Fallen Soldier Bike

Unseen future

2009-05-01T10:16:00.002-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A lot has happened since the war began. We still deploy on a rapid cycle. Always training, always preparing for the next call to leave families behind and spend another 12 to 18 months in a place that has become our home away from home. The relationships we build amoungst ourselves in the thick of battle is an indistructable bond. So much has happened. So much has been gained. So much has been lost. This was another battle provoked by tyrants that think freedom is a joke.

I am honored and humbled to have been an important part in defending our freedoms and the American way of life. The Fallen Soldier bike is a symbol for all to see that people do care and choose to remember. Todays economy makes it even harder to raise the funds to complete this project. I am thankful for all who have donated to the Soldier's Angels and the Fallen Soldier Bike project.

I am stepping down. The project will continue. I have been through many things that haunt me and scare me. I have done my part. It has been hard. I am going to leave the military. I am going to go home. I will survive the best I can and in the end I hope it is enough for my children. I hope they learn to be proud of their father. It is time for me to go. I will forever remember the soldiers I have served with. I will never forget those I have lost. I am thankful for the friends that have supported me. Bless all of you and may all your lives be filled with the hopes and joys you so rightly deserve. This is Sketch saying goodbye for the last time. God Bless America.

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T12:21:00.004-05:00

The Things They Carried

They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP-rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks. They carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets, and steel pots. They carried the M-16 assault rifle. They carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine guns, the M-70 grenade launcher, M-14's, CR-15s, Stoners, Swedish K's, 66 mm Laws, shotguns, 45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence. They carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes.

Some carried napalm, CBU's, and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damages. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive.

They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworms, and leaches. They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots. They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones real and imagined. They carried love for people in the real world, and love for one another. And sometimes they disguised that love: "Don't mean nothin'!"

They carried memories!

For the most part, they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity. Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed, or wanted to, but couldn't; when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said, "Dear God," and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly, and cringed and begged for the noise to stop, and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die. They carried the traditions of the United States military, and memories and images of those who served before them. They carried grief, terror, longing, and their reputations.

They carried the soldier's greatest fear, the embarrassment of dishonor. They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced or flew into fire, so as not to die of embarrassment.

They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it. They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment. They carried the weight of the world, and the weight of every free citizen of America .

THEY CARRIED EACH OTHER.

Sent by Major Ross W., via Seamus

Graphics by Doc

Remembering PFC Gunnar Becker

2008-05-26T12:20:00.000-05:00

On Memorial Day, I always pause to remember PFC. Gunnar Becker, who was killed in Iraq in January, 2005.

You can learn more about Gunnar here, here, here, and here.

And if you have a moment today, please stop by and let Debey - Gunnar's Mom - know we will never forget.

We are soldiers.
We are soldiers in the United States Army.
We are trained to be all we can be.

We fight for the freedom of many citizens of the United States.
We are all ready to meet our fates.

We all volunteer to defend the red, white and blue.
Not only the flag, but for the citizens of our great country too.

Since our country's birth for all these years,
we have been trained to be the best on Earth.

Many times we have went to war.
We will be involved in many more.

Generation by generation soldiers continue to enlist.
Some of us will go to war and definitely be missed.

Some soldiers will return and some won't.
Those who do not, we won't forget and we hope you don't.

Many of us are going to Iraq.
Some of us won't be coming back.

We have loved ones we are leaving behind.
They will always be in our prayers, hearts and mind.

If we don't make it home safely at the end of the war,
just remember we died defending the beliefs of those of many more.

-- PFC Gunnar Becker, November, 23, 2003

New Names Etched Into Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

2008-05-07T22:39:00.003-05:00

Visitors pay tribute to the wall’s 58,260 etched names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which bear testament to the ultimate sacrifice made by U.S. troops. Defense Dept. photo by Sebastian J. Sciotti, Jr.

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2008 – The names of four U.S. servicemembers were etched into the glossy black walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this week alongside more than 58,000 of their fallen comrades.

Finishing the addition today was the name of Raymond C. Mason, a Marine lance corporal who died a year ago as a result of ailing health stemming from a bullet wound that paralyzed him in February 1968 during the Tet Offensive.

In a ceremony at the wall here, Mason’s widow, Priscilla Mason, watched as an engraver inched a sandblaster over the Marine’s stenciled name with surgeonlike precision.

