My name is Sergeant Thomas
G. Bauschke. I am a Medic
currently serving in Afghanistan
with 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd BCT,
10th Mountain Division I received a Purple Heart
for a shrapnel wound from enemy RPG fire on May 1st 2009
(Permanent Orders 145-018, 25 May 2009). We are
scheduled to return home in January 2010 after a
yearlong deployment. My webblog at
www.islandguardian.com (click on my name) will show
you some highlights of my deployment. During our Block
Leave in February 2010, I will climb Mount Kilimanjaro
in Tanzania, Africa to raise funds for The Wounded
Warrior Project (WWP).
First, on February 11th, I will climb 30 miles up nearby
14,967-foot Mount Meru to get used to altitude. Then, on
February 16th I will climb 38 miles to summit
19,340-foot Kilimanjaro. The climbs will total 68 miles,
24,305 feet gained and 24,918 feet lost over 11 days.
This is my 3rd fundraiser for The Wounded Warrior
Project. I hiked 96 miles on the Wonderland Trail around
Mt Rainier in Washington State in 2005 and 2006,where I
raised more than $8,000. |
Sgt. Tom Bauschke
WALK FOR THE WOUNDED |
I
gained pledges per mile from all
walks of life in my hometown of
Friday Harbor, WA. For this 3rd
walk I wish to step it up by seeking support from
American Legion Posts and concerned citizens
across northwestern Washington,
perhaps even across the United
States.
My goals are: 1) to raise
money to aid wounded men &
women returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan 2) foster greater
awareness of the sacrifices we
make in serving our great nation
during war. I would like your help
to get the message out.
I have lived in Friday Harbor,
WA since 1998. I am 44 years old
and reenlisted in the Army in 2007
at age 41 to be a Medic. I never
imagined the Army would post me
to the Infantry. My first Army
enlistment was from 1985-1988
where I was in the Signal Corps
and served in West Germany.
During the years in between I kept
busy. In 1995 I hiked the 2,100-
mile Appalachian Trail. In 1997 I
hiked the 2,700-mile Pacific Crest
Trail. Then, in 2000 I rode a bicycle
4,800 miles coast-to-coast on
the American Discovery Trail.
And finally, in 2002 I canoed
some 1,500 miles down the Mississippi River.All
proceeds from my climb
will go to the Wounded Warrior
Project as I already own all my
gear and have booked and paid for
the trip myself. If you have any
questions please call me on my
cell: (360) 298-1013 (beginning
about the 15th of January 2010)
or email me anytime at
thruhiker@aol.com. |
Detailed information about the WWP and their programs is
available at their web site:
www.woundedwarriorproject.org.
(1) The Wounded Warrior Project brings much needed
clothing, toiletries, and phone cards directly to
wounded soldiers, Marines, airmen, and sailors in
military hospitals
across the US and overseas. Most of these warriors have
permanently debilitating injuries. (2) The Wounded
Warrior Project subsidizes necessities such as housing,
food, daycare, airfare, and ground transportation so
families can visit injured service members at military
hospitals here in the US and overseas (3) The Wounded
Warrior Project offers peer support and counseling. (4)
The Wounded Warrior Project funds and sponsors injury
adaptive sports and recreation programs. If anyone would
care to donate please stop in at the American Legion
Post 163 in Friday Harbor, WA to sign up on their pledge
sheets. You can also mail your check to American Legion
Auxiliary at Post 163, PO Box 163, Friday Harbor, WA
98250. Please make checks out to: The
Wounded Warrior Project. A 50 cent per mile pledge x 68
total miles = $34.00, $1 per mile totals $68, etc. You
can also donate directly to the WWP by visiting their
web site at http://
www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ Donations are tax
deductible. The Wounded Warrior Project's Federal ID
number is: #20-2370934. I support the troops, and
actions
speak louder than words. Thank you for your
consideration.
SGT Thomas G Bauschke US Army Infantry Medic
American Legion Post 163 Friday Harbor, Washington
EDITOR’S NOTE
You can also leave checks at the
post. Just mark donation for the
Wounded Warrior Project.
All donations are tax deductible.
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TEAM TRIVIA
Monthly team trivia will continue in 2010. The
cost to play is only $3 per person and your
money goes to a good cause. All proceeds go to
Fisher House, a home away from home for families
of veterans who must stay in the VA Hospital in
Seattle. So join us on the first Wednesday of
each month to have some fun and win funky
prizes. |
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The only blind person at
Christmastime is he
who has not Christmas in his heart.
~ Helen Keller ~ |
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The embers glowed softly, and in their dim
light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was
asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight;
The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by
love I would sleep In perfect contentment, or so it would seem. So I
slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. The sound wasn’t loud, and it
wasn’t too near,But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the
snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the
cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood; his face weary and
tight. I puzzled, some twenty years old
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. “What are you doing?”
I asked without fear “Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here! Put
down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
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You should be at home on a cold Christmas
Eve!”
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said, “It’s really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always
remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her
smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red white and blue… an American flag.
“I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home,
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a
foxhole with little to eat,
I can carry the weight of killing another
Or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers
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Who stand at the front against any and all,
To insure for all time that this flag will not fall.”
“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re
gone; To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come
home, either standing or dead.
To know you remember we fought and we bled
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust.
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”
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For
almost three years we have been sending monthly care
packages to local service men who are in the front lines
of the War on Terror. Post members and local citizens
have been very supportive of this program giving
generously of their time and money to help us fill the
packages
Your
contribution will help us to make the Christmas care
packages extra special this year. To receive your
Christmas Tree decoration