCKED AIR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Michael just painted Kevin's room
about 6 months ago. 

In a SPLIT SECOND.....   I went from SHOCK....  to Awwwwwwww






I went downstairs, grabbed my camera and paper towels
and cleaning solution.   Castrol Super Clean - dissolves
grease on contact AND a little elbow grease and the
message was gone from his wall.....
But not from my heart.   

It's every parent's dream to be a 'hero' to your child. 
 
Kevin and I had a conversation about the 'artwork'.
I told him although the message was quite special to me,
it was NOT appropriate to express himself  in
such a way on the wall of his bedroom, but I would prefer
he used paper, which he has all over the place because he
is quite artistic.    

What a balance it all is being a parent. !!!    

Try A Little Kindness

Last week I had to place a call to a medical insurance
claim office.   This was the medical carrier that we had for
last years health insurance and was calling about a claim
for Kevin's knee injury of last year. 

Ohhhhhhh how I really dreaded this call. !!!
More often than not, the customer service person is not
all that pleasant just hurrying you along for the next call.

When you dial in, naturally it's an automated computer
until you put in enough information and then hopefully
you get to a human being.

So I had entered some info, and was looking around in a
daze when I thought I heard another automated voice.
The voice sounded so sweet and nice I thought I still had
the machine.....

Then I heard a .....'Hello, are you there,  how can I help you' ?

From the VERY moment that Vanessa came on the line,
she was amazing.   After taking care of what I needed to,
I thanked her profusely for her great style and manner on the phone.
We chatted for a second and here she was located in the major city
not all that far from me.   Sometimes, a person can be quite far
away.   

After hanging up, I decided almost immediately to phone back
and ask for her supervisor to relay what a pleasant experience my
call in had been.   I got a gal on the line and explained that I wanted
to talk to a supervisor of the call center.    She hesitated for a second,
and I said.........'Ohhhhhh this is a GOOD call'.     And then I said to her
you know what, how about you give me the mailing information instead
and I will write the supervisor a letter.    I just felt a letter would be more
appropriate to express my thanks on the superior customer service.

I composed a letter right away, and  went to print it out on white paper.
For Christmas, my daughter Kerri had given me some beautiful  and colorful
stationary.    I grabbed that and thought...... What the heck, it's not so
professional looking, but it SURE IS FUN. !!!
I mailed the letter out that afternoon.

The very next day I had a call from Vanessa.   She was floored that I
took the time to write a letter on her behalf.    She said that morning,
her supervisor approached her desk and said.....
"I have something to share with you"..........

Vanessa said at first she thought to herself......
"Ohhhhhh no, what could this be".   

The supervisor handed her the original letter, and then said, 
"That is yours to keep, I've made a copy of it for your files."

Vanessa said to me....  "Mrs Estep, you have no idea how you
have MADE MY DAY....... no, make that my whole week, or make
that for a long time to come.    Anytime I am feeling down, I am going
to pull out this beautiful letter and remember your kindness."

Awwwwwwww I was in tears. !!!!     The picture above is a piece of that
FUN paper that I scanned in and made smaller.    I just added the word
smile in there so it would not look blank.   LOL
Just picture that paper full size 81/2 x 11 and turned the other way,
and you get the idea. 

It's amazing how easy it is to uplift another human being.   All it takes
is just a little time, and effort.   But honestly, the goodness came right back
to me when Vanessa took the time to personally call me and thank me
for writing the letter that I did.

Medical -

To my dear friends........

A part of me just hates sharing medical news about myself,
BUT....... IF ANY one of you had medical stuff going on, I would
want to know. !!!!      So...... with that in mind, I am sharing.

If you could say a few prayers.   ;)

XO XO
Deb   

Yesterday I had attempted to donate blood at a local Red Cross
drive. 

I've been a donor since I was 17 and have never
been turned away before.   

BUT........ the nurse detected an irregular
heartbeat.   

She did it twice and called another person over to

confirm it.    They said my pulse was 66 and I had 16
irregular

beats in a minute.   You can donate if the number is 10 in a
minutes time.

They did the finger prick to test for iron and my iron is good. 

It could be caffeine or even the meds I take for an

under active thyroid.   I am hopeful that it's these EASY type
things.   
Trying to take this in stride without getting too stressed about it.

I had an appointment with my family doc
today............

I am home and wearing a heart monitor for the next 24 hours.   

The family doctor did about 5 EKG's.    Sometimes it would show
irregular

and sometimes not.    Her first instinct was to call an ambulance
and have

me transported to the hospital.    She then consulted with an
internist who said.....

IF you send her to the hospital I would just sit there all
weekend.   Since I was

not experiencing any chest pains, it was the internist
recommendation to run

the monitor.

 

On Monday I am to return the monitor to the doctors's office and
after

reading it, further determination will be made about what to
do.

Apparently my blood pressure was pretty low too.   The internist
said,

if we were to put her on meds, she might just pass out.   

They took about 3 vials of blood too.   Guess I would know by now
IF I had

a heart attack from the blood work.

I am just way tired from being fussed with and I was at the
office

about 3 hours.