A HERO Among Us....a very modest one at that

This is just another classmate of ours that I searched for, for weeks before I reached him. However, it wasn’t long into my search before I found him. Like most of my searches, I began by Googling his name and like many of you, Jason Yeates has a popular name. ( I guess with a name like Rami Stein, I am surprised to see how many people share the same name.)

Anyway......one link caught my eye. It referred to a Maj. Jason Yeates in Iraq. Hearing from Sam Yeates that Jason could be in Iraq, I quickly clicked on it. This is what I saw...

Not being able to recognize “Jason’s” face in the photo, I looked at the soilder standing in the background. And I thought I recognized the stand?? I first shared it with Kathi, who was as surprised like me. I continued my search for an email address or anything else on a Jason Yeates 37/38. Finally, I found where a Jason Yeates posted a comment on a message board to someone who was doing a little geneology searching on his family. It provided an email address for this Jason Yeates. I emailed it and waited patiently. That same night I, received a phone call from LeGrande, my partner in many of my searches, who I quickly shared what I found on Jason. He studied the stand too, and then said “Hell, I’ll just call Jason’s dad. He still lives here in Slidell.”

LeGrande and I hung up the phone, I checked my emails to find a response from Jason, and LeGrande called Jason’s dad. Jason was found!! Little did I know it could have been as easy as a phone call!! But if it would have been that easy I would have never known that there was a HERO among us because Jason is very modest about it. I know he will want to kill me for posting this because he looks at it as he was just doing his job, and that it was not a big deal. But to me that is BIG!! I want to thank him, Becky and any other classmate that serve our Country so selflessly each day. THANK YOU!

Jason wrote:

Rami, glad to hear from you...Yep, you have the correct Jason Yeates.
Also, yes that was me in Iraq - we were hit by a car bomb and that
kid was wounded and trapped in a burning building. My driver and I
pulled out a couple of wounded civilians. I served 12 months over
there, stationed in Baghdad in a Infantry unit. Glad to make it home
safe though.

Anyway, things are going well for me. After I got back from Iraq in
Sep 2005, I stayed on active duty another year helping Louisiana out
with the whole Katrina/Rita mess. Got off of active duty at the end of
Oct 2006 and started back with my civilian employer, a division of
Baker Hughes. I'm presently married to my wife Jill, formerly Jill
Duncan and have been residing in Lafayette, LA for the past 9 1/2
years. We have an 8 year old son, Grant, and a 7 month old Garrett.
Life is good.

What a beautiful family. I know he is proud!

Jason thinks he will be heading back to Iraq in 2008 or 2009, and that our troups will be there for a while.

Jason, keep us updated on that and we'll keep you in our prayers.

Again, thanks to all reading who serve our Country!

For reunion information, see the REUNION INFORMATION link in the right margin of the blog. Send update infomration for the blog to nhsclassof87reunion@yahoo.com

Questions concerning the reunion? Contact: kathi at kenelms@bellsouth.net, susan at sstreets@charter.net, or rami at ramiparker@yahoo.com