A community of survivors: Freedom Has a Face

By Liv Stecker

Throughout history, over 1.1 million American Soldiers have died in battle. Almost half of these deaths occurred during the Civil War alone, closely followed by the number of deaths during World War II when 12% of the population served in the Armed Forces. Recent turmoil in the Global War on Terror has cost us nearly 7000 U.S. Service Members, and while statistically, the odds of one of us losing an immediate family member to war are lower than they were a century ago, the harsh reality is that every American Soldier who dies in battle leaves a family at home in the United States to cope with the aftermath of tragedy and piece together a life without their hero.

Tommy MacPherson was such a soldier. An Army Ranger, Platoon Leader in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment based at the joint Base Lewis-McChord, the young Sgt. Was also a husband to Claudia, father to Brayden, son to Troy and Didi, and friend to countless people back in the U.S. when he was killed in action in Afghanistan at the age of 26. But it was Tommy’s sister, Jess, when speaking at his funeral, that said, “For me, now freedom has a face.” Those words resonated with a fellow ranger attending the funeral and two months later, Freedom Has a Face was born, an organization dedicated to building a community of survivors for those left behind.

SFC Joseph Lachnit Jr. founded Freedom Has a Face with the help of his family, in an effort to offer comfort and a support network to the surviving family members of service members lost in combat. While wounded service members, as the Freedom Has a Face website eloquently states, “are worthy of double honor as well as the gratitude from the nation they so courageously served,” it is the families of the fallen soldiers that this organization seeks to bring comfort and help to. “FHAF is about doing the ’hard work’ – taking the time to get to know these “wounded” families, mining their needs, and faithfully providing for them.”

One of Tommy MacPherson’s comrades-in-arms is former Army Ranger Dan Litzenberger, currently a Stevens County resident and point man for Bull Hill Training Ranch, an up and coming sniper training site in the hills outside of Kettle Falls. In April, Bull Hill Training Ranch will host their second historical shootout, a fundraiser to benefit Freedom Has a Face, where amateur and professional target shooters from across the country come together to convene and compete in the serene setting of wild northern Stevens County. Like the first shootout hosted at Bull Hill, The Freedom Has a Face Historic Shootout is a three day event that moves shooters through a series of more than ten historically based target shooting scenarios, based on actual combat experiences of United States service members. The first shootout was a fundraiser to benefit The Darby Project, an organization set up to assist military veterans in their transition to civilian life. A huge success, veteran, civilian, professional and amateur shooter alike participated in weekend of skill development, community building and good, old fashioned fun.

As Bull Hill Training Ranch builds a program for active duty service members to get field training in terrain that is impossible to replicate in military training facilities, they also look forward to the ability to reach out to veterans as a retreat site, where they can reconnect and reflect in the serenity of nature and the rural stillness. The transition from active duty to civilian can be a process for both vets and the people who love them. Coming from a combat background, Litzenberger says that vets operate in “a different kind of normal, another zone - we don’t know why we are not ‘normal’,” especially young people who have enlisted straight out of high school with no other ‘real world’ experience. Bull Hill Training Ranch seeks to provide both the camaraderie and a retreat for vets. Working toward this goal, the fundraiser shootouts that are hosted at Bull Hill create an avenue for growing a network between active duty service members, veterans and the civilians who support them.

Do you know a vet?

The Big Voice, with the cooperation of the good folks at Bull Hill Training Ranch, Northern Ales Brewing and The Silverado Express, would like to send a military veteran from the tri county area to the Freedom Has a Face Historical Shootout in April. If you are, know, or are related to a veteran in Stevens, Pend Oreille or Ferry County that would benefit from a weekend surrounded by other veterans and like minded civilians, or If you are interested in contributing to the sponsorship of local vets and the Freedom Has a Face Foundation, please email thebigvoice31@gmail.com for more information. You can also drop by the office of the Silverado Express or check in with Northern Ales for more information. R.E.D.(Remember Everyone Deployed) Friday Tshirts will be for sale soon at Northern Ales to raise money for the foundation and the shootout in April.