Priscilla got on bended knee, held a sheet of paper up to the bright, new inscription, and rubbed a crayon in diagonal strokes until “RAYMOND C MASON” was embossed against the white paper. She said she plans to have the outline tattooed onto her skin, and she has promised to make dozens of rubbings for friends back home in Riverside, R.I., when she returns here on Memorial Day.

“This is wonderful. He’s finally home,” she said when asked how she felt upon seeing the finished product on Panel 41E, Line 64 of the memorial.

The names of Richard M. Goosens, a Marine lance corporal, and Dennis O. Hargrove and Darrell J. Naylor, both Army specialists fourth class, were inscribed here yesterday. The Defense Department determined that their deaths, which occurred years after the end of U.S. operations in Vietnam, resulted from wounds suffered in a combat zone there.

The wall’s 58,260 etched names bear testament to the ultimate sacrifice paid by those U.S. troops, said R. James Nicholson, former secretary of Veterans Affairs.

“It’s also a tangible expression of the gratitude of the American people for those who served and died there,” he said in an interview today. “The hope is that more and more Americans will learn and grow to appreciate the sacrifice and the price that was paid to perpetuate our freedom.”

Designed by architect Maya Lin and built in 1982, the memorial consists of two black walls sunken into the ground, with a rolling mound of earth behind it sloping toward a heavily trafficked street.

“It was Maya’s vision for the memorial that it appear as a rift in the earth,” said J.C. Cummings, architect of record for the memorial. “At the same time, the wall serves a practical purpose of separating the visitor from the noise and the traffic of Constitution Avenue and the noise of the city.”

As a result, the architecture creates a quiet and contemplative atmosphere, he said, a design that allows visitors to have a respectful experience.

Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, said adding the names this week completes the healing process for surviving friends and family members. The additions also reflect America’s solidarity with its servicemembers of past and present, he said.

“When you join the service, you can feel comfortable that the service is going to stand behind you,” Scruggs said in an interview today. “Especially the people who are serving today in Iraq and Afghanistan in combat, they need to know that we’re behind them and we appreciate what they’re doing.”

Related Sites:
Vietnam Veterans Memorial

More Photos

Bush Marks 25th Anniversary of Terror Attack on U.S. Embassy in Beirut

2008-04-18T22:05:00.001-05:00

From DefenseLink:

President and Nancy Reagan file by the flag-draped caskets of victims of the April 18, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in an April 23, 1983 file photo. Photo courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2008 – Twenty-five years after terrorists detonated a massive car bomb, killing 52 people at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, President Bush urged unity in condemning terrorism he said continues to threaten the United States.

The Islamic Jihad Organization, today known as the terrorist group Hizballah, launched the April 18, 1983, attack that left 17 Americans and 35 Lebanese citizens dead. Those killed included Marine Cpl. Robert V. McMaugh, an embassy guard, and Army trainers Sgt. 1st Class Richard Twine, Staff Sgt. Ben H. Maxwell and Staff Sgt. Mark E. Salazar.

Employees of the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development and members of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Middle East contingent were also killed.

President Ronald Reagan quickly denounced the “vicious terrorist bombing” as a “cowardly act” that would not deter U.S. goals of peace in the region.

Bush marked the anniversary of the Beirut embassy bombing in a statement released yesterday remembering those killed and honoring the sacrifice of their family and friends and those wounded in the attack. He called the anniversary “a timely reminder of the danger U.S. diplomats, military personnel and locally employed staff bear in their service to the the United States.”

“Since the Beirut attack, we and citizens of many countries have suffered more attacks at the hands of Hizballah and other terrorists, backed by the regimes in Tehran and Damascus, which use terror and violence against innocent civilians,” Bush said. “All nations should condemn such brutal attacks and recognize that the purposeful targeting of civilians is immoral and unjustifiable.”

The bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack the United States had ever faced in its history, although more attacks were to follow.

The Beirut embassy bombing opened a new chapter in attacks against Americans overseas. Six months later, on Oct. 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck barracks in Beirut that houses U.S. and French members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon. The attacks, which occurred 20 seconds apart, killed 241 U.S. Marines, as well as 58 French servicemen and six civilians.

Other embassy attacks were to follow: in 1998 on the embassies in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania; and Nairobi, Kenya; and in 2002 on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

Bush noted that the people of Lebanon have remained resilient despite living the better part of three decades living under the threat of violence, assassinations and other forms of intimidation.

“They and their leaders continue to work for a peaceful and democratic future, even as Syria, Iran, and their Lebanese proxies seek to undermine Lebanese democracy and institutions,” he said.

