Wounded troops, families receive free airline tickets Published April 27, 2005 By Rudi Williams American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Through the good will and generosity of thousands of people with unused frequent flier miles and U.S. airlines, the Fisher House Foundation has given out nearly 3,000 free airline tickets to war-wounded servicemembers and their families since the giveaway program started in January 2004.About 1,000 tickets have been given away since January, and the number is constantly growing.Through its partnership with the Operation Hero Miles program, Fisher House has given away more than 100 million donated frequent flier miles to bring families and loved ones to the bedsides of wounded combatants, said Jim Weiskopf, Fisher House vice president for communications.Operation Hero Miles was created to provide free round-trip tickets donated by the American public to the almost 500 servicemembers arriving each day from Iraq on rest and recuperation leave.People eligible for free tickets fall into two categories:-- Wounded servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan with an approved convalescent leave may be given a free round-trip airline ticket for a trip from the military or Veterans Affairs medical center where they are being treated to their home and return if they are not eligible for government-funded airfare.-- Qualifying servicemembers may be given free round-trip tickets to allow their family or close friends to visit them while they are being treated at the medical center.Many fiances and fiancees take advantage of the donated tickets because the government generally pays for up to three family members to visit very seriously injured troops, Mr. Weiskopf said.Army Capt. Daniel MacArthur Gade and his family were brought together at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here with free airline tickets, according to a foundation flier.Captain Gade was seriously injured in Iraq by an improvised explosive device, and his right leg was amputated at Walter Reed.The Army could fly three relatives at government expense to his bedside -- his wife and his parents. Through its partnerships with major airlines, the foundation provided airline tickets for other members of his family, including his daughter, according to the flier."Fisher House Foundation is able to help the Gade family and the families of hundreds of other servicemen and women wounded or injured in Iraq or Afghanistan due to the generosity of airline passengers who have donated their frequent flyer miles to help reunite families," the flier read. "We take over where the government entitlements end and provide airline tickets to servicemembers and family members."Mr. Weiskopf credits Mary Jo Myers, wife of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, with being a catalyst for creating the program. "What Mrs. Myers envisioned is that the servicemembers are young, so the parents are still working and trying to be by their loved one's bedside while trying to keep their jobs too," Mr. Weiskopf said. "So a lot of them try to commute back and forth."One day in the fall of 2003, when Mrs. Myers was talking to family members of wounded servicemembers while visiting Walter Reed with her husband, she said she became concerned about family members being able to afford to travel back and forth from their loved ones' bedsides."I was talking to one dear mother" who was caring for four children and her own widowed mother at home, Mrs. Myers said. "She was there for the amputation of her son's leg, which was going to take place the next day. Yet, she had to turn around and go right back (home) because it was the beginning of the school year, and she had children to support, and she was a kindergarten teacher."Mrs. Myers said she was touched by the woman's story about using the one trip to Walter Reed that the government supplied. "Her son was going to facing long months of rehabilitation, and her one trip was used up," she said."About the same time, there was a young Soldier from Micronesia who lost three limbs," Mrs. Myers said. "His father was with him, and his mother eventually came. But his father was here with him for more than a year. He couldn't go back and forth."I just thought, 'Oh, my goodness -- family members trying to come from Micronesia to support these young men and women when they face months and months of rehabilitation and often 20 or 30 surgeries,'" she said.Mrs. Myers said it was coincidental that when she started talking to people about her concerns, many said they had been talking to Mary Winkenwerder about the same thing. Mrs. Winkenwerder is the wife of Dr. William Winkenwerder, Department of Defense’s assistant secretary of defense for health affairs."She had been visiting patients like I had and had come to the same conclusion," Mrs. Myers said. "So we started off talking with (a congressman) because that's when Congress had accumulated a lot of air miles for the active duty to go on (rest and recuperation leave)."She said that supporters of the families of wounded troops were hoping to "piggyback" on that program.Mrs. Myers said the free air miles program can be "a lifesaver." She said she has found that many families she asks do not know about the program.Mrs. Myers said she has heard many poignant stories about families being separated by distance, particularly when wives travel to be at a husband's side, leaving children at home in the care of relatives. "Children always have issues, whether they be preschoolers or teenagers, and they need mom too. And she's really torn," Mrs. Myers said. "At least this allows her some of the travel back and forth to keep the injured military member's spirits up and to see different family members and friends."Request for tickets have to originate from the servicemember and forwarded to the foundation by a hospital's social work staff, family assistance center or service casualty office. "All we want to know is the reason for the hospitalization, and we don't make any distinction whether it was combat related, training accident or sports injury if they're hospitalized (because of) service in Iraq or Afghanistan," Mr. Weiskopf said.Request forms are available on the foundation's Web site. A case manager or other official from the patient's medical facility must validate the request form."Even though these are free tickets, we spend money running this program, including hiring a staff member to manage the program," Mr. Weiskopf said. "We pay the Sept. 11 airport security fee and some other fees, such as the fee to change a ticket. We're working with medical problems and people can't always predict when they are going to have to travel."