Soldier Defense Fund

I wrote about CJ and his family's current issues on November 14:

Saturday, November 14, 2009

A school in America forgets they are the parents' EMPLOYEES

There is so much wrong with this story. There are more than enough elements about the mistreatment of an US Army officer and his family, that my blood just boils. At the beginning of this sorry state of affairs, a parent was asking to be heard on an issue within his children's school: uniforms. The school administration arbitrarily made a decision affecting the families, and refused to follow Roberts Rules of decorum at a PTA meeting, thereby trying to silence a father's right to debate a policy issue which will directly impact every student in the school.

After attempts to silence, intimidate this mother and father, and realising that THIS family refuses to be bullied into silence, this administration then crossed the line BIG TIME and called this US Army officer's chain of command. I told you there is so much wrong to this story. I am still fuming, so will let someone else lay out the details (and they are damning, believe me):

Pitchfork Brigade; Pitch in to help a Veteran who’s rights have been trampled

Posted By Bouhammer on November 12, 2009

**11/13/09 UPDATE, if you want to hear a lot more of the story and from Emily directly listen to her interview with Dale Jackson from this morning,

http://thedalejacksonshow.podomatic.com/player/web/2009-11-13T06_20_36-08_00**

My good friend CJ has not asked me to post this or do anything specific. I asked his permission to blog about his case and he said that was ok. He has no idea how this post looks. If you don’t know, CJ is a fellow Sr. NCO, co-host on You Served Radio, milblogger and very close friend of mine. The guy is more patriotic and dedicated to not only this country, but also the Army than I think most people will ever know. His wife Emily is a sweetheart and would not hurt a fly unless you try to hurt her family....

Read the rest here.

Today, Bouhammer has another post up:

Milblogger and dear friend needs your help

Posted By Bouhammer on December 4, 2009

My very close friend and brother in arms, brother in milblogging, brother in You Served Radio show hosting, Mr. CJ Grisham needs your help. Anyone that has read this blog for more than a day know that CJ and I are partnered in several endevours together and are always doing things to raise money for troop-supporting groups or at least highlight them so others know about these groups. He an I started www.militarypundits.com together, we both write at YouServed.com and of course, along with our Producer Marcus we run the You Served Radio Show together.

Someone else anyone who reads this blog probably knows is that CJ and his family have went through one hell of a time in the last few months. I wrote about it in depth HERE. Well in addition to the phone calls, letters and emails that many of you did, he is very humbly asking for assistance.

I’ve always been very bashful about asking for anything for myself. However, I feel like I must humble myself and ask for help on my own behalf in this instance.

In September, my kids brought home a note from their school stating that the school would transition to uniforms beginning in January — midway through the school year. Naturally, this concerned me as the cost for each kid (I have two who would be affected) would be at least $400. A note home to parents assured us that the principal would entertain concerns during the upcoming “uniform fashion show.” However, the principal ended that meeting without answering a question, even though numerous hands were up. After that meeting, I organized parents with concerns and began a letter-writing and phone-calling campaign to members of the school board and media. We succeeded in getting the uniform issue tabled until next year. But parents still weren’t given a voice about whether we even wanted uniforms.

Instead of deal with me and other parents who disagreed with her new policy, the school’s principal began contacting the Army with fictitious complaints that I had threatened her....

Anybody who knows CJ even slightly knows that this is outrageous. Go read the rest of what Bouhammer has to say on this here. You can also read CJ's full post here.

CJ - one of our own - needs our help. In order to defend himself, he needs $$ for his legal defence fund. Please - help if you can, and also pass the word on.

Thank you.