“The United States will continue to stand with the Lebanese people and their government as they struggle to preserve their sovereignty and independence, seek to bring justice to victims of terrorism and political violence, and seek election of a president committed to those values,” Bush said.

Related Sites:
White House Statement

Fallen Soldier’s Family Continues Mission of Love for Iraqi Children

2008-04-02T07:01:00.002-05:00

From Multi-National Force - Iraq:

Calif., native 1st Lt. Casey Zimmerman of Company C, 3rdBattalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, hands out footballs at a school in Mullah Fayad March 27. All the items were donated by the family and community of Sgt. Nathan Barnes, who served in the area and was killed in Rushdi Mullah July 17. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Tony M. Lindback, 3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div.

Tuesday, 01 April 2008
By Staff Sgt. Tony M. Lindback
3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div. (AASLT)

PATROL BASE YUSIFIYAH — Whoever said violence begets more violence never met the family of Sgt. Nathan Barnes.

American Fork, Utah, native Sgt. Nathan Barnes, a Soldier with 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, was killed in Rushdi Mullah, Iraq, when his unit came under attack by small-arms fire July 17.

Rather than hold bitterness toward the people of a foreign land where their son died, Barnes’ family is embracing them. Barnes often sent home photos of children in the areas he served. His father, Kevin, said Nathan truly loved the Iraqi children.

Nathan’s love for those children inspired his father and other residents of American Fork to collect enough donated items to fill a 40-foot shipping container. Sewing machines, book bags, newborn kits, personal hygiene items, food, toys, children and women’s clothing, school supplies and even wheelchairs were donated to residents in and around Rushdi Mullah and Yusifiyah, places Barnes did most of his service in Iraq.

Rushdi Mullah, where Barnes was killed, is one of the communities now supported by Rakkasan Soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). The Rakkasans took on the task of distributing the items once the shipping container arrived in Iraq.

Company C, 3-187th Inf. Regt., distributed some of the gifts at a school in Mullah Fayad, an impoverished Yusifiyah community.

Santa Barbara, Calif., native 1st Lt. Casey Zimmerman, who helped hand out the donations at the school, wanted everyone to know the source of the aid.

“I made a point at the beginning to convey who Nathan Barnes was, how he died, and what kind of loving family and country he belonged to,” Zimmerman said. “I bet we saw over 1,500 men, women, and children – mostly children.”

The generosity of the Barnes family and the American Fork community led to a similar address in Rushdi Mullah by Brig. Gen. Ali Jassim Muhammad Hassen Al Frejee, commander of the 25th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division.

“A Soldier who came from thousands of miles away and was killed here – his family spends money to rebuild this area,” Ali said. “We have to respect that.”

Capt. Clifford Kazmarek, commander of Company B, 3-187th Inf. Regt., said the experience was remarkable and humbling.

“I have just the greatest amount of respect for that family for doing this, and I know that the people here truly appreciate it,” Kazmarek said.

The citizens received most items with a smile and without hesitation. But there was one gift that had many children puzzled.

“The Frisbee befuddled them,” said Pittsburgh native Capt. Michael Starz, commander of Co. C, 3-187th Inf. Regt. “They didn’t quite grasp the concept. They thought it was a serving plate so we had to engage with the kids for a few throws until they got the idea. In the end, though, they still said, ‘Where’s the football?’”

There were many footballs – soccer balls to Americans – handed out as well.

Thousands of Iraqis from Rushdi Mullah and Mullah Fayad benefited from the generosity.

“I never imagined a family – American or otherwise – could provide unmitigated charity to the people of a foreign town in which their son was killed,” Zimmerman said. “The Barnes family and those who have contributed to their noble foundation are true testaments to America's values.”

Missing No More

2008-03-30T23:38:00.002-05:00

For four years, the family of Sgt. Keith Matthew "Matt" Maupin has waited for word of his whereabouts. Tonight, they have an answer.

Sgt. Keith Matthew "Matt" Maupin has been found.

This afternoon, his family was informed that remains discovered in Iraq had been positively identified as Sgt. Maupin's, bringing to a sad end a story that began almost exactly four years ago. He was captured April 9, 2004, when his fuel convoy was ambushed in Iraq. Al Jazeera later aired footage that showed him surrounded by now all-too-familiar black hooded thugs. A second tape purported to show his execution, but the footage was of poor quality and only showed the back of his head. No actual shooting was shown, and his family was left to wonder - and to hope.

The waiting is over for them, and I can only hope that they are able to find some small measure of peace in being able to bring him home.

