patty shack - Guardian Of Valor

Hero winning ‘Inner War’
By JOHN HALLOWELL
Tina Kersten poses with her medals at a July 4 function at the Burnet (Post 6974) VFW Hall. Among the medals are a Purple Heart and
a Silver Star that she was awarded after the Scud missile attack in
Dharan, Saudi Arabia, during the Gulf War in 1991.
EUROPEAN IMPORT
CAR REPAIR
Porsche • BMW • Mercedes • Audi • VW
Everyone who was paying attention
to world news in February of 1991 still
remembers the Scud missile that hit a
barracks/warehouse in Dharan, Saudi
Arabia, killing 29 American soldiers.
Probably nobody on earth remembers
it more vividly than Tina Kersten, of
Burnet.
Tina was just returning from the
front lines of the “Desert Storm” assault on Kuwait when the Iraqi missile struck. She and her commanding
officer, Captain Richard Walker, had
just parked about 60 feet from the front
door of the ill-fated building and exited
the vehicle when they heard a whistling sound. The missile crashed into
the roof and exploded, demolishing the
building and knocking them both to the
ground. To Tina’s horror, she saw that
Captain Walker had been cut in two by
flying shrapnel; he died in her arms.
Tina herself had been wounded, but
she rushed into the ruined building three
times to help wounded survivors escape
before she lost consciousness and was
Medevaced away from the carnage. Her
active participation in the war was over.
Three days later, she was flown to Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado, where
she received a Purple Heart and a Silver
Star for her courageous actions and recovered from her physical wounds; the
mental and emotional wounds lasted
much longer. Now, 21 years later, she
has written a book called “The Inner
Wars of Iraq.” It should be available
sometime next year.
Tina was born the daughter of a
U.S. Navy veteran in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. The family came home to
Texas when she was eight years old,
and she grew up in the Houston area.
She had two childhood dreams; she
wanted to own a horse farm, and she
wanted to serve in the military. She
joined the Army as soon as she graduated from high school. She had been
to Panama and Grenada before being
deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990.
After she left the Army, Tina fulfilled her other childhood dream, running a successful horse farm in Dayton. “On the outside, I looked great,”
she recalls. But the memories of the
war never left her, and she was plagued
with nightmares from the Scud missile
disaster. She was unable to open up
to anyone, and had trouble maintaining friendships. She turned to drugs to
keep from going to sleep, and even attempted suicide.
Last year, she checked into Spirit
Lodge, in Spicewood, and met Dr.
Deborah Stote, a caring psychologist
who had studied post-traumatic stress
disorder intensively, and who was able
to help “de-fuse” the ticking time bomb
in Tina’s mind. Now “clean and sober”
for more than a year, Tina has a new
purpose in life. She has begun what she
calls “Veteran Farms,” on Steffey Lane
just west of Burnet, where she uses
horses to try to “reach people like me
– sooner instead of later.”
She also joined the VFW (Post
6974, in Burnet), and credits her fellow-veterans there with making a big
difference in her life. Now she is very
active in VFW projects and activities,
including a “Veterans Helping Veterans” Facebook page. She carried the
flag in honor of fallen heroes in a special ceremony at the beginning of the
Burnet Rodeo last in June, and was
one of three local VFW members on a
recent motorcycle trip to see the veterans’ memorials in Washington, D.C.
She’ll be at the VFW Hall this Saturday
for the Blood Drive (from 10 a.m. to 1
p.m. – see notice on page 13). Come on
out; give blood, meet these American
heroes and (if you’re a veteran yourself) join them to help others.
PATTY SHACK
“Don’t drive to Austin; I can
service your import here!”
James Cox, owner
Commited to honest quality
repair since 1982
Repairs, maintenance, tuning
and performance upgrades
301 CR 100 • Burnet
(512) 234-8106
Monday to Friday • 8 to 5
www.hillcountryimportcar.com
Page 6
Highland Lakes Weekly
Warm-Up 2 p.m. • Regular Play 3 p.m.
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and more!
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Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
on Friday and Saturday
Wednesdays
Warm-Up 6 p.m. • Regular Play 7 p.m.
Sundays
VFW Post 10376
1001 Veterans Ave (On Hwy 1431W) in Marble Falls
830-693-2261
August 3, 2012
Patty Versyp, owner
Just past the railroad trestle on Texas Avenue in Kingsland
(turn off Hwy 1431 across from Kingsland Hills Care Center)