Men who inspire and who have a servant heart.
Patriot Promotions is proud to support a new POSITIVE REVOLUTION! We can all be different. We can be positive!
THIS IS JEFF. His story was brought to my attention from Wounded Vets.org and when I learned he was using MMA as his coping mechanism for dealing with his PTS….it was time to make a few calls! The result was totally unexpected and obviously meant to be!
Hooters hooked us up with all VIP passes for the Jones vs. Evan’s fight in Atlanta. I quickly found sponsors for expenses. Much appreciation for the airfare provided by Soldier Water of Tampa and Wounded Vets.org for hotel.
Jeff had the time of his life meeting his UFC heroes, but when they learned about him…the respect was more than mutual.
This is the article written by my friend Howard Altman, Sr. Military writer for the Tampa Tribune. Thanks Howard for documenting his story!
Photo from Jeff Collins
Jeff Collins has his motto, “Hard To Kill,” tattooed on his back.
“I knew they were reliable,” said Collins, sitting on a chair in his Holiday home. “I knew they were the best of the best.”
In the early hours of Feb. 23, 2009, Collins and the rest of his platoon, a couple dozen men, boarded choppers heading for the target. The raiding party entered the compound, but there were no insurgents, just an old man and a few women, Collins said.
A Predator drone overhead captured a different scene. The drone operators saw men run into the courtyard but not out.
“We knew they were there,” Collins said. “We just didn’t know where. The old man said no one was here, but he was lying to us.”
Nordmeyer saw something that didn’t look right. He picked up an ax and began hitting the ground. An indentation opened up, then a small hole.
Collins, who had a powerful flashlight attached to his M-4 combat rifle, pointed the barrel into the hole, his interpreter next to him.
“I flipped on the light,” said Collins, “and then an instantaneous ba-pow.”
An insurgent in the hole had shot the interpreter in the head.
Two holes opened up on each end of the courtyard, Collins said. Insurgents with belt-fed machine guns popped out and began firing.
“We were stuck,” Collins said. “It was a meat grinder. They were shooting the place up.”
Lt. Hans Rohr, the platoon leader, was shot in both hands. Just before getting to a mud wall for cover, Nordmeyer was hit.
“I went to go get him,” said Collins, “but it was just bullets, a wall of bullets. I remember telling him, ‘Hold on a minute; I’m going to come get you.’”
But the enemy gunfire was too fierce.
“He got shot two or three more times,” said Collins, crying at the memory. “I just felt helpless. I was this big bad NCO that ruled with an iron fist, and everyone looked up to me. I was the go-to guy. I couldn’t help him.”
Enemy bullets began piercing the mud wall. Then the insurgents began lobbing grenades.
Mayne was killed. Minutes later, Alleman was dead, too.
Collins, alone now, kept firing. He remembers killing an insurgent who raced toward him but hesitated a second too long.
“I went through five 30-round magazines,” he said.
Eventually a quick-reaction force arrived and rescued Collins, but not before almost killing him. A truck crashed through a wall, the bumper hitting his head.
Collins ended up in a truck with the other rescued soldiers. The men cried and hugged.
One of those men was Rohr, now a captain stationed in Hawaii.
“I was very concerned for his mental health,” Rohr said. “He was very, very traumatized. “I told the medics, ‘Make sure someone keeps an eye on him. He is not OK.’ “
* * * * *After the firefight, the Army career that Collins loved essentially was over.
“I didn’t finish my tour,” he said. “I started getting panic attacks, and they sent me to a combat stress unit.”
He spent time in psychiatric units in Germany and Bethesda, Md. Finally, an Army medical board decided he no longer could serve. Collins was devastated.
“I didn’t want to get out of the Army,” he said. “I would still be in right now if they would let me.”
About the same time, he was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions in the courtyard. At the ceremony, a general came up to Collins and said he saw the firefight on a video captured by the drone.
” ‘You are one hard son of a bitch to kill,’ ” Collins said the general told him.
* * * * *Before returning home to Holiday, Collins was kept for observation at an Army post-traumatic stress disorder center in Washington State.
“They wouldn’t let me go back home,” Collins said. “I was too unstable, having outbursts and anger. They were afraid I was going to go home and kill my ex.”
When he first got home, Collins went through a “partying stage” and then withdrew. But in December, he met a woman on an online dating site who would become his second wife.
Andrea Collins said she didn’t know anything about what happened in that courtyard in Diyala province until about a month after they started dating, when the new couple hosted a party for a cousin departing for Afghanistan.
