[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Top Image” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/top-image.jpg” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Top Image caption” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Captain Ike Braden’s lost belongings from 15 years ago were found on a Pontoon Boat at Safari Towing. The boat had come from Ohio, but was towed in Charleston. Captain Braden has never been to either place.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/image-one-.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Capt. Ike Braden while he was deployed in 2003, the first tour that went to Iraq with the mission of finding Osama Bin Laden.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/image-three.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Braden was excited to receive his belongings in Montana after they had been lost for 15 years. Gregg Cox sent the bags from Charleston on a Monday and Captain Braden received them five days later.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 3″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/image-four.jpg” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 3″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
Gregg Cox of Awendaw, South Carolina, \u00a0stopped to take a picture with the bags to text to Captain Braden to let him know his belongings were on the way to him in Montana.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n
A soldier has finally been reunited with his belongings after 15 years.<\/p>\n
Capt. Ike Braden, who lives in Montana, received a phone call from a South Carolina man,\u00a0Gregg Cox, informing him that he found his missing U.S. Army bags. Cox found them on a pontoon boat<\/span><\/span>\u00a0that had been towed next door to his office in Awendaw, South Carolina.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Braden, who fought in the 2003 Iraq War,\u00a0couldn\u2019t believe his belongings had been found.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was a prank, you know. I thought, he\u2019s a crazy man, but I\u2019ll keep listening to him,” Braden said. ”\u00a0Anyway, then he pulled out some of my letters and I was like know you can\u2019t make that stuff up, so I was really happy to see that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Cox, owner of Cox Tree Service in Mount Pleasant, is friends with the owner of Safari Towing, and asked permission to find out who the bags belong to. Cox said he just wanted to do what he thought was right.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a heart for soldiers and police and it came to me just naturally,” Cox said. “I thought that was the first thing anybody would do.\u201d<\/p>\n Cox asked a friend, Dennis Bradford, who works for the Department of Homeland Security, to find out if the solider was alive. Bradford found that the boat was from Ohio, so while he was reaching out to the DHS office there, Cox decided to do a Google search. He found that Braden is now a Certified Public Accountant\u00a0who lives in Montana. After explaining to Braden what he found, Cox went to the local UPS store to ship off the bags.<\/p>\n Brian Tudhope, the manager of the UPS store in Mount Pleasant, was amazed by the story, but told Gregg it would be almost $400 to send everything off.<\/p>\n Cox didn\u2019t care. \u201cI said I don\u2019t care how much it cost, we have to get this stuff back to this soldier,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n It was at this moment that other people in the store stepped up.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople came up and just handed him cash just because they heard. There was a feeling in the store actually, I mean, he was telling the story and everybody was like, ‘Oh, that\u2019s awesome you\u2019re doing that’ and I mean it was just a really cool thing,\u201d said Tudhope.<\/p>\n Just some of the things in the bags\u00a0were clothing, a canteen, books, documents, and letters from his wife, but there was one thing that Braden was especially happy to get back, and that was an American flag.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did a really big joint mission over Baghdad on the fourth of July and we flew a bunch of flags for some of the soldiers, like a whole tail boom was full of flags, Braden said. “I kept that one, I was going to give it to my dad, and so I will. I can now and that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d said Braden.<\/p>\n Braden was happy that his bags fell in the right hands so he could finally have his belongings back.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s good to be reminded that there are good people in this world,\u201d Braden said.<\/p>\n Cox and Braden plan to meet soon.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Montana man was recently reunited with his U.S. Army bags, which were found aboard a pontoon boat in Awendaw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[42,71],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8477"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9021,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8477\/revisions\/9021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}