Read more here.

2007-12-25T07:34:00.000-05:00

To read messagess from Soldiers' Angels and others to our Heroes, go here.

Great News!!!

2007-12-18T21:59:00.000-05:00

Welcome

Home

Sketch!!!

Sketch is home, safe and sound - what a great Christmas present!!

Sketch, thank you for everything you do for all of us,
and thanks to your family, too.

Please feel free to leave your message for Sketch
in the comments section.

2007-11-22T10:02:00.000-05:00

Military graphic by Doc

2007-11-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

2007-10-22T20:40:00.001-05:00

Lt. Michael P. Murphy, USN
Navy SEAL
Posthumous Medal of Honor Recipient

Click picture above to learn more

Saying Goodbye in Brookfield...

2007-07-16T12:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning was beautiful. A little cool, sunny, with a slight breeze. I left my house at eight a.m. to make sure I was there early. It was a great day for a motorcycle ride, but this wasn't an ordinary ride.

I was going to help bid farewell to a Hero.

Jason Dale Lewis' funeral was Saturday morning in the town I grew up in. It was the first ride I was able to make with the PGR since joining, due to my work schedule. This one I had decided to be there for, no matter what.

When I arrived, the parking lot was already busy. Among those there, there were police, Navy pall bearers, and a pair that made my throat catch - a Marine with a riderless horse.

I was directed to where the Patriot Guard Riders were gathering, with a "thank you for coming."

When I arrived, an hour before the scheduled meeting time, there were already a few Riders there. I got help to rig my flag to the back of my motorcycle (duct tape and zip ties work wonders), and watched as the parking lot began to fill.

The final count was more than seventy motorcycles.

The bikes to my left - two rows deep.

The bikes to my right, also two rows deep.

As we waited there, people began to wander over, one or two at a time, to look at the motorcycles, and to talk to us. Some were Jason's family. His aunt stopped by, stopping to thank us for being there. I was stunned by that, and by several other thank yous we got that day. To be thanked by a Fallen Hero's family was humbling. After what Jason and his family had given, riding down didn't really seem like something worthy of thanks. It seemed to be so miniscule, and yet here they were, telling us how much it meant to have us there. Simply unbelievable.

The PGR takes their missions very seriously. Before heading over to form the flag line, we were briefed on what was going to take place, and on the conduct expected of us during the day.

As we got closer to the service, we were ordered to form a flag line outside the church. Several people came out to speak with us, including one governmental figure who shook hands with the entire flag line, thanking us for coming. I have to say, I thought that was pretty classy.

Some saw all the flags and cried, telling us how beautiful they looked. A man in a wheelchair saluted as he went by - I was told it was Jason's grandfather.

And then the Navy pallbearers stopped by to say thank you. It was another jaw-dropper for me.

Standing there, watching people file in, amid a line comprised largely of veterans, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of what I was doing. I watched the Navy pallbearers as they moved around the parking lot, and in and out of the church. They met the hearse when it pulled up.

When the service had started, we broke down the flag line, and headed to our motorcycles to prepare for the ride to the cemetary. The general route was one I'd travelled countless times when I lived in Brookfield and the next town over. But I'd never travelled it like this.

We rode out two abreast, under a flag draped from two fire trucks - the New Milford and Brookfield fire departments had come to pay their respects. There is video of the flag, and of the PGR, here and here.

People stood with flags here and there along the route. The local and state police did an excellent job with the escort, closing our route and allowing us to get to the New Milford cemetary without incident.

In the cemetary, people had come to stand along the route, too, holding flags and standing quietly along the drive. We waited until the procession entered the cemetary, and then formed a flag line around the service.

I'd never seen full military honors before, other than as portrayed on T.V. A number of Navy personnel were in attendance in addition to the pallbearers, and the lone Marine with the riderless horse was there, too. It is a somber, moving thing to see them. The professionalism and care with which they performed their duties is simply stunning. They moved Jason's flag-draped coffin gently into place as the service started.

There was the twenty-one gun salute, and the profoundly moving sound of Taps being played. Then the folding of the flag, and the presentation of that flag to Jason's wife. Tears flowed along the flag line, and among those in attendance.

A couple of times, as the minister spoke, the light wind would catch the flags and have them waving. One of those was just at the moment that he said the service was concluded.

And then came the moment when Jason's wife stopped at the flag line, and embraced one of the PGR members.

We were dismissed shortly after that, and I began the ride home still stunned by it all.

