Not only is Michael a kind and lighthearted person, clearly seen when he makes a transformers reference when describing the equipment he was using, he is a thoughtful and powerful speaker.
In our interview with Michael Schlitz, he told us the story of his military career and his injury. He joined the military in 1996 after high school. He went to a Ranger school where he trained extensively and went through demanding exercises and lost forty pounds in three months. Eventually, he was deployed to Iraq and in 2006 the violence and number of casualties in Iraq escalated. During a patrol, the Michael's squad was forced to turn around when they hit a dead end and on the way back his car drove over an IED bomb.
"Before I could think of anything I had already hit the ground and as I hit the ground I kinda looked up at the vehicle and I didn't see it burning, I didn't see anything really. The one thing that stuck out to me was I couldn't see my guys."
All of his squad mates who were in the car perished and as he got up to look for them, he was engulfed by flames from the burning car.
"I can't explain to you the immense heat that you feel when you're burning and the amount of pain and agony you're in, just about that moment you're kinda just accepting and just ready to go is when they hit me with the fire extinguisher."
He continued his incredibly inspiring story about his recovery, and we listened intently for another half an hour. It reminded us why we started our project in the first place. We want to raise money to help veterans who have to risk so much to protect the ones they love, and we are currently emailing other organizations seeing if we can associate with them, and if they have other veterans who are willing to share their stories.
We hope to raise a decent amount of money with our paintball event, and we hope to establish a long standing annual, or possibly bi-annual Operation SPLAT paintball event to raise money and awareness. We have also decided to start branching out and spread awareness to other teenagers and adults about the immense sacrifices that our troops give up.
We are currently trying to arrange a visit to the Wounded Warrior Project office in San Diego so we can talk to experts about our event and share ideas.
We are editing the audio and are creating a digital story to go along with it. Stay tuned for the complete interview with Michael.
What a story. Michael seems like an extraordinary person to have survived such an ordeal and then continuing to serve as a spokesman for his fellow service people, especially those wounded in battle. It sounds like this encounter has strengthened your commitment to give to those veteran and connect with them. Did you get a chance to ask him how he thinks you could serve the Wounded Warrior organization best? I hope that you will be able to visit the San Diego office before the end of school and make the organizational connection. I look forward to having access to your interview on your blog. His story is powerful as you tell it but the impact must be greater hearing his own voice. How successful were you in finding another partner organization? Mr. Thomassen pulled up a website with many. We would like to see you open this event up as much as you can.
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