Super Gloves and Hand-Warmers

Especially remembering my hero and my love, LTJG Frankie Toner IV, who was killed heroically in Northern Afghanistan on March 27, 2009 by drawing fire to himself in order to save two wounded comrades. He thought his parents were on the flight from Boston, when he watched the towers crumble from across the sound that day. Luckily they weren’t.

The last couple of days have been very hard for me. I have surrounded myself with the things that happened on September 11th, 2001. Everyday is difficult, and everyday I am tearful. But today. There is something different about today. I think it is because 8 years ago today was start of the difficulties I am facing now. 8 years ago Frankie and I were both in New York knowing things would never be the same.

Today I was able to have a thought about Frankie, that made me smile. Whenever I would send Frankie care packages to Afghanistan, I always made sure that he had the best of the best. I got things for him, and also for the guys he worked with. During the winter there, I wanted to make sure my baby was warm enough. I sent him some really great gloves, that are worn by special forces guys. They are thin, to allow for a comfortable hold on his weapon, but warm when needed, and they also allowed for cooling when it was hot out. They had hard knuckles that would protect his hands from bullets. Besides those gloves, I wanted to ensure that he would not be cold, so I sent him some packets of hand and foot warmers. Oh, and extra warm socks. Frankie always liked getting new socks. He always said that one of the things he loved was putting on new socks…and knew that he would have made it if he could wear new socks everyday.

Frankie called me one day when he got back from a convoy after visiting an Afghan Police Station. He said when he was there…he kept noticing all the kids walking in the streets. The thing was, that the kids all seemed to be under the age of 7 or 8…and it was -10 degrees outside, maybe colder…and the children were not dressed appropriately for the cold to say the least. One of the children, walking alone…in the snow wearing socks with sandals…and a thin layer of clothing came up to Frankie. Frankie saw him shivering, and was thinking how cold this child must have been. Frankie was wearing his thermal gear underneath his uniform, warm socks, gloves, and the under armour beanie I had gotten him, and he was still cold.
Frankie was thinking the boy might want candy, because it is typical for the troops to hand out candy when they are on convoys. Frankie did not have any candy. He had grabbed about 7, or so, of the hand-warming packets I had sent to have with him on his freezing ride as the gunner for the trip. He took one out of the hand-warmers, shook it and showed the child that it would keep his hands warm. The child took it, and just walked away. Frankie wasn’t sure if he was disappointed that he did not get the candy he was after. A few minutes later, another child walked in and walked directly up to Frankie, shivering. Frankie knew what he was after. He took another handwarmer out of his pocket and handed it the child. Before the child left, two more were on their way in. This time, it was a little girl…maybe 5 or six…holding a smaller child, around 2 years old, Frankie guessed. About 5 more children came up to Frankie. He did not have enough to give them all one.
Frankie after telling me this, choked up, because he knew the warmth of those handwarmers would go away, and the children would be cold again.
I have just been thinking about that today. We made sure that he always had enough handwarmers after that, and also started gathering winter clothing for Frankie to hand out. I love that I am married to a man whose heart was so big for every person that he met. That is what made me smile.
I hope that our presence in Afghanistan will be a source of warmth for the people there. I hope that we will not give up on them. I hope the children will be able to grow up with the warmth of knowing they have a chance. 8 years ago today changed a lot for both of our countries. It gave us the resolve to fight extreme terrorism – I hope that the Afghan people will stand with us. They have already faced enough of the cold.

Never Forget Francis L. Toner IV

"LTJG Toner - Running 75 yards or so behind in full IBA (he was training to become a SEAL) , LTJG Toner heroically sacrificed his life attempting to save LT Choe and CDR Lebel. He was also gunned down while charging the attacker to prevent a second volley at point blank range which eventually took LT Choe's life. His actions likely distracted the attacker and saved the CDR's life. He was due home on leave the very next week..." - John Miller -

Frankie had dropped back in his run to motivate his buddy Carlos, who was new at wearing his IBA that day. This is an account of a fellow Kings Pointer who was Frankie's roommate and friend during his time in Afghanistan-

"Frank Toner, a 06 grad and one other female navy LT were shot and killed by an ANA soldier who was also apparently an insurgent. Frank and I lived in the same hut and he worked at the desk next to mine. There were two others, a LTjg friend of mine and a CDR who were also involved. The CDR was wounded and will be okay, and the jg will be okay, just shaken up. We were a running group and I was running well ahead of them this time. The shooting happened behind me after I ran past, maybe 4 or 5 minutes after I was at the site. Everyone here is real shook up right now. About a dozen of the Navy garrison escorted the remains back to Bagram and had a ceremony for them. There are a lot of people on the way here to my camp for the service. The one the Germans gave yesterday morning prior to loading them on the aircraft was very nice. The had what seemed to be almost all the base lining the road for probably a mile, all holding torches and saluting, while the caskets were driven past with the Navy marching behind. Bagram was a little overwhelming, there are like 20K people there. Everyone here liked him, he never spoke bad about anyone, and LT Choe, the other victim was the same, a good person. She was doing a lot with the MWR program here. Anyway, tell the school Frank went down trying to get to the shooter. He was a hero and everyone here is still trying to accept what happened. His actions probably saved my friend's life. He was the last runner in our group, also wearing his armor, and it slowed him down as the stuffweighs so much, so he was in the rear. The news sources are getting a lot of details wrong, but as the investigation is going on, I don't want to say or speculate too much. Just the other day we joked about building something here with the KPS hidden in it." Matt Hume


There really are no words. I told him not to be a hero....but I knew he would never be anything less.

Ferocious Furby?

So, Frankie and I had a very interesting conversation today. Do you remember those Furby toys that were so popular in the 1990's? Well, apparently they found the real life version of the toy in Indonesia last year. Although, its actual name is the Pygmy Tarsier, it was a great find because it has not been seen for approx. 80 years. OK, so why this information? Well, Frankie and I had a dispute about how ferocious they are! I claimed that it looked pretty harmless? What do you think? Kind of like Gizmo from the Gremlins....Frankie says it beats out the Honey Badger, which is my favorite ferocious beast. (Another post for another time)! :) I think not, my love. I think not!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_Tarsier

The Culprit

But really, how can you be mad at this?!!

He is too stinkin' cute...

destructive, but adorable.

Since I have been living with my three year old nephew...costs have been adding up. So far, he has broken my sunglasses, cell phone, and just recently my brand new camera. aaargh!