
This is a photo of my youngest son's friend Tyson Serles. A private first class serving our country in the US Army.
I remember the night of the Senior Awards, My son Jon and Tyson shared an award for their achievements in Art. Tyson was also honored when he and a few other boys from Jon's class, received large bonus checks from the different branches of service as they signed on to protect their country. When he and the others walked on the stage to receive their awards, I said a little prayer for them, for their protection and wisdom and guidance for whatever would lay ahead of them.
I watched Tyson accept his check with that contagious mile long grin of his, and he practically skipped back to his seat and he was applauded by those in attendance.
Last week we received news that Tyson had been critically injured in a roadside bombing in Afghanastan. Sadly, the entire group of soldiers he was traveling with, except for his Sargent, were either killed or critically injured. Tyson bravely tried to pull his fellow soldiers from the wreckage and witnessed one friend take his last breath.
Tyson is 19 years old, and has already lost an entire group of buddies. One soldier who passed away asked Tyson to start the prayer chain before he passed on.
What a load for a young man to carry. He is without family , in a foreign land (Iraq) , with no familiar faces to be by his bedside while he recovers and grieves for his friends and fellow soldiers. What if this were your son, or brother or friend?
According to Tyson's father Tim and Tyson's Grandmother, his condition has now been upgraded to stable and they expect his release from the hospital to be in a couple of weeks.
The family would love for cards or letters to be sent to Tyson to encourage him as he recovers.
What a small task for us...what a large impact it can make on Tyson.
Would you please send something to this precious young man who has already sacrificed more than most of us will ever be asked to give. He bravely moved out of his comfort zone on behalf of others. Let's do it for him.
It will take 5 minutes for you to fill out a card, and a very small amount of money to mail it.
Please do this small gesture. I'm counting on you. I'm hoping he gets a room full of cards and letters from all over the world!
Feel free to re-post this, pass it along in an email, put it in a church bulletin, or pass along to any other group that would be willing to take five minutes to help lighten someone's load.
Start your weekend off by doing something for someone else. Whatta' ya' say? Can I count on you?
Mail to:
PFC Serles, Tyson
FOBTF Sparta
HHT, 1-40 CAV (ABN)
FOB HEIRERA
APO AE 09354
Another idea to help spread the word:
Place Tyson's photo and add a link to this post on your sidebar as I have done. Right Click on his photo to "save picture as..." then add as a photo gadget. Then click on the title of this post to copy and paste, then paste html in proper space on the gadget .





40 comments:
He's too young. It breaks my heart that he's endured so much when, to me, he's still a child. I'll send him a card. It's the very least I can do.
That is so sad. My son turns 19 this morning (7:06am!) and I can't imagine, nor do I want to imagine him ever having to go through anything like that. I will be hugging him extra hard today and I WILL send out a card and a prayer. I'll tell him "Sherri sent me".
Wow. Caed & are working on a card now for Tyson.
Tyson embodies the reason why, when my husband talks about going back to serve in the military instead of pursuing a comfortable private practice, I say yes, LET'S GO!
Bee- I se him a s a child too, although, I'm sure last week he became a MAN in every sense of the word. ANd thanks for sending the card. Pass the word along if you can.
Nancy- Happy birthday to your son, and thanks for sending the card and prayer.
Jo- That is a great idea to have Caed work on the card! Perfect! ANd I know you and your hubby would understand this situation better than most. Thanks for helping out.
Hi Sherri,
I just copied this and will post it on my blog site tomorrow.
Good for you.
Thank you John- I appreciate it and so will Tyson and his family.
Picking up a card for Tyson today, and praying for this courageous young man. Sometimes I just don't understand...
Thank you Candy- Who understands? It's more than our minds can comprehend. Imagine his mind? What all he is dealing with ALONE? I can't stand it for him!
oh.... definitely...
Thank you Cheryl.
Heartbreaking, but glad to hear that Tyson is improving. I will be sending him a card today. Thanks for sharing this Sherri.
