Veteran's car stolen on Christmas

Written by my wife, Audrey who started and manages this campaign:

On Christmas, while we were visiting a family friend for 2 days of relaxation my husband got a call that his car had been stolen.

My husband has served 2 tours in Afghanistan (OEF) and is now a statistic - injured when he came out, no lucrative contract.  Had to take a low wage job totally unrelated to his specialised training, struggling to make ends meet, lives in the ghetto in a row home, worse off than he started before the Army.  Treading water would be an accurate descriptor.  Holding head above water, but just barely.

Every time my husband tries to better himself or his life, something or someone gets in the way.  He has worked hard in the five years since he left the Army and been repeatedly kicked in the crotch since getting out.
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We cannot imagine the terror listening to the building next to you explode from the bombs, wondering if you're next, what it feels like, does it hurt, how will my family get by?  You think when you come home, it's over.  But for him, life really fell apart.


Earlier this year, our son's biological parent (who has not been involved in 12 years) challenged our custody and (for lack of a better term) financially abused us through the court system.  So far, we have prevailed but at the cost of $90,000 (and running).  Our retirement is gone, our savings for our children is gone, anything we had put away for their college or cars is gone, our credit card balances are over $50,000.  Anything he ever wanted for himself has vanished in smoke.  While I am in the same boat, what do I matter?  He served two tours for our freedom —
including the freedom of the person ruining his life — and does not deserve to be dealt the jokers whenever tries to get dealt into the game.

Because of this, he is unable to afford to put our daughter into military school.  She (and he) have wanted this for as long as I can remember, and was accepted for her 9th grade year.  However, due to the above situation, that's been put on hold and honestly probably called off.  Our daughter is brilliant and obtained scholarships, but the minimum we would be out of pocket is 15,000.

Then there's the car.  The one stolen, why you're here.  He is not only behind on his car, it is a pit of negative equity because of his hour long commute.  We truly prey on the poor by offering them the highest interest rates on high dollar cars (because we all know they don't have cash for a cash car or a good down payment).  He would be totally happy driving around a cheap car.  But he couldn't come up with more than $500, and so he's been stuck in the "new car" trap for the past several years.  He had a car that was almost paid off, however when he left the Army his finances went very downhill and they convinced him to trade it in on a new "cheaper" vehicle that he's been paying for ever since (with no end date in sight, due to refinancing to "help" him).

Look, please understand that I know and agree life is about hard work, and not what's fair. We also believe in karma and we both do as much outreach work as we can afford (both in time donated as well as money).  We are believers in the commanlity of the human soul, but also huge subscribers to the fact we don't have enough personal responsibility and accountability these days. But the thing is my husband has worked hard, he's taken responsibility for every action, and the dice still come up craps for him.  Every.  Single.  Time.

A family friend convinced me to make this for my husband and our family after the events of yesterday.  We keep our money separate, but I still don't make or have anywhere near enough to help him.  I do what I can, but even that has run out with our custody battle situation. 

Some things he will use the money on (in no order):

-Paying his car off
-Put daughter in military school
-Pay towards the custody battle
-Own property/move into a nicer area. He dreams of a small house in the middle of nowhere.
-MSCE, VMWare, and CompTIA Security+ certifications to get back in practice so a job near his MOS can be obtained
-Clearing debts obtained after the Army while trying to transition back into civilian life



Army Strong!