Always My Hero

Renee Nickell

Description

Always My Hero is the inspirational true story about a young woman whose Marine brother is tragically killed in action. She must fight her way through grief, come to terms with the estrangement of her father and face her past or risk losing everything.

Her world came crashing down when she got the call saying her brother had been killed. 

Major Samuel Griffith, a Marine Corps Officer, was fiercely dedicated to becoming an F-18 aviator, he embodied perseverance and grit. Sam led his men with wisdom beyond his years. He was truly living the dream. Sam's 3^rddeployment, he was serving a ground tour as a Forward Air Controller. One tragic day, he observed one of his Marines under heavy fire, switching places with him. This tragic decision cost Sam his life, but saved his entire team.   

His surviving sister, Renee, quickly realized as a new Gold Star sister, that siblings are often the "forgotten mourners," and had to fight through PTSD with virtually no support or community. As a result, Renee was compelled to share her honest, raw, and at times gut-wrenching account of what it was like losing a sibling to war, while giving others an inside glimpse into the devastation a military family endures for the cost of freedom. 

Always My Hero has been featured on FOX News, The 700 Club, The Hallmark Channel, SOFREP Radio and many other media outlets. Writer's Digest calls this book "honest and relatable, great beauty and depth." 

Renee takes you on a nostalgic journey through their childhood and how Sam grew into an American hero.  This extraordinary memoir will have you laughing one moment and moved to tears the next. Get to know Sam and the amazing Marine he was through the eyes of his sister and fellow servicemen and discover how to exchange sorrow for strength so you can crawl out of the trenches of despair and finally find...hope.

Foreword 9

Introduction 13

Chapter 1 Our Childhood 19

Chapter 2 Journey to the Marines 43

Chapter 3 Wings Were Made to Fly 57

Chapter 4 Hanging Up His Flight Suit 73

Chapter 5 Assignment Afghanistan 85

Chapter 6 Operation Enduring Freedom 95

Chapter 7 The Immediate Aftermath 105

Chapter 8 Year One 125

Chapter 9 The Hard Stuff 131

Chapter 10 The Overlooked Grief 143

Chapter 11 Where I Go, There You Are 157

Chapter 12 Journey to Healing 170

Chapter 13 Moving Forward 188

Chapter 14 Called to Write 207

Resources 237

About the Author 239

Works Citied 241

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique
• War in Afghanistan (2001?present)
• Biography
• War in Afghanistan (disambiguation)
• Memoir
• Military
• Christian

Informations

• Publié par: Renee Nickell
• Date de parution: 14 juin 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781947279711
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Always My Hero
A Sister’s Inspiring Story of Love, Sacrifice, and Hope
RENEE NICKELL
Copyright © 2019, 2018 Renee Nickell
 
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the author.
 
Disclaimer: Some names, identifying details, and relationships have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of certain individuals. While this book is a true account, the conversations gathered from personal interviews, testimonials, and memory are not necessarily word-for-word. They have been recreated from memories to give the reader a better sense of the individuals involved. Some stories have been slightly altered or information omitted to maintain anonymity. Some events may be chronologically out of order in the interest of story flow. The opinions and recollections expressed are those of the author and may or may not reflect the opinions and recollections of others portrayed in the work.
 
Published by:
 

PO BOX 1072
Pinehurst, TX 77362
LifeWiseBooks.com
 
To contact the author:
ReneeNickell.com
 
ISBN Perfect Bound: 978-1-947279-69-8
ISBN Hardcover - 978-1-947279-70-4
ISBN Ebook - 978-1-947279-71-1
DEDICATION
To Sam, the best brother ever and the reason this book was written…I’d rather have you.
You’ll always be my hero.

