Vietnam Veteran inspires service members at COB Adder

Photo By Sgt. Glen Baker | Dave Roever, Vietnam Veteran, inspirational speaker, and a Fort Worth, Texas native, receives a certificate of appreciation plaque from 1st Lt. James Kim, a chaplain with the 224th Special Troops Battalion, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and an Oakland, Calif., native. Roever spoke to service members about overcoming tragedy through humor during his visit, Oct. 2, at the post chapel at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq.  

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IRAQ

10.02.2010

Story by Spc. Glen Baker 

224th Sustainment Brigade

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq— Service members were treated to a visit from Dave Roever, a Comprehensive Soldier Fitness speaker and Vietnam veteran, who spoke, Oct. 2, at the post chapel on Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, where he described how he overcame personal tragedy through resilience and humor.

Roever, 63, president and CEO of the Wounded Warriors Alliance, and a Fort Worth, Texas native, who is also a former Navy Seal who was wounded in Vietnam, has been speaking to service members since he left the hospital in 1971. He described what first inspired him to give speeches to service members.

“There was a Vietnam veteran on the side of the road on an off-ramp, standing and holding a sign, begging, and it just overwhelmed me and I said, ‘We will never do this to our soldiers again,’” asid Roever. “We brought them home from Vietnam with disgrace and dishonor and it’s time that we get it right. We will never dishonor our troops again. That’s why I picked up the torch as I saw it to be and I ran with it; I made sure that in this country they know they are loved and appreciated.

Roever was injured July 26, 1969, in Vietnam as he threw a white phosphorus hand grenade. A sniper shot the grenade and it exploded, severing Roever’s thumb and burning the right side of his face.

Roever told service members that they can overcome tragedy by being resilient and by using humor.

“When you get hurt, how are you going to deal with it?” he asked. “How do you deal with loss of limbs and loss of identity? I got out of the valley of weeping by humor and laughter. My main message is the speech by Winston Churchill, when he said, ‘Never, never, never give up.’ That was the whole speech and I want that to be my theme: Don’t ever give up.”

Roever, who has been married to his wife for 44 years, explained the value of relationships. “I’d rather go through 10 Vietnams than go through one divorce,” said he said. “You don’t have to surrender your relationship.”

Staff Sgt. Jonathan Canedo, a chaplain’s assistant with the 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and a Whittier, Calif. native, explained how Roever’s speech inspired him. “It was incredible that someone like him that gave so much to his country would say ‘thank you’ to us,” said Canedo. “At the luncheon, he said, ‘They may injure you or take a limb, but don’t let them take your soul.’”

Roever gave some final advice to deployed service members: “Phone home, E.T. [extraterrestrial],” he said. “Stay in touch with your family or whoever’s close to you, and the second thing is, stay in touch with God. Don’t be too proud to ask God to help you. It’s all about communication.”

• Date Taken: 10.02.2010
• Date Posted: 10.18.2010 11:27
• Story ID: 58322
• Location: CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