It's hard for me to explain the magnitude of the day. When a loved one is lost, the grief can be overwhelming. When a Hero is lost, it's not just one family that grieves. It's a community, a state, a nation.

The reality of the cost of war was never so tangible, so real, as that sunny Saturday when I stood among my fellow Patriot Guard Riders, to hopefully shoulder a little of the grief that Petty Officer Jason Dale Lewis' family was feeling.

The men and women who go to war know that they can become one of the fallen, carried in a flag-draped coffin as their family grieves. They know that they could lose their lives in a land far away

And still they go. For their families, for their friends, for strangers.

It was an honor to be able to help say farewell to one of them, and an experience that I will never forget. Though I wish I did not have to be called to do so again, I will be proud to stand with my fellow Patriot Guard Riders should the need arise.

Rest in Peace and Godspeed, Petty Officer Lewis, and thank you.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Thank you to Soldiers' Angels Richard and Adele for coming to the service.

In Honor of SGT Michael Stokely

2007-07-13T05:19:00.000-05:00

I have had the honor of meeting Mr. Robert Stokely, the father of a Fallen Hero. He is an amazing man, who has worked tirelessly to honor his son's sacrifice.

********************************************

1ST ANNUAL
“RIDE TO REMEMBER…”

SGT Michael James Stokely
US Army E Troop 108th Cavalry 48th BCT
GEORGIA ARMY National Guard
KIA 8/16/05 – Yusufiyah, Iraq

Saturday, August 25th, 2007

Law Enforcement Escorted Ride
(Cars and Motorcycles Welcome!)

Starting at First Baptist Church of Peachtree City (208 Willow Bend Road/behind City Hall)

AND THE ROUTE WILL INCLUDE THE SGT MIKE STOKELY MEMORIAL HIGHWAY IN SHARPSBURG, GA

Ending at Jackson-Pless National Guard Armory on Armory Road by Newnan High School/Newnan, GA

Family fun, games, entertainment, BBQ, door prizes, auction and

Grand Prize Raffle – a Motorcycle!

Pre-registration urged but can register onsite beginning at 8:00 a.m. We will Roll-off at 10:00 a.m.

This is a ‘sponsor’ ride with a goal of a minimum of $25 per bike/car

For each $250 in sponsorship donations – Free raffle ticket for the Grand Prize

Additional Tickets for the Motorcycle Raffle - $50

LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE COMING SO WE CAN HAVE PLENTY OF FOOD

One free meal ticket with each $25.00 sponsorship donation

Don’t want to ride? Come to the BBQ – plates available for $10.00 each

Children under 12 / hot dog plate - $5.00 each

Make checks payable to “The Mike Stokely Foundation”

Proceeds will help establish a scholarship in Mike’s name at his college

Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, GA - $25,000 challenge goal

For more information contact: Robert Stokely at rrmwastokely-AT-aol.com

WEBSITE: http://www.mikestokely.com/

100 Fountainhead Way, Sharpsburg, GA 30277

678-416-1387

The Mike Stokely Foundation, Inc. is registered and in good standing with the Georgia Secretary of State as a non-profit corporation and is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (3)(c) charitable organization.

When War Hits Close to Home...

2007-07-09T21:37:00.000-05:00

Brookfield, CT is a not-so-small, not-so-big town near Danbury, in Fairfield county. When I grew up there, Hoffman's chicken farm was the biggest building on my end of Route 7, and it took you about ten minutes to get from the house I grew up in to the only movie theater in town - right next to John's Best Pizza. Hoffman's chicken farm is long gone, replaced with self storage centers and industrial buildings.

The farm where I first took horseback riding lessons is now the site of the town hall. The field we used to walk through in my neighborhood to get to the local fishing and swimming pond now is filled with a new housing development.

When I grew up there, Brookfield was a lot smaller - or seemed it. It was a place where you pretty much knew everyone in your grade in school; where people still left their doors unlocked at night, and no one locked their cars in their driveways. Brookfield is the place where I learned to ride a bike - where I got my first kiss - where I learned to drive a car - where I got my first job.

It was a nice place to grow up. It's still a pretty nice town, even if it now takes you almost a half an hour to make the trip to that movie theater, thanks to a wealth of new strip malls and stop lights.

Jason Dale Lewis grew up there.

Brookfield is still listed as his hometown:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 840-07July 07, 2007

DoD Identifies Navy Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three sailors who were
supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died July 6 as a result of enemy action
while conducting combat operations in the vicinity of Baghdad, Iraq. The three
sailors were assigned to an East Coast-based SEAL team.

