A different kind of Stolen Valor
Chris sends us a link to an article about Army Reserve Specialist Jackie Gatti who had just returned from Afghanistan and went to dinner with her parents. I guess she had all of the awards she earned during her combat tour in her little rucksack which they left in the pickup truck while they ate;
When they got back into the family pick-up truck, Gatti realized her military backpack had been stolen out of the back of the truck.
“I kinda stared at the back of the truck for a minute and I said you have to be kidding me, it’s gone. And that’s really all I could get out of my mouth,” she said.
Gatti says she fell to her knees sobbing because all of the proof of all the hard work she had put in and bravery she’d displayed for the past eight months was in her backpack.
“A lot of my military documentation was in there. All my awards from my deployment were in there. I had company coins that my commander and first sergeant had given me as a job well done,” she said.
“The two hour ride home was, you know, we were crying and we were trying to control ourselves,” Gatti’s mother said.
well, they probably stole it because of the backpack, not even thinking about what was in it. But welcome home, SPC Gatti, those are the types of people you were fighting for over there.
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Category: Crime
Crap!! This soldier is from my home town… I hate thieves! I hope that her Unit can replace all her awards. I lost originals of a couple of mine and it sucks not having them, can only imagine what it is to lose you deployment awards.
For some reason I cant play the Video,
If anyone know how to contact that Soldier I will pay to replace her awards
@2 I sent her a message on facebook. Kind of iffy if she sees it because Facebbok sends messages from non friends to an “other” folder so no idea if she would ever see it.
Not so sure you could purchase the awards she lost. Think she deserves a real big welcome home though after having some scumbag steal her stuff like that.
I can relate to this. My original Purple Heart was stolen from my Awards Case in my treatment room at the Naval Hospital Beaufort. They left the Vietnam stuff there, which led NCIS to believe it was a Corpsman. My original did not have my name on it. My official, but not the same, replacement did. I find it hard to believe they will get the creeps that did this and I hope they rot in Hell with the asshole that stole my PH. If your branch did not have your name engraved, get it done on your own. I know she can get a re-issue through St. Louis when she’s out, but have no idea about it if on active duty. I hate thiefs.
Yep I broke my no facebook rule and sent her a message from my Cats page. I also sent her a link to this site. I know command coins ect can be replaced.
Sneak thieves are in a despicable class all their own.
Welcome home SPC Gatti, we are proud of your sacrifice and service.
That’s no way to treat anyone.
But people will steal anything left lying around. I don’t care how modest it is, if you value it in anyway, lock it up.
@rb325th I wonder if the thieves were from the lovely City of Springfield.
My assumption is that it was stolen by either some scumbag junkie looking for something to trade for a “fix”, or by some young PUNKASS who saw and took it because he/she/it thought it looked cool, someone/thing like VWpisshead!!
To: Specialist Jackie Gatti
From: MCPO NYC USN (Ret.)
Subj: Why It Matters!
1. No doubt the loss of the symbols of your honorable service hurts as demonstrated in the story of the robbery.
2. What counts is not what you wear upon your chest, but what is in your heart and in your memory.
3. This story proves, without any doubt, military service, accomplishments and valor is singulary personal and extreamely meaningful to each any every service person and or veteran.
4. The items stolen can be replaced … your service and valor is intact!
5. Carry on young Soldier!
MCPO
@8 Springfield is such a lovely city…a little nicer than Lawrence, Lowell, Brockton, but not by much.
@7: Exactly. I don’t want to pile on the young troop, but it should have been secured in the cab of the truck.
@rb325th yes but that is like being the Prettiest Girl at the Ugly Contest.
MCPO…spot on. Sometimes it takes a little longer for us to know that it’s not the physical stuff but what the heart holds that matters.
@1 RB you are in Chicopee?
I am at work in Chicopee myself right now….small world after all….I moved to Western Mass back in 1985 couple of years after getting out of the ARNG in CT….
Shitbags will steal anything, Springfield, Holyoke…not great places too many turds too little land mass….not enough separation…I moved to Westfield, most land mass of any city in Western Mass, keeps the idiots per mile quotient down….although we do have the 4th most dangerous man in the world Burrell in Westfield…
@15, no I still live in Eastern ma. The young lady in the story is from the town I grew up in though, South Weymouth. Depending on her age my oldest son may even know her.
We have a sign in our break room at work, it says “make sure to remove all your valuables from your car, you work in Brockton not Fairyland.”
Not going to get on the soldier for not locking her bag up in the truck, I will grant her some slack being as I am sure what was on her mind was being home with her family. Real hard life lesson learned. Trust no one, anywhere, when it comes to leaving things unattended.
Jon, if you can provide me with contact info for this solider, Senator John Boozman (R/AR) and/or Congressman Tim Griffin (R/AR)staff’s will ensure her awards and unit coins are replaced.
I feel bad for SPC Gatti. Now some dip shit will be running around in a woman’s uniform doing the Derek Church. Shame, just a shame. Goes to show a thief will steal anything and later when it’s nothing they want just shit can it all. I was taught you never leave your ruck, duffel, B-4 bag or whatever you were traveling with anywhere except next to your left foot. Restaurants, airport latrines, it made no difference. WATCH YOU SHIT AT ALL TIMES! They told us that as we prepped to leave basic. Thieves, they told us, were everywhere. It’s nothing she can’t replace but it will be a lot of trips to personnel and finance and all those happy places. I realize in the happiness of the moment and the safety of family and hometown she let her guard down though. Again I feel awful for her. Even in a small hometown, a soldier has to come home to such as this. What a shame.
@10 Master Chief I second and third your remarks to young Jackie. No one can take away what she accomplished. It will live inside her forever. The other stuff…it can all be replaced.
@18 I work next to a methadone clinic. We have cameras all over our parking lot and our building exterior…when our building was being expanded we parked in the lot at the jail for a while….needless to say they were very strict about requiring all vehicles be locked at all times and windows not even cracked open when unattended…
After serving in a combat zone and being robbed as soon as you get home though is a pretty raw deal no matter how you slice it…
@19 that’s good stuff indeed….I have calls into the idiots from the Massachusetts delegation as well…
The official awards can all be replaced. It’s the unofficial ones that may prove problematic, particularly if any were foreign or had sentimental value.
That said: MCPO is right. The young lady knows what she did, and her records reflect that. In the final tally, that – and the fact that she came home safely – is what really matters.
Damn, just damn. She had been guarding Taliban prisoners and then Karzai lets them go, and now this. Talk about a double whammy.
I’ve found an email address for SPC Gatti and offered our help, so stand by for further information.
I knew she looked familiar, I was working that night plane got back to my base, Westover. Pretty sure those 344th folks are on the look out to help her too. They are some pretty good folks.
I wonder if she was in Chicopee/Springfield when it was stolen or were they in Eastern Mass when it occurred.
Thieves suck.
When I worked recruiting/Reserve Centers, I got this a lot from retired and former sailors. All rewards, paperwork, medals, ribbons, etc. can and will be replaced. Contact your unit if still on ACDU – the VFW and Am Legion can also be of assis- tance. This is not the end of the world except for the thief