[patience]

This new housing project, at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, is a noteworthy project now under construction, for our finest. Excerpt from article:

A Sept. 15 groundbreaking ceremony marked the start of construction on the new 12,000-square-foot facility located across from the post’s Fisher Houses, where many wounded warriors and their families stay during long rehabilitations.

The new Warrior and Family Support Center will provide a nurturing and comfortable environment where returning soldiers and their families can rest and recover. The new building will replace the 1,200-square-foot facility currently housed on the second floor of the Powless Guest House here.

“President Theodore Roosevelt once said: ‘A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that, no man is entitled to, and less than that, no man shall have,’” Maj. Gen. Russell Czerw, commander of Army Medical Department Center and School and Fort Sam Houston, said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Army Spc. Francesca Duke, who was injured by a car bomb in Ramadi, Iraq, is now an outpatient receiving treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center. She recalled her first encounter with the center.

“The Warrior and Family Support Center is where my mother and I found solace; it is one of the beginning steps in aiding in the recovery process for all heroes injured in support of operations Enduring (Freedom) and Iraqi Freedom. This is your home away from home,” Duke said.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47513

[Matt Wiser]

Good news indeed. Every military hospital needs a similar facility.

[patience]

This is a project update. First, a 5 minute video.
http://www.returningheroeshome.org/project/heroes-video

This center is anticipated to close in 2008, due to privatization of the hotel that is currently hosting the center. The new 12,000 square foot building will replace the existing assistance center and be a dedicated building that will include the following:

* Large social gathering area
* Kitchen facilities
* Dining room
* Learning facility for computerized training
* Private counseling rooms
* Business center with high speed internet access
* Game room
* Large open front and back porch areas

Ralph Peters article updates the progress and financial status of the new facility at San Antonio.
The first excerpt I'm posting, in bold print, echoes word for word a statement that Jessica made when she started her foundation.

If you want a sense of how our wounded warriors are treated, just ask them. Adrian Garcia insists his care has been terrific "and then some." He's been offered a scholarship at St. Mary's University in San Antonio; he tells me he wants to study psychology because "I want to give something back."

You have to fight back the tears when a 19-year-old soldier with no legs tells you that he wants to give something back.

HELPING HEROES
REHAB CENTER WORKS MIRACLES
By RALPH PETERS

December 10, 2007 -- FORT SAM HOUSTON,

Ground has just been broken for a facility (fully handicapped-accessible) to replace that single overcrowded room; the design is gorgeous.
Alerted to the need, the people of San Antonio stepped up. Two local business leaders, Steve and Les Huffman - from a military family - donated their services as the developer and general contractor for a new facility. Subcontractors have promised materials at cost or reduced rates. Local citizens have been sending in checks.

The total cost for the new Warrior and Family Support Center will be $4 million. Not much, considering what's at stake - and the fund-raising is halfway there.

URL for the complete article.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12102007/posto...0929.htm?page=3