OK friends and family, I am back at it again. This year I am training and competing for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. We raised $7500 for SOWF in 2007. I am doing Olympic/International and Half Ironman Triathlons this year, with the Army 10-miler thrown in (and contemplating the Marine Corps Marathon). I currently have five scheduled, but hope to have a full season of 8 - 10 events. The Olympic/International events consist of a 1500m swim, a 24 mile bike ride followed by a 6.2 mile run. The Half Iron, which I am doing in the hills of the Poconos (I am crazy) consists of a 2000m swim, a 56 mile bike followed by a lovely 13.1 mile half marathon.
I am doing this because I believe the families of those Special Operations Warriors that have given the ultimate sacrifice need our help - they need YOUR help.
For those of you that don't know, I am an Army veteran, finishing a 10.5 year career with my last three in Special Operations as a Civil Affairs officer. I am a 70% service-connected disabled veteran and I believe my enduring a littel bit of pain to help out the families left behind is the very least I can do for them - it is a way for me to continue serving my brother warriors.
All I ask is that you help me reach my goal of raising $10,000 for SOWF this year.
Donations for tax year 2012 are deductible, and every little bit helps. Please spread the word, distribute this far and wide and let's see how fast we can raise $10,000.
I have already begun my training for the year. 5am comes awful early, an I am not looking forward to the pool, but again, this is the least I can do for the families that have given so much to our great nation.
Info on SOWF is below. Thanks so much for your support, your assistance, and your financial support for a great cause.
Created in 1980, Special Operations Warrior Foundation is devoted to providing a college education to every child who has lost a parent serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps during an operational or training mission under the U.S. Special Operations Command. This includes over 70,000 military special operations and support personnel assigned to units throughout the United States and around the world.
The Warrior Foundation is currently committed to providing scholarship grants to more than 900 children of the approximately 800 Special Operations personnel who have given their lives for their country since 1980, including those who died fighting our nation's war against terrorism as part of "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan and the Philippines as well as "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
Currently, 190 children of fallen special operations warriors have graduated from college.
Since 2005, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation has provided immediate $2,000 cash grants to personnel seriously wounded in the line of duty. Once notified of a special operations soldier, airman, sailor or Marine hospitalized with a severe injury, the SOWF immediately sends funds to the service member (or his/her designated recipient) so family members can immediately travel to be at their loved one's bedside. Since this program began in 2005, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation has provided over $1.2 million to wounded special operations personnel.