I am posting this to the Fresno page so that all the dates will stay in order.
Day Two - Los Angeles
Los Angeles was yesterday. I had no time to write about it. This trip is starting to get pretty taxing. We’re in Phoenix now, heading to Tucson. I have a lot of stuff to catch up on and write about. I can hardly even remember Los Angeles. Each day feels like three days before I started this. So LA is four days ago for me.
I do however, recall that Buzz’s family met us in Griffith Park and Buzz had to let the tour go without him because his Son’s birthday was the next day. Which is today! Wow.
Congratulations and a happy 5th birthday to Tanner. I am sorry for the poor showing of pictures and such, but we had to really rush through Los Angeles. I remember though, that Debbie Lee got a standing ovation from the crowd there. And she tells me that she remembers Diana’s performance as being very powerful at that rally.
I have to say I was really touched at this rally by all the words of encouragement and just making all of us feel so special. Everyone came up to talk to us individually so I feel like I got to meet everyone who came to the rally in Los Angeles. The shirts were going really well too, everyone seems to like them! Now that it’s a whole day later and I have not slept much, I really have a good basis talk about why I’m doing this.
I mean, why would anyone do something that requires them to work all day long, and sleep 3 or 4 hours a night? I find myself thinking about this and I think we all have something that keeps us fighting, and prevents us from getting low morale when something goes wrong, something breaks on the RV, or when we just get exhausted. For me, and I think most of us here it’s talking to the people who come to the rallies, because they have such appreciation for what we are doing not to mention enthusiasm. Everyone always wants to talk about their ideas for helping the soldiers and communicate our message. It fills my heart with so much joy just to know that not only do these people agree with me, but the wish they could be out here with us too. We here at Move America Forward wish that we could take everyone along with us to DC and make Gathering of Eagles a truly magnificent event that get on every paper, every magazine, every TV station and every other medium of communication that the left-of-center controls. Then there is no way the media could ignore the voice of Americans who do not want to see the lessons of Vietnam rear their ugly head once more.
I also remember there was a gentleman there, JD Wilcox, who was filming our rally as part of a documentary he was doing on Move America Forward and I think he was saying that he was nearing completion. I know he talked to Buzz for a long time and he also interviewed Diana. JD has worked on many projects that are out of the mainstream media and I think that’s really awesome.
Buzz describes some of the awful statements made by people his book “War Crimes” discusses
Deborah Johns, Diana Nagy, Debbie Lee
Diana moves many in the crowd to tears with her touching song “Where Freedom Flies”
The “Victory Blanket” as we affectionately call it has hundreds of signuatures from a dozen cities with messages of thanks and gratitude for the troops.
Day Two - Fresno
On the way from Modesto to Fresno we were escorted by Bob “Snake” Obra and Rob “Rat” Talbot, both Vietnam Vets and hardcore bikers. When I asked for their names they asked if I meant bike name or legal name. I wonder; which is used more often? Snake and Rat are members of the Warrior Brotherhood Veterans MC.
Okay sorry folks I don’t remember much about Modesto or Fresno anymore either.
One awesome thing I remember about the people in Fresno was their enthusiasm when we pulled up.
When I hopped out of the RV and ran around the front there were at least four people waiting to shake hands with me and one of the guys – sorry I forget your name, if you remember who you are e-mail and I’ll correct this – actually was strolling right up to the front and was the first to greet us. Everyone was going crazy it was really exciting!
I can tell you that the Fresno event was pretty standard issue as far as our speakers go. We had Deborah Johns MC and speak, Debbie Lee speaking and Buzz Patterson speaking again as well. Diana impressed everyone with her songs again, and I noticed a lot of people wanted her CD at this rally! And Diana was very happy to sign each one.
Buzz was signing books left and right as Diana signed her CD’s
Some interesting news, in addition to the usual news report where we have one camera off to the side just observing, Buzz actually had an interview with three reporters from Fox, ABC, and CBS.
The asked him all about the tour and what we were doing. Buzz gave them the run down. They asked what we hoped to accomplish and why we were doing the tour. Buzz told him they we are trying to raise public consciousness about the true goings on of the war and to raise public awareness that Iraq is part of the global war on terror. He also told them that we want people to understand the need to get behind General Patreus.
I will say that maybe this is an aspect of our trip which I feel we might be overlooking or not concentrating on enough. We talk a lot about the surge and how that has been helping to slowly change the tide, and that we should give the surge a chance to work. But I think people need to understand that the ‘surge’ was only part of the new strategy in Iraq. When General Patreus took over in Iraq his MAIN innovation in actually was not so much the 20,000 extra troops but a new strategy that focuses on counter-insurgency tactics.
This is important because the rhetoric of the Harry Reid , Murtha, and to some extent Tom DeLay (based on some of his comments) suggests that that 20,000 extra troops is just like throwing more money at a broken system. They draw an analogy to an issue like healthcare. The basic premise is that our healthcare system is “broken” and that each year congress proposes higher budgets and throws more money at the system, but that money gets wasted because of the systemic problem within. This is a very real problem. What this analogy leaves out however, is that General Patreus is a counter-insurgency expert.
Patreus’s new strategy for Iraq is both a surge in the troops and a NEW STRATEGY. It directly addresses the systemic problems that held a chokehold on the military’s previous operations. Patreus trained South Vietnamese in the 1960s and now he directing the training of Iraqi army and police in Iraq. He is an expert in counter insurgency because the Vietcong in South Vietnam WAS an insurgency. Patreus also TAUGHT counter-insurgency at Westpoint. This man ‘wrote the book’ on dealing with an internal insurgency as Buzz has related to me.
The reporters interviewing Buzz also asked what he expected Patreus’s report to say when it is delivered sometime before or on September 15th. Buzz said he expects to hear that the situation is radically improved and that we owe it to our troops and Iraqis to give it a shot.
On one last, lighter note one of the attendees at this Fresno rally had a VERY interesting vehicle which he proudly displayed for all the wide-eyed onlookers. We were all beginning to pack up at the conclusion of the rally and suddenly I hear the Battle Hymn of the Marine Corps…but where was it coming from. I turned around and here comes this wild looking car plastered with stickers and lettering. Its blasting out the Hymn and my brain starts working, dusting off old files way back, and finally I remember SOME of the words, as the hymnal comes to a close… “you will find us on the job, the United States MARINES!”
Deborah went wild. She thought that was so cool. And I simply had to agree. Staff Sergeant (RET) George Dillon, USMC, is the owner of this vehicle which proudly displays his love of the Marine Corps, his outfit (First Force Recon…the same outfit that Deborah’s son serves in today) and his involvement in local organizations such as American Legion and the Clovis Young Marines.
Next stop is Los Angeles…Let’s Roll !!(cheesy plug)
