Fund provides aid to Minnesota vets, families
Minnesota soldier Christopher Holbrook survived gunshots in Iraq and in Afghanistan, earning two Purple Heart medals for helping fellow troops, despite his own serious wounds.
Each time the gunfire began, Holbrook recalled this week in Minneapolis, his vision collapsed into a tunnel, time slowed and his hearing deadened. In those surreal moments, it wasn't the politics of war that he thought about.
It was the soldiers to his right and to his left, and how he could get them to safety.
Holbrook, 25, ended active military duty in the Army last spring. He was the only one in his brigade of 2,000 or so soldiers to get Purple Hearts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These days, Holbrook is attending the University of Minnesota in the ROTC program, with financial help from a group that formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That group, Minnesotans' Military Appreciation Fund, awarded him two grants, each for $2,000. But he said there are many other soldiers who deserve help, too. "My story's not unique," Holbrook said. "There are other guys just like me out there."
In the past year, more than 100 businesses and thousands of individuals donated more than $4.5 million, said one of the fund's founders, Skip Krawczyk.
The group has given nearly 3,000 grants to Minnesota soldiers, in amounts ranging from $250 for those who return home uninjured, up to $10,000 for those severely injured and up to $5,000 for the families of those killed in action.
Read the rest at Scripps News
Each time the gunfire began, Holbrook recalled this week in Minneapolis, his vision collapsed into a tunnel, time slowed and his hearing deadened. In those surreal moments, it wasn't the politics of war that he thought about.
It was the soldiers to his right and to his left, and how he could get them to safety.
Holbrook, 25, ended active military duty in the Army last spring. He was the only one in his brigade of 2,000 or so soldiers to get Purple Hearts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These days, Holbrook is attending the University of Minnesota in the ROTC program, with financial help from a group that formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That group, Minnesotans' Military Appreciation Fund, awarded him two grants, each for $2,000. But he said there are many other soldiers who deserve help, too. "My story's not unique," Holbrook said. "There are other guys just like me out there."
In the past year, more than 100 businesses and thousands of individuals donated more than $4.5 million, said one of the fund's founders, Skip Krawczyk.
The group has given nearly 3,000 grants to Minnesota soldiers, in amounts ranging from $250 for those who return home uninjured, up to $10,000 for those severely injured and up to $5,000 for the families of those killed in action.
Read the rest at Scripps News
posted by iraqnam at 5:20 PM
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