Soldiers Angels And Captain Z in the WashPo

Posted By Blackfive

Sometimes this - If It Wasn't for Her:

...Imagine that you are a Soldiers' Angel in Annapolis (Kathleen).  You get word that Captian Chuck Ziegenfuss has been severely wounded in Iraq and is on the way to WR.  His wife and family are mobilizing to get to DC to help him and will be there in a day or two.  After a long work week, you head to WR to check on him.  He's mostly sedated but in a lot of pain - a lot of pain.  There's not much you can do so you just hold his head and stroke his hair to ensure that he knows that someone is there that cares for him.  You don't even know if he knows that you are there, but you stay with him anyway...

Turns into this:

For Battle-Scarred, Airborne Backup
Soldiers' Angels, There to Lend (or Hold) a Hand

By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 21, 2005; D02

The captain was airborne somewhere between Germany and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington, he was badly injured, and she knew almost nothing about him.

Kathleen Bair, a human resources manager for a Baltimore bookbinding company, made child-care arrangements for her two sons, 16 and 9, on that day in late June, canceled her hair appointment and drove the 45 minutes to the hospital.

Capt. Charles Ziegenfuss had arrived. He was on a stretcher in intensive care. An explosion in Iraq had blown him open three days before. Great masses of flesh were missing from his arms, his legs. His face was pockmarked from the blast of shrapnel and grit. They pulled a three-inch nail out of him. She sat beside him for hours. When he could open his eyes, she told him his family was on the way. Then she sat down again, waiting.

Sometimes, that's all the crush of volunteers who have flocked to help the nation's wounded soldiers can do. Sit. Wait. Hold hands.

"It doesn't have to be a lot," says Bair, who is 44, the daughter of a man who served in the Army, and a volunteer for Soldiers' Angels, a California-based nonprofit. "Sometimes it's just holding their hands and when they say, 'It hurts,' you just squeeze and say, 'I know.' "...

It's a nice article about Soldiers' Angels and the Ziegenfusses.  When the WashPo contacted me about my post (and wanting to talk to Kathleen), I thought they just really wanted to debunk it - some MSM have tried that a few times.  Turns out, Neely Tucker did a great job writing it up.

Seawitch has a lot more including links and information about Project Valour-IT - a new project to help the wounded stay in contact with family and friends.

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Soldiers Angels And Captain Z in the WashPo

Sometimes this - If It Wasn't for Her:

...Imagine that you are a Soldiers' Angel in Annapolis (Kathleen).  You get word that Captian Chuck Ziegenfuss has been severely wounded in Iraq and is on the way to WR.  His wife and family are mobilizing to get to DC to help him and will be there in a day or two.  After a long work week, you head to WR to check on him.  He's mostly sedated but in a lot of pain - a lot of pain.  There's not much you can do so you just hold his head and stroke his hair to ensure that he knows that someone is there that cares for him.  You don't even know if he knows that you are there, but you stay with him anyway...

Turns into this:

For Battle-Scarred, Airborne Backup
Soldiers' Angels, There to Lend (or Hold) a Hand

By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 21, 2005; D02

The captain was airborne somewhere between Germany and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington, he was badly injured, and she knew almost nothing about him.

Kathleen Bair, a human resources manager for a Baltimore bookbinding company, made child-care arrangements for her two sons, 16 and 9, on that day in late June, canceled her hair appointment and drove the 45 minutes to the hospital.

Capt. Charles Ziegenfuss had arrived. He was on a stretcher in intensive care. An explosion in Iraq had blown him open three days before. Great masses of flesh were missing from his arms, his legs. His face was pockmarked from the blast of shrapnel and grit. They pulled a three-inch nail out of him. She sat beside him for hours. When he could open his eyes, she told him his family was on the way. Then she sat down again, waiting.

Sometimes, that's all the crush of volunteers who have flocked to help the nation's wounded soldiers can do. Sit. Wait. Hold hands.

"It doesn't have to be a lot," says Bair, who is 44, the daughter of a man who served in the Army, and a volunteer for Soldiers' Angels, a California-based nonprofit. "Sometimes it's just holding their hands and when they say, 'It hurts,' you just squeeze and say, 'I know.' "...

It's a nice article about Soldiers' Angels and the Ziegenfusses.  When the WashPo contacted me about my post (and wanting to talk to Kathleen), I thought they just really wanted to debunk it - some MSM have tried that a few times.  Turns out, Neely Tucker did a great job writing it up.

Seawitch has a lot more including links and information about Project Valour-IT - a new project to help the wounded stay in contact with family and friends.

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