{"id":3830,"date":"2023-04-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=3830"},"modified":"2023-04-10T22:08:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T22:08:15","slug":"mwr-family-helps-veteran-overcome-daughters-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=3830","title":{"rendered":"MWR Family helps veteran overcome daughter’s suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Dusty Rhodes (from left), his dog Buckeye and Gerry Beierschmitt discuss maintenance issues at the Rheinblick Golf Course.
\n (Photo Credit: Karl Weisel, U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden Family and MWR)<\/span>
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\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
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WIESBADEN, Germany – Joel \u201cDusty\u201d Rhodes can\u2019t say enough about the Rheinblick Golf Course and MWR.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love this job,\u201d said Rhodes, the Rheinblick\u2019s assistant superintendent. \u201cI\u2019m going to keep doing this as long as they will have me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like still being a part of helping Soldiers. \u2026 I like that MWR has a strong presence here,\u201d said the 20-year U.S. Army veteran who served with the 440th Signal Battalion in Darmstadt and Iraq before retiring from the Army and joining Wiesbaden MWR in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good crew \u2013 a good place to work,\u201d said Rhodes, describing the Rheinblick as a unique course in Germany. \u201cIt\u2019s a challenging course for the beginner to the advanced player. It\u2019s not a \u2018hit it and forget it\u2019 course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the environmental guru here,\u201d said Rhodes, describing the various codes that the Rheinblick must meet. \u201cWe need to meet the highest standards \u2013 whether it\u2019s EU or U.S.\u201d That includes maintaining four active bee hives and eight different wildflower areas at the Rheinblick.<\/p>\n

Besides the various tournaments, Friday night scrambles and other events, Rhodes also praised the culinary offerings, courtesy of Cem Klein\u2019s Restaurant and Bistro, also known as the Rheinblick Restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great restaurant and great views,\u201d said Rhodes. \u201cThe restaurant is top notch \u2013 from fine dining to getting a burger to go. We\u2019re the best-kept secret in Wiesbaden.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the 57-year-old who hails from Conneaut, Ohio, having a strong sense of team was vital to helping him cope with the tragedy of losing his 13-year-old daughter, Ciarra Joi, to suicide in December of 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty rough couple of years,\u201d he said, adding that his wife, who never overcame the untimely loss of their daughter, succumbed to illness in 2016.<\/p>\n

Having considered suicide himself following the loss of his daughter and wife, Rhodes said he valued the support of his colleagues and friends \u2013 and has made it his mission to provide support and advice wherever he can to help prevent further suicides. \u201cI\u2019m a big mental health advocate. I\u2019ve talked to many different groups \u2013 rotary clubs, parent groups, at a garrison-wide suicide prevention stand-down \u00a0\u2013 sometimes it\u2019s harder than others, but it keeps me going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhodes also hosts an annual charity softball tournament in his daughter\u2019s name to raise money for U.S. and German suicide prevention (and counseling) programs. \u201cIt\u2019s held the last weekend in May with teams from all over Europe. It has grown through word of mouth. We have raffles, auctions and a home-run derby. \u2026 In the eight years that we\u2019ve done this, we\u2019ve raised and donated 90,000 Euro. \u201d (Editor\u2019s note: For more information about the event search for CJR Memorial Softball Tournament on Facebook.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of my main thinkers,\u201d said Rheinblick Golf Course Manager Ed Galvan, \u201cwhether it\u2019s operational or regarding environmental and maintenance. My respect for veterans is really high, and he\u2019s one of the ones who puts the exclamation mark on that \u2013 taking care of our military and veteran patrons. I think that Dusty\u2019s buy-in to taking care of those guys and gals is key.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs my deputy, he\u2019s been fantastic,\u201d said Golf Course Superintendent Gerald Beierschmitt. \u201cHe watches my back, and he\u2019s there for me. On a personal level, as well as a business level, he\u2019s been instrumental in helping me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work hard here and we have a mission, but it has to be a group effort,\u201d added Beierschmitt, praising the support of Rhodes and his fellow team members.<\/p>\n

Rhodes added that besides his \u201cRheinblick family,\u201d he is thankful to have found a new family with whom to share his life. \u201cI would like people to know that it does get better (overcoming grief) as I have found love again with a wonderful wife and her daughters who support me. They are one of the reasons I can do what I do and care and live.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dusty Rhodes (from left), his dog Buckeye and Gerry Beierschmitt discuss maintenance issues at the Rheinblick Golf Course. (Photo Credit: Karl Weisel, U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden Family and MWR) VIEW ORIGINAL WIESBADEN, Germany – Joel \u201cDusty\u201d Rhodes can\u2019t say enough about the Rheinblick Golf Course and MWR. \u201cI really love this job,\u201d said Rhodes, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3832,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3833,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions\/3833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}