2 posts tagged “dedication”

OK where was I? Oh yeah. So Thursday I wake up with a stiff neck, thinking, Oh oh, I ain't sick, I WILL NOT BE SICK!! 4 Excedrin and a pot of coffee and I was ready to roll to DC. I had to get parking meter numbers for the reserved parking on 15th Street so we could park the EMT's, and DDOT needs to know which spots you're asking for. They'll issue you temporary NO Parking signs to hang on the meters so you'll have parking. I got 12 spots, right in front of the Commerce Building. Well, I got the numbers and went up to DDOT's offices at 14th and U. Now, Thursday morning was a particularly bad day for DC. There was an apartment fire that morning that shut down half the streets and the lady I had been dealing with was on the streets with traffic control. You ever been to a Traffic Control center? Man they got big TV' screens and they can remotely control those cameras and see everything in view. Makes you think twice about picking your nose at a traffic light (not that I do that, mind you) Just throwing that out there. Be careful what you do at traffic lights. Just friendly advice. So she's not there,but I got email and so does she so I know it can be handled.

JJ with EaglesUP had scheduled a meeting for 1300 hours and I had to get to HQ in Virginia for the meeting. I made it right on time. Walked in the day room, and everyone is there. Gunny, JJ, Col Riley, Mike C, Cin from Vets Dispatch, Rurick is there. Interesting man, Rurick. Speaks Russian. Fluently. Has a great site. Does aviation research. The Russians don;t like it when you take pictures of their aircraft apparently.

OK, I look around the room and do a doulble take cause I see this older gentleman standing there, and for two seconds, I think, "What the hell is Bill doing here?" Then I realize it's not who I think it is. But by God, he's the twin brother of a man I used to work for installling cell sites. (Yes the very tall towers you see dotting the landscape, plopped down in the wierdest places. If you have a 1/2 acre of land with decent access, you too can have a cell tower and Verizon/Sprint/Nextel/ATT will pay you handsomely for the location.)

So I walk over and introduce myself, and ask him if he'd ever been mistaken for my former boss. He says "No but he must be a handsome devil" Typical fighter pilot...oh did I mention the gentleman was a pilot? No? Damn. Ok the gentleman is a resident of NC and is with Cin. Turns out, this man, whose name is Colonel Robert E. Lee Ramey, (no shit thats his name),is retired Air Force. Although he didn't start out in the Air Force, he started out in the ARMY AIR CORPS. He flew over 300 combat misions in Europe from 1944 to 1945, in P-38 Lightnings, which he loved, and P-51 Mustangs which he hated. We had lunch together, all of us and he has adopted me. Invited me and Mrs CB down to NC for tailgate and football at ECU.

So, we finish lunch and head back to HQ. We have a meeting scheduled for 1600 hours with an Ell Tee and Sergeant from the MCPD to go over the ground rules for the IVAW event: perimeter setup and basic safety issues. Unfortunately, my Verizon was down temporarily and I have neglected to respond to the Ell Tee's email requesting a change of time, so he thinks it's still on for 1800 hours. So we wait. Gunny and I take a walk to the GoE HQ and run into Spook, (read anything you want into that handle, you'll be right.) Spook was on Okinawa in 1963 with the 2-503 173DABN when they were reformed. He knew immediately what I meant when I said "The Herd". The theme from Rawhide instead of Reville at 0530 sticks with you. I knew so much about the 173 he actually thought I was there too. Hell I was 13 years old. I just know the history of my adopted unit.

So the Ell Tee and his Sergeant arrive and let me tell you, these guys are a class act. I said that before I know, but I need to stress the point. They went out of their way to accomodate us. They even went to the NLC and had a talk with them which is why we had that nice piece of real estate to stand on all day Friday. He emphasized there would be NO ZERO, ZIP, NADA, interaction between us and anyone from IVAW or VVAW. Any breach of the ground rules and we would be gone. He also stated that the media would be restricted unless and until I cleared them to come into our perimeter. professional right down the line and he left with the same impressions of us and made a point of saying so. He told us that most of the men that would be there for security were vets or had family that were vets or had fmily deployed. He said he wished he could paricipate in an other than LEO capacity, and thanked every one of us for taking the time and making the effort to oppose what was happening and the team on the ground also appreciated it. At the end of the day Friday, he made a point of finding me, shaking my hand and thanking me for doing what I did.

Damn, how do you convey that with mere words? OK More later...Rack time.

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Well, this is probably going to be an ongoing AAR of the weekend's activities from my perspective as the organizer of the events. I'll probably be editing this over the next few days as things I forgot to mention are remembered and I have to go back and add them. The post below this one contains some links from friends and bloggers I met along the way  who are much more proficeint at writing and conveying information than I am and who are convinced I'm some sort of genius. Or at the very least, a really nice guy who can get things done. So if this gets boring go read them.

The first thing I have to do is give a huge OOOOOOORAHHHHHHHHHHH to the folks who really made this weekend possible. The dedicated members of the Montgomery County Police Department's Special Events Unit,  my good friends at the National Park Service, the good folks at the Special Operations Division of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department, and the equally fine folks over at the District of Columbia's Department of Transportation, affectionately known as DDOT.

With out the cooperation and understanding of these individuals, none of this weekend would have been possible. You guys are the best, and I appreciate all your patience. I mean that sincerely.

The MCPD was a class act from start to finish. Proffessional, concerned for everyone's safety and First Amendment rights. When I first contacted them about the IVAW event, they were a little puzzled. I mean I had to explain to a very nice lady cop that some very upset Viet Nam veterans, together with families of deployed soldiers and Marines and every day ordinary Americans, with the possible appearence of Rolling Thunder, were going to descend on Silver Spring for the sole purpose of debunking a bunch of malcontents who were going to resuerrect the Winter Soldier hearings for the purpose of accusing the entire United States Military of having an established policy of committing war crimes and atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan. I met with a detective from the SIlver Spring District and explained the event's signifigance and why we were upset. It was a cake walk.

OK, I have some personal stuff to deal with, then I'm gonna hit the rack and pick this up tomorrow.

From the start of this, we knew we were going to attract the attention of some of the more rabid radical elements of the extreme left who insist that free speech only applies to them, unless you're toeing the party line. We were right, as witnessed by the multiple threats of ass whippings, bombings and all around general mayhem posted by certain members of SDS, IVAW, and God only knows who else, anonymously and publicly, (how stupid do you have to be to do that?) on various left wing blogs and news sites.

Well, here's a message to the assclown from the SDS who trashed the Recruiting Station on 14th Street in DC on 15 February and threatend to "kick my ass the next time I showed my face on the streets of DC". I was in DC for three straight days. I was on the street and making my presence known. I was telling everyone and anyone that I will not sit back and watch as a another generation of Warriors, fighting to protect your snivleing little cowardly ass from terrorists who would cut off your ugly head and tape the event for re-broadcast on Al-Jazeera, were smeared and maligned. You said the next time I showed up in DC you were going to kick my ass.

Well, I'm still waiting. I guess you couldn't put the crack pipe down and drag your fat ass out of your Mommas basement long enough to find me. Not that it would have been difficult. Dates, locations and times were posted in every public forum we control. It's easy to sit behind a keyboard and type ain't it bitch? It's something else to actually walk the walk. Chickenshit.

My ass is still intact, and you're still an assclown. I took care of the assclowns at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and I will take care of you. I'll ask you the same question I asked the code pinko commies the night I ran their skinny little asses down the street and away from the brave wounded warriors healing inside one of the finest medical facilities the Army has:

Whats my name? Who's your Daddy?