Helping Our Wounded Warriors

Jerry H. Trachtman — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:05:19 GMT

"Imagine returning home from combat facing devastating injuries and long term hospitalization--in a facility hundreds of miles away from your family. Imagine somebody brings you together."

With these words, an organization known as Veterans Airlift Command (VAC) introduces its website (www.veteransairlift.org) and summarizes its mission. Consisting entirely of volunteer pilots and aircraft owners who receive no compensation, the VAC provides private air transportation to our wounded warriors who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to their families.

I have just had the honor and privilege to fly my first mission for the VAC, transporting a severely wounded young soldier and his wife to their hometown in Texas. Ryan was a 22 year old gunner on a Humvee that was blown up in Iraq. He has been receiving medical treatment for 2 years. He is doing well, but his injuries are horrific. The FAA has assigned the call sign "Hero Flight" to these missions, and as we flew across the country and I spoke to each air traffic control facility as a Hero Flight, most of the FAA controllers knew the meaning and conveyed a personal message of thanks to my passengers before handing us off to the next facility. Those controllers that did not know the meaning of Hero Flight asked, and my explanation was met with the same expressions of thanks. Ryan and his wife smiled when they heard these air traffic control thank you's directed at them.

Ryan and his wife were greeted at our destination in Texas by both their families, and I was overwhelmed by the expressions of appreciation directed at me. What I did was nothing, compared to what Ryan and his fellow soldiers have done. Thank you, Ryan.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jerry H. Trachtman

Melbourne Personal Injury Lawyer - afghanistan

Helping Our Wounded Warriors