Photo By Sgt. Wesley Landrum | Motivational speaker Dave Roever receives a standing ovation from service members...... read more read more
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The man rose from his seat and walked toward the center of the room. The audience that had gathered rose to their feet as they clapped for him. Humbly, he slowly raised his mangled hand to thank the crowd for their generosity. A smile came across Dave Roever's scarred face as he began to tell his tale of agony, despair and, ultimately, redemption.
"I want all of you to know that I thank you for doing what you're doing over here," Roever began. "Because of you, my wife slept soundly in her bed. Because of you, my grandchildren slept peacefully in their beds. I am proud of you."
Roever's tale began in 1969 on a river in Vietnam. A petty officer second class at the time, Roever was the front gunner on a patrol boat. A firefight had erupted, and he was given the task of clearing a thicket to make sure no booby traps went off. That's when his life changed forever.
"I had a white phosphorous grenade in my hand getting ready to throw it when a Vietnamese sniper's bullet pierced the grenade," Roever said to a silent crowd. "The grenade was six inches from my face when it went off."
Roever explained to the crowd that a white phosphorous grenade can reach temperatures of more than 5,000 degrees. He suffered severe burns to the right side of his face, ear, arms and body. Roever said he feared the worst when he looked down at his feet and saw part of his face on his boots.
"I was making plans to meet the man I grew up believing in right there on that riverbank," Roever said. "That man was Jesus Christ."
Roever spent more than a year at Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. The one thing Roever said he feared the most was looking at his wife.
"There was a guy in the bed next to me with 100 percent third-degree burns all over his body," he said. "His wife walked in, took one look at him and threw her wedding ring down on the bed. She said she would be embarrassed to walk anywhere with him.
"I was scared to death thinking my wife would do the same thing to me," Roever continued. "But, she walked in and kissed my charred head and said, 'Welcome home, Davey.'"
The message Roever said he wanted to get out was about choices. Everyone has choices to make. Whether you make good choices or bad choices is up to you, he said.
"Married men, you can be promiscuous while you're over here. She won't know," Roever said. "That's a choice. But whatever you do, be prepared for the repercussions."
Roever looked at the crowd and told them that it was time to make the right choices.
"Call your wife, men, tell them that you love them," he said. "Better yet, send them flowers and tell them thank you for keeping the homefront secure."
Senior Airman Darick Alexander, a chaplain assistant with Detention 1, Expeditionary Mission Support Group, Army Life Support Area-Kuwait, said Roever's speech made him think a lot about his life and the choices he's made.
"(Roever) is someone who impacts everyone he's around," he said. "What really impacted me was I just got to see a hero. The things that he's gone through – it's horrendous, yet he made it through and showed true character."
Roever ended his talk with a story of his debriding process. During debriding, burned skin is removed to make way for new skin to grow. It's the most painful process Roever said he's ever been through. After the first time, he told them he would not go through it again. Yet the next morning, the gurney was rolled in to pick him up.
"I fought to keep them from getting me on that gurney," Roever said, with tears in his eyes. "There was an orderly who came and picked me up in his muscular arms and carried me to that room, saying 'Don't worry. It will be alright big man.'"
Roever continued saying Rosey, as the muscular man was called, stood by and watched as the debriding process went on.
Roever said, at one point he looked at Rosey and could see he had been crying at seeing him subjected to that terrible process. After the debriding was done, Rosey again approached Roever.
"Then he came up to me, with tears in his eyes, and picked me up out of that nasty water and carried me back to my room, again saying, 'Don't worry. It will be alright, big man.'"
Roever concluded by telling everyone in the room that he was there to be a Rosey to all of them.
"I'm here to tell you 'Don't worry. It will be alright," he said.
| Date Taken: | 12.02.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 12.02.2007 16:15 |
| Story ID: | 14334 |
| Location: | KW |
| Web Views: | 636 |
| Downloads: | 147 |
This work, Bringing a message of peace to all, by SGT Wesley Landrum, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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