The Beginning

I have known John Carter for 18 years. We both served in the Army at Fort Lewis in the late 80’s, worked along side each other at Underwater Sports, a local SCUBA shop in Seattle, with our friend Bud where we were the self-proclaimed 'three dive-masters'. In addition to being close personal friends I consider John and his family to be an extension of my own.

Until recently, John was a manager of a commercial bakery and lived a quiet life with his wife in Idaho, spending time with his daughter, grandkids, and backcountry camping on horseback. As a young man, he served in the U.S. Army for 8 years before transitioning into civilian life. While his prior service ended in 1991, in 2003, he, like many others, was re-activated for service in Iraq. After his first tour in Iraq, John had a tough decision to make. Knowing he would only be placed back on reserve status for a short period of time before being recalled once again for a second tour John decided it would be better to remain on active duty and finish the final 6 years towards his 20 years for retirement.

A Life Changing Event

After returning home from a long weekend with my wife and friends I sat down in front of the computer to check e-mail and found a letter I’d hoped I would never see. John had been seriously wounded towards the end of his second tour of duty in Iraq. At first the news was sketchy, which added to the anxiety I felt. Thankfully it wasn’t too long before I was able to reach Faye, John’s wife, to hear the news firsthand. We discovered John had lost his left hand, suffered serious wounds to his left leg, both eyes and ears, and possibly a brain injury from shrapnel. As John was evacuated to Walter Reed Hospital and Faye obtained more information we discovered there was no brain injury; however, the injury to his left leg was so severe that it would require a partial amputation. Additionally, we learned that both of his eardrums were perforated, there was at least some damage to each eye, he lost several fingertips on his right hand, and he would be removing particles of shrapnel and debris for weeks.

I wanted to call Faye every day for more information and to offer help, as I’m sure all of their friends and family were doing. Instead, I started thinking about how we could assist without distracting her energies from John she had enough on her plate. Since John’s evacuation from Iraq Faye has had to pack up their home in Idaho, relocate to a guest house adjacent to the hospital in Texas, and take on the role of full time nurse. It takes a lot of energy to stay positive under normal conditions and we wanted to find a way to help alleviate as many of the other concerns competing for that energy. The military is taking good care of his immediate medical needs, but once he is released from the Army and other issues come into focus, such as employment, special housing or transportation requirements and retirement, due to the extent of his injuries, as with so many other wounded soldiers, earning potential is severely impacted, and retirement planning takes a back seat to current concerns.

Looking Forward

FriendsforSoldiers.org has been created to help soften some of these impacts by establishing an investment account for John and his family with Edward Jones. We know John is strong and will make it through all of this. He is a soldier, who volunteered to defend our country and provide us with a safer future, but he shouldn’t have to continue to fight battle after battle. We hope your generous donations will succeed in alleviating some of these financial worries, and help provide a more secure future for our friend and his family.

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