Chelsie Snipes: Run for your Freedom

Tears roll down Chelsie Snipes’ cheeks when she begins talking about her brother David. They are tears of sadness, tears of frustration and tears of fear.

In January, Snipes sat in a car packed with her parents, grandmother, cousin and future sister-in-law on the edge of Camp LeJeune Marine Corps base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and watched through the window as her brother loaded his personal effects on a bus. David Snipes, a 20-year-old Marine, was preparing for his first deployment to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The Marines boarded the bus and waved good-bye as they pulled away.

“ Watching him get on the bus and drive away was the hardest thing ever,” said Chelsie, a freshman nursing major at Charleston Southern University. “The whole thing is, don’t say good-bye, say, ‘see you soon.’”

Chelsie tried to block out the inevitable question that day, the ‘what ifs’ that every military family experiences as they watch their loved ones walk into harm’s way. She tried blocking it out the next day, and the day after, but eventually the mind is drawn to ask, “What if he doesn’t come back? They’re over there killing these bad guys, but people forget they’re trying to kill them too. They’re shooting back.”

Since arriving in Afghanistan, David calls his fiancée, Andrea, who then relays messages to family and friends. Chelsie and David also use the power of Facebook to communicate. He described grim living conditions.

David’s unit “walks through rivers up to their waists in eight degree weather. They’re wet. They’re sleeping like that. They’re freezing. They are completely cut off from the world. They are sleeping on cots,” described Chelsie.

In a recent message, David described the day-to-day circumstances of life of an American soldier in Afghanistan.

“ They go out for a week, or a month, and don’t bathe,” Chelsie explained. “They have to get used to living with nothing. When he comes back here he’s really going to appreciate all the little things.

“ They have a limited supply of baby wipes and water. Taking a shower is pouring a water bottle over their heads. That’s how they shower.”

Chelsie continued through the tears saying, “People walk around and complain about stuff that doesn’t matter. It’s hard to hear people complain about that stuff knowing that my brother doesn’t have basic needs.”

The last message from her brother “kicked me into gear,” Chelsie explained. “I had to do something.” David relayed a message through Andrea, letting the family know they wouldn’t be hearing from him for awhile.

On Saturday, April 24 at 10 a.m. Charleston Southern University will host Run for your Freedom, a 5K run/walk. The event is to raise funds and material items for the troops serving in Afghanistan. For more information, or to register, visit www.charlestonsouthern.edu/run.

Snipes organized the event in a couple hours. Using Facebook and CSU Campus Compact director Audrey Butkus, she decided on a date, crafted a message and started spreading the word on and off campus.

“ All I can do is try to bring everyone together for one day and do as much as we can to help,” said Chelsie. “I didn’t want to just send a box. I feel like when you put something together it’s more than just money, you’re actually participating in something.”

David left one family in January and joined another, his cousin Josh Faidley, in Afghanistan. Faidley was deployed in August 2009, his second tour in Afghanistan. His wife, Mallory, and three-year old son Tristan pray for his safe return.

“ Is Daddy still on the bus?” three-year old Tristan asks his mom all the time.

David is on a seven-month tour. He is scheduled to return home in August 2010. This will be the longest time Chelsie’s gone without seeing or talking to her brother. They are extremely close.

When their parents divorced, Chelsie and David were young. They cried a lot together, hurt a lot together and grew closer through the experience. “He’s the only person who’s really known me my whole life – he knows everything,” she said. “All the bad things, all the good things, there are things you tell your siblings that you don’t tell your mother or father.”

There are happy tears too.

“ I had a dream last night that he came home early,” Chelsie said, smiling. “In the dream he just came up and sat down next to me and I said, ‘what are you doing here?’” It’s the first time she’s had a dream about her brother, but she wonders daily, “What is he doing right now?”

Chelsie hopes she’ll keep having that same dream night after night until it comes true.