With huge pride in my Nation I want to inform you that Cpl. Jake Brown United States Army, our first Sentinel who came home to us broken and bent 6 years ago after being crushed by a Abrams Tank in a training accident in Germany has been offered a fulltime position with SYBASE at their International Headquarters in Dublin California. He will start early in Feb. as a manager in their procurement division.
Jake was helped by all of you in your unwavering support and mentoring. You never gave up on him and as a result he has completed college, worked for UPS for 4 years as a logistics specialist and become an asset to our community.
He was and is the example of why we started this program that now is being mirrored in several communities across the nation.
Yesterday I was honored to be asked by SYBASE Senior Vice President Nita White Ivy to attend a meeting with her and Jake where she personally handed him his offer from SYBASE. There while she discussed his offer I sat quietly and in my mind reflected on Jake’s journey. I had met Jake as a high school student friend of my son Curt Conklin.
I had advised him and helped him make his decision to join the Army. I had visited him at Ft Benning as he completed Basic Training and kept in contact with him as he was stationed in Germany. I was as proud of him as if he were one of my own sons. I also knew of his story of being raised in a very difficult family situation.
When I heard of his injury and that he was in a coma in Landstuhl Army Hospital Peggy and I organized a prayer service with our community and veterans. I seriously thought the next step was having to organize a funeral for him. But Jake would not give up and after numerous operations was coming home. Coming home to nothing. No home, no car, no viable support other than the VA. His disability payment of $400.00 per month would not go far.
I organized a meeting of community leaders, I told them Jake’s story and asked a simple question. He had left our community to serve us “What was our responsibility?” As they pondered this I told them I was going to get a roof over his head, furnishings, a car, a job, in to college and by God if I had to do it alone I would. I then asked for a show of hands of those willing to help me in this effort. All hands went up and in a few weeks we had commitment from Shapell Homes for a free apt., a car was donated, the Blue Star Moms and Veterans helped furnish the apt., UPS offered him a job with training, our local veterans service officer had his files and had developed a plan for his support and we had the local junior college set to receive him. This was the start of the Sentinels of Freedom Scholarship Program which now has assisted over 50 severely wounded and injured members of our Armed Forces .
The day Jake arrived home our group met him at the apartment, where our Mayor gave him the keys to that apartment and to his car. The Blue Star Moms had the beds made, linens stocked, kitchen stocked and all the comforts of his home completely ready for him to move in. It was quite a day and now 6 years later you all can take great pride in having a played part in his success. Again you never gave up on him but mostly Jake never gave up himself. You helped build his confidence, ease the load and give him the breathing room to move forward on his dream, his well earned part of the American dream.
As we continued with more scholarship awards we were joined by many Angels and corporate leaders, RE/MAX International set us up to go National in Jan. of 2007, AT&T, American Airlines, UPS, CISCO, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed, Quest, Verizon, Wells Fargo and various Foundations like IADIF, The Tiger Wood Foundation, Diablo Foundation, communities, churches, citizens and even school children have become involved in supporting our mission.
The support from the highest levels of the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Navy, Army, Marine Corp, Air Force and Members of Congress has been amazing in assisting us by providing extreme professional courtesy in our efforts.
Recently additional Sentinels have landed in our program or are landing in the next months. Cpl Matthew Carhart US Marine Corp in San Ramon Ca., Cpl, Elizabeth Wafflard US Army in Pleasanton Ca., Navy Special Operator Ryan Sykes in Houston Tx and Cpl Travis Fugate who has landed in Monterey Ca., Cpl. Robert Smith US Marine Corp in Cocoa Beach Fl., Cpl. Donny Daughenbaugh US Marine Corp in Houston Tx, SSG. Scott Noss 75th Ranger Regiment in Birmingham Al., Sgt. Brian Taylor US Army in Saint Louis Mo.
Each one of them will receive the same type of support we developed for Jake from the great Sentinels Teams in their area.
We’re busy and on the hunt for more candidates and corporations to join the effort. Marty Kaplan of our Board of Directors visited Walter Reed Army Medical yesterday to interview candidates, Major General Ronald Lowe US Army Ret. of our Board of Directors is in Hawaii today and will visit Tripler Army Medical Center to brief the Medical Commanders and look for candidates, I head to Madigan Army Medical Center Jan. 29t to brief the Medical Commanders and cadre, Masood Jabbar our Ambassador at Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego is working with candidates there, Col. Luke Green US Army Ret. is working Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, additionally Col. Felix Vargas US Army Ret., Neil Landsberg US Air Force Ret. and Capt Nathan Waldon US Army Ret. one of our Sentinels who is working at General Dynamics are working Walter Reed Army Medical Center. These are all professional business volunteers with our program are a huge force multiplier for us by donating their time and expertise.
So many stories of selfless service , survival and success with those we have assisted that can be directly attributed to your hearts.
We are grateful and humbled by your support that has made this program a reality for some of our most severely wounded.
A huge thank you to SYBASE for their joining our effort in offering Jake an opportunity and a future with such a great company.
I hope this note puts a smile on your face.
We have lots of work ahead.
Thank you and God bless you, Mike Conklin
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