Gala raises funds to aid wounded vets and their families

The nonprofit Nevada Military Support Alliance gave a $250,000 check to the Fisher House Foundation during Saturday’s gala fund-raiser at Red Rock Resort.

The check was a down payment for building a $6 million facility to house the families of wounded veterans while they recover and go through treatment at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The goal of the donation drive is to anchor the Las Vegas Valley as a Fisher House location and raise $2.5 million for the project, said alliance Vice Chairman Joe W. Brown.

A private-public partnership, the Fisher House program builds comfort homes at VA medical centers and military installations where family members of vets can be with them to reduce the stress of hospitalization for injuries and illnesses.

The alliance also donated $75,000 to the Nevada Office of Veterans Services for its Green Zone Initiative, a one-stop-shop website for veterans to link their skills and job desires with employers and provide outlets for using education and health care benefits.

“We think we got off to a good start. Now we need to get more money in the account,” Brown said.

He added that alliance officials will sit down to determine how much in donations they drew from the gala, where retired Army Gen. Bryan “Doug” Brown, the keynote speaker, reflected on his command of U.S. Special Operations.

Describing “the best quote of the war,” the general threw in some 1960s TV cartoon nostalgia when he turned back the clock to October 2001, the onset of Operation Enduring Freedom. That’s when Capt. Will Summers and his Green Beret team, Operational Detachment Alpha 595, were inserted into northern Afghanistan from a Special Ops helicopter. Loaded with night-vision goggles, laser-targeting equipment and other high-tech gear, they hopped on horses their Afghan partners had readied with wooden saddles for a ride to meet with the local warlord before taking on the Taliban.

“Somebody called him on the radio and says, ‘How is it? How is it?’”

The captain replied, “Kind of like the Jetsons just met the Flintstones,” Brown recalled.

The Army general also emphasized the foreign language skills required of Green Berets while poking fun at friendly rivals, the Navy SEALs.

“And then there’s the Navy SEALs. There’s not much I can tell everybody about Navy SEALs since they’re on Discovery Channel every week,” he quipped. “We also have a language program for Navy SEALs which starts with English.”

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.