Texas Roadhouse Went Above and Beyond for Soldier Coming Home

Florida restaurant helps soldier pull off surprise homecoming for dad
FOX News
June 2, 2017

"Not only did they reserve us a table, they closed all the blinds so Daddy couldn't see if we happen to walk by the wrong window, the manager recorded to homecoming on his personal phone for us," Adams wrote on Facebook.

A soldier received a memorable homecoming on Tuesday when he surprised his dad in Florida on his birthday with a little help from a restaurant, a family said.

Christopher Adams was coming home after being deployed in Germany to surprise his father on his birthday, Adams' wife Courtney wrote in a Facebook post. She called the Texas Roadhouse in Orange Park and asked if they could reserve a 12-person table for 6 p.m. for the celebration. The restaurant staff said would "love" to host the special moment for the family.
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Bravo Company 1978 and Hep C Germany veterans seek justice

UPDATE
Artie is starting a support group for all veterans with hepatitis c so we can help one another deal with the virus and over time prove it was transmitted by air gun and needle while in service.

This support group is for all veterans and any that wish to get it started with me please have them contact me at my email arthurfryer2beking@yahoo.com or my home (3520503-2569). If they leave a message I can call them back at the end of the day.

Earlier today I received a phone call from a veteran about what happened to him in Germany because of the some of the Hepatitis C posts I have up.
Vietnam veterans and Hepatitis C jet gun delivered
Bush shafts Hepatitis C veterans
Hepatitis C Cases Appearing More In Vietnam Veterans and this one about a Florida veteran winning his lawsuit after a colonoscopy

I told him a couple of things he could try and one of them was getting his story more out in public so that maybe, just maybe he could get some justice for himself but he wanted to do it for other veterans more. That's right! As soon as I said it could help other veterans, he agreed right away. So here is his story along with a couple of responses he received from other veterans.

Kathy, in Dec 1978 I was stationed with the 1st bn 39th mechanized infantry 8th infantry division Baumholder Germany with Bravo company from sept 19 1977 to sept 26 1980.

In dec we received a flu shot in the basement of Charlie company from the medics and it was alive vaccine. When we got there for the shot they switched to a needle since the air gun stoped working just before we got there.

They took the needle and inserted into the vial vaccine and one after the other gave us the shot. In line in front of me was a guy named cagola,red and roy and not long ago I talked with roy who informed me he had hepatitis at the time of the shot.

I was later that evening taken to the infirmary since I eneded up with the flu and had a temp of 104.6 and was labled patient #52 with many still coming in after me.

The medical staff were short of people and when they could not get my temp down they started a IV which was already used on another patient.

A guy in Charlie company who I believe was a medic was supposevely murdered in jan 1979 but when I checked on it the soldier they said was killed by the bieder meinhoff gang also known as the red faction army killed the guy with a ice pick and took his id. I checked and found that soldier was killed in 1985 long after I was there but the guy in Charlie company was a medic and thios was the story they spred about his death.

I have found out besides myself that six others in my unit endedup with hep c and 2 alone were in my platoon ,one was from csc company and at the time I was told we were quarantined due to tb breakout and after talking with others found out it was hepatitis.

I have the proof to prove it happened and hope some is willing to listen on the facts that it can be spred my air gun innoculations and my fondest hope is to help all veterans past and present. My home number is 352-503-2569. Im sending a pic of me and my girlfriend so you know what I look like. god bless artie

He received this reply

I for sure do NOT have it, but remember that 1/39 was deemed Non Combat Ready for a period of time over this. That's why we were warned in formation. I have about 6 friends on facebook that were in my company back then that may remember it. If you would like to try to contact them I could see if any remember this incident.

and this one from another veteran

I am doing well thanks. Hope all is well considering your medical condition. I do remember the outbreak of hepititis in the 1/39 Infantry. I don't remember exact year, but I was in Baumholder from 1978-1982. What I remember was my medical platoon sergeant was totally again the air gun for innoculations. But also in that same time frame, I don't know if it were 1/39th Infantry or the 1/87th Inf there was a medic(s) that got into the safe that store narcotics that were to be used in war time. The medic(s) used needles and syringes to break through cellophane and draw the narcotics out. Those narcotics were inventoried monthly by a disinterested person and inspected annually by the division surgeons office. Why I mention this to you as there was discussion that possibly some folks contracted the hepititis virus as some folks shared needles when using the narcotics. In fact, the virus was found in a medic who died of overdose.

If there is something I can help you with I will. Of course, it's been 35 yrs ago or so, so my memory isn't the greatest....but I do remember that out break.

