Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Humbled to Share this Veteran’s Message

Tom Udall, Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in New Mexico, has released this ad (“Humbled”) to help bring attention to the issue of brain trauma injury suffered by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.  As Steve Olson says in his blog on Udall’s site:

In the midst of months of 12 hour days, in the campaign bubble, it is really really easy to lose sight of why this election is so important.

Army Sergeant Erik Schei was gravely injured in Iraq and is now forced to communicate through a speaking aid.

I hope that you will watch and share.  Groups like VoteVets and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA.org) have been working tirelessly to get more federal funding to aid veterans who suffer from brain trauma injuries.  Tom Udall has received an A+ on his Congressional Report Card from IAVA.  Obama has pledged his support countless times for this cause, and he has worked and is working to increase this funding.

McCain’s record?  I have no nice words.

Cross posted at My DD and VetVoice


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 9 Comments

9 comments

  1. spacemanspiff

    incredibly heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.

    I’m a better man for having seen it.

    On another (similiar) note. I saw a special on Stephen Hawkins in which they talked about his “voice” and the fact that better technology exists now to make it more real. He refuses to change it because that’s the voice that everybody recognizes him by. It was a great documentary.

    • NavyBlueWife

      i hope you can watch it at some point…youtube is working for me at the moment…i can’t watch it without crying…

  2. Hollede

    but something seems to be up with the youtube. I can’t get anything to work.

    Thank you for bringing us back to the real.

  3. NavyBlueWife

    which is attached to Erik’s name:

    In October 2005, Erik was a 21-year-old Army sergeant serving in Mosul, Iraq, as a machine-gunner with the Army’s 94th Engineer Battalion.

    A sniper’s bullet pierced the right side of his helmet and passed through both frontal lobes of his brain.

    “They gave him zero chance of survival,” Erik’s father, Gordon Schei, said. “They said if he did survive, he would be a vegetable. They wanted us to pull the plug on him. But we dug deep.

    “We’re people of faith, and we brought him home, and today he communicates with people. He laughs, he’s standing – not on his own, but with help. He’s doing so many things.”

    Can I just say how much I love this story of hope and progress?  He is a veteran.  He is a man of faith, AND he is voting for and openly supporting a Democrat.  This gentleman, defying labels and stereotypes, is a true American hero.  Like Obama said…

    We are not red states or blue states.  We are the United States of America.

  5. Peter Jukes

    What a powerful diary, and what great work you’re doing. I can’t believe, having posted this diary on ‘another site’, you then lose your privileges. It sucks

    But it’s nothing compared to these bigger issues. And your a star for making more people aware

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