10-Buck Friday Poll For Week of 7/4

A new poll is up for the week of July 4, the winner of which will be announced this Friday, and will receive this week’s 10 buck money-bombs. If you’re new to 10-Buck Friday, more info can be found, here.

This week’s contestants are Patrick Murray (VA-8), Charles Lollar (MD-5), Teresa Collett (MN-4), Daniel Gilyeat (KS-3), Marco Rubio (FL-Sen), Ann Marie Buerkle (NY-25), Liz Carter (GA-4), Rick Barber (AL-2), Daria Novak (CT-2), and Eric Wargotz (MD-Sen).

A word about Dan Gilyeat, (KS-3) – (the ND favorite):

In March of 1995 he enlisted in the Marines. Daniel stood tall and proud on those yellow foot prints in San Diego, California on that day and he says he “felt that his heart would burst with pride”. It was the beginning of the ultimate, most life changing, most disciplined, way of life he could imagine. He wanted to test his mettle to be the Warrior he had always wanted to be.

The first day of boot camp he says in the blink of an eye something exploded inside him and he remembered saying “here we go, what the hell have I gotten myself into?” The Drill Instructors did their jobs and did them well. Danny thought at times his instructors were trying to kill him. He decided he would rather die than fail and give them the satisfaction. Failure was not an option.

His first 4 years of active duty moved fast. He started out as a Mechanic and then developed a second MOS as a Machine Gunner. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He loved the military life but toward the end of his tour he married and started a family. He decided to leave the military after 4 years of active duty and return home to try and stabilize his family’s lives.

He moved his family back to Kansas where grew up but the pull of the warrior heart was still nagging at him. He decided to join an active Reserve unit not far from his home. Then came the life defining moment for America and for Daniel; the Terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.

Daniel’s Warrior heart snapped to attention. He thought of all the Americans who were now afraid of another attack. He wanted his children to know that their Father would protect and defend them. He also wanted America to know that there were men and women who would give their lives to protect the very freedoms that were now under attack. He decided to go back on Active Duty.

He did his first tour of duty in Iraq in 2003. The warrior heart was now fully awake. He volunteered for a second tour and went back to Iraq in 2005. That warrior heart was almost stopped on July 3rd, 2005, on a dusty road in Iraq when he and his crew drove over an anti tank mine with their Humvee. SSgt. Daniel Gilyeat lost his left leg in the blast. He lay on the ground for thirty minutes and told jokes to his crew to help them come out of the daze of the explosion until help arrived. He was still in charge.

He died twice, he was told, on the Helicopter ride back to the military medical facilities. He went for more than an hour before he got any medical treatment for the loss of his limb or his huge loss of blood. He remembered what his Mother had told him as a boy whenever he got hurt, “It’s not that bad, it’ll heal”.

His warrior heart wouldn’t stop beating and he used that warrior mentality to beat back death. He survived. 27 days after surgery he was, to the amazement of his doctors and nurses, using his prosthetic leg and was walking again. Two and a half months later he had stopped taking all medication and he was doing things he was told he would never be able to do with a prosthetic leg.

It took two prosthetic legs but he tried and succeeded in doing Martial Arts again. The warrior heart was beating strong and he also was attempting and succeeding at water skiing, snow skiing, Tia Chi, climbing stairs, lifting engines and riding a Harley. He was now doing more with one leg that most people, with two legs, ever do.

Mmmkay? Did you catch all that? The man has given much for his country, so let’s do what we can to give back. Let’s help get this patriot elected to Congress.

You can vote for this week’s contestants, here.

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