Just to Clear Things Up......

This video is circulating around right now, (I should say again). https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4756117228935 I will warn you now it is graphic. I would not suggest the weak stomached or small children watch it at all.

I just wanted to take a few minutes and answer a few questions. Here's what has been asked.....

Is that Chaz? Yup! It's him. You can see the legs and elbow that we all miss terribly. ;) 

Am I ok? Yup I am totally fine. We have seen it a few times and we have copies of both pieces TF-1 did in 2011. 

Did we know about it? Yes and we signed papers and gave our full permission.

Why would we allow it? War is real. Injuries are real. You do not get any more real than this. Michele (reporter) and Gilles (cameraman) were able to capture exactly what happened to Chaz. We feel they did an excellent job and others need to see the reality of the situation. Chaz and I are thankful for the footage. We were able to have a lot of questions answered.

Are we upset with the French or TF-1? No, we are not upset at all. The people of France have been beyond supportive of us. We have a standing invitation to visit the country as soon as Chaz is up to it. We hope to cross the ocean in 2014.

Have the girls seen it? No the girls have not seen it. We hope they don't see it until they are ready for it. We are thankful that when they are ready for it we can show them how heroic their Daddy was on the battlefield.

Does the Army know about this? Yes, the reporter and cameraman were embedded with the guys at the time. There is a second piece which was filmed at Walter Reed. All permissions for that one were obtained as well.


How can I watch it? It's my husband and I wanted to know everything. I have all of the answers I needed by watching this. The only part that bothers me if when Chaz yells, "Medic." I want to jump into the screen and save him. I can hear the pain in his voice. Every time I watch it, I get sick to my stomach because I couldn't save him.

Do I have nightmares from this? I have in the past, but not recently. Chaz and I are very thankful though that we know exactly who did what when and how to get Chaz home. This video actually created a dialog between not only Chaz and I, but also between the guys that were with him and I as well.

Does it bother me that it's circulating? Nope it doesn't bother me one bit. What does bother me are the stupid comments people made on the youtube link. Chaz has banned me from looking at that page. So I don't.

Is Chaz barking orders? Yes Chaz is not only barking orders he is also calling in for his own bird with his one good arm. I don't think this clip shows Doc yelling at Chaz to "Shut up and be a casualty." TF-1 provided us with additional footage and I can't remember if that made it in this one or not. But oh did I laugh when that was shouted at my hubby.

Is he moving his arm? Yes he was moving his right arm. Now you can see why I fought so hard with him to keep it. He remembered moving it and knew it was viable.

Was anyone else hurt? No one else that day was visibly injured. I can tell you they all were invisibly injured. Some have already come to grips with it and some have not. That was a tough day that had numerous ripple effects. When you watch the video you can understand why.

I am sure you have additional questions to ask. I can do my best to answer them. I just wanted to get this out there to let you know that we know about it. And more importantly you need to know we are ok with it. You might not understand how we are comfortable with the video. Here's the best way to look at it. You know the real ending and that ending is truly a Happy Ever After.....