Published: August 22, 2008 11:44 pm      

DVD drive nets 400-plus for soldiers

Ashland — The recent effort to obtain DVD movies for the Wounded Warrior program at Ireland Army Hospital at Fort Knox has been an unqualified success, said Tom Reed, president of the local Ashland Inc. Retirees chapter, which organized the drive.

“I cannot thank the people of this area enough,” Reed said. “We started this with our members, but others soon heard about it and wanted to support it. We made a few calls to area businesses to determine if they would be drop-off points for the movies. Everyone said ‘yes.’

“Today, through the generosity and giving nature of the people of Boyd and Greenup counties, we collected and sent more than 400 movies to our wounded soldiers at the hospital at Fort Knox,” Reed said.

“These movies are absolutely a morale booster. Hospital rooms are a stringent, dull environment,” said Lt. Col. Gary D. Travis, battalion commander of the Fort Knox Warrior Transition Unit. “The soldiers are very appreciative to have these as they distract them from the unpleasant things that are going on in their life.”

Staff Sgt. Linda Brashears of Louisville, an Army Reservist from the 7218th Medical Support Unit, received traumatic brain injury Oct. 10, 2006, in Baghdad after a mortar attack on her forward operating base hit an ammunition holding building.

“It’s just awesome to see this support,” said Brashears. “Sometimes you just need a comedy. Movies are a great distraction; they take you away so you don’t think about what’s going on.”

Reed said the DVD collection has stopped but the club would consider coordinating another collection later in the year. “If the Wounded Warrior program lets us know they need more, for example, to have over the Christmas holidays, we’ll schedule another drive,” he said.

The drive also was supported by Ashland Inc. retirees clubs in Louisville and St. Paul, Minn.