Aggie Marine Keeping Promise to Auburn Marine

[wareagle044 0]

Alright guys, I posted about this a long time ago and as we approach football season -- the planning is well underway. I'll be bumping this thread every Sunday till the Texas A&M game so long as it's not on page 1. I am posting this early, so that you can begin to make plans to be a part of the events. Many of you have e-mailed me about being involved and I will e-mail those of you specifically more details.

The Story

I made an interesting contact not long after Texas A&M made their move to the Southeastern Conference. I was contacted by an Aggie who was a Platoon Commander (Texas A&M C/O 2008) in the United States Marine Corps, named Kolbe Grell. He was asking me about the lay-out of Jordan Hare Stadium, the campus, and most specifically handicapped seating. I was trying to get as much detail from him as I could in order to give him the best information. As we got to talking he filled me in on this little story:

He had a Marine named Cpl Chris Montgomery under his command while in Afghanistan. This was a kid he had grown close to by talking college sports. They went back and forth at each other about Texas A&M and Auburn. A&M was heating up their talks about making a conference jump, and Cpl Montgomery made sure to let his lieutenant know how bad they would get killed in the SEC. One day, while on patrol Cpl Montgomery was on the receiving end of a blast from an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). He was stabalized by his corpsman (who was later KIA in a separate incident), but not without the sacrifice of his legs. Here is how Lt. Kolbe Grell detailed it to me:

"Cpl Montgomery and I shared a special relationship. As his platoon commander, I trusted him in any situation on the battlefield. During down time, we spent a lot of time talking about college football and as you can imagine, he spent a lot of time telling me that the Ags would get crushed in the SEC. Since this was during the Cam Newton era, he had all the room in the world to have the last word.

The day that Cpl Montgomery was wounded, we were carrying him to a medical evacuation vehicle and I told him that at least he would be able to watch his Tigers in the national championship now. He watched that game from his hospital bed, a story that I'll let him share at the tailgate."

Corporal Montgomery returned state-side to Bethesda, Md where he began his rehabilitation process. While he was going through his recovery at the Center of the Intrepid at Fort Sam Houston, TX is where Lt. Grell promised that when A&M made the move official -- they would be attending the first game together.

As you all know, Auburn is a community of family. In my opinion, anyone who steps foot in this community is part of that family regardless of their university affiliation (sometimes they might be that unwanted cousin, ie: UGA, bama but family). When I heard this story, I wasn't about to let him have a mission like for "one of us" and not get the treatment they deserve. Thanks to Game Day for Heroes they have tickets to the game, and a place to stay courtesy of the Auburn University Hotel & Conference Center. We are scheduled to have them as special guests for the Eagle flight practice on Friday and I'm working with athletics to get them some sort of locker-room/facility tour that afternoon.

Where You Come In:

Lieutenant Grell and another Marine who served with him and Chris will be driving from Texas to Mobile to pick up Chris before heading to Auburn the Thursday before the game. I have set up a PayPal account (AggieMarine2012@gmail.com) for us to gather funds which will be used to subsidize their trip (gas, food, extracurriculars, etc.). Any extra funds that go into that account will be split between Wounded Warrior Project (provided support for Chris in Bethesda) and Game Day for Heroes (for providing the tickets and tailgate)

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=DP5WGBSY3H4M6

******Consider this the official invite for you to stop-by and attend the Game Day for Heroes tailgate at Donahue/Heisman just outside of the stadium. I am asking that all Auburn fans, alums, students, veterans, former athletes, VIPs, Aubie, etc, etc, take a few minutes to come and meet these young men. Let's make sure that they know not only what they mean to our universities, but our country.

**some of this weekend is a surprise for Chris, so if you happen to know him -- keep the details fuzzy

If you can be there or would like to help contribute to the weekend, please e-mail me so that I can get a good count on letting GD4H how many to expect at the tailgate (wareagle044@gmail.com)

[fjenkins 0]

Coach Chizik's father was a Marine.  Get in touch with with the Athletic Dept, like yesterday!

[Stripe 5]

Thanks for posting. Keep us updated.

[CMPluvAU04 0]

Im from Mobile and my younger brother and his good friend are really good friends of Chris's,ive had the oppurtunity to hangout with him as well before he was injured while serving. I can personally say that Chris is a stand up guy and from what I hear that hasnt changed one bit. Glad to see someone doing this for him and I will def contribute in this good cause and also I wont even tell a soul what youre doing for him. WDE TO YOU 044!!!!!!

[weegleweegle 0]

Gameday for Heroes is very special.  I had the opportunity to meet Jana and Mike Tarleton at the Outback Bowl.  They are wonderful people...

War Eagle and God Bless....

Keep us posted about this event.  I will donate to the cause.

[caleb1633 1,418]

The gentleman in charge of events at JHS, Jeff Steele, allowed me to be commissioned as a Lieutenant on the field at JHS. If you get in contact with him I'm sure he'd be willing to help out. If you want me to get in contact with him I could do that as he told me if I ever needed anything to let him know. His father was a Marine as well. A Marine Major may be coming in town who's a graduate from Texas A&M. We could try and get him involved. I could potentially get some other Marines to help. Just shoot me a message if youre interested. Semper Fi!

