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In 1991, Dingo was 17 years old and joined the Army for the first golf war. He served in Assault and Obstacle Platoon for Bravo Company, the 4th Engineers, and a Sapper unit out of Fort Carson, Colorado, from 1992 to 1996.

After that tour, he left the Regular Army for the Reserves in Michigan and served in the 300th Military Police Battalion. In 1999, he learned about the 745th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit out of Camp Grayling, Michigan. He signed his volunteer statement in 2000 and shipped out to EOD school for one year at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. After graduation in 2002, his unit was activated and immediately deployed for 18 months. His unit backstopped deployed EOD units from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Fort Hood, Texas. During that time, he was assigned to President George W. Bush protective detail where he learned “Army guys look good in suits”. 

His unit of 22 left for Iraq in October of 2003 and returned he with 18 close ‘Brothers’. He spent most of that tour in Baqubah, Diyala province. 
In 2004, he received his honorable discharge… the papers arrived on September 11, 2005. After his discharge, he began doing government contracted EOD work until he was hired by the Department of Energy in Aiken, South Carolina. His job there was to develop and execute an EOD program for the new congressionally mandated post 9/11 DOE security structure. In 2008 he joined the Department of Homeland Security Bomb Appraisal Officer program. There, he served out of the Detroit field office as an Explosive Specialist until October 2022. 
His proudest achievement of all is that of being a father. He has two sons, both adults, Caleb and Abraham.

Dingo is married to Shelly Maitland who he says “is the strength of my courage, my rest when I am weary, and my love and light in this unforgiving world”.

Dingo’s family comes first but his second passion is the ‘Brotherhood’ of fellow combat veterans. His favorite thing to do in the whole world is to ride with Foundation 14… a foundation that raises money and provides motorcycles for Veterans. He helps 14 every chance he gets. He supports numerous organizations like; Downriver For Veterans, Bikes and Battle Buddies, the Bedford Township Veteran Center, Operation Injured Soldier, Bucket List Dreams for Veterans, and appreciates and supports all of the great motorcycle clubs across the state. He states that “it is my fellow combat Veterans, my brothers and sisters, who keep me motivated and moving forward.

Bucket List Dreams was established to recognize and appreciate great, inspirational Americans… the people who step and serve in the US Military. Dingo is one of those people. We learned of him through a member of his ‘Brotherhood’ and felt compelled to do something for this fine man. Dingo and his wife will be going on an all expense paid trip to Beaver Island for a fall retreat… ‘a beautiful place for two beautiful people’.

Thank you Dingo for your service and your enduring commitment to your ‘Brotherhood’.

Rob Streeter is 44 years old and lives in Tecumseh Michigan. He is married to his wife Dawn of 17 years. He has three children Bailey 20, Shelby 15, and Kevin 12. Rob served in the Army from Feb 1999 to Dec 2011.

Rob enlisted on February 12, 1999, and went to Basic Training at Fort Benning, GA. While at Benning, he also completed AIT and 11Hotel School. He learned how to shoot TOW missiles and after 9/11, was placed on airport security as many national guard were at that time. He had the opportunity to represent the National guard at the governor’s State of the State address and was able to work with the Secret Service for two weeks when the Vice President landed at the airport where he had been assigned. In 2004 Rob deployed to Sinai Egypt with Charlie Company 1/125INF, 46th BDE 38th IN DIV. While in Sinai his company was part of the 18th AIRBORNE CORP. His duties included working with 13 countries in a multi-national force whose job it was to act as observers. The objective was to keep the peace between Egypt and Israel.

Rob returned home from this deployment in August of 2004. Shortly after returning home, he was notified that the correctional facility in Baldwin, Michigan where he had worked was closing. The State of Michigan offered Rob a position at the Chelsea Bootcamp, which he accepted. It was at this time his wife divorced him citing she could not cope with military life and his working in another city. She had refused to move with him because her family was in Ludington.

