Friday, January 04, 2008
Goodbye to One of Our Own
Robin Roberts just left a comment noting the passing of one of Colorado’s bloggers. Major Andrew Olmsted was killed yesterday in Iraq and he will be missed by those of us who knew him (in the most casual way, in my case) and respected him for his thoughts and for his service. He was a great man and he deserves to be remembered for his kindness, his intelligence, and his words.
My deepest condolences go out to his family--and if anyone knows of how we can help them through this time, please email me and let me know. He was undeniably one of the good guys and from the words that his fellow soldiers and friends are leaving, I know that their loss is huge. I wish I had a chance to have known him better.
After he left his own site, he was blogging from the Rocky and you can read his last post here and leave your thoughts. I’ll be joining Andy (in a virtual sense) in a drink to his memory.
Others have their own memories. Jed. Robert Hayes. Walter. Blackfive. Jeff G and Karl. Joe Katzman. Jay. Charles (who has a great picture). Rick Moran. Baldilocks.
Comments & Trackbacks
I’m really sad to hear that. He was one of the good guys.
He really was. I can’t even imagine how hard this must be for his family.
I can scarcely believe this. Can we do something for Amanda?
I would really like to find something. If you have any ideas, please let me know.
Let’s start a college fund for his kids. There’s a widget called ChipIn that lets you put up, well, a widget so people can make a PayPal contribution; I got 10k page views a day to throw into the pot, and a little cash. Fraley’s a lawyer, can he set up a trust on the cheap?
Oops, he didn’t have kids. Well, how about a college fund for military orphans in his name?
Alternatively, something directly for his wife, if she has an urgent need. I don’t know the background. You guys knew him much better than I did.
I would certainly be happy chipping in any way that would be appropriate. I’m hoping that we find something over the next few days that will be a meaningful way to show our appreciation for the man.
I only got to meet him once, at a Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash in Denver, but he was a delightful person, and I would have liked to know him better. Bloggers, feel free to use the photo I took of Andrew and posted to my “Bloodthirsty Warmonger” site.
After a little searching, I found this article in the Navy Times (http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/12/military_charities_071214w/) that gives some impartial information on military-oriented charities that use most of their money to benefit military members:
“The Fisher House Foundation (http://www.fisherhouse.org), which builds comfort homes [similar to Ronald McDonald Houses near civilian hospitals] to provide low- or no-cost lodging for families of hospitalized troops to be near their loved ones during treatment and recuperation, got an A+ from the institute for using more than 90 percent of its donations to support veterans and their families.
“Army Emergency Relief (http://www.aerhq.org/), the Air Force Aid Society https://www.afas.org/) and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (http://www.nmcrs.org/) each got an A+, as did the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which recently opened a rehabilitative facility for wounded troops in San Antonio and is planning another center for traumatic brain injury treatment in Bethesda, Md.
“The institute gave the National Military Family Association an A, while the Armed Services YMCA of the USA got an A-.
“The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance (http://www.give.org/ -see “Charity Reports” for information on individual charities) regularly evaluates charities nationwide. Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer, said about half of national veterans’ charities provide none of the requested information and materials that the alliance needs to complete their evaluations.”
Fisher House sounds pretty good. I’d be happy to give something and put up something on the blog, if others concur. We could maybe get The Rocky to add something to today’s article on the loss of Andrew.
There’s also this.
PBW House made their goal.
Fisher House does sound good.