I Love A Parade

"Another day in Paradise. Every meal's a banquet, every paycheck's a fortune and every formation is a parade"

Next Saturday, 19 May in Richmond VA there is going to be a parade to welcome home the Iraq and Afghan vets and salute them for their service and sacrifice. I realize we still have troops downrange, and they are likely to stay awhile yet, but its time to do this thing. We tried a few years back, couldn't get anything going. Hard to get funding sometimes. But this time, with the help of the Welcome Home Foundation, the Richmond Times Dispatch, and hundreds of volunteers, the parade is going to happen and we are going to pawwwwtay.

In conjunction with the parade, we are going to set up a Veterans Resource Village on the grounds of The Carillon, Richmond's WWI Memorial. There will be Veterans Service Organizations, (including our very own Cooking with the Troops), Wounded Warrior Project will be on hand, veterans agencies from the state and federal government and a few companies and groups looking to hire veterans, including Wal-Mart Transportation, the largest employer of veterans in the country, and Dupont Spruance Plant will be on hand to talk to vets about oppportunities working for the maker of Kevlar and Nomex, two products our military depend upon every day to keep them safe.

McGuire,Woods LLP will have some legal foks on hand to assist vets with any legal issues they may have, and they stepped up big time for this one.  Capitol One will have a booth to talk to vets about financial issues and do some recruiting. (full disclosure-both of my children work for CapOne, and you could do a lot worse. They love it.) Dept of Motor Vehicles will have their mobile outreach van onsite, along the Veterans Outreach Center van, AUSA Mobile Blood Donation van, and the Hunter-Holmes McGuire VA Hospital van.

I have to give props to a lot of folks who have donated to this effort. City Ice Co, down in Chester, VA is giving us ice to keep the water cold we got from Virginia Artesian Water, Co over in Mechanicsville, VA. Both of these local companies support our military and veterans and we need to return the favor. Thank you Mark from City Ice and Nancy from VA Artesian. Haley Buick GMC is providing tents and transporting veterans for us. Commonwealth Events and PartyPerfect worked with us on getting the rest of the tents and the tables and chairs.

This is just a partial list of the folks who have stepped up for our veterans and we thank them. Its never too late to donate of course, and we will accept most anyone who wants to volunteer to help.

Here are a couple of links that have been up recently:
P Henry Saddleburr <----good pics from St Louis parade here.
PJMedia

Welcome Home Parade May 19 Richmond VA

A very good friend of mine wrote this.

Thank you, Sir.

Hello my finely feathered friendlies.

What I'm about to tell you is of utmost importance. I don't often send out email blasts, but I feel it important to do so... for this event.

On Saturday, May 19th, Richmond, VA is hosting a Parade to Welcome Home and Thank the Troops, starting at 10am, starting at the Virginia Historical Society, marching down the Boulevard and ending at the Carillon, some 2 plus miles away.

This parade is to honor the heroism and sacrifice our Armed Forces have provided, not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also those who served faithfully in Viet Nam, Korea, and all of the other places they've been forced to endure to fight for our freedom.

The debt we owe all of these patriots cannot be repaid with a single parade, of course, but a massive outpouring of support to these fine individuals and their families is the least we can do.

This is an effort that was built at the grassroots level and naturally, lacks the polish, funding and organization of a centralily organized event. Which is really the beauty of it. It ain't the Rose Parade.

This is not organized by a political party, a politician, or a movement. It's spontaneous. It's completely American.

But this is well worth doing and is part of the unspoken covenant that the American people have with their warriors. We've asked them to do things on our behalf, some of which are unsavory, some of which resulted in tremendous loss of life and/or severe and debiliating injury, and all of which ask them to sacrifice family time and to endure unfathomable danger and discomfort.

If you've got an ounce of appreciation for the troops and the missions they've executed on our behalf, please carve out some time for this parade in their honor. And please copy this to your friends and family, and come on down to Richmond for this Parade.

It's important.

St. Louis had such a parade in January and drew 100,000 patriots. In the bitter cold. Certainly Richmond can double that on a beautiful day in May.





This should be the mid Atlantic's Welcome Home and Thanks celebration.

Spread the word. Bring your kids. Bring on the love for the Troops.

Robin Beres from Richmond Times Dispatch is a major organizer of this event. Even Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones is a sponsor.

It's People. Not politics.

Go here for more info and how to contribute or volunteer. http://americaforvets.org/

All my best.

Jim S.

Why We Love Our Radio Station

More importantly, this is why we love Jimmy and Doc.
Fisher House

I have friends who work at the Fisher House at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. They are the parents of this Marine.

Need I say more?

Give it up!!!!!

Veterans Dissed in Porkulus Bill

Every day we find out just how little the dhimmicrats regard our military.

VETERANS ARE LOW PRIORITY IN STIMULUS PACKAGE
ACORN among Organizations Receiving More
Washington, D.C. -
Today, Congressman Steve Buyer of Indiana, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, issued the following statement after the final text of the economic stimulus package was unveiled lastnight.

"Of the numerous flaws in the large economic recovery spending bill, none is more shameful than the obvious disregard it holds for veterans, Buyer said.

I find it appalling that this bill provides access to $2 billion for ACORN, $30 million for the salt-marsh harvest mouse in the San Francisco Bay area, and millions to purchase Œgreen golf carts, instead of bettering the lives of veterans. I hope everyone will pause to consider that those who have put their lives on the line to defend our right to vote are a lower priority than an organization like ACORN, which has been accused of unlawful voter registration. I dont know of a starker example of the Democrats misplaced priorities.

While pleased my request for $1 billion was adopted to accelerate construction projects in the Veterans Health Administration, I am disappointed my proposals to add $1 billion for VA loan guarantees to veteran-owned small businesses, $357 million to increase training and job placement, and $10 million for homeless women veterans and veterans with children was not included. These proposals would have helped veterans and our economy.

It appears the Democrat leadership was more interested in special projects than pro-growth economic policies that create and sustain jobs. These are distinct policy differences for which our economy will suffer, and Americans will pay the price.

I also do not understand how more than $100 million for non-citizen, non-resident, Filipino Veterans of World War II will help stimulate the U.S.economy. I hope Americans will stop to ponder the distorted values of those who crafted this bill"

65 million +/- so-called Americans voted to change the staus quo. Now the socialists are in charge for real. I hope you're happy with the outcome.

Links for Veterans

Castle Argghhh! has put up a tremendous resource for veterans.

Please pass this information on to every Veteran you know.

Nearly 100% of this information is free and available for all veterans, the only catch is: you have to ask for it, because they won’t tell you about a specific benefit unless you ask for it. It's just how the bureaucracy works. You need to know what questions to ask so the right doors open for you - and then be ready to have an advocate who is willing to work with and for you, stay in the process, and press for your rights and your best interests. Those advocates are the VSOs.