First Week From the Pres

Wow…

This was a week that has left me speechless. Most who know me probably don’t believe that last sentence, seeing as I’m rarely at a loss for words. The outpouring of support and donations in just our first week was better than I could’ve ever imagined nor thought possible. This whole thing came about 8 weeks prior last Monday’s launch date, and with the incredible help of MANY incredible, selfless and motivated human beings, Ken TUCKY Durbin, the caveman, is part of something I would’ve never thought possible.

This past year, the world got a little less bright because it had to bury two of its sons prematurely. Those sons were heroes, not just to me, but to anyone that would’ve had the pleasure to spend 14 seconds or more with them. When a Bro slips the surly bonds of earth and does one more roll before checking into the great Roll Call in the sky, we feel it. It hits home, and I’m not talking bad news on the TV kind of hitting home. I’m talking shake you to your core, falter your faith, eradicate any sense of coherent thought, make mindless acts like taking a simple breath almost insurmountable kind of hitting home. My bros that I lost were sons, brothers, husband, fiance, father, best friends to many, and Instructors in multiple aviation platforms to include the Viper and F-35.

Just like our ABOUT page speaks to, the Bro Net rallied with wicked fervor in both cases. As I began to look to help in any way possible, I realized that both instances used a common crowdfunding platform to raise funds for those affected most. After donating to both, I felt like I was ‘there for my bro when he needed it most’ (at least in this specific instance) and it brought about a small peace in my grieving process. I poured a thin one, put my kids to sleep with a coupled extra stories, hugs and kisses… poured another thin one and checked back into how one of the crowdfunding campaigns was doing. POW! it had skyrocketed… by thousands of dollars. This was awesome, but as the nosy fighter pilot I am, I took a quick look on how much this platform was going to assess in fees… Sub-optimal is this only way I could describe this type of giving of support simply because of the the cut these for-profit companies take off the top.

Another thin one later I was reminiscing about the stories of valor, attempts at glory and so many of the other memories with my fallen bros and said to myself, “those dudes were the best, good was never good enough, great was the standard and perfect was the goal.” BOOM! An idea popped in my nugget like a lightning strike strong enough to knock the sense out of Superman… I’ll search for a foundation to bring in on this and create even more awareness and support! 6AM the next day I was up with my daughter and we were on a mission to find a way to be great for our bros, after some vitamin M of course. To my unfortunate surprise there really wasn’t one that really catered to the specific need of fallen USAF aircrew… Navy/Marine Corps have an awesome one called The Wingman Foundation… The Army has a couple that relate… but there just wasn’t one for the Air Force… Now we’re here. Incorporated and operating…for our bros.

Just like you probably saw from the image on another page, or from the click-through that I fumbled through making, this was the morning this foundation went live. Messy kitchen, unshaven, bags under the eyes from putting everything into this thing… but it got done. There was a need, so we fixed that… simple as that.

Once again, from the bottom of all of our hearts here at Fallen Wings Foundation, thank you. I urge each of y’all to take a quick look into ‘joining our family’ and if and when able to donate. Donations are not solely monetary, we are always looking for volunteers of all varieties.

Challenge the challenge, because when the dust settles all the rest was just Bull$#%t,

-Tucky

Samurai Wood! STRIKE!