thedrifter
09-27-06, 07:20 AM
Marines calendar to aid wounded comrades
By Amanda Daniels
UNION-TRIBUNE COMMUNITY NEWS WRITER
September 27, 2006
RANCHO SANTA FE – Creative ideas usually come to Jean Hamerslag late at night, but recently one arose during a fitness workout.
While training with instructor Sgt. Rudy Reyes, Hamerslag realized she could raise funds for Freedom is Not Free by producing a 2007 calendar featuring elite reconnaissance Marines.
Hamerslag is a board member of the nonpartisan and nonprofit Freedom is Not Free, which was founded last year to aid wounded U.S. troops and their families.
Reyes' photograph is on the cover and the June page of the calendar, “America's Heroes, Reconnaissance Marines.”
He fought in special missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and was featured along with his unit, the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, in a three-part investigative series in Rolling Stone magazine in 2003. He was a central character in the book “Generation Kill,” by the same writer, Evan Wright.
“We've all lost our friends, some have been killed and some maimed,” Reyes said. “It's (war) very real to us. We've been in those fights and ambushes.”
One of his close friends lost both arms, he said.
Even so, Reyes initially thought Hamerslag was kidding about the calendar when she mentioned it earlier this year. Reyes works occasionally as a model, but most Marines would balk at the idea.
Plus, there wasn't much time to meet deadlines for printing and distribution.
But after she redeemed a few favors, the calendar started to come together, Hamerslag said.
“No matter how shy – or how kind of 'fluffy' any of my guys would think doing this calendar would be, if we know we're going to be raising awareness for our brothers, who we feel are the strongest and best in the world and who are laying their lives on the line, then we will do it,” Reyes said.
Many of the “models” are active Marines from Camp Pendleton. The calendar will be distributed nationally.
Reyes lives in San Marcos, where he and his brother, Michael Reyes, founded the fitness company Zen Kommando after Reyes finished his tours.
The brothers teach fitness classes around the county, including at the Rancho Santa Fe Community Center.
Hamerslag met Rudy Reyes through a class. She is an artist and retired advertising entrepreneur who joined Freedom is Not Free after a friend and Ranch resident, David Dominguez, began the organization in May 2005 with another friend, Carl Frank.
The group raises and distributes funds to U.S. military personnel in need through an unusual method: Its Purple Heart Advisory Committee determines where funds should go. The committee includes Purple Heart recipients, survivors of Purple Heart recipients and wounded Marines who are on active duty.
All of money raised is given out, Hamerslag said. Board members volunteer their time and give their own funds to keep the group running, she said.
The calendar will be available at Barnes & Noble Booksellers and online at www.freedomisnotfree.com.
For more information, call the group at 858 847-9999.
Ellie
By Amanda Daniels
UNION-TRIBUNE COMMUNITY NEWS WRITER
September 27, 2006
RANCHO SANTA FE – Creative ideas usually come to Jean Hamerslag late at night, but recently one arose during a fitness workout.
While training with instructor Sgt. Rudy Reyes, Hamerslag realized she could raise funds for Freedom is Not Free by producing a 2007 calendar featuring elite reconnaissance Marines.
Hamerslag is a board member of the nonpartisan and nonprofit Freedom is Not Free, which was founded last year to aid wounded U.S. troops and their families.
Reyes' photograph is on the cover and the June page of the calendar, “America's Heroes, Reconnaissance Marines.”
He fought in special missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and was featured along with his unit, the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, in a three-part investigative series in Rolling Stone magazine in 2003. He was a central character in the book “Generation Kill,” by the same writer, Evan Wright.
“We've all lost our friends, some have been killed and some maimed,” Reyes said. “It's (war) very real to us. We've been in those fights and ambushes.”
One of his close friends lost both arms, he said.
Even so, Reyes initially thought Hamerslag was kidding about the calendar when she mentioned it earlier this year. Reyes works occasionally as a model, but most Marines would balk at the idea.
Plus, there wasn't much time to meet deadlines for printing and distribution.
But after she redeemed a few favors, the calendar started to come together, Hamerslag said.
“No matter how shy – or how kind of 'fluffy' any of my guys would think doing this calendar would be, if we know we're going to be raising awareness for our brothers, who we feel are the strongest and best in the world and who are laying their lives on the line, then we will do it,” Reyes said.
Many of the “models” are active Marines from Camp Pendleton. The calendar will be distributed nationally.
Reyes lives in San Marcos, where he and his brother, Michael Reyes, founded the fitness company Zen Kommando after Reyes finished his tours.
The brothers teach fitness classes around the county, including at the Rancho Santa Fe Community Center.
Hamerslag met Rudy Reyes through a class. She is an artist and retired advertising entrepreneur who joined Freedom is Not Free after a friend and Ranch resident, David Dominguez, began the organization in May 2005 with another friend, Carl Frank.
The group raises and distributes funds to U.S. military personnel in need through an unusual method: Its Purple Heart Advisory Committee determines where funds should go. The committee includes Purple Heart recipients, survivors of Purple Heart recipients and wounded Marines who are on active duty.
All of money raised is given out, Hamerslag said. Board members volunteer their time and give their own funds to keep the group running, she said.
The calendar will be available at Barnes & Noble Booksellers and online at www.freedomisnotfree.com.
For more information, call the group at 858 847-9999.
Ellie