“He drank too much, pulled a gun on himself and said he wanted to be with his boys,” Andrea Collins said. “I sent everyone home, and he laid on the floor and spilled his guts.”
Opening up did not change things for Collins.
“I felt ripped off because the Army took my job away,” he said. “I was bitter.”
One day in March 2010, Andrea Collins came home from work and found what looked like shredded paper all over the house.
“I had gotten drunk and shot the house up, all the pillows, shot holes in the wall,” Jeff Collins said. “I probably shot off 40 or 50 rounds.”
The next day, Andrea Collins took her then-boyfriend to the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, where he was put on more than a half-dozen medications.
But he still drank, often a case of beer a day. He ballooned to 250 pounds.
And he kept getting hit with bad news. His parents’ 32-year marriage dissolved and his dad fell into an alcohol-fueled depression. Collins’ downward spiral continued.
Then one day, the man who ran his PTSD group at the VA made a suggestion.
Try martial arts.
* * * * *Collins went online and found Extreme MMA in Hudson.
He approached Mello in July 2010, told him about his past, that he was there on doctor’s orders.
“I instantly clicked with the guys,” he said. “The camaraderie reminded me of the military.”
He stopped drinking, began training. Four months later, he entered his first tournament and won gold.
“That tournament changed my life,” he said. “I felt like I was a winner again. In the Army I was a winner. I was the best at what I did. When I got out, I had no purpose. I just wanted to die.”
After winning, Collins decided to live. He dropped 60 pounds. He entered four more tournaments, coming in first or second each time. He and Andrea married.
“I was transformed into the soldier I used to be,” he said.
The resurgence didn’t last . On Dec. 14, while sitting at home, Collins heard a loud “pop” coming from the room where his daughter, Savannah, stayed during visits.
His father had committed suicide.
“I pretty much lost it,” Collins said.
He started drinking again. Quit training. Ballooned back up to 230 pounds. Stopped answering his phone.
Then one day in April, his 7-year-old daughter asked him a question that might have saved his life.
Daddy, why don’t you fight anymore?
“She used to go to the tournaments and watched me win,” Collins said.
Collins went back to Extreme MMA and once again threw himself into training. In a few weeks, he competed in an April tournament in Orlando, taking second place.
The weight started to come off again. The drinking stopped.
Collins still has issues. Loud noises startle him. Something as innocuous as a garbage bag in the road will cause him to veer into oncoming traffic. But for the most part, his life is back on track.
Which is why he wants to tell his story.
“I want other veterans out there dealing with this to know that I have PTSD,” Collins said. “PTSD does not have me anymore.”
* * * * *With Mello yelling instructions, Collins practices his technique for the upcoming tournament in Orlando.
“He looks pretty good,” Mello said.
Collins is confident he will do well. To show why, he lifts up his sweat-drenched T-shirt to show off the tattoo underneath.
“Hard To Kill” is inked across his back, just below his shoulders.
It is, he says, his motto.
“I am a survivor,” he said. “The other guy doesn’t stand a chance.”
RIDERS & PATRIOTS
YOUR PRESENCE HAS BEEN REQUESTED
SGT Jamie D. Jarboe
U.S. Army
DATE: Saturday, March 31, 2012
LOCATION: Topeka, KS
The family of SGT Jamie Jarboe has requested that the Patriot Guard Riders stand to honor their beloved soldier.
SGT. Jamie Jarboe (27) joined the Army National Guard in 2005. He volunteered to go to Iraq in 2005 and served a 9 month tour. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2007 and again was deployed to Iraq, serving a 15 month tour of duty. He was assigned to Operation Enduring Freedom in February 2011 and deployed to Afghanistan. While there Jamie was wounded by a sniper on April 10, 2011. He underwent over 120 surgeries at numerous hospitals. He was transferred to St. Francis Health Center in Topeka, KS on February 17, 2012 to be closer to his family. On March 21, 2012 Jamie passed away.
Link to obit: http://www.penwellgabeltopeka.com/obituary-pg.asp?src=choice&obitid=56144&name=Sgt.+Jamie+D.+Jarboe&city=Topeka&st=KS
There will be a stop along the procession close to the cemetery, to transfer SGT Jarboe into a horse drawn carriage for the final ride to the burial site.
