Unknown Soldiers

The Unknown Soldiers: Surprise of a Lifetime

February 4, 2011 By Tom Sileo, Creators Syndicate Leave a Comment

When Jodi Foster stepped onto Nashville’s LP Field during the Tennessee Titans-Washington Redskins game on Nov. 21, she thought she was simply being recognized for an essay she wrote about her husband, Sgt. Mark Foster.

Standing beside the couple’s 12-year-old daughter, Kayla, the 33-year-old Army wife got a nice surprise when a video message from her husband, who was deployed with the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade in Afghanistan, played on the NFL stadium’s Jumbotron.

While it certainly made for a poignant memory, the mother and daughter would still have to head home after the game and join Cody, 18, and Hunter, 17, to prepare for another Thanksgiving holiday without dad. Maybe Sgt. Foster would get to call from his remote Forward Operating Base that day, but that would be about as much face time as they would get.

Then, just after the video message played, nearly 70,000 football fans started screaming, quickly growing louder and louder. The military wife sensed that something big was about to happen.

“I was looking around the field and didn’t really see anything except the huge Jumbotron” Jodi told The Unknown Soldiers. “I could not believe it; he wasn’t due on leave until (December), but then I saw him coming out on the golf cart.”

As soon as Jodi and Kayla saw their soldier, they ran quicker than any NFL running back closing in on the end zone, and clutched him tighter than a defensive lineman pulling down a quarterback for a sack.

As they embraced on the 10-yard line, a capacity crowd and many more watching at home saw what it really means to be a nation at war. Fox Sports play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton put it best when he said, “This may be the highlight of this game.”

Of the almost 70,000 people inside the stadium that day, the surprise meant the most to young Kayla, whom the couple call “daddy’s girl.”

“My dad loved me enough to adopt me,” Kayla is quoted as saying in the family’s winning essay. “No one gave me to him, mom. He picked me.”

The improbable, emotional moment that captivated many around the nation was one that the soldier himself never thought would occur.

“I didn’t expect to go out on the field,” Sgt. Foster told me from his family’s home on Fort Campbell in Kentucky. “In fact, I didn’t find out until after I landed in Nashville. But it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, keeping it secret from my family that I was coming home.”

Many good folks inside the Army, Tennessee Titans football team and the Camp Crossing housing community where the Fosters live came together to give this military family a much-needed holiday boost.

This is Sgt. Foster’s fifth combat deployment, having served four previous tours with the Screaming Eagles in Iraq, and with a concerned wife and three children at home, it hasn’t been easy. In addition to missing his family, the soldier has also been dealing with the loss of brothers in arms like Staff Sgt. Brandon Silk, a fallen hero with whom Foster served.

“Staff Sgt. Silk was a great guy; there’s nothing bad that I know of or can say about him, and so many of us knew him on a personal level,” Sgt. Foster said of his fallen comrade. “People knew him when he was in Korea, and when he first got to Fort Campbell, and he was just an awesome guy, a great guy, who is truly going to be missed by a lot of people.”

Silk, a 25-year-old Black Hawk helicopter crew chief who was nicknamed “Silky Smooth” in high school before developing a tough-as-nails reputation in the Army, was killed in a June 21 Afghanistan helicopter crash. The Orono, Maine, paratrooper is survived by his wife, parents and two brothers.

“Emotionally, we’re all in this job, and we know what we’re up against,” Sgt. Foster explained. “It sucks, and next to losing a parent, spouse, or child, I don’t know of a harder feeling. But we all know the risk involved when we join. We also know that, yes, we have a fallen comrade, and we’ll all take time to mourn, but we still have a job to do.”

While there are many unsung heroes of America’s post-9/11 conflicts, the courage displayed by spouses of our deployed troops and returning veterans is frequently overlooked. I asked Foster’s wife how she manages the household, children, finances and many other critical responsibilities during her husband’s frequent deployments.

“Like I tell my mom, I have to put on my brave face,” Jodi quickly responded. “I have to … I have no choice, because if I fell apart, what happens to my kids?”

The newest member of the Foster family, adopted about two years ago, has been a rock during the last eight months, despite being just 12 years old.

“She’s stronger than I am,” Kayla’s proud mom said. “(After) we first dropped him off to deploy, I spent a few days crying and in bed, but she got me up, told me he’d be fine and kept me strong.”

Four days after the surprise of a lifetime, the family celebrated Thanksgiving together.

