FReep 26 of Code Pink at Walter