In December 2005 Rob left the National Guard. He lived in the Saline area while working for the Department of Corrections. In late April of 2006 he received a call from an old friend who was now a company First Sergeant. He asked Rob if he would like to go to Baghdad with his old company Echo 1/125INF… Rob accepted. Knowing how the military system worked he figured he had until July before the Army would reach out to him. Instead, his military file was hand carried through SIPERS and in just 3 days he was contacted by a command Sergeant Major who he had never met. He left for Fort Dix June 1, 2006. This is where he trained and prepared for duty in Iraq. While at the MOB site he completed a 40-hour combat life saver course and he became an Expert Marksman with the M2, MK19, 240B, 249, and M4. He was also able to train on the M24 range in case his company snipers were not available while in combat. About two weeks prior to heading to Iraq he received a Red Cross call that his mother had passed away. He went home, but returned within a week to deploy with the troopers he had trained with. He felt this is what his mother would have expected of him.

While in Iraq his company fought in Sadr City, Baghdad, Zafarnia, and Solomon Pak. The fighting was intense, he said, “we engaged the enemy with everything we had. While on FOB they had 480 impacts from rockets and mortars in a year's time. Rob earned his Combat Infantry Badge after only being there for a month. In November of 2016, while on leave, Rob's friend Brad Shilling was killed by an EFP. After returning from leave, Rob's Platoon was sent on a clearing mission with Bravo Troop 3/61 CAV 2nd Inf Div. An IED struck the Humvee in front of him sending it 15 feet off the road and killing Bobby Mejia, Wilson Algrim, Chad Vollmer. His squad was hit with three more IEDs in the following months. He doesn't know how many firefights he was in… “too many to count.”

To this day, he doesn't like thunderstorms and the 4th of July. He said that he remembers certain days so clearly that it is like he is still there. Unfortunately, he has lost more buddies since he has been home than he did in Iraq. He recently lost his driver in Iraq, Steve Syarto; war just keeps on killing.

Rob returned home from Iraq in August 2007 and has had to fight his “demons,” as many Veterans do, and, like many, medicate against the pain with alcohol.

Rob eventually found out about Team RWB… an organization of Vets helping other Vets. Rob began spending time with his ‘brotherhood’ and this proved to be an outlet for his problems. After about 6 months of driving to Ann Arbor every Saturday, Lewis Major and Rob were able to open our chapter of Team RWB in Tecumseh. Rob has been a leader in this chapter since 2013. He has been able to get other Veterans out and doing things… running, walking, biking, golfing. Along the way, a few Veterans in the group, talked him into running a half marathon with them. He has since run 8 of them, a full marathon and an ultra-marathon. He accomplished this in spite being 90% disabled. Rob sustained injuries to his knees like all infantrymen do, has compressed discs in his back and suffers from PTSD. He reports now that running is too difficult and he is in pain much of the time. This has not dissuaded him from still going out to walk or play golf with other Veterans… his mission, to let other Veterans know that someone cares.

Rob is currently employed with Goodnight Midstream in North Dakota as an Operator working in the oil industry.

Lee's Story:
October 20, 2023… This is an unusual story about a very special Veteran with an unusual Bucket List Dream. 

This story is written by a fellow Veteran Vet who had his life significantly impacted by this kind and generous man… Lee. Lee was born and raised in Southeastern Michigan. He attended college in Michigan and was commissioned into the US Air Force. His degree was in Psychology and consequently this young Lieutenant was sent to Vietnam. 

For every man in the field in Vietnam there were 50 support people. These people performed every kind of service imaginable… from food, to construction, mechanical support, administrative support… to name a few… and of course medical. One of Lee’s duties was probably one of the most difficult jobs a person could ever be asked to do. War and tragedy go hand in hand. People die, are maimed and in some cases suffer mental breakdowns. These are difficult cases to deal with. To be responsible for a man completely ‘broken’ emotionally is very difficult thing to be charged with. Lee’s job was to get these unfortunate people stabilized enough to be sent to where they could get much needed psychiatric treatment. This was just one of Lee’s duties. Performing such a difficult assignment takes a very special person. That person was Lee. 

Lee returned home as a Captain and was discharged. His work and commitment to Veterans did not end, however. Lee went on to make a career of helping Veterans. There is no doubt in this writer’s mind that Lee saved many Veterans. He dedicated his life to them. He guided them to healthier lives and was able to “bring them home".