“It’s the best feeling ever, having him home after eight months,” the soldier’s wife said. “It’s been amazing.”

“It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s great being home,” Sgt. Foster added.

About a week after our conversation, the soldier returned to Afghanistan to finish his deployment. The humble warrior calls himself “lucky” to be assigned to a Forward Operating Base with better communications capabilities than most in the rugged, war-torn nation where the Sept. 11 attacks were planned. Despite relatively reliable phone lines and a decent Internet connection, some of the calls back home are tense.

“(Jodi) still gets to hear my voice, and I get to hear hers,” he said. “But sometimes there is incoming fire in the background, and I hate when she has to hear rounds and (the call drops), and she has to sit here for hours pondering.”

Sgt. Mark Foster will almost certainly be wishing his family a Merry Christmas over the phone or Skype this year. But with the memories of the family’s special, unexpected Thanksgiving together still fresh, Jodi insists that her deployed husband will still be joining his loved ones for Christmas dinner.

“We’ll put his picture on the head of a chair, and maybe even put a video camera on the chair. We’ll stay connected. He may not be here this year, but he’s still a part of Christmas and our lives.”

The Unknown Soldiers – Iron Man

January 31, 2011 By Tom Sileo, Creators Syndicate Leave a Comment

As Lance Cpl. Thomas Rivers Jr. patrolled Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province, he knew God had his back. The Marine often carried a Bible, but even on days he didn’t have room for anything but essential combat gear, Rivers felt protected by Psalm 91:1, which was tattooed on his back.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Faith guided Rivers from youth into manhood. In an essay the future Marine handed in to his ninth-grade teacher on Nov. 12, 2003, Rivers explained why he had been yearning to serve his country since age 10.

“I think if I put my mind to it, and with God’s help, I could make it in the Marines,” Rivers wrote. “I believe that joining the Marines would be a good experience for me because it will teach me to rely on God to make it through.”

For Rivers, joining the Marine Corps would not be so simple as signing a piece of paper. The Marine’s father, Dr. Thomas Rivers Sr., told The Unknown Soldiers that dyslexia made classroom work very difficult for his son, who also faced some early physical limitations that made success in sports equally elusive.

“He was my hero before he joined the Marines,” Dr. Rivers said. “He overcame so many obstacles to transform from a thin child into a ripped warrior.”

Dr. Rivers credits the Marines for giving his son extra motivation to hit the books, as well as the gym, with an unbreakable vigor.

“He was the iron man,” Dr. Rivers said with pride. “He struggled in high school until one of the Marine recruiters told him he needed a diploma to enlist. We never heard a word about low grades after that.”

While basic training and deployments change almost everyone, Rivers stuck to his strong values in the unforgiving humidity of South Carolina’s Parris Island and raw desert heat of the new Iraq. He returned from his first overseas tour in February 2009 to his proud parents, friends and relatives in Birmingham, Ala. During his Iraq deployment, the Marine’s loving mother, Charon, often whispered her son’s favorite Psalm verse during frequent prayers for his safety.

Word soon came that Rivers and the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force were needed in Afghanistan. The young Marine, now 22, already had a combat tour under his belt and prepared for another deployment with the same focus, faith and strength that guided him through Iraq. Both of his grandfathers had served in the military, and protecting America in the years following the 9/11 attacks was a duty Rivers believed fell to him.

“He was never a conformist,” Dr. Rivers explained. “Thomas always knew he was a warrior.”

During a six-week period in Afghanistan, Rivers started a Bible study with one of his best friends, Lance Cpl. Matthew Proctor. With weapons in their laps but their Bibles open, the Marines would search for answers on how people could love one another, even in the ravaged mountains of the war on terror’s central front. Before a Wednesday mission that Rivers volunteered for after a fellow Marine suffered severe exhaustion, he prayed with Proctor before leaving together on patrol.

According to the Pentagon, Rivers was killed on April 28 in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Three military messengers arrived at the Rivers household in Birmingham just hours later to deliver the solemn news, and his devastated parents, who are still “numb,” according to Dr. Rivers, hoped to get more details on their son’s final moments. As friends, family, fellow churchgoers and the Birmingham community sprang into action to support Dr. and Mrs. Rivers, a phone call came from Afghanistan from someone also in deep mourning. It was Proctor.

“He told us that after Thomas stepped on the IED, three of his best friends in the Marine Corps, including Matthew, kneeled down beside him,” Dr. Rivers recounted the day after receiving the phone call. “Matthew held his hand, and they said the Bible verse tattooed on Thomas’ back.”

