Game 6 – Warrior Wishes Come True In Minnesota
After hosting heroes at 5 NFL games in 9 days, my dad had a few days off to regroup & plan for making more warrior wishes come true on our 2015 “All32in17” mission.
For the 2nd straight week I had the opportunity to go with my dad to help host the warriors. At 9:16pm Saturday night, we hit the road & drove 5 1/2 hours to Minneapolis to make warrior wishes come true in Minnesota for Navy Seabee E4 Brandon Garske, Sgt Renald (Ronnie) Thompson Jr. & Army SSG Benjamin Bachman.
Here are some of the memories we have made in Minnesota over the past 3 years.
We drove by the New stadium as soon as we rolled into town at around 3am. It looks pretty awesome & we cannot wait to honor warriors there next year. By 4 am we found ourselves a Walmart parking lot & got 2 hours of sleep in the “Elantra” hotel.
We met up with the Warriors first thing in the morning at lot 37 of TCF Stadium to tailgate with the VWO, Vikings ultimate fans! As most of you know, my dad and I have been to all 32 NFL stadiums, we have to say the Vikings have some of the craziest ultimate fans in the NFL!!! It was an honor to have the opportunity to be a part of their tailgate and give the warriors an ultimate tailgate experience.
This was Ben & Ronnie’s first Vikings game ever & Brandon was a huge fan, so they were eager to get into the stadium & watch some of the pregame warm ups. We had perfect weather for the game, not too hot, not too cold. While walking over to the stadium we got lucky and had an opportunity to snap a picture with some of the Vikings Cheerleaders.
The Warriors had great seats right by the Players tunnel. Vikings played an outstanding game & treated everyone to a win. It was an awesome way to cap off an amazing day.
We would like to thank the VWO Vikings Ultimate fans for hosting us at your tailgate, New Era caps for providing Vikings Caps for the Warriors & Westin Minneapolis for providing acommodations for the Warriors!
Immediately following the game, my dad and I jumped in the car & made our way to Green Bay to host a warrior on a Lambeau field Champion tour & make Warrior Wishes come true at the 7th game of our 32 game mission!
MEET THE WARRIORS
SGT Ronnie Thompson
Army SSG Benjamin Bachman
Ben joined the Active duty Army right out of high school in 2000, he comes from an Army background, his dad was in the Army for 20 years as ABN, INF, Ranger, so that’s all he really knew. He was stationed at FT Bragg, NC. Schofield Barracks, HI. Ft Carson, CO. and Ft Richardson, AK.
Ben served our country for 12 years & had deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. He was medically retired for PTSD and a TBI, but Ben does not let that get him down & does everything he can to be the best he can be.Ben & his wife, Terrena, have two kids a daughter who is 5 years old and a son who is 3 years old. In his spare time, Ben likes to spend time with his family from hiking outdoors, going to the zoo to & playing Disney Infinity on the Xbox 360 with the kids.
Ben wants to be an inspiration & show his kids through his actions, that no matter what happens to you in life you have to always try your best, pick yourself back up when you get knocked down and to always keep on going through life with your head held high.
SSG Bachman, you are an inspiration! We were honored to host you & hope you had a great time at the Vikings game today! Thank you for your service!
Navy Seabee E4 Brandon Garske
Brandon served as a heavy equipment operator for the Navy Seabees & was attached to the Marines as a sniper.
To this day Brandon still deals with PTSD & a TBI. He also suffered nerve damage while serving making him 100% disabled. Brandon’s wife nominated Brandon she said he is a great husband, a wonderful father & a “HUGE” Vikings fan!
It’s been an honor hosting Brandon & making this Warrior Wish come true. We can’t thank him enough for his service & sacrifices.
Follow our mission at www.warriorwishes.org
Twitter – @WarriorWishes
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TOGETHER WE MAKE WARRIOR WISHES COME TRUE!
