Lt. Jason Redman, US Navy SEAL, ST-10
By John T. Vigiano
This is the story of how a bunch of New York City Firefighters met and “partnered” up with SEAL Team TEN. This began with a trip to Bethesda Naval Hospital back in October 2007. As we were making the rounds of the ward, we came upon a sign hanging from one of the patient's door. You could not help but realize that inside that room was an incredible human being; a man who gave part of himself to make this country what it is.
This is the sign we saw: (First post in thread)
I immediately took a photo of this and we asked if we could meet this young man (Lt. Jason Redman, US Navy SEAL). The corpsman escort entered first and asked the warrior if he would meet with us (usual procedure) Needless to say, his response was affirmative. When we entered the room, this young man was standing there , .. hanging from him were a maze of tubes and other medical contraptions which to a normal person would mean "stay in bed", Jay greeted us like brothers and began a conversation about New York , Firefighters, and SEALs being bonded. We stayed as long as we were permitted, and left. All day long we spoke the attitude of that young man. A few days later, a friend was going down to visit the troops ... I asked her to visit this young man and to ask him if he would allow us to "adopt" his team, My friend did meet Jay and relayed my request. It was then I found out there were 200 people in the Team. Undaunted, I said "not a problem," but I knew I had to come up with 200 hats, tee shirts and patches from somewhere. A few days later, I received an email from Jay's CO, CDR Robert "Gus" Gusentine and we communicated back and forth discussing this partnership (SEALs are not adopted).
