Saturday, December 20, 2008
We can’t Gitmo - Satisfaction!!!

A message from our Chairman, Melanie Morgan:

OK. The secret’s out. I am headed to one of the most dreaded, brutal, bloody spots in the world – if you’re a liberal.
Gitmo. The word sends lefties running to the bong for another hit of weed to ease their misery. I’m looking forward to seeing with my own eyes the base where we cage beasts that want to cut our throats because we aren’t radical Muslims.
I have to admit – I also want to warm myself. Despite what Al Gore-ites say, we in Northern California haven’t experienced global warming. In fact, I have to crank up the heat – bless me Algore, for I have sinned – to defrost my bones in the morning.
Anyway, my nonprofit, Move America Forward, thought it was high-tim e to travel to Guantanamo Bay to thank our troops for their steadfast work with some of the most vicious beings to walk this earth (aside from Code Pink freaks I’ve met on the streets of Berkeley).
Over the past couple of weeks, MAF has traveled the country to hold rallies for our troops. Patriots have come out to the rallies and g one to our Website at www.moveamericaforward.org and sponsored care packages for our troops.
Yes, we actually love our troops and respect them for their work keeping us safe. We are also aware that the left in this country wants to close Gitmo.
Important safety tip to you whiney liberals: If you want to close Guantanamo Bay like your leader, Barack Obama, you need to make your home their home. That’s right. But make sure that you don’t offend them. Call them to prayer five times a day. Feed them culturally appropriate food. Give them prayer caps, prayer rugs and prayer beads and a brand new Koran. They’re used to all of these items, thanks to the dreaded Americans who run Gitmo.
But make sure to put away the kitchen knives, or you may wake up in the morning without your head.
Tune in later when I give you the lowdown on club Gitmo. I plan to eat well, relax, and kick back in the 80-degree weather after some afternoon waterboarding!!
Mostly, though, I’m going to thank our troops for keeping us safe from the real live monsters that are foaming at the mouth to get at us.

Thursday, December 18, 2008
TWO Navy SEAL moms together in Houston

Our rally in Houston, TX was also at another Wal-Mart. Our tour is structured so that we started out with some VFWs and American legion type halls, with a big chunk of Wal-Marts in the middle and finishing it off with a couple more non-Wal-Mart locations.

George Carson from Families United was there and taking pictures. He was telling Debbie Lee that they are working on another event for Texas coming up soon and that he is also looking forward to going BACK to Iraq to work again as a contractor.

 

 

 

 

 

We also had Sharon Burns, another Navy SEAL mom and her friend Tonie Ruddick who both live in Victoria, TX so they drove a little ways to get to our rally. Debbie Lee met Sharon Burn’s son Jared at a SEAL function, a funeral actually, I believe, and has kept in touch ever since. Debbie was extremely excited to finally meet Mrs. Burns finally and talk about what it’s like to have a Navy SEAL in the family, where you often don’t know where they are deployed or how dangerous the mission is.

 

 

 

 

We also met William Myers who lives in there in Houston and was just coming up to buy some fish for he and his wife to have dinner when he saw our rally. Myers told me that he is a Gulf War vet who served in Kuwait and Iraq during the first Gulf War. He recalled that he spent almost 6 months in Iraq both during the ground war and in the months after where he managed supply lines and humanitarian aid in the northern regions of Iraq controlled by the Kurds. I talked to him about some of the work we had done with the Kurdistan Regional Government and he was very well versed in the situation In in Kurdish Iraq.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Shivering cold in Austin is warmed by our spirits!

Our rally in Austin took place pretty late in the day, 5:00 actually. That doesn’t normally seem like a late time for a rally but being that it’s winter time now we run short of daylight around that time. But, lucky for us, we were holding this rally at a Wal-Mart and we were graciously allowed to park between the two entrances and have the lights shining down upon us.

We had a great turnout from Austin Republican Women and the Austin chapter of Soldier’s Angels. One thing I always love about Republican Women’s Clubs…they always love things like T-Shirts, CDs, and of course, Candy Diplomacy Tins!


Also it was really nice just to be back in Austin again. I missed it quite a bit actually, since I moved away from here in 2006 after I graduated from school, I have not really been back since. MAF has driven through Austin several times on tours, but we have never made a stop in the city that I still hold close to my heart. I forgot how cold it got though! In fact we were all freezing our butts off while Debbie Lee talked about Marc’s story and while Diana was singing her beautiful songs.