If it happened to you too, get your story out there and give lawyers a chance to fight for you. You shouldn't have to fight for what you have been dealing with, but you are not fighting alone.

Army chaplain’s Passover seder a draw across Europe

Army chaplain’s Passover seder a draw across Europe
By Steven Beardsley
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 26, 2013

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Break out the Haggadah and crack the matza — Passover has arrived at this small Army garrison, where U.S. Army Europe’s only Jewish chaplain is holding services for the second straight year.

Capt. Andrew Shulman of the 18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion guided participants in the first of four Passover seders on Monday, a meal that commemorates the Jewish exodus from Egypt and the tale of an angel of death passing over homes marked with the blood of a lamb.

The holiday began at sundown on Monday and continues through next Tuesday.
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 On the subject of "your" Easter and "my" Easter (Orthodox) here's the answer on why it is different.

What differences are there between Easter and Orthodox Easter? The most obvious difference between “Western Easter” and Orthodox Pascha is the date. While the feast-days occasionally coincide, Orthodox Christians still calculate the date of Easter on the old calendar established under Julius Caesar, a calendar which many Orthodox Churches still employ. At St. John’s, we use the modern calendar for most of our “fixed feasts” (we celebrate Christmas on December 25 according to the Gregorian calendar, for example), but in order that all the Orthodox Christian churches may celebrate the great “Feast of feasts” together, we calculate the date of Pascha following the more ancient Christian tradition.

Thousands of soldiers coming home to US from Europe

Thousands of soldiers to leave Europe
Staff report
Posted : Friday Mar 1, 2013

Ten thousand soldiers now stationed in Europe will be returned to the United States under new re-alignment plans announced by the Defense Department.

The realignment of the Europe-based 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team will begin later this year, including the transfer of some forces from Germany to Italy.

The moves are part of an ongoing strategy to reduce U.S. Army Europe from a force of 40,000 soldiers and one corps headquarters and four brigade combat teams to 30,000 soldiers and two brigade combat teams.
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Soldier reunited with son among highlights of Rose Parade

Soldier reunited with son among highlights of Rose Parade
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON
The Associated Press
Published: January 1, 2013

PASADENA, Calif. — A couple who became husband and wife on the "Love Float," a surprise reunion between a returning soldier and his little boy, and a grand marshal famed globally for her chimpanzee research were among the highlights of the 124th Rose Parade on Tuesday.

The parade's spectacular 42 floral floats brightened an otherwise cloudy New Year's morning and boosted the spirits of a chilled crowd estimated at some 700,000 spectators lining the 5-mile route.

Spectators rose to a standing ovation when Army Sgt. First Class Eric Pazz, who was riding on the Natural Balance Pet Foods float along with other service members, got off the float and walked over to his surprised wife Miriam and 4-year-old son Eric Jr., who came running out of the stands into the arms of his 32-year-old father.

Miriam Pazz had been told she had won a contest to attend the parade and did not know her husband, who is deployed in Afghanistan, would be there. Pazz is a highly decorated soldier who has also served in Iraq. The family, who currently lives in Germany, climbed aboard the float for the rest of the route.
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Medication from US won't be mailed to troops in Germany

4 minutes ago
Medication from US won't be mailed to APOs in Germany
By NANCY MONTGOMERY
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 19, 2012

HEIDELBERG, Germany — Prescription medications addressed to military post office boxes in Germany soon will be flagged by U.S. postal clerks stateside and not sent.

William Kiser, the top postal officer for U.S. forces in Europe, said that U.S. post offices would stop sending the medications and a variety of other items the German government has banned or restricted from import. The target date is Jan. 1, Kiser said.

Postal clerks will match restriction codes for the items with ZIP codes.

Late last year, German authorities began confiscating mailed medications, U.S. officials said, enforcing a law the Germans say has been on the books for years.

U.S. authorities only learned recently, after packages were confiscated, that the mailed medications they thought were legal — covered under the status of forces agreement and viewed as domestic mail — were not.

The longtime practice had been encouraged by Tricare, the military health insurer, as both less expensive and more convenient, especially as more military health centers closed along with their garrisons.
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Military kids in Germany being "accosted"

Another Child Accosted at Base in Germany
May 31, 2012
Stars and Stripes
by Jennifer H. Svan

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- Despite heightened security on Kaiserslautern-area military bases following two reports of child molestation and an attempted child abduction, Air Force officials said another attempted abduction was reported Wednesday.

In addition, officials at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom are urging parents there and at nearby bases to be vigilant after an American boy reported an incident while he was walking off base May 2, though officials said there were conflicting accounts of what happened and it was not clear whether it was an attempted abduction.

