Thank You For Your Service

From Blackfive and One Marine's View, a story of a former Staff Sergeant Bryan Fluharty's struggle to protect his children from the abuse heaped on them by their mother and her live-in boyfriend while he was deployed to Iraq.

I have a personal interest in seeing justice in this case served. First off let me say that military life is very hard on a marriage, and some just don't make it. My first one didn't, I came home from cruise to find a strange toothbrush in my bathroom and a woman that I no longer knew telling me that my presence was no longer required. Consultations with lawyers revealed the sad truth, I didn't qualify for custody of my 2 year old daughter because I was not her mother, and since I was in the active-duty military I was not considered able to create a stable home atmosphere for her. So my 2 year old daugher was taken away from me and my contact with her was scant and at her mother's mercy. Now she is 20, and harbors a deep resentment that I didn't do "more" to be her father.

My story is not unique, it happens all the time. I will say that at least my ex-wife was a good and caring mother and my daughter grew up healthy and un-molested by her following 3 fathers. The last one, a friend of mine (he introduced me to her mother), took care of her as if she was his own. It doesn't take the sting away, but at least I didn't have to worry about her safety.

Please, go, read the story. Please, help where you can. If you are an Ohio resident, please contact your state legislature. This is no way to treat one of our heroes.
Photo from the V.O.I.C.E.S. website linked above.