Tyson will be in my prayers as well as the rest of our men and women serving our country!
I think our freedom is worth a LOT more than the cost of a stamp. I will also post this on my blog tomorrow!
Thank you Trudy! Tyson represents a host of troops that we need to be encouraging through prayers and other random acts of kindness.
Of course!
My heart caught in my throat as I started reading this post. I'm torn between deep sadness for his battle buddies and their families who lost them, and great thankfulness that he has been upgraded to stable and has survived.
Many thoughts and prayers for him, and of course a card will go out as well.
I tweeted this post this morning.
I'd like to run it on my blog tomorrow instead of a caption contest, if that is okay.
katdish- thank you.
Homefront- I feel the very same. ANd thank you.
Helen- thanks for the tweet. I'm leaving it up for tomorrow too.
I appreciate you posting it.
Sherri, one thing: he's in Afghanistan, not Iraq. That APO zip is for A'stan.
Homefront- His grandma said he's in a hospital in Iraq, but the battle was in Afghanastan. But the postal follows him whherever he goes. SHe may be wrong, but the cards will get to him regardless. Thanks for your post too. I just read it- and appreciate the effort.
I wanna send him a card...thanks for the address and thank God he is now stable...The men and women who protect our country are invaluable...
Ah, that makes perfect sense. I had said something to the hubby about this and he was worried something wasn't right, since he knew no blast like that had happened in Iraq (where he is) last week...but then I caught the zip and told him it must have been Afghanistan.
Isn't it funny that they would send him to Iraq after that? Amazing how much has changed in both places over the last few years. And you're very welcome about the repost...You know I'm always happy to help. ;)
I wish Tyler well and hope and pray for his safety.
Our lads from the UK are going through some trouble at the moments, May God bless all of them who is serving their contries.
Take care.
Yvonne
Homefront- Yes, I find that strange that he would go to Iraq. I don't understand any of it really. Thanks again for posting about him.
Yvonne- thanks for the prayers and I'll remember your soldiers in the UK as well.
I'm a proud Army Mom. My 21 year old son is Airborne.
You can be sure I'll get a card out to Tyson tomorrow.
~vk~
vk- thank you- I'll pray for the safety of your son as well.
As a proud Army wife, it would be an honor to send this warrior a card!! I will also blog about it too.
Thank you for sharing this info!!!!
Queenie- thanks so much! the more, the merrier!
You're entirely welcome! Thanks for visiting.
I just put his picture on my blog's sidebar, and anyone who clicks on it will be redirected to your blog. I am sending him a card today.
A. Marie- thanks so much! I'm loving all this!
Thank-you Sherri.
He's too young and yet faces hard challenges... Hes gonna be strong because of this.. I am in the service too and I understand how hard it is for him and the family.. We'll be praying for him...
i am now following your blog btw..
May her recover soon for this tragedy.. My husband is in the navy and things like this always scared me..
following your blog now...
John and Clubskulit- welcome and thank you for following this sight. I tried to comment on both of your sites this morning and neither site would allow the comment section to pull up.
But I enjoyed visitng both of them. I'll try again.
You're such a caring and inspirational person. I will try to send him a card in the coming days.
I feel so bad for the young guy.
This is an old post so I am wondering if this is still something you want? If such a brave soldier still needs friends, please email me or comment on my blog so I know, and I will write him, or email him if he is home and that is more his style. Just let me know.
Yes Wendy, by all means, still send the card. It will come on the perfect day to him. This address will follow Tyson wherever he goes, so even when he leaves the hospital, he'll still get his mail. Thanks for helping out.
I'm dropping by from Queenie Jeannie's blog. I am so going to blog about this and I'll send him a card too.
I just saw that this was orginally posted in July...How is Tyson doing now? Is he home?
He is now out of the hospital, but still over there. He could still use cards of encouragement as he has lost many friends.
How is Tyson doing? He is on my prayer meeting list. I'm going to get a car out to him soon.
Post a Comment