Fellow Buckeyes – I debated on whether I should tell you about something that brings a high degree of pain for me (there are literally tears on my keyboard), but I get so much out of our board stories about fellow Buckeyes, Veterans/Military, and moments when folks need support. -So I’m going to tell you a quick story about all three.
I want to tell you about one of the greatest weekends of my life, and definitely the best that I’ve ever experienced with my brother Ryan. He was literally back in town for a few days from another brutal military deployment when we met up in Columbus. He was Staff Sergeant in the Green Berets (7th Group Fort Bragg). Nevadabuck was generous enough to invite us up to watch what turned out to be a crazy exciting and disappointing loss to Illinois in 2007 (right before we went to the National Championship game). Nevada and his wife could not have been more welcoming to two dudes who were just happy to be in a box for the first time! (Nevada - I can't thank you enough) Even as much as the loss sucked the weekend was just so much fun. We ran around Columbus, went to probably every bar in a ten mile radius, flirted with about a million women, and had not a care in the world.
Fast forward a few years after many tough deployments and Ryan came back a last time with a bad back that prevented him from sleeping and some severe PTSD. I was an Infantry officer that had transitioned to civilian life before him but he was completely broken in spirit and body. This was a guy who played college football, was a beast Special Forces soldier, and just a rock of a person. The combination of emotionally dealing with what happened across his war zone experiences and the VA pumping him full of unlimited pain meds was just too much for the toughest person I have ever met to overcome.
I lost Ryan this week and will have his service back in Lyndhurst Saturday morning.
I share this primarily for two reasons. The first is that if you know of people who are struggling in this world with psychological or substance abuse issues my lesson learned is to get into the fight early and fight as hard as you can (even if they don't want it). Rally those around them to join in the fight. It took us way too long to realize what a deep hole he was in and by the time we got him into treatment (I’ll save my thoughts on the VA for another day) it was too late.
The second reason is that Ryan left three wonderful kids, Sonny (11), Kaitlyn (9), and Kylie (4). His ex-wife is a waitress and you can imagine how crushing this has been for them. We started a gofundme campaign (Rodgers' Children College Fund) for his kids so that they can go to college, because as much as this country took from Ryan and his family it left him with very little. gofundme.com/rodgers039-children-college-fund (not sure if I did the link thing right but you can copy/paste or search by the title if interested)
People on this site are inspiring in the way they give, so if you have a few extra bucks to toss in or even some prayers to send to the little guys it will make a difference.
I love my Buckeye family and thank you for reading.
Keith
I want to tell you about one of the greatest weekends of my life, and definitely the best that I’ve ever experienced with my brother Ryan. He was literally back in town for a few days from another brutal military deployment when we met up in Columbus. He was Staff Sergeant in the Green Berets (7th Group Fort Bragg). Nevadabuck was generous enough to invite us up to watch what turned out to be a crazy exciting and disappointing loss to Illinois in 2007 (right before we went to the National Championship game). Nevada and his wife could not have been more welcoming to two dudes who were just happy to be in a box for the first time! (Nevada - I can't thank you enough) Even as much as the loss sucked the weekend was just so much fun. We ran around Columbus, went to probably every bar in a ten mile radius, flirted with about a million women, and had not a care in the world.
Fast forward a few years after many tough deployments and Ryan came back a last time with a bad back that prevented him from sleeping and some severe PTSD. I was an Infantry officer that had transitioned to civilian life before him but he was completely broken in spirit and body. This was a guy who played college football, was a beast Special Forces soldier, and just a rock of a person. The combination of emotionally dealing with what happened across his war zone experiences and the VA pumping him full of unlimited pain meds was just too much for the toughest person I have ever met to overcome.
I lost Ryan this week and will have his service back in Lyndhurst Saturday morning.
I share this primarily for two reasons. The first is that if you know of people who are struggling in this world with psychological or substance abuse issues my lesson learned is to get into the fight early and fight as hard as you can (even if they don't want it). Rally those around them to join in the fight. It took us way too long to realize what a deep hole he was in and by the time we got him into treatment (I’ll save my thoughts on the VA for another day) it was too late.
The second reason is that Ryan left three wonderful kids, Sonny (11), Kaitlyn (9), and Kylie (4). His ex-wife is a waitress and you can imagine how crushing this has been for them. We started a gofundme campaign (Rodgers' Children College Fund) for his kids so that they can go to college, because as much as this country took from Ryan and his family it left him with very little. gofundme.com/rodgers039-children-college-fund (not sure if I did the link thing right but you can copy/paste or search by the title if interested)
People on this site are inspiring in the way they give, so if you have a few extra bucks to toss in or even some prayers to send to the little guys it will make a difference.
I love my Buckeye family and thank you for reading.
Keith