Since we are doing some Wal-Mart stops this tour, one of the factors that we don’t normally get when we do these rallies are the “passerby factor”. Interestingly, we have met SO MANY interesting supporters who have never heard of MAF but were just coming to Wal-Mart to get some groceries or an Xbox 360 and just happened to stumble upon a MAF pro-troop rally.


Hermania Price was coming to get a new ring. Her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Mark D. Price is in Iraq serving in the Army today. They married just over two years ago and Hermania has moved them into a new house so when Mark comes back home from Iraq, he will be coming home to a new house full of home projects and things to fix!


Hermania had Debbie Lee and the whole crowd huddled around her in the cold as she told us why she happened to be coming in to this Wal-Mart and why she thought it had to be God’s will. She actually got a call from Mark in Iraq who was hysterical and upset because he had been standing up on a pile of rubble in Iraq when his ring just fell off and became completely lost in the pile. He was so upset he wanted her to run out and buy a new ring and get it out in the mail and back to him immediately!

So Hermania being such a good wife rushed out to Wal-Mart and there was MAF! It is interesting how she attributed this meeting to God’s divine providence because her husband is not religious while she herself is Catholic, but since he had been deployed to Katrina last year, Mark has been reconsidering his beliefs. Well we wish the best for Mark in Iraq and of course his loving wife Hermania here in Austin. We pray for God to watch over Mark and all of our brave troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A little more about San Antonio

Just as a little supplement to the previous post I wanted to mention really quickly Nancy Ayala and Melissa Doyle who are a couple other attendees to the San Antonio rally who have a great story to tell for all our pro-troop readers.

Nancy Ayala is the wife of Pedro Ayala who, at 37 years old, has been in the army for 8 years. He is a patient recovering at the Brook Army Medical Center. He and his wife Nancy live at the Fisher House here in San Antonio while Pedro visits Brook Army Medical Center frequently for his serious affliction of seizures. Pedro suffered severe nerve damage when he was shot in the head during a firefight in Iraq where he served as well as in Afghanistan. The bullet grazed Pedro’s head and he suffered severe trauma. He has all but recovered except for the sudden, unexpected and immobilizing seizures he still often suffers from.

Nancy comes from New York City, where she grew up in Manhattan, and where her brother served as a police officer in the NYPD. Her brother was actually on duty on the day that terrorists attacked the World Trade Center towers on September 11th, 2001 and he was part of the first teams rescuing people and cleaning up the tragic scene. She says that her brothers is still permanently shaken by the carnage of that day and we are thankful for his service and for her husband Pedro’s service and sacrifice for this nation.

 

Melissa Doyle is originally from Arkansas and her husband Richard has been in the army for 7 ½ years. Richard is 28 years old and has served one tour of duty in Iraq, where he was stationed at Camp Liberty. One day the HMMWV he was driving was hit by an IED, not directly, but enough to roll the vehicle which cost Richard his leg. He is now recovering at CFI, Melissa told me, which stands for Center for the Intrepid and houses some of the worst injuries of any soldiers sustained in the war. Perhaps only Walter Reed in Washington D.C. houses more desperately injured soldiers than CFI. CFI covers many of the worst burn victims and amputees that result from combat in the War on Terror.

Luckily both Melissa and Nancy are confident that their husbands are going to make full recoveries, and speedy ones at that, but the months ticking by are difficult. In the meantime Melissa and Nancy both volunteer for Fisher House which provides temporary housing for military families and veterans who are seeking medical attention at nearby military hospitals, in this case BAMC and CFI. Their volunteer work there includes outreach for military families.

I personally have to just sit back and admire for a second the difficulty that the families have to go through when their loved ones are serving. So many of our supporters our there are part of Move America Forward BECAUSE they are Blue Star or Gold Stars or because they have a nephew, niece, brother or sister, boyfriend or girlfriend, some type of relation in the service. We do as much as we can for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan but the families have it just as tough, and while there are so many support groups out there for families, a lot of those groups are started, supported and run by – of course – military families. It’s just another testament to the inner strength and the discipline that goes beyond just the soldier, marine, sailor or airman…it’s the support group behind them.

 

Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The HEART-land of Texas

Welcome to my first blog post for the second annual "Honoring Heroes at the Holidays" tour.

Today was a momentous day in Texas. We departed El Paso this morning at about 0900 CST and made our way across Western Texas tracking the I-10 Eastbound toward San Antonio. While en route this morning, Debbie Lee received an interview request from Fox News Channel for a special segment on "Your World: with Neil Cavuto." We agreed to have a car service pickup Debbie from the Wal-Mart in San Antonio at about 1440 this afternoon. Arriving in San Antonio at roughly 1334 local time we had about a half hour to setup at the Wal-Mart on Austin Highway. Once again management was kind enough to let us park the big red bus on the sidewalk in between the two store entrances.