 Your writer is one of those Veterans. Lee helped me to work through many issues. I would like to tell you about one such event. I brought home with me a captured Communist SKS rifle. It was picked up off the battlefield with the bayonet stained with blood. The rifle stayed in my gun safe for many years and was rarely touched. To me it was almost dirty because there was no way of knowing if the blood was American or South Vietnamese. To this day I have guilt issues… guilt that I did not do enough over there and guilt for what the American people did to Vietnamese people. The only reason the war was not won, and the Vietnamese people freed was because the American people allowed themselves to be manipulated the Communist Peace Movement in the US. The American people were fools. The consequence was, far more Americans died over there than needed and the Vietnamese were abandoned to ultimately be killed, confined, and relegated to a life under Communist control. 

The rifle for me became a symbol of everything I was ashamed of so I never shot it and just hid it away. One day Lee came to me and said that we were going to my home, that we were going to get the rifle, and we were going to his farm to deal with my issues. He walked me into the woods, took the weapon, loaded it, and fired it. He said, “it is just a thing that for some reason I had made important… needlessly”. He said that it was critical for me and my guilt issues to get past the resentment to this rifle. He handed me the rifle and walked out of the woods. He said on the way out, “shoot the rest of ammo and don’t come out until you do… it’s just a thing”. It took some time but after about 30 minutes of thinking about the whole thing, I fired. I had moved on! I tell this story because this is just one situation and one Veteran out of many that he helped with… there were more Veterans than I can count that benefited from Lee’s, sometimes unorthodox approach to treatment. He was always willing to go the extra mile for a fellow ‘brother’. 

Lee has long since been disabled by the VA. He is sick and is largely homebound. When we at Bucket List Dreams went to him to see if there was anything we could for him, he said, “you know what I would like most, is a really good cup of coffee."

Bucket List Dreams now keeps Lee stocked with our Bucket List Beans and will do so as long as he wants it.

God bless you Lee… and Thanks, Brother.

Ira Brownridge, Jr.
Ira was born in Queens, New York. He has three sisters, two older than he and one younger. Ira graduated from Jane Adams Vocational High School in June of 1996. In August of that year he left for Army Basic Training at Fort Benning. In December of that year he reported to Fort Riley, Kansas where he joined Charlie Company 141 as an infantryman. In March of 1997 Ira deployed to Bosnia for a six-month tour and in 1999 Ira left the Army.

In 2005 Ira left a job that he was very unhappy with and went back into the Army. He joined the 125th Infantry at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He trained for Iraq at Fort Dix. Ira also served in the National Guard out of Big Rapids, MI.

On August 22, 2006 Ira’s Company was sent to Kuwait where they had two weeks of preparation before moving into Iraq. Once in Iraq, his unit was based in Rustamiyah and operated in the Salman Pak region. On April 1st of 2007 Ira was preparing for yet another mission when he was overcome with the feeling… “that this would be my last mission in Iraq”. He even told one of his fellow soldiers that he had a bad feeling about the mission.

Later that day, he was shot in the head.

Ira’s patrol was caught in an ambush. He remembers being in the fight one second and on the ground with his helmet off the next while his Sargent was telling him to “hang on”. From that point he was in and our of consciousness so the details he has been able to organize, he did so from speaking with his fellow soldiers and some surfaced during his therapy. Apparently, the unit was having problems with the radio so the medivac was not easily executed. Ira was taken to the ‘Pepsi Factory’ and then moved to the ‘International Zone’ and to Balad Hospital. At the hospital they performed surgery and after two days shipped him to Germany. From Germany, he was sent to Walter Reed Hospital for more treatment and recovery. After two weeks at Walter Reed he was sent to Richmond for rehabilitation and then back to Walter Reed.

Ira was eventually 100% disabled by the Veterans Administration.

Ira came to Michigan to visit an Army buddy and loved the State… he stayed. Ira currently lives in Ypsilanti. He enjoys watching pro sports and spends his time volunteering with various Veterans organizations. He also spends his time serving on the Washtenaw County Veterans Affairs Committee.

Ira’s Bucket List Dream:
Ira would like to do a Michigan Deer Hunt and wants to attend the Army / Navy Football Game. Bucket List Dreams will make this happen for Ira. This Bucket List Dream should make for a great story and we urge you to follow Ira’s Dream as it play’s out in the coming months. You can follow Ira’s Dream here… we will be posting updates as they happen. You can also help Bucket List Dreams to fulfill the Bucket List Dreams of other deserving Veterans by donating or purchasing Bucket List Dreams Merchandise. Thank you so much for your interest!!!