The time for me to leave is fast approaching. I am getting more and more excited and anxious to take that first step. I can not say enough thanks to my fraternity brothers, friends and family for their continued support. My frat brother, Codee, has been a huge help in getting the word out to the local sororities here in Valdosta. At the time of this writing I understand that at least two sororities have decided to donate to the cause. Thank You Codee! Last night I was out at a local sports bar with several friends. Throughout the night several people came up to me and offered places to stay along the route. I am grateful for this support because that means shower and laundry haha! A big thank you to Turk and his amazing girlfriend Mariah for their personal contribution last night. Thank You Both! My friends Chad and Katie have been great supporters of me. Last night Chad and I had about an hour of guy talk while we forced Katie to sit in the backseat of the truck and listen. LOL Hope you learned a little bit about us men Katie!
My Army buddy and former roommate in Iraq, Scott, has been working hard to promote this TREK on so many levels. He will be at the send-off taking photos of the day. Thank You Scott!
A friend of mine from Army Combat Medic school in Texas is deploying soon. She has moved up to become a flight medic and will be working in that position while deployed. Please keep her and her unit in your prayers.
As I am writing this I am remembering a good friend and fellow Army Medic who I had the honor of going to Medic school with. His last name was Parrish like mine and he was blonde and stood about 6'1" as best I remember. He was a good 'ol boy from Jasper Alabama and we hit it off great as you can imagine. Dustin went on to be assigned to an engineer unit that conducted sweeps of the routes that our forces used to move through the country of Iraq, this was known as route clearance. One day while out on a routine mission his truck was hit by an IED. Dustin was the medic for the mission that day. As I understand it, he was severely wounded by the blast and was unable to be saved by his fellow soldiers. He left behind a little boy that was still young at the time. Dustin loved his son very much, in fact, we would have conversations about our sons almost daily and they always seemed to revolve around how we loved and missed them and wanted them to be better than our perception of ourselves. Now he will never be able to be the Father he so desired to be. I can remember his smile when he would talk about his son and how his face would light up as he spoke. Those are great memories of a great soldier, medic, father and friend.
Dont forget to pass this blog page on to your friends and family as well as the other pages dedicated to this TREK. Until next time.........
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