Staging:
Escort and Flag line
0730 hrs. (7:30 am) – Stage at 440 SW 29th Street, Topeka, KS (Parking lot just East of Spangles)
0815 hrs. (8:15 am) – Briefing
Ride to Funeral after Briefing Sunflower Ball Room at Capitol Plaza Hotel 1717 Southwest Topeka Boulevard Topeka, KS 66612
Additionally the family would like a flag line at Jamie’s visitation on Friday, March 30, 2012.
Visitation will be held at Penwell Gabel Southwest Chapel, 3700 SW Wanamaker Rd., Topeka
All riders are to be in place no later than 1630 hrs. (4:30 pm)
Visitation is from 1700 hrs.-1900 hrs. (5:00 pm – 7:00 pm)
Ride Captain for this mission will be:
Shawn “Hotrod” Stallbaumer
united_states.marine@yahoo.com
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DOD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Jamie D. Jarboe, 27, of Frankfort, Ind., died March 21 in Topeka, Kan., from wounds suffered on April 10, 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan. For more information the media may contact 1st Infantry Division public affairs office at 785-240-1796 . |
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Jason Ivey works as an assistant director in the film and television business in New York City. He’s written articles for Big Government and Big Hollywood among other sites, and produced a video for Breitbart TV called “Occupy Wall Street: In Their Own Words.”
One of the only times I saw Andrew Breitbart in person was at this year’s CPAC. It was lunchtime of Day One, and suddenly in walked a tall suited figure wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, wandering through the lobby and then up the stairs, all the while eerily chanting “Occupy . . . Occupy”, in the droning-mantra way leftist protestors often do. When he came close, the voice ultimately gave it away: the man behind the mask was Andrew Breitbart.
The next day ended with Breitbart having to be restrained by his bodyguards because he had finally had enough with the Occupiers who had repeatedly attempted to invade and disrupt CPAC. “Behave yourselves! Behave yourselves! You are rapists!” he shouted, to the shock and dismay of many of the young protestors.
These two incidents are perfect examples of the way Breitbart approached the cause he was always fighting for – a combination of good cheer, mockery, and heated anger. And a fight it was. Breitbart never went along to get along, he never sought common ground, and never conceded anything that wasn’t absolutely truthful.
Los Angeles was his home, and oftentimes the most devout converts to a cause or a system of beliefs are those who previously believed the opposite and have lived immersed in that culture. Breitbart understood leftists better than they understood themselves. He knew exactly who they were, what their tactics were, and what their objectives were. He was as valuable to the cause of conservative libertarianism as a turned Soviet spy would have been to the CIA or MI6. He knew these people, and he wasn’t going to let them continue to get away with it.
He aimed right for the heart. He knew leftists controlled the debate because they control the institutions of influence: government, news media, and entertainment. His websites Big Government, Big Journalism, and Big Hollywood were the rebels striking back. Breitbart knew the enemy, and loved turning the tables on them, and his list of victims is long. He laughed at pompous left-wing politicians, his sites highlighted stupid and embarrassing pronouncements from senators, entertainers, and so-called journalists. Was this newsworthy? Not necessarily, but it’s exactly what these institutions had been doing to conservatives for decades, and Andrew Breitbart was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore.
His style in interviews was always illuminating and entertaining. Every interrogator tried to throw him against the ropes, but Andrew never wavered. He knew every trick and every punch they’d throw, and always made sure to be more informed than they, and nearly always was. Most entertaining was his habit of speaking to interviewers like children, probably because that’s how he viewed them. He would repeat points or questions over and over again, not letting his interlocutor play hit-and-run: “Where does it say that? Where does it say that?” or “Show me the quote. Show me quote” over and over again, until he had them stopped in their tracks.
The mainstream media hates Andrew Breitbart, and will continue to do so after his untimely death. They hate him because they want to be him. Andrew was the true counter-culture warrior, the one who did whatever it took to expose the corruption at the highest levels of power. He was not only a voice for the conservative movement, but was often leading the charge, in a slightly mad and crazed – but always justified – sort of way. In a sense, he was the Braveheart of conservatism. He was a man of action, intelligence, and wit. He’s gone too soon, but he’s been an inspiration to all of us who care about the fight for freedom and liberty.
