Congratulations to.....Joe Collins
United States Coast Guards BEST


Joe just graduated,,,,2nd in class, from electronics school in Virgina and is on leave for a few days....
His parents, Melissa and Kurt, flew up from St. Cloud, Florida, for his ceremony and were part of the 'special' day.
Family and friends salute you, Joe.
We are very proud of you and your accomplishments and....
M O R E T O C O M E!

Below is a copy of the update on MelissaJo's Web Page....I post it here for those of you who have been praying for Josh Cooley...


Update on Cooley From St. Pete Times

On long road to recovery, a step forwardThe Marine
who was injured in Iraq last month woke from his coma.

By COLLEEN JENKINS, Times Staff WriterPublished August 13, 2005

Christine Cooley got an amazing gift for her birthday Wednesday.
She didn't win the lottery, but she felt like she had.
Her son woke up.
A month after he slipped into a coma from injuries endured in a
roadside blast in Iraq,
Lance Cpl. Josh Cooley opened his eyes and responded to a doctor's commands from his ICU bed in the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
For the Marine's parents and wife, it was a small but momentous step.
"Is he talking, walking?
No, he's not," Christina Cooley, Josh's wife and fellow Pasco County sheriff's deputy, told the Times on Friday.
"But it's a step in the right direction.
"Cooley's family has been with him since he was flown to Bethesda from Germany, where doctors removed part of his skull to relieve pressure from his brain.
In the weeks since, he has had multiple additional surgeries.
Surgeons performed a crucial procedure Aug. 3, removing a piece of shrapnel the size of a credit card from his head and also doing skin grafts over
the burns on his hands.
Some bone fragments were left in his brain because the area was too sensitive to operate on.
Doctors in Bethesda had removed Cooley, 28, from sedation each week to see how he would respond, Christina Cooley said.
Usually, they got no response.
They expected it would take the soldier at least two weeks to awake after his most recent surgery. But he started trying to open his eyes the next day, she said.
Then, Wednesday morning, he emerged from the coma.
That afternoon, his left eye was able to focus on his family and follow their movements.
His right eye sustained nerve damage, and doctors aren't sure whether it will function again. Cooley also squeezed his family members' hands on command.
"He'll squeeze your hand and rub your finger with his thumb," Christina Cooley said.
Still, the road ahead is long, his wife cautioned.
Cooley remains on heavy pain medication and sleeps most of the day.
Doctors won't know his long-term prognosis until he is fully awake.
They aim to stabilize Cooley enough to make the trip back to Tampa, where he will be rehabilitated for his head injury at the VA hospital.
Friday, the Marine made another important trip:
He moved out of the ICU ward to another floor where soldiers recuperate.

Left: Six year old
Wild Man....future
Marine....

Our Family Marine in Iraq....

Pipo, Carlos III, is still.....Our Hero!

Coming home soon

in Oct....

A really BIG family party is planned.

God Bless Him and all the

team at 4th AA Bn...4th Mar Div....

We see strength in our Military and sadly, we see the Twin Towers.

Something we never want to forget....
 

Blue Angels over
Niagara Falls... so beautiful.
 

Navy's Blue Angels Majesty...... 

Blue Angels over San Francisco Bay
Golden Gate Bridge.... 

BIG BIRD COMING IN FOR A LANDING??? ALCATRAZ OR WHATS LEFT OF IT...

LOOK, DISNEY WORLD COMING UP...
 

SO IMPRESSIVE...
 

Our Veterans must always be Honored...
 

A Single Honor...For Two Heroes

From: St Pete Times....Aug. 1, 2005
by: Colleen Jenkins...

By enlisting to serve, Lance Cpl. Josh Cooley followed in the footsteps of his military minded older brothers, father and grandfathers.
On Saturday, the 28-year old Marine made family history when he received a Purple heart from President Bush at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
He also helped bring his father peace, and their war stories made the president cry.
A Pasco County sheriff's deputy, Josh Cooley remains in a coma from a head injury wrought by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Ed Cooley had spent nights the past several weeks by his son's bedside. The elder Cooley had spent the past three decades bitter about the cool reception he got as a young Marine returning from Vietnam and the long wait for his Purple Heart.
Then, Friday, the Cooley family learned Josh Cooley would receive his Purple heart the next day - from the president.
After the family got word about the visit, Ed Cooley, 54, decided he better get some rest.
Instead he sat awake at 2:30 a.m. dictating a letter to his wife.
Dear Mr. President, she typed.
The New Port Richey man wanted Bush to know Josh, to understand the man who left behind a steady job and new wife to fight for a cause he believed in. He expressed gratitude to the president for personally presenting the military decoration to his son.
Things had not been so in Ed Cooley's time. He received his Purple Heart in the mail, 14 years after enduring a head injury in combat.
On Saturday, he watched with a mixture of awe and pride as the president pinned a Purple Heart medal on Josh's hospital gown.
"You're back home now, and you're safe," Bush whispered to Josh, according to Christina Cooley, his wife and fellow deputy.
Bush had 14 other Marines to visit, seven Purple Hearts to award. Ed Cooley mentioned his letter as the president was heading out the door.
Bush offered to read it, right there in the intensive care unit.
A few seconds in, he turned his face away from the White House photographer and wept.
Not only have you honored my son, the letter said, but you have also healed some old wounds as well.
Bush pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes.
He turned to Josh's father.
"I'm sorry it was never said to you before, but thank you for serving our country." Bush said
"It's a long time coming," Christine Cooley said.
"It sure is," Bush said. "This man is a true hero himself, and now his son is also a hero."
The Bush wrapped Ed Cooley in a bear hug.
The ex-Marine didn't know if he was allowed to hug the president back.
But he knew it was an experience he would never forget.
"It was a really special moment between two men, and it wasn't (because it was) the president or anybody else," Ed Cooley said on Sunday.
"It was just man to man."