Helping a Teammate's Final Journey

The core of the United States of America Army Soldier’s Creed:

I will never accept defeat.

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen comrade.

For those that know me, you know that it is amazingly rare for me to ask for help. I pride myself on being able to take care of myself and help those I care about. To discuss the following is not an easy topic for me to share with you. However, I refuse to leave a fallen comrade and I am asking for your help in doing so.

US Army Nurse Corp First Lieutenant Jennifer Moreno, 25, from San Diego, CA, was assigned to Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA. On Sunday, October 6, 2013 she along with three other US Army soldiers lost their lives in the Zhari District of the Kandahar province in Afghanistan. 1LT Moreno, Army Ranger Sergeant Patrick Hawkins, Criminal Investigation Command Sergeant Joseph Peters, and Army Ranger Private First Class Cody Patterson were all working with a Joint Special Operations Task Force when they were hit during a mission near the city of Kandahar. Along with the loss of 1LT Moreno, SGT Hawkins, SGT Peters, and PFC Patterson, approximately 30 fellow team members sustained injuries.

The loss of any life is tragic. It should never be a part of “normal” conversation. However, this is one that hits a little closer to home. Nowhere else in the US medical community is it a known expectation that doing your job could cost you your life. 1LT Moreno was a teammate. She served under the same flag with the same purpose as I.

Here is where the statement

I will never leave a fallen comrade

comes into play.

When a US Service Member dies in the line of duty, their family can expect to receive the “death gratuity” of $100,000 to immediately reach them within 24 to 36 hours of the notice of their loss. These funds are designed to provide for the immediate travel and other expenses in getting the family to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware so that they may be present when their loved one returns home for the final time. With the Legislative and Executive Branch’s current failure to produce a budget these funds are not available to the families of those of whom we have lost this fiscal year. I find this disgraceful and amazingly shameful.

I am asking for your help. Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, TAPS, is a not-for-profit organization providing immediate and long-term emotional help, hope, and healing to all who are grieving the death of a loved one in military service to America. TAPS meets its mission by providing peer-based emotional support, grief and trauma resources, casework assistance, and connections to community-based care (taps.org). They work with every family of our Fallen Heroes regardless of what our government is doing.

As I write this, TAPS is in contact with 1LT Moreno’s family. They are working with the family to arrange for travel, lodging, and to cover other needs/expenses as they travel to Dover AFB to welcome home their beloved daughter. This is a costly mission.

Please help me in my mission to not abandon my fellow Officer, Soldier, and Nurse. Please consider a financial contribution to TAPS. Please help bring 1LT Jennifer Moreno’s family a piece of comfort in knowing that they do not have to suddenly produce the finances to get to their daughter.

This could have been me. This could have been my parents, siblings, and extended family being denied financial assistance to be present for my final arrival home or to be present for my memorial service or funeral.

Even if our government has failed, I will not allow the Moreno family to be abandoned by the Nation that their daughter died for.

I humbly come before you as a broken soul asking for your assistance in caring for the family of my fellow Officer, Soldier and Nurse.

 

To donate to Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors

1)      taps.org

2)      click “Donate Today”


All information contained in this post is from public sources.
http://www.king5.com/news/jblm/Madigan-Army-nurse-killed-in-Afghanistan-226909861.html
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20131008/NEWS/310080008/Four-soldiers-dead-roadside-bomb-attack
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/10/08/2827421/army-nurse-from-jblm-killed-with.html
http://taps.org