1979 - Sam and Renee in Homestead, Florida.
Courtesy of Kathleen Bischoff .
SPECIAL THANKS
To my family. For always believing in me. Even when things seemed impossible, you remained faithful to me and the dream.
I love you.
Contents
Foreword 
Introduction 
Chapter 1: Our Childhood 
Chapter 2: Journey to the Marines 
Chapter 3: Wings Were Made to Fly 
Chapter 4: Hanging Up His Flight Suit 
Chapter 5: Assignment Afghanistan 
Chapter 6: Operation Enduring Freedom 
Chapter 7: The Immediate Aftermath 
Chapter 8: Year One 
Chapter 9: The Hard Stuff 
Chapter 10: The Overlooked Grief 
Chapter 11: Where I Go, There You Are (2014) 
Chapter 12: Journey To Healing 
Chapter 13: Moving Forward 
Chapter 14: Called To Write 
Resources 
About The Author 
Works Cited 
FOREWORD
I do not believe in coincidences. When Renee Nickell reached out asking if I would write this foreword, I knew it was something God ordained. Renee is a Gold Star sibling, something I could have easily been as well.
My dad, Herman West was a Corporal in the US Army during World War II. He embodied everything it was to be a proud American man who served his country. When I was fifteen, he looked me in the eye and said, “There is no greater honor than to wear a uniform for the United States of America as one of its warriors.”
After sharing with me his pride in being a soldier and combat veteran, he challenged me to be the first commissioned officer in our family. With honor, I accepted. On July 31, 1982, my dad stood at my right, and my mom, Elizabeth, at my left, on the campus of the University of Tennessee, and together they pinned the gold bars of a US Army Second Lieutenant on me. I had achieved what my dad asked of me. It was a proud day.
One of the first phone calls I made after the ceremony was to my older brother, Herman West Jr., Lance Corporal US Marine Corps, Vietnam War combat veteran. He was not drafted into the Marines, he willingly volunteered. To me, my brother was the epitome of a lean, mean, fighting machine.
Born in 1961, I was just a little fella when Herman Jr. went to serve in Vietnam. I remember praying to God that he would come back home. Back then, there wasn’t email, video chat, or any of the modern means to regularly stay in touch with deployed loved ones. There were just letters and polaroid pictures that travelled at the snail’s pace of international mail. I cherished the pictures he sent from Vietnam where he fought against communism, defended our freedom and way of life while protecting a foreign people.
It was 1968 when Herman Jr. let us know that his unit was in Khe Sanh. It was evident from the reports that Khe Sanh was at the center of a very big fight. When we watched the news, I would hold my breath praying that I wouldn’t see my brother being carried away on a stretcher, or worse. I paid attention to the combat casualty reports, and at times, looked to my dad for reassurance.
Thankfully, my mom worked for one of the US Marine Corps District Headquarters in Atlanta and was able to get unclassified, yet valuable information beyond what the news reported. One day we received word that Herman Jr. had been wounded in an attack. He was alive, but severely injured and would be coming home. I was relieved to know that my brother, the tough guy I looked up to, had survived.
When I finally saw my brother again, I hugged him tightly, so grateful he was home. Years later, when I visited the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington DC, I remember asking myself, “What would it have been like to come here to this black, granite slab and find Herman Jr.’s name listed among all the other fallen from the Vietnam War?”
So often we think about the moms, dads, spouses, and children left behind from those who made the ultimate sacrifice, but, do we ever think about the brothers and sisters? The “forgotten mourners”?
There is a powerful bond between siblings. When a brother or sister is lost, it can have a very injurious effect on the ones who will forever be separated from their blood buddy with whom they shared countless memories and hoped to share more.
This is why Always My Hero is so important. It is the story of a surviving sibling, one not often told. Renee lost her brother, US Marine Corps Major Samuel Griffith in 2011 in Afghanistan, and his story is personal for me.
Samuel was the Detachment Officer in Charge for the 4th US Marine Corps Air and Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (4th ANGLICO), based in West Palm Beach, Florida. During my military career, I was selected as an exchange officer to the II Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) at Camp Lejeune, NC. My initial assignment was the 2nd ANGLICO as their Operations Officer, before being transitioned to the II MEF Operations staff. It was there, at Camp Lejeune, that I earned my Marine Corps gold parachutist wings, the same worn by members of ANGLICO units.
Upon my own return from Afghanistan, I ended up running for US Congress in Florida’s 22d Congressional District, which included West Palm Beach, and the headquarters of Samuel’s 4th ANGLICO unit. 2011 was the year that Samuel lost his life as well as the year I was sworn in as the Congressional Representative.
While most of us will never experience what Renee and other Gold Star siblings have gone through, we must recognize them and honor their pain. Renee’s story of weathering the storm of life after loss and her own battle with PTSD, provides us a glimpse into the plight and enormous sacrifice of Gold Star siblings.
I heartily admonish you to read Always My Hero and seek out any Gold Star siblings you may know and do one simple thing – love them. We must remember that while our country lost a warrior the day that Major Samuel Griffith was killed, Renee lost her brother. Let us commit to not allowing any more Gold Star siblings to become “forgotten mourners”.
 
Lieutenant Colonel Allen B. West (US Army, Retired)
Member, 112th US Congress
INTRODUCTION
I find no other appropriate time to begin to reflect on one’s life than the age of 40. It’s when the youth of our past seems “like yesterday,” yet we wonder where all the years have gone and what the future will look like. Shortly after my 40th birthday, I was driving with my dear friend, Amanda, to a women’s conference. She asked me, “When are you going to write that book?” It was a question I never expected, yet something I needed to hear. When will I?
The term “Gold Star” describes a family member who lost a loved one in the military. As a Gold Star sister, myself, I had a story to tell. I spoke to Gold Star sibling after sibling. We all had a very real pain in common–we all felt forgotten in our grief. Siblings spend more time with each other in the span of their adolescence and young adulthood than with their parents or later, with their spouses. This is not to negate the pain of the parent or the spouse, but rather to highlight that siblings are often required to suppress their pain to support the grieving process of others. I learned from a grief counselor that most siblings do not even begin the grieving process until two years after the actual event.
There are complications that happen within a family in relation to the trauma of a military death. People become un-relatable, relationships change, some families…many families, are torn apart. Parents can’t cope. Spouses can’t cope. Siblings can’t cope. No one is able to be there for the others the way they are expected to be. I can’t tell you how many Gold Star families I’ve met that are not able to have a meaningful relationship with their deceased child’s offspring. There are broken families and broken relationships. It’s all a terrible tragedy, and I was no exception.
I’ve discovered through my life, there is no time like the present. I could make all types of excuses. I’m a stay at home mom. I homeschool four children who need me. I don’t want to expose my downfalls, my insecurities or my failures. I could choose many other excuses for not finding time to tell my story…to tell my brother’s story.
Major Samuel