For the past two weeks I have been in communication via telephone with one of my sons best friends. PFC Chris Gross was injured one day by an RPG attack some months ago. In speaking with him I have a much better insight on what our men and women endure while deployed to Afghanistan. Chris was medivaced out and later found himself at Walter Reed where he is recovering from his wounds.
It was a bit weird really. I received a comment on the Blogg and then I received an email from Chris. In the subject line it read "Mr. Arnone Don't delete Alex's bud" and that got my attention. He went on to tell me who he was and he and Alex were pretty close back in Italy and Afghanistan. So I gave him my number and the next day he called me up. It almost seemed like we were in a room together, me listening to his stories and almost as if we knew each other from years back. We have been staying in touch with one another since. It's funny really, as a father of a son you think you know him. I found out that I may have known him but now he is a different person than the one that went off to war. I don't mean that in a negative by all means. The things that Chris has said my son has done just blows me away. I guess when you care about the soldier to your right and the one to the left you are capable of doing just about anything. In any case, Chris will be rejoining the 173rd back in Italy soon until he fully recovers. In case you are reading this Chris, always remember this "any man that calls my son his brother is a son to me" This page is dedicated to you PFC Chris Gross "Airborne!"
Larry Arnone
San Francisco
AKA Bluestardad (and I want to keep it that way)