Hospital patients have held a special place in my heart for many years. With our recent life change from private practice to my husband being a surgeon in the US Army (and currently serving in Afghanistan), a different world has opened up — that of the wounded warrior.
Soldiers' Angels, the non-profit organization with over 200,000 volunteers and thirty teams, supports all the branches of the armed forces. 
They work to ensure the well-being of the troops. From backpacks filled with goodies sent to the front line to soldiers in small outposts, to the daunting challenge of ensuring a wounded warrior's emotional and practical needs are met, the organization consistently follows through.
On Monday, October 26, the annual kickoff begins that pits branches against one another to raise money for the Soldiers' Angels program Project Valour-IT. This program raises funds for Soldier's Angels to provide wounded warriors with laptops with voice-activated software. How the program started was the result of serious accident.
In 2005, then Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss was injured by an IED while serving as commander of a tank company in Iraq. He was a popular blogger, describing his life in the war zone, and he and his wife documented both his injury and his recovery.
While Chuck was recuperating from major wounds to his extremities, which included the loss of some fingers, he wanted to keep in touch with his troops, and also with those in the blogosphere. When Soldiers' Angels asked if there was anything they could do for him, he told them he wanted a computer with voice-activated software. Although the group's founder, Patti Patton-Bader, had never purchased a computer or the software before, she found one and sent it. Upon receiving it Ziegenfuss said, "It was the first time I felt whole since I'd woken up wounded in Landstuhl." (Landstuhl is the major military medical center where the wounded are flown after being treated and stabilized in the field).
Article comments
1 - Kanani
Correction: The founder of Soldier's Angels is Patti PATTON-BADER.
2 - Chuck
DoD does, in its own glacially lethargic way, provide the software. Often, we provide the software too.
As far as a techie's dream, this was more the Fentanyl and Morphine induced brainchild of a crippled milblogger. I just mixed the chocolate and the peanut butter, as it were.
Either way, it's a worthy cause. Thanks for joining team Army.
3 - Kanani
Chuck! Thank you for commenting! Well, I didn't mean to infer that you were in any way in a purple and orange haze at the time! However, will agree that the combo --plus whatever else you were on, could have been a great stimulus for a dream like state!
Really, when titling these things, we often try to find one that'll have wide appeal. In this case the technical community here on BC, who know quite a bit about voice activated software. The Hubs used it for years --in fact I have it still for dictating notes. I believe it's still in use at the hospitals!
Know what? I'd love to see Eric Olsen and Richard Jalichandra give big time to the cause! What about it EO and RJ?
4 - Joanne Huspek
I don't have much, but I'm in. As an ex-Army brat, I know too well that our government does not always take care of its warriors.
5 - Kanani
Joanne, Thank you! I hope you'll give to TEAM ARMY!
A lot of people give $5 and $10 bucks, and collectively they make up thousands.
If you can mention PV IT on your blog today, then come over to the Kitchen Dispatch and make a comment on today's post. You'll be entered into a giveaway for a really nice meditation kit donated by Cool Joe.
6 - Judy
Hi there...I'm donating % of sales now thru Veterans Day to Project Valour-IT. Pls help support our troops!
Read the first chapter on the "Sneak Peek" tab...I think you'll enjoy it!
7 - Kanani
Judy, that's great! Let me know more about your book and I'll try to get it up on my blog.
Also, if you blog about this, be sure to enter my giveaway!