In Kaiserslautern Wednesday, an 11-year-old boy reported that a man in an Army uniform tried to grab him at about 4:30 p.m. while he was walking alone on the side of Vogelweh that houses Vogelweh Elementary School and Armstrong's Club, said Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, the commander of the Kaiserslautern Military Community and 3rd Air Force.

Military investigators are treating the incident as an attempted abduction and are seeking additional information and possible eyewitnesses to confirm what happened, Franklin said.

Franklin has called two town hall meetings for Friday to inform parents of the latest incident and to update them on the investigation. The first town hall will take place at 11:30 a.m. at Armstrong's Club on Vogelweh; the second town hall is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Hercules Theater on Ramstein Air Base.
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Orange Park soldier, military dog handler, dies in Afghanistan

Orange Park soldier dies in Afghanistan
2 Army sergeants killed while serving in Ghanzi Province, Afghanistan 
Published On: Apr 27 2012
ORANGE PARK, Fl

Two soldiers supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, one from Orange Park, died Thursday while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Sgt Dick A. Lee Jr. and Staff Sgt. Brandon F. Eggleston died Thursday in Ghanzi province from injuries suffered when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

Lee., 31, of Orange Park, was assigned to 95th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Sembach, Germany.

Lee is survived by a wife and two sons.

His commanding officer called Lee a great soldier and military dog handler and that everyone who knew Lee considered it an honor to serve with him.
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Soldier killed, five others injured in autobahn accident near Bamberg

Soldier killed, five others injured in autobahn accident near Bamberg
By MARCUS KLÖCKNER AND JENNIFER H. SVAN
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 25, 2012

A U.S. Army Humvee lies in shambles after it was struck by a civilian truck on the autobahn near Bamberg, Germany, on Tuesday. A U.S. soldier was killed and five others were injured. The truck driver, from Nuremberg, was slightly injured. Courtesy of Ronald Rinklef

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — One U.S. soldier was killed and five others were injured when a large truck slammed into the rear of their slow-moving military convoy Tuesday afternoon on the autobahn south of Bamberg, German police and U.S. Army officials said.

The soldiers were part of the same company within the 21st Theater Sustainment Command and are stationed in the Schweinfurt area, said Army Capt. Gregory Jones, a spokesman for the 21st TSC in Kaiserslautern.

Two of the soldiers received life-threatening injuries, one was seriously injured and two were slightly injured, according to German police. The truck driver had minor injuries, German police said.
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6 Silver Stars for daring rescues in Afghanistan

6 Silver Stars for daring rescues in Afghanistan
By John Ryan and Michelle Tan - Staff writers
Posted : Monday Dec 26, 2011

ARMY From left to right, Silver Star recipients Capt. David Fox, Sgt. McKenna 'Frank' Miller and Staff Sgt. Matthew Gassman stand during a Valor Ceremony hosted by U.S. Special Operations Command Europe on Dec. 6 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Six soldiers received Silver Stars in early December for bravery during two bloody firefights in Afghanistan.

Three soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division — Staff Sgt. Al J. Garcia, Spc. David R. Stone and Sgt. Jacob Wilder — were honored at Fort Campbell, Ky., on Dec. 9 for two audacious rescues during an air assault operation in Paktika province in April.

They served with 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team.

On Dec. 6, a trio of Special Forces soldiers received Silver Stars in Stuttgart, Germany. Capt. David Fox, Sgt. 1st Class McKenna “Frank” Miller and Staff Sgt. Matthew Gassman were recognized for a dangerous evacuation of casualties in the mountains of Kapisa province in 2010. All three were assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group.


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also
Three receive Silver Stars

Soldier Earns Medal for Saving German’s Life

Face of Defense: Soldier Earns Medal for Saving German’s Life

By C. Todd Lopez
Army News Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2011 – Army Staff Sgt. Peter Woken was uniquely honored recently for proving that, in combat, it doesn't matter what languages your allies speak, every soldier who fights alongside you is like a brother.

The German government highlighted that reality of war Dec. 8 when German Ambassador to the United States Peter Ammon presented Woken with the German Medal of Honor for Gallantry in Action -- an award similar to the American Silver Star.

Addressing the noncommissioned officer’s wife and two sons who attended the ceremony, Ammon told the family an entire nation is thankful for Woken’s actions in Afghanistan which saved the life of German Cpl. Tim Focken.

"The German government and the German people are deeply grateful for your husband and your father," Ammon said.

Ammon pinned the medal on Woken's uniform. The sergeant, now part of the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Hood, Texas, is the first American to receive the medal on American soil. Seven other U.S. soldiers involved in saving Focken's life also received the medal, though it was presented to them in theater by German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière.

