Posted By:
MAF Blogger Danny
Permalink

Phoenix was a pretty interesting rally because of all the crazy things that happened on the road on the way there.

For one thing, the screw covers on the motor home basically started ripping off the overhang and started flapping all over the place while we were trying to drive. That was not fun. They would start waving around pretty violently and at one point they were slapping the drivers window and I thought it was going to break the glass. So we had to pull over and get gas and we put some duct tape over the rubber covers to try and keep it from coming off again.

We also kept having trouble with the generator on board the RV. It just kept dying over and over again. We could never get it to stay on for more than 10 minutes it seemed. Without a generator we had no Air Conditioning, no internet for our laptops as well as no power. Our cell phones ran down, our computers ran out of power and couldn’t be used for long periods of time, not to mention we were sweaty.

So yeah, that was not very fun, but the PHOENIX area PRO-TROOP rally on the other hand WAS!

Did I mention we were late? Big surprise right? Well because of the plastic seal thing fiasco and the generator crisis we had to pull a few extra stops and we ran a long way behind schedule. In fact we let Joe and Ryan run ahead of us because we had to keep stopping and did not want to slow them down.

The Vietnam Memorial, one of several at Wesley Bowlin Memorial Park

When we got to Phoenix people were waiting for us around the memorial area. Ryan and Joe had been set up for a short while already and shirts were already going out and CD’s were passing hands.

Now, not to discredit Joe or Ryan any, but really the show could not start without us in the RV because we had stars, Diana and Debbie. Diana Nagy really got the crowd going when she took up the microphone and sang the star spangled banner for us and then her hit “Where Freedom Flies.” I think it is so funny now that I have heard Diana sing her songs so many times at these rallies because I am starting to know all the words and it’s such a pretty and catchy song that I often found myself singing along. But looking at the faces of those who have never heard Diana’s song, I see faces that are touched by the passion of Diana’s singing and the pride that is it’s message.

If you have not already heard it, this song is a great crowd pleaser and is really catchy. I don’t know how many times a day I look over at Diana in the RV and she’s working on something and I’ll just sing a line from the song (poorly) and tell her how it was securely lodged in my brain! Seriously though, this is a very heartwarming song when you consider how it was written. Diana’s mother is actually the writer of the song, and as Diana tells the story of the origin, her mother was inspired by seeing a group of anti-war protestors on the TV again, and burning the flag as a sign of protest.

When Debbie Lee came and took the podium she asked the crowd if there were Gold star families, Blue star families and past or current veterans present. Phoenix is also Debbie’s home town, so when several Gold star families came up, Debbie knew some of them and they all knew who she was. She also had them all go up on stage and be recognized by everyone in attendance. It seemed like almost everyone at least knows a person who has been in the military. This might be the reason behind the fact that I noticed how well the crowd in Phoenix responded to our presence and our rally. It was like they were really engaged in a conversation with us, when Debbie was talking. If Debbie said something about the higher numbers of well-trained Iraqi police or army, someone in the crowd would not hesitate to yell out an ‘amen’ or some kind of agreement with whatever the statement was. You could tell that Phoenix had some very dedicated groups.

One such group was the Buffalo Soldiers who I caught up with and had the opportunity of getting to know. The Buffalo Soldiers is a Motorcycle Club that does many charitable things for the community. One responsibility they take upon themselves is to preserve the history, knowledge, spirit and of course the legacy of the original Buffalo Soldiers who served in an all-black combat detail during the Civil War. Pictured here, from left to right are Lieutenant Eric Reed, Bill “Dark Knight” White, and Chaz F Jackson, who is President of this club. You can get more information at www.buffalosoldiers.com

This is Susan L Walker who helped put together the Phoenix area chapter of www.packagesfromhome.org and made it out to our rally so she could help promote the good work that we are both doing. “Packages” does a lot of good work by sending things that our troops are asking for such as phone cards, toilet paper, and other such items that they ask for by request. “Packages” does things a little differently than MAF, but both share one common goal, to give our troops the support they desire and must have in order to accomplish their missions.

This is Chris Cook. Chris is a conservative minded young man who came to our rally and is very active in documenting rallies and protests ranging from conservative, liberal, independent, to extremist, etc. He also writes for www.modernconservative.com and posts pictures or video of his documentary work there. I talked to Chris briefly at the Phoenix rally because like me, he was chasing down the Buffalo Soldiers to get a statement or some information on who they were. I wondered why Chris would be interested in them so I enquired as to why he was interested in talking to black conservatives in particular. Chris gave me some very interesting information about how the liberal politicians and the Democratic Party has historically manipulated the black population for its own gains. He sees the current system of social programs as a chain that limits blacks from reaching their highest potential and basically forces blacks that rely on welfare and Medicaid to believe that they are completely unable to compete with other races without the assist of these programs. This political ‘farming’ of blacks, he says, keeps the black population in poverty and voting Democratic automatically every election. I personally thought that most of his views deserved considerable merit and it’s not something you hear every day. Visit www.modernconservatives.com/newwideawakes/ and decide for yourself.

Finally, there was another car at this rally that was grabbing as much attention as the Marine Corps car that we saw in Fresno. This 2006 Chevrolet Corvette is owned by Lt. Col (Ret.) Pratt Ashworth. Pratt is a Vietnam-era vet who served in the United States Air Force for 22 years. During Vietnam Lt. Col Ashworth was a Forward Air Controller, basically meaning that he flew reconnaissance and close ground-support missions, low above the treetops of Vietnam just south-west of the DMZ. Pratt is very proud of his record of service which includes over 500 combat missions flown.

That’s going to wrap it up for me today, thank you all for continually sending us your love, your prayers and words of encouragement!