Killed were:
Petty Officer First Class Jason Dale Lewis, 30, of Brookfield, Conn.,

Petty Officer First Class Robert Richard McRill, 42, of Lake Placid, Fla.,

Petty Officer First Class Steven Phillip Daugherty, 28, of Barstow, Calif.

For further information related to this release, contact Naval Special Warfare Group Two Public Affairs at 757-462-2282.

I didn't know him. But I know his hometown well. I know the places where he and his friends probably hung out after school and on the weekends. I know the halls of the schools where he once walked. I know the roads he probably drove down too fast because of the great curves and "whoop-dee-doos" you got if you went just the right speed.

I know the pond he probably went skating on as a kid.

I asked my sister if she knew him. He was her age. She did.

"I wasn't friends with him but you know how in Brookfield you pretty much know everyone - he was a nice kid. I feel bad for his wife and kids, I was surprised to read that he had 3, they must be young."

This one hits close to home. Each day as I see the names, it affects me. But somehow this one is particularly strong. I remember my mother talking about when someone she went to school with was lost in Vietnam. Even if you're not close to them, seeing a familiar town on a casualty list reminds you that the people fighting this war are not just Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, or Sailors. They're sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers, sisters, friends. They are ours. They are your paperboy, the kid who used to sell lemonade down the street, the little girl who fell off her bike in front of your house. They are your UPS guy, your brother's old girlfriend...or a 'nice kid,' who went to school with your sister.

One of the dangers as a war goes on is that it becomes less real, less personal. No matter what your belief about why we went, a few years into it, less and less people watch the news. Less and less people look up at the TV in the local watering hole when pictures of Soldiers flash across the screen.

Remember the first few names? The way that every single loss seemed incredibly important? And now, you hear the news reports, and it's just "in Iraq today, 4 US Soldiers were killed, bringing the total to..." The four get lost in the total. Just numbers.

But Jason wasn't a number. None of them are. Heroes to me, they're even more than that to those they leave behind. Hell, to them, they'd be heroes if they never went to war. They're Mom, or Dad, or a best friend...or a nice kid from Brookfield, CT.

Jason Dale Lewis died in Iraq on July 6. He leaves behind three kids, a wife, family, and friends. And he reminded me that every single loss hits close to home somewhere.

So tonight, please raise a glass, say a prayer, or pause a moment, for a nice kid from a nice town in Connecticut, who died in service to his country.

UPDATE: I am collecting condolence cards for Jason's family. If you would like to send one, please email me at fallensoldierbike-AT-sbcglobal.net for the address to get them to me.

Two Hundred and Thirty-One Years Ago Today...

2007-07-04T09:22:00.000-05:00

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

************************************************

Thanks to those who still step forward to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to keep us free.

************************************************

Images courtesy of:
Navyjack.info
The Flagpole

Connecticut Mourns...

2007-06-11T08:29:00.000-05:00

My home state passed a law this week - and fast-tracked it in order to ensure that a local Hero would be honored without the disruption of Westboro Baptist Church. The nitwits from Westboro were a no-show, thank goodness. The PGR was present to honor 1st Lt. Keith Heidman, and my state showed that it can come together to pay tribute to its Heroes, and to ensure that they are honored in the manner they deserve:

NORWICH, Conn. -- Connecticut mourned U.S. Army 1st Lt. Keith Heidtman on Friday after his helicopter was shot down in Iraq on Memorial Day.

The 24-year-old's funeral began at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick's Cathedral after crews set up flags around the cathedral and police closed streets. Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Jessica Schneider reported mourners left the cathedral shortly before noon. The ceremony lasted for about an hour and a half.

Full Story

Memorial Day 2007

2007-05-28T12:43:00.001-05:00

Click the picture above to view the USAF's Memorial Day video

Click to go to the US Army's "Season of Remembrance" website

And Click here to view Where Valor Rests - a US Army slideshow

The US Navy's CNO talks about Memorial Day

Parents dedicate Marine's Medal of Honor to all service members

(Cpl. Jason Dunham, USMC)

More Memorial Day Links:
Hard Lessons on Memorial Day
PHOTO ESSAY: Somber Memorial Day
Bush to Pay Tribute at Arlington Cemetery
Military.com Op-Ed: Misusing Memorial Day
Military.com: Visit a Military Cemetery Near You
Military.com: My Father
Military.com Poll: Memorial Day Too Commercial?
Iraq's War Dead Live On - Online
Rolling Thunder Rumbles Into Washington
Indy 500 Pays Tribute to Military First
Pace Urges Reflection in Memorial Day Message
The Thunder Run: A Gold Star Father's Thoughts on Memorial Day
Michael Yon: A Memorial Day Message
Winter's Soldier Story: A Memorial Day Tale of Two Warriors

Remembering...