-Jason Ivey
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TODAY AT SUPERBOWL ALLEY 5:15 PM (Below the zip line in the field) Run – Ranger – Run! |
| Cory Smith will run 565 Miles in 28 Days
Why is Cory running? 1. To get home to his daughter
Ranger Run started on January 3rd (Tues) and will end around January 31st (Tues). Cory has been covered along the route by Fox and CNN. Please come out to support him as he makes his way (with a wounded leg and foot) to meet his friends and family at Superbowl Alley by 5:30pm! SPECIAL GUEST MC: Boone Cutler, America’s only Wounded Warrior, ON-AIR Radio personality from Fox 99.1 FM (Reno,NV) will be there and available for interviews. He will greet Cory, pump up the crowd and broadcast to tell their fans about Cory’s accomplishment and how to help thousands of our transitioning military struggling with homelessness and suicide. Boone is the real deal! How you can help?
For more information on Gallant Few and to donate, please direct to: http://www.gallantfew.org |
Image for distribution: “Gallant Few”
“RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!” RLTW!
Image for distribution: Cory Smith, 3RD Ranger Battalion
CORY SMITH with his baby girl who’s worth running 585 miles!
IMAGE for distribution: BOONE CUTLER, America’s only OIF/OEF Wounded Warrior Radio Personality and Talk Show host. TIPPING POINT WITH BOONE CUTLER ON FOX 99.1 FM
More information can be found at: http://boonecutler.com/
FOR IMMEDIATE INTERVIEWS: JILL TRAMMELL, Patriot Promotions Owner at: 239-273-4783 BOTH WILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND SPEECH FOR INTERVIEWS UP TO 6:30 PM
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Benjamin was born in New Jersey and graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with a BA in Communications. He currently works on the N.C. Republican Congressional campaign for former Marine and Patriot, Illario Pantano.
During his first tour to Iraq, Ben witnessed the forging of the Iraqi people’s Constitution and their first elections while guarding and living with the “Top Five” of the Iraqi provisional government.
These events shed profound light on the Constitution of the United States and the concepts of freedom, liberty and tyranny. His experiences abroad also drew stark attention to ‘American Exceptionalism’ and how eternal — yet fragile — the flame of liberty really is. After returning home from Iraq, Ben became concerned with the direction our country was headed and began to educate himself on the issues.
At CPAC 2010, fate brought him in contact with Debbie Lee (founder of AmericasMightyWarriors.org and mother of KIA SEAL Marc Alan Lee), who inspired him to get involved with the Tea Party Express and the Move America Forward campaign.
Benjamin became a spokesman for America’s Mighty Warriors and a national spokesman for Tea Party Express in the Alaska campaign for Joe Miller and the Delaware campaign for Christine O’Donnell. He was also spokesman for Move America Forward, where he supported and campaigned for 15 Congressional candidates during the 2010 election. Thirteen of the candidates Benjamin supported made it to Congress. He also had the distinct honor of representing American values by going up against Cindy Sheehan protests in Hood River, Oregon.
Although politically active with conservative groups, he feels no matter what you believe, you should know WHY you believe it.
“After all, to the rest of the world, left or right, we are all Americans,” he says. “And we should be proud of our contributions to all of human history. This is called ‘American Exceptionalism.’” (All above is quoted from his bio)
I’ve had the distinct pleasure of getting to know Benjamin personally and I know he is a true Patriot and Warfighter! Ben is proud of our American Exceptionalism and I’m in agreement that we must have inspiration to live out our American Dreams…. Lest we forget why our country has always been so great. We are living in a fragile state and his insight and strength is needed now, more than ever.
You can read Benjamin’s work as a freelance contributor to Breitbart.com, prolinenews.com, RadioPatriot.wordpress.com and on UTube where you can see he has been on FOX News several times. I’m hoping he will share his insightful writing as a regular contributor to this blog, Patriot Promotions and as a co-host with me on The American Hour blog radio show. Stay tuned for more with Ben!
I had two special guests to dinner at my house last night. Both are Navy Vets, one a SEAL and the other a Medic who do special forces type training for civilians. After grace, one of them asked the children if they learned what day it was in school today? They didn’t know. To be honest…I didn’t know or I would have said something during the prayer. He gave them a clue, “the day that will live in infamy.” I immediately realized what day it was and since I hadn’t watched the news, read the paper or even looked on the calender (if its even there anymore) I was confused until that reminder.
Sadly, my kids were not aware of what happened that day. It made the three of us look at each other and just shake our heads in disbelief at how far gone the education system is from our important American history. When will they truly teach what the future generations need to know in order not to repeat the past? Do you know what day it was on 12/7? Do your children? What do you think they are missing in their history lessons and why?
