Tonight I had the pleasure of taking a wonderful lady for a ride in honor of her son.
Her son was one of the very first young men sent into Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Doug served honorably in combat but regrettably came home suffering with severe PTSD. What is so terrible is that when Doug got home he did all the right things to try and get help for his condition. The system failed him miserably. After trying for months to get help and getting rejected because he supposedly had nothing wrong with him he gave up. Doug the only remaining child of Martha a wonderful lady took his own life.
The bike I built for my son while he was in the Marines has many but not all the names of the young men and women we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan painted on it. I will be adding the rest of the names in the next few weeks when I can get time with the man that paints for me is free. When all the names are added there will be 83 names of the finest young men and women this country had to offer listed on it. These are just the young soldiers within 100 miles of my home in Cincinnati, Ohio.
I added Doug's name to the bike as well. Was he killed in the war. Actually yes. He was killed inside because of all the devastation he witnessed and dealt with for more than a year. His name is on the bike with honor as PTSD is a silent killer of many of our soldiers.
I met Martha tonight at the monthly Military Support Group meeting at the Red Cross in Blue Ash, Ohio. We had been trying to do this for a few months but with illness on both partys end had been unable to. Martha burst into tears as soon as my wife and I pulled up. We held her and cried with her for almost a half an hour before she could bring herself to get on the bike. Once on we took some pictures of her and then took off for her long awaited ride if honor of Doug.
As we rode through Blue Ash Martha would say prayers for all the soldiers listed on the bike and talked to them letting them know they would never be forgotten. She yelled as we went down Reed Hartman Hwy that "We love you all and pray for you daily. God bless you all." I had a hard time keeping from tearing up as we rode along. I will remember this ride until the day I am finally called home by My Lord as it is one of the most moving I have ever had the privilege of making.
I wish we had more time tonight but Martha needed to get back to the meeting and I had a speaking engagement at the VFW. I plan on taking her out again for another ride here soon and hope to have others go with us to share in the love this lady has for all of us that ride and support our troops.