After the grieving father thanked Lance Cpl. Matthew Proctor and his family for their selfless service and extraordinary support, Dr. Rivers said something, through a father’s tears, that moved me deeply.

“It is comforting to know that Thomas was with three people who loved him when he died.”

In the final hours before Rivers deployed to Afghanistan, he also held hands with his mom and prayed. Six weeks later and half a world away, he would hold hands and pray with three beloved fellow volunteer warriors in his last moments on earth. Today, I believe this brave Marine is holding hands with his two grandfathers, praying for the loving family and grieving nation he left behind.

Lance Cpl. Thomas Rivers Jr. stood for overcoming obstacles, finding common ground, and offering love, even amid uncertainty and violence. To truly honor his sacrifice, we can learn from how he lived, and another Psalm verse, 91:4, that deeply struck his passionate heart.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Filed Under: Unknown Soldiers Tagged With: 1st Battalion 2nd Marines, Afghanistan, Jr., Lance Corporal, Lance Corporal Thomas Rivers, Marine, Thomas Rivers, United States Marine Corps, Unknown Soldier

The Unknown Soldiers – An American Friend

January 29, 2011 By Tom Sileo, Creators Syndicate Leave a Comment

”

I have never given everything,” Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta told “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Nov. 14. “Sgt. Joshua Brennan gave everything.”

I have been in awe of the humility displayed by Giunta in every interview he’s given since it became known that he would receive the nation’s highest military award. On the day he was presented the Medal of Honor by President Obama at the White House, it was clear that Giunta is in awe of the soldiers he served with, especially fellow warrior Spc. Hugo Mendoza and his dear friend Sgt. Joshua Brennan.

Joshua Charles Brennan was born on May 30, 1985 in El Paso, Texas. For most of his childhood, according to an article in The Capital Times, Brennan lived with his mom in Oregon during the school year, then headed to Wisconsin to spend the summer with his dad. Unlike me, a big brother who spent too much time teasing my younger brother and sister, Brennan was the model sibling. One of his five brothers and sisters, Jessica, wrote in a Facebook tribute group that her big brother was simply the best.

Not long after graduating high school in Ontario, Ore., Brennan enlisted in the U.S. Army, training hard and earning his place in the storied 173rd Airborne Infantry Brigade Combat Team, perhaps best known for the incredible human price it paid at Dak To, Vietnam. Brennan took that fighting spirit with him to Afghanistan on his first combat tour, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star for valor.

During his second tour, much of which took place in a northeastern Afghanistan valley so dangerous that brave, battle-tested American soldiers knew it was too risky to go to the bathroom during the day, Brennan forged an even closer bond with the troops around him. He was close friends with Giunta, who says that either of them, or any other soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, would instinctively put their lives on the line for one another.

Brennan was shot in the leg in August 2007, but healed, received his Purple Heart and willed himself back out to the battlefield. That’s the kind of selfless dedication, rightfully regarded as extraordinary back home, that was almost commonplace for this remarkable unit in the mountains of Afghanistan. For these volunteer warriors, it was simply what had to be done.

Brennan, known as “Chuck” by some of his closest Army friends, died on Oct. 26, 2007, in Asadabad, Afghanistan, of wounds he sustained during the previous day’s ambush, which also killed Mendoza. Were it not for Giunta’s bravery in seizing this wounded warrior from the Taliban’s grasp, the soldier’s family, fellow troops and American citizens may have been forced to endure a horrific ordeal of painful uncertainty, deadly rescue operations and possibly more Taliban propaganda videos.

When Giunta’s heroism was recognized by the president of the United States, Mendoza’s and Brennan’s names echoed through the halls of the White House. Yet it’s at home, in the thoughts of loved ones, where the sounds of children who grew up to become American heroes are loudest.

“Joshua, you are missed every minute of every day, no matter what day it is by so many people who love you,” Brennan’s mother posted to the Facebook memorial group on Nov. 12.

Staff Sgt. Erick Gallardo, who was awarded the Silver Star, was Brennan’s squad leader. During the “60 Minutes” interview, when he and Giunta recounted that fall 2007 day’s tragic moments, Gallardo said something that will forever comfort the family of Brennan, who earned three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts during his illustrious career of service. Instead of spending his final moments with enemies of America and the world, he spent them with his friends.

“The last thing Brennan ever saw was us. He saw us fighting for him.”