Woken had said that he views the recognition as confirmation of what soldiers know about their comrades -- that soldiering together unites servicemen across languages and nationalities.

"Even though Germany is honoring me this way, I think what they are conveying is that we are all brothers," Woken said. "This type of award generally doesn't go to Americans. It will go to Germans on German soil. We feel the same way. They are fighting the same enemy that we are, and we are all brothers."
To an infantryman, uniform, language and nationality make no difference if you're fighting on the same side, Focken said.
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Three Receive Silver Stars at Stuttgart Ceremony

Three Receive Silver Stars at Stuttgart Ceremony

December 06, 2011
Stars and Stripes
by John Vandiver

STUTTGART, Germany -- When Capt. David G. Fox regained consciousness shortly after a massive roadside bomb detonated nearby, the only words his comrades down the mountainside could understand on the radio was the message: "urgent … surgical."

That was enough.

After hearing their commander's muffled radio call and seeing a plume of black smoke billowing high above on the ridgeline in Kapisa province, Afghanistan, Fox's men sprung into action.

Under heavy enemy fire, Sgt. 1st Class McKenna L. Miller and Staff Sgt. Matthew D. Gassman began a desperate climb up the mountain. Then they and Fox made a harrowing journey back down -- one carrying an injured Afghan soldier, another a dead French trooper, and the thirdproviding cover fire, according to the medal citations.
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Five soldiers remain in ICU following Germany training jump

Five soldiers remain in ICU following Germany training jump
By STEVEN BEARDSLEY
Stars and Stripes
Published: October 6, 2011
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Five soldiers remained in intensive care Thursday morning from injuries suffered during a parachute jump in the Hohenfels Training Area on Wednesday, according to a spokeswoman for the Joint Multinational Training Command.

Meanwhile, the monthlong exercise that began Wednesday will continue as planned, she said.

Twenty soldiers remained hospitalized in the nearby city of Regensburg as of Thursday morning, said Denver Makle, the JMTC spokeswoman. Four of the five soldiers in the intensive care unit were admitted directly upon transport from the field on Wednesday. The fifth was later transferred to the ICU.
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2 Green Berets Get Silver Star, 12 Get Bronze With ‘V’

2 Green Berets Get Silver Star, 12 Get Bronze With ‘V’
June 14, 2011
Stars and Stripes|by John Vandiver

STUTTGART, Germany -- Two U.S Army Green Berets were recognized with Silver Stars during a ceremony on Monday in Stuttgart, where 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group troops were honored for heroic actions on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

During the ceremony at Patch Barracks, which included a special videotaped message from the commander of the Afghanistan mission, Gen. David Petraeus, 12 other servicemembers received Bronze Stars with the “V” device for valor. Two additional Soldiers received the Army Commendation Medal with “V” device.

Master Sgt. William J. Dickinson was awarded the Silver Star for leading a special operations team that thwarted an attack on Bagram Air Base on May 19, 2010, when insurgents dressed as American Soldiers stormed the base.

Staff Sergeant Adam B. Dorner was awarded the Silver Star for leading a team of Green Berets and Afghan National Security Forces in response to an ambush in Logar province in 2010. Dorner ran more than 150 meters through open terrain to reach his unit’s mortar system to return fire on the enemy at “grave personal risk.”

Bronze Star with “V” device

** Capt. Craig Bighouse

** Sgt. 1st Class Michael Murray

** Sgt. 1st Class McKenna Miller

** Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Reshel

** Staff Sgt. Sabriel Ashley

** Staff Sgt. Robert Murray

** Staff Sgt. Patrick Roberts

** Staff Sgt. Richard Telck

** Staff Sgt. Robert Malcher

** Air Force Staff Sgt. David Ibsen

** Air Force Staff Sgt. Theodore Hofkneckt

** Pfc. William Langley

Army Commendation Medal with “V” device

** Staff Sgt. Ricky Streeter

** Staff Sgt. Sean Pridemore

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2 Green Berets Get Silver Star 12 Get Bronze With V

Gunman kills soldiers on military bus in Germany

BREAKING NEWS


2 U.S. soldiers reported killed at German airport
March 2nd, 2011
10:47 AM ET


[Update 10:52 a.m. ET] Two people were shot and killed Wednesday in an incident involving a U.S. military bus at Frankfurt airport in Germany, a police spokesman said.

Another person is severely wounded, Juergen Linker told CNN, and one person is in custody.

The U.S. military did not immediately comment on the incident.

