Benefit beefcake calendar features Marines, some wounded in Iraq
NEW YORK — A group of Marines and ex-Marines who fought in Iraq– including two wounded there– are featured in a beefcake calendar being sold to help veterans battling with life in America.
“It’s a stopgap effort to help people where government programs leave off,” said Rudy Reyes, who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan and is on the calendar’s cover. “This is a way for citizens to help citizens.”
The San Diego-based group, called Freedom is Not Free, is financing travel expenses for families, special beds for burn victims and mortgage and utility bills. It has even fronted cash to pay for funerals of servicemen and women flown back from Iraq. The military later reimburses the costs.
Reyes and the other men who appear in the glossy 2007 lineup served in Iraq as members of the elite Marine Reconnaissance units. Sgt. James Wright, 31, lost his hands and part of his leg; he’s shown on the back cover, fully in uniform, saluting with what’s left of his right arm, which he still uses as a martial arts instructor…
Cpl. Bradley Smith suffered an injury that’s now invisible– a broken wrist
“It took a year and half to get through the government bureaucracy before I got the surgery I needed,” the 21-year-old Marine, joined by the others on a cross-country tour.
Many of the young Iraq veterans in the calendar have medical conditions for which some are still trying to get government benefits, ranging from combat stress-related symptoms to injuries to their feet, knees, hips and backs from carrying combat loads of more than 200 pounds.
But none of the men is pointing fingers at the government they served. Veterans Affairs “doesn’t have the staff to take on all the problems,” said Smith, of Ukiah, Calif., stationed at Camp Pendleton near San Diego.
In fact, as they rib each other about their physical prowess and share laughs, the men defend their roles in the U.S. military.
“We’re not naysayers. We feel an incredible amount of pride in the arduous, tough job we did,” said Reyes, a 34-year-old with a winning smile who works as a trainer and motivational speaker in San Diego. “But we’ve got to take care of each other. We’re brothers.”
When soldiers come back, “many don’t have the financial or emotional support to get back to daily life,” said former Sgt. Michael Saucier, 24, of Prior Lake, Minn., who served two Iraq tours and is now a carpenter’s apprentice in Lake Tahoe, Nev.
All but one of the men had to be coaxed to pose shirtless, agreeing to it only when they learned of the purpose.
Sean Mickle, a Marine platoon sergeant at Camp Pendleton, was ready to do it from the get-go.
“I wasn’t afraid to pose. This is the new-generation Marines,” said the 31-year-old father of three, a native of Hillsborough, W.Va.
The $14.99 calendar promises that “100 percent of proceeds aid wounded heroes and their families.”
Production expenses were covered by private donations to the nonprofit Freedom is Not Free, founded last year by entrepreneur David Dominguez.
“There is a need,” he said. “Some Iraq veterans are so depressed when they get back they can’t even fill out the papers required for benefits.”
The calendar was the brainchild of his client Jean Hamerslag, a California advertising executive who felt attention to this need required something that would draw the public’s attention.
“Sex,” she said with a giggle.
To order a calendar or learn more go the Freedom is Not Free web site at http://www.freedomisnotfree.com
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