2007-05-14T12:59:00.000-05:00

I've been a little on edge lately. I have a friend in the 1-4 CAV who I hadn't heard from in a while. Not all that surprising, given how busy I know they've been, but I knew things had been pretty ugly in the area they'd been operating in. I also knew they'd lost four Soldiers.

I know that my worry can't compare to the fear and worry that family members go through, but I was worried nonetheless.

I finally heard from him Saturday morning, and thank goodness, he's fine.

But four other 1-4 CAV Soldiers will not be delivering that same message:

PFC Steven J. Wahlberg, only 18, was from Paradise, California. He died April 15 of wounds sustained from enemy small arms fire. The Patriot Guard Riders were there to salute him as he was laid to rest.

PFC Aaron M. Genevie was 22, and called Chambersburg, PA home. He died April 16 of wounds sustained when his vehicle struck an IED. The Patriot Guard Riders were there to salute him as he was laid to rest.

PFC Christopher M. North was 21. From Sarasota, FL, he died April 21 of wounds suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using an IED and small arms fire.

SPC Robert J. Dixon, 27, was from Minneapolis. He died May 6, of wounds suffered when an IED detonated near his vehicle. The Patriot Guard Riders were there to salute him as he was laid to rest.

Our hearts are with the family, friends, and military brothers and sisters of these fallen Heroes.

In Memoriam...

2007-04-19T11:18:00.000-05:00

Air Force ROTC cadet Virginia Tech shooting victim
Cadet Matthew La Porte, one of the 32 students and faculty killed during the shooting incident at Virginia Tech April 16, was a sophomore in Air Force ROTC Detachment 875 and the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. (Courtesy photo)

The Numbers Game...

2007-04-05T20:08:00.000-05:00

Sketch and I estimate that the total cost of building this bike is going to be approximately $45,000. We need half of that to start construction.

We're not even close yet.

Granted, we're still in the early stages, but the project is an intensely personal one for both of us. Sketch, certainly, has a more keen knowledge of what the loss means than I do. But it's personal, nonetheless.

We're batting around ideas like images, fundraising...we're in the concept stage at the moment.

At some point in the future, we'll have a store set up so that you can purchase items that will help us fund the bike. I'm hoping to have some specific news on that over the next month.

Sketch is committed to listing donors (with their permission) on a display to be shown with the bike. Military regulations impose certain limitations with regard to what can be displayed on the bike, but we'll certainly be sure to give credit where credit is due.

Certainly, if there is a specific Hero to be honored through a donation, we'll be sure to make that fact known wherever the bike is displayed.

This project is striking a chord with a number of people - bikers like Sketch and me, and others. I'm hoping you'll want to be a part of this project. If you do, no amount is too small - every bit is greatly appreciated - and very much needed.

The reality is, it can't happen without your help.

One Young Hero

2007-02-03T15:54:00.000-05:00

When Sketch told me about the bike, one name flashed immediately in my mind. In part, this bike is personal for me, too - because as a tribute to fallen Heroes, one of the people that Sketch is honoring with this bike is a young Soldier from South Dakota named Gunnar Becker.

Gunnar was well liked by everyone who knew him. Ironically, even as a kid, he was wearing the "Big Red One." He joined the Army because “I came in to make a difference.” PFC Becker served as a tank driver with Bravo Company, 2nd Platoon, in the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment. On January 13, 2005, Gunnar lost his life in a non-combat-related accident while serving in Iraq. He was 19.

Gunnar's loss hit his family and his military brothers hard. It also was hard on the Soldiers' Angels who'd known him. I had been one of the Angels monitoring the KIA lists at that point - we would make phone calls to adopting Angels to break the news. While nothing compared to the grief of a Soldier's family, we Angels worry about our adoptees, rejoice at homecomings, and grieve, too. Our adoptees become a part of our extended family, at least until they return home. Sometimes even later, if they choose to stay in contact with us.

In the aftermath of Gunnar's death, we all got to know his Mom, Debey, a little bit. She is an amazingly strong woman, who will readily tell you that her son was a Hero. Rather than blaming his military service for his death, she appreciates her son for the brave young man that he was.

