06-07-2010, 19:22
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#1
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
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Green Beret Climbs Everest For Children Of Fallen
Outstanding!
Richard's $.02 
Quote:
Green Beret Climbs Everest For Children Of Fallen
Charleston (WV) Gazette, 7 June 2010
A former West Virginia University student is taking his school's nickname quite literally.
Lt. Col. Bryan Chapman, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army and a 10-year Special Forces officer, reached the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, on May 22.
The Craigsville native is raising money and awareness for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarships and family counseling to the children of Special Forces soldiers who died in Afghanistan, Iraq or the Philippines, as well as wounded Special Forces soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Chapman became interested in mountain climbing while stationed in Korea in the early 1990s. He said climbing Mount Everest was a lifelong dream.
Once he arrived in Nepal to begin work at the U.S. Embassy, he met with Sherpas, local mountain guides, and realized his dream was within reach.
The climb was so important to Chapman that he and his wife Melissa named their 2-year-old son after the mountain -- Aidan Everest Grayson Chapman.
"I knew I had to fulfill my dream before we left here," Chapman said.
Bryan's mother, Sonya Chapman, said she was nervous when her son told her about his plans to scale the world's highest mountain, but supported his adventure.
"I said 'Oh no, Bryan, you can't do that,'" she said. "When he sets his mind to something like that, he does it and he finishes."
Chapman said he spent two months preparing to climb the mountain. Much of the time was spent acclimatizing -- climbing up the mountain, then going back down to base camp. That lets the body adapt to operating with less oxygen by creating more red blood cells to carry the limited oxygen.
Once the body is prepared, it takes about five days to reach the summit -- where temperatures can reach 100 below zero, and winds can gust at 188 mph.
Although climbing the snow-covered mountain can be dangerous, Chapman said he was determined to reach the top.
"I never thought about turning back," he said. "I had good weather conditions, my oxygen system was working well and I felt strong on summit day."
Chapman had to wear a full down suit, extreme cold-weather boots with steel spikes called crampons, a 20-pound oxygen system, extreme cold-weather gloves and a climbing harness with an ascender and other safety slings to keep him attached to the mountain.
"I looked like an astronaut," he said.
http://wvgazette.com/News/201006060325
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__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
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Richard is offline
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06-07-2010, 19:36
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#2
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BANNED USER
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Western NC
Posts: 1,243
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Bravo Zulu Lt. Col. Chapman ! The thrill of looking down, having climbed the highest peak on earth, has got to be a rush in and of itself, and to do it for an awesome cause - Inspirational ! Kudos to you Sir...
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T-Rock is offline
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06-07-2010, 19:52
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#3
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Wilson,NC
Posts: 1,506
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Congratulations LTC Chapman, job well done!
__________________
"Solitude is strength; to depend on the presence of the crowd is weakness. The man who needs a mob to nerve him is much more alone than he imagines."
~ Paul Brunton (1898-1981)
R.D. Winters
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rdret1 is offline
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06-08-2010, 07:13
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#4
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Asset
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: DC
Posts: 34
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Well, I guess if he climbed Everest to raise awareness of SOWF, the least I can do is donate. Donation sent.
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VA Pete is offline
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06-08-2010, 07:30
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#5
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Southern Mo
Posts: 1,541
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Damn. MAJOR cool points to the colonel.
Dear Bad Guys:
The above-photographed gentleman, sitting on the top of Mount Everest, is an example of the special forces guys we are sending to find you.
Love-n-hugs
Americans
__________________
"And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his gods?"
Thomas Babington Macaulay
"One man with courage makes a majority." Andrew Jackson
"Well Mr. Carpetbagger. We got something in this territory called the Missouri boat ride."
Josey Wales
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craigepo is offline
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06-08-2010, 17:47
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#6
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Area Commander
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Midwest
Posts: 7,135
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Outstanding! Congrats on this fabulous accomplishment, LTC Chapman!
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My Heroes wear camouflage.
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Gypsy is offline
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06-08-2010, 18:21
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#7
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Quiet Professional (RIP)
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Carriere,Ms.
Posts: 6,922
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rdret1
Congratulations LTC Chapman, job well done!
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CONCUR........... 
Big Teddy
__________________
I believe that SF is a 'calling' - not too different from the calling missionaries I know received. I knew instantly that it was for me, and that I would do all I could to achieve it. Most others I know in SF experienced something similar. If, as you say, you HAVE searched and read, and you do not KNOW if this is the path for you --- it is not....
Zonie Diver
SF is a calling and it requires commitment and dedication that the uninitiated will never understand......
Jack Moroney
SFA M-2527, Chapter XXXVII
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greenberetTFS is offline
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06-09-2010, 03:38
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#8
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,835
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Well done, hermano.
Chance of a life time.
Thanks to the Sherpas and his partners as well. Team effort.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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The Reaper is offline
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06-09-2010, 14:08
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#9
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Asscrackistan
Posts: 4,289
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Congratulations LTC Chapman, BERG HEIL!!!
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"Berg Heil"
History teaches that when you become indifferent and lose the will to fight someone who has the will to fight will take over."
COLONEL BULL SIMONS
Intelligence failures are failures of command [just] as operations failures are command failures.”
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MtnGoat is offline
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06-09-2010, 22:46
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#10
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Auxiliary
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Alabama
Posts: 69
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Great job! 
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wch84 is offline
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