Can a city fashionista hack it as a Navy SEAL – well, for five days at least? Weehawken blogger and stylist Robin Wallace set out to answer that question last week and, in the process, is hoping to help out some real soldiers as well.
Wallace tracked her day to day experience in a Navy SEAL physical training camp by filming gritty video blogs and providing daily updates to her followers with the aim of turning every push up, low crawl, and mucky day into $16,500 for Cooking with the Troops, a non-profit military organization dedicated to providing hope, comfort, and culinary career opportunities to wounded soldiers and their families.
‘Regardless of what your politics are, the troops aren’t political, they’re your neighbors and your family.’ – Robin Wallace
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When it comes to supporting the troops these days, she said, too often politics drowns out philanthropy.
“Regardless of what your politics are, the troops aren’t political,” she said. “They’re your neighbors and your family.”
On the brain
As a sort of physical celebration for herself, Wallace completed her first Navy SEAL Physical Training course a year after recovering from a life-altering brain injury. But she didn’t realize the emotional impact it would have as well.
The 30-year-old suffered from two acute subdural hematomas, commonly known as bleeding on the brain, nearly two years ago.
Individuals who face her condition have only a 10 percent chance of returning to life as normal. Wallace was one of the lucky ones – exactly one year to the day from when she was being carried out of her apartment and taken to the hospital where she stared at veiny ceiling tiles, Wallace found herself lying in the grass and staring at the trees above while she kicked into the air, experiencing pain of a very different kind.
“It was very cathartic and a bit eerie to kind of retrace those steps,” she said.
This time around, Wallace decided to put her sweat and hard work to good use for others.
She was particularly moved to action when she discovered that 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are coming home with traumatic brain injuries.
“There’s a personal connection there for me understanding on a relative scale what these guys and girls are facing,” she said.
More than just a barbecue
Cooking with the Troops currently has two upcoming barbecues planned, which are meant to provide a culinary “change of pace” for military personnel. One will be at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. and the other will take place at a hospital for U.S. military in Germany.
Wallace said that the cost of feeding a veteran at one of the barbecues is approximately $20, but it’s about much more than just providing a great burger and some coleslaw.
“I want to make sure that people realize this isn’t a petty barbecue,” she said. “I spent a month in the hospital and I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital; I can tell you firsthand the difference that it makes to have one moment to feel normal again.”
Wallace hopes that through her efforts and those of Cooking with the Troops, soldiers will be able to begin “feeling normal” again and regain a positive mental outlook essential for recovery.
Neat as a ‘pinup’
Now that all the sweaty stuff is finished (her last physical training class ended Friday morning) Wallace is hitting the showers and getting primped up for the grand finale of her fundraising project – posing for a classic pinup photo to “encourage a larger donation.”
“Pinups and the military go hand in hand,” said Wallace. And with her interest in all things vintage, she said, it’s a perfect match.
Details of the pinup shoot as well as where it winds up will be featured on her blog.
For the final stretch of her fundraising campaign Wallace is depending heavily on the virtual world, asking friends and followers to spread the word by reposting her efforts on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
“Through social media a lot more people can be reached beyond Weehawken,” she said. “This is a national effort.”
To follow Wallace’s journey and donate, visit www.thriftyvintagechic.com or www.cwtt.org.
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.