I remember a phone conversation I had with Debey. We talked about the drought that was happening in South Dakota then, and how they were worried about the farms that were starved for water. We talked about her grandson, and how he was a little devil, just like Gunnar had been at that age. We talked about Gunnar.

I'd recently posted over at my blog about an anti-war display in which the names of fallen Heroes were used without the permission of their families in order to make a point. Gunnar's name was one of those. Debey hadn't been pleased, and she wasn't alone. No matter your view on the war, using the names of fallen Heroes to advance a political agenda, without the consent of their families, isn't right. Debey had forwarded the information to me, and asked me if I'd post about it.

A little while later, Debey sent me some photos of an entirely different use of Gunnar's name. She sent me the pictures of his headstone. Debey had honored her son with a beautiful stone, a fitting tribute to her beloved son. I posted those, too. I told Debey I hoped I'd done him justice.

And now, almost two years to the day that we lost a young Hero named Gunnar Becker, I got a chance to be involved in a project honoring fallen Heroes. It seems that PFC Becker isn't quite done with us yet. So for me, this project is for all Fallen Heroes, but just a little bit about one Hero in particular.

And there are, sadly, a lot of Gunnars, and a lot of Debeys - fallen Heroes and grieving families. My involvement in this project is small compared to Sketch's, but I hope that what we're doing, in some small way, helps to let them all know that we will never forget.

We are soldiers.
We are soldiers in the United States Army.
We are trained to be all we can be.

We fight for the freedom of many citizens of the United States.
We are all ready to meet our fates.

We all volunteer to defend the red, white and blue.
Not only the flag, but for the citizens of our great country too.

Since our country's birth for all these years,
we have been trained to be the best on Earth.

Many times we have went to war.
We will be involved in many more.

Generation by generation soldiers continue to enlist.
Some of us will got to war and definitely be missed.

Some soldiers will return and some won't.
Those who do not, we won't forget and we hope you don't.

Many of us are going to Iraq.
Some of us won't be coming back.

We have loved ones we are leaving behind.
They will always be in our prayers, hearts and mind.

If we don't make it home safely at the end of the war,
just remember we died defending the beliefs of those of many more.

-- PFC Gunnar Becker, November, 23, 2003
(Killed in Iraq, January 13, 2005)

UPDATE:
If you'll check out the comments section, you'll see that Debey (Gunnar's Mom) stopped by, and she's posted about the project on her blog...thank you Debey. I knew I'd seen a picture of Gunnar that I wanted to post, but couldn't find it. Debey has it, and I swiped it to add here - just another reason that this project for me is a little about Gunnar:

So who is Pam?

2007-02-03T07:06:00.000-05:00

You've already heard from Sketch - I thought I'd let you know a little about who I am, particularly since I know some of Sketch's family and friends are going to be checking in on the blog.

First of all, I'm a pure civilian. I am an avid (or rabid) supporter of our troops. I joined Soldiers' Angels in early 2004, and have never looked back. The reason I joined was that I made a promise to myself a long time ago that what happened to returning troops from Vietnam would never happen again - at least, not in my little corner of the world. As it turns out, my first adoptee is now headed back for a second tour in Iraq.

I'm also the blogger of Iraq War Today (iraqwarnews.net). (Note: The views expressed at that blog are solely mine - it should not be assumed that Sketch and I share the same opinions on everything)

My relatives have served in every major U.S. war, starting with the American Revolution. My father-in-law is a veteran of three tours with the Special Forces in Vietnam. Desert Storm is the first U.S. engagement that hasn't seen one of my relatives on the front lines (although if I'd joined when I was looking to, I likely would have been there).

At any rate, how I met Sketch was that Patti, the founder of Soldiers' Angels, let me know about a recently submitted Hero who was an avid motorcyclist. As I'm a motorcyclist too, I happily became one of Sketch's "Angels."

In emailing with Sketch, we talked about his dream of a custom-built bike, and how he wanted to use it to pay tribute to fallen Heroes. A little brainstorming, and here we are. Soldiers' Angels signed on to be a part of the project, too.

So, I'm helping Sketch with the project from here, while he's over there, and will stay involved once he's safely back at home.

It's an honor to be involved in this project, and an honor to be Sketch's "Angel."

So, you'll see me posting here, and I'll be answering many of the emails we get. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll be back to check the progress of the bike as it goes.

Testing...1...2...3

2007-01-25T23:17:00.000-05:00

OK, we're up and running. Hi Sketch!