[Original post, 10:47 a.m. ET] Two U.S. soldiers were shot and killed Wednesday at Frankfurt airport, Germany's busiest airport, a police spokesman said.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the shooting took place inside a terminal or aboard a shuttle bus.
check back with CNN later
2 U.S. soldiers reported killed at German airport

update



Update March 3, 2011

Germany: Shooting Suspect 'Islamist'

Germany: Suspect admits targeting U.S troops
By Melissa Eddy and Tomislav Skaro - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 3, 2011 1:45:13 EST
FRANKFURT, Germany — The suspect in the slaying of two U.S. airmen at Frankfurt airport has confessed to targeting American military members, a German security official said Thursday as investigators probed what they considered a possible act of Islamic terrorism.

German federal prosecutors took over the investigation into Wednesday’s shooting, which also injured two U.S. airmen, one of them critically. They are working together with U.S. authorities, who said Thursday the suspect was not on any American watch list.

Hesse state Interior Minister Boris Rhein told reporters in Wiesbaden that the suspect, identified as a 21-year-old ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, was apparently radicalized over the last few weeks. Relatives in northern Kosovo identified him as Arid Uka, whose family has been living in Germany for 40 years.
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Suspect admits targeting U.S troops

Slain airmen from South Carolina and Virginia
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 3, 2011 22:16:25 EST
WASHINGTON — The Air Force says that the two U.S. airmen slain in a shooting at a German airport were from South Carolina and Virginia.

The Air Force identified the victims as 25-year-old Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden of Williamston, S.C., and Airman 1st Class Zachary R. Cuddeback of Stanardsville, Va.

RELATED READING

• Germany: Suspect admits targeting U.S. troops

• Families ID airmen killed in Germany attack

• Pa. airman survives deadly Germany shooting

Alden was assigned to the 48th Security Forces Squadron at RAF Lakenheath in England. Cuddeback was assigned to the 86th Vehicle Readiness Squadron at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

German officials say a 21-year-old temporary letter sorter has admitted targeting Americans when he opened fire with a handgun on a busload of U.S. airmen at Frankfurt’s airport on Wednesday, killing two and wounding two others. The airmen were on their way to deployment in Afghanistan.

Germany-based Air Force officer killed in motorcycle crash

Germany-based Air Force officer killed in motorcycle crash
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 2, 2010
A senior Air Force officer was killed Saturday afternoon in a motorcycle accident near Otterberg, Germany, according to an Air Force news release.

Lt. Col. John Witherow, of Pollock, La., was the chief radiologist assigned to the 86th Medical Group, and was stationed at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center since 2008. He was 39.
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Germany-based Air Force officer killed in motorcycle crash

Staff Sgt. Thomas H. Oakley, killed while helping others

Police: Soldier was helping motorists when hit, killed
By Dan Blottenberger, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, April 16, 2010
BAMBERG, Germany — A 172nd Infantry Brigade soldier was struck and killed by a car on the autobahn Wednesday night, after he stopped to help some motorists who had an accident, Army officials said Thursday.

The 33-year-old soldier, whose name was not released because his next of kin have not been notified, was based in Schweinfurt, but lived in Bamberg, brigade spokesman Maj. Dan Welsh said.

German police said the incident took place near Bamberg at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, when two cars crashed in the southbound, left lane on autobahn A73.

The soldier saw the accident, stopped his car and crossed the autobahn to offer help, a Bamberg police spokesman said.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69385

UPDATE
Army IDs soldier killed while trying to help at Bamberg accident scene
By Dan Blottenberger, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, April 17, 2010


Staff Sgt. Thomas H. Oakley, ammunition section chief, service battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, based in Schweinfurt, Germany, died Wednesday night after being struck by a car while attempting to help motorists involved in an accident on A73 toward Nuremberg. BAMBERG, Germany — Army officials have identified a 172nd Infantry Brigade soldier who was struck and killed by a car Wednesday night near Bamberg after he stopped to help some motorists who had an accident.

Staff Sgt. Thomas H. Oakley, 33, of Wakefield, R.I., was driving home from work in Schweinfurt when he stopped to help the accident victims, according to police and military reports.

German police said the accident took place near Bamberg at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, when two cars crashed in the southbound left lane on autobahn A73.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69395

Make-A-Wish helps soldier's brother get to Germany

Teenager gets his ‘wish’: Time with his soldier brother on the flightline in Germany
Cresencio Santos’ greatest wish was to see his older brother in Germany. Kevin Colindres, 20, an Army private with the 8th Medical Logistics Company at Miesau Army Depot, is a father figure to his younger brother, since both grew up without a dad around. Cresencio, 15, who goes by “Chris,” got his wish and much more, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

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