Immediately we were greeted by several members of the media: KTSA 5500 radio, KENS CBS Channel 5, KABB Fox Channel 29, and of course our friends at Univision too. While Debbie Lee gave a heartwarming recount of the altruistic actions of her hero and son, I had a nice interview with Alicia from KTSA 5500. As you may know, Debbie Lee is a Gold Star Mom whose son, Marc Alan Lee, was the first Navy SEAL to lay down his life for freedom in Iraq.

This young man made the ultimate sacrifice when he turned into the direct line of enemy fire in order to protect his fellow SEALs and provide cover fire. After successfully aiding his teammates reach their destination, Marc eventually succumbed to a deadly sniper shot. The base in Ramadi was soon named Camp Marc Lee in honor of his heroics.

You really must hear the entire story directly from Marc's mom, Debbie- if you haven't already. Debbie is a consummate speaker but she also speaks from the heart and reveals a very human look into life, love, sacrifice and death. Debbie's recitation of what the true definition of a hero is really gives one pause to consider their role models in life and no doubt aspire to take life to more exalted levels.

As Debbie wrapped up her hero's tale, the Fox News Town Car arrived. As she departed in the black limousine with tinted windows, we waved a temporary farewell to Debbie until our rendezvous in Austin later today. Then we were greeted by the voice of an angel as Diana Nagy performed her hit song, "Where Freedom Flies,” which she co-wrote with her mother in honor of our troops and their constant defense of our country and freedom. Diana also sang the National Anthem and God Bless America. I think anyone who has the privilege to listen Diana sing this precious song while watching our beautiful stars and stripes flutter in the winds of freedom would be hard pressed to hold back the tears- tears that overcome you when we realize that you are insignificant but for the fact that an altruistic and benevolent Creator equipped a small percentage of Americans like Marc with the courage to lay down their lives in order to defend our freedom and preserve our way of life.

That's what it means to me when I look at our flag fly free and proud over the land I love dearly. Marc's selfless sacrifice and pure bravery, along with all those who gave their lives before and after him, represents a price which has been paid in full for us to exercise the freedoms we enjoy in America today- freedoms that people in other countries die in pursuit of everyday yet never fully attain.

During the rally in San Antonio, I had the opportunity to interact with many other American patriots in the crowd. I met a lovely woman, Gale Sayers, who just exuded a certain kind of warmth which cut sharply right through the crisp winter air of San Antonio. Gale was accompanied by her daughter who stood in the crowd embracing a friend while Debbie spoke and Diana sang. I had a chance to interact with a lot of patriotic supporters today but Gale just continued to warm my heart with a quiet radiance. Gale told me about a close friend of hers who is currently deployed in Iraq, West Point graduate and US Army Captain Morgan Brown. It is so important for us to recognize the REAL heroes in life; young men like Captain Morgan and Petty Officer Second Class Marc Lee, who willingly give themselves up so that others may reap the rewards of their hard work.








Another person I choose to salute is a man named William. I met William today at the rally as he approached me with a wrinkled smile asking about getting a Move America Forward sweatshirt. At first glance, it was easy to assume that William might be homeless and looking for freebies because of his salty exterior and haggard appearance. However, William was NOT a bum. As I handed him a sweatshirt with all intentions of just giving it to him- he immediately handed over a very generous donation and asked that we continue to take care of his brothers who serve. William announced that he had been back from Vietnam for thirty years now. I saw how proudly he sported his Vietnam Veteran's cap and I not only thanked him for his service to our country but I welcomed him back home.

Every single moment of every single day of this tour is a priceless moment never to be forgotten. You meet not just folks who have served and who are currently serving, but you also meet moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, coworkers and neighbors who have a piece of their heart which has been sacrificed as well. We must remember this Christmas Holiday Season that everyone who is serving overseas leaves behind many people who pray for their safe return; not failing to mention the many who will be forced to wait longer for their reunions than others.

The boys and girls who serve this country become men and women quicker than you can imagine. They serve because they love all of us- so that even people they don't know can exercise their God-given freedoms back home. Please continue to support America's bravest by sending them care packages this Christmas. When these mighty warriors receive this little piece of home they are truly touched. Write them a personalized message and let them know that you love and appreciate them- they are strong warriors with big hearts who believe in their mission and are willing to lay their life down so that others may live a better one.

Until next time... (stay tuned for Danny G's recap of the rally in Austin this evening)