-Lt. Havens

[Rednilla 5,383]

I pinned this topic to ensure that it remains up top, because this is certainly a worthy cause. War Eagle, Semper Fi, and in honor of the Marine Commander, Gig 'Em!

[PapaWill 0]

wonderful post, story and I do hope we are able to support them..........show some love!

[coolmello 7]

I had my retirement flag flown at auburn by the ROTC unit there.  That could be another approach to take.

[StuntMan06 14]

From a Sailor and an Auburn Grad I'll certainly be donating to help out.

[400DGRZ 23]

Count me in to donate. If I can make the game I'll be sure to swing by, say hello, and take a pic!

War Eagle

[Slammer1 409]

Coach Chizik's father was a Marine.  Get in touch with with the Athletic Dept, like yesterday!

I am sure Coach Chizik would be very interested in this. I am a retired Marine and will make every effort to be there for this. I was a chopper pilot in Nam and I hauled a bunch of Marines out but they were called booby traps back then. The IED hadn't made the scene in those times, unfortunately the results were the same. For those of you that might be interested in Coach Chizik's background here is a web site to peruse. It will helpe you understand our coach and his pedigree.

http://www.texassports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/012305aaa.html

[Guest jrljr]

Game Day for HEROES just became one of my favorire organizations ever!! If not for our HEROES we wouldn't even have Game Days!

:bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

(Even if we did it would be for Soccer) (Sorry soccer people, it's just not a spectator sport)

[Iron_chin_chiz 0]

Wow awesome story. I will be giving to this cause and would love to meet this American hero.

[wareagle044 0]

Wow awesome story. I will be giving to this cause and would love to meet this American hero.

The Marines are getting to town on Oct. 25 -- if they arrive early enough we'll probably head downtown for dinner and spend the evening down town. However, they will be on campus all day Saturday. Hopefully, the game is a night game so we'll have all day for them to enjoy campus and meet as many folk as possible!

[triangletiger 1,599]

I doubt I'll be able to make the game, but I've gladly donated to this worthy cause.  As has been well-stated already in this thread, it's because of the sacrifices of people like Cpl. Montgomery and Lt. Grell that we have the freedom to enjoy the good things in life like Auburn football.  War Eagle and Semper Fi from a former Navy submariner.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

Just dropped $25 in the coffers. 

AE044 - can you keep us updated on the funds raised?  This needs to be a blow-out of epic proportions.

Ooh-Rah! and War Eagle!

[wareagle044 0]

Just dropped $25 in the coffers. 

AE044 - can you keep us updated on the funds raised?  This needs to be a blow-out of epic proportions.

Ooh-Rah! and War Eagle!

I certainly will. Is the board going to transfer over to AUFAMILY or will i need to copy/paste this post to the new site??

$357.00 -- we should have gas covered for both the marines making the trip to get Chris in Mobile and take him to Auburn with that (one from Dallas, one from Houston).

I get back to Auburn on Monday and will set up an account at Wells Fargo. It might blow up more if I find an easier way for people to donate than just PayPal. I'll work on that when I get back to AU -- any ideas appreciated. I'd love to be able to send $5,000.00 to both the Wounded Warrior Project and Game Day for Heroes, but my main priority is getting these guys taken care of when they get here that weekend.

[wareagle044 0]

oops. I am at work and trying to hide my activity and am hitting the wrong buttons...double post.

[triangletiger 1,599]

Just dropped $25 in the coffers. 

AE044 - can you keep us updated on the funds raised?  This needs to be a blow-out of epic proportions.

Ooh-Rah! and War Eagle!

I certainly will. Is the board going to transfer over to AUFAMILY or will i need to copy/paste this post to the new site??

$357.00 -- we should have gas covered for both the marines making the trip to get Chris in Mobile and take him to Auburn with that (one from Dallas, one from Houston).

I get back to Auburn on Monday and will set up an account at Wells Fargo. It might blow up more if I find an easier way for people to donate than just PayPal. I'll work on that when I get back to AU -- any ideas appreciated. I'd love to be able to send $5,000.00 to both the Wounded Warrior Project and Game Day for Heroes, but my main priority is getting these guys taken care of when they get here that weekend.

I appreciate your hard work in organizing this worthy endeavor and the others you've had a hand in in the past.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

$357.00 -- we should have gas covered for both the marines making the trip to get Chris in Mobile and take him to Auburn with that (one from Dallas, one from Houston).

ALRIGHT FAMILY

These guys should be flying first class. 

ALL IN!

We need to get behind this.

[wareagle044 0]

account is at $624.50

[wareagle044 0]

so close to kick-off of football season

[pensacola tiger 0]

This story brought tears to myeyes and I will definitely be donating. Have you thought of posting this on the Auburn Scout board? I don't know what the rules are but it would probably garner even more funds and possibly ideas and help contacting the right people. You are doing a wonderful thing. War Eagle

[wareagle044 0]

This story brought tears to myeyes and I will definitely be donating. Have you thought of posting this on the Auburn Scout board? I don't know what the rules are but it would probably garner even more funds and possibly ideas and help contacting the right people. You are doing a wonderful thing. War Eagle

I don't have access to ITAT, but feel free to cross-post. Would love to see as many members of the AU Family stop by the tailgate as possible -- and Aggies alike. I'll be setting up an account at Wells Fargo, hopefully, this week to deposit the funds into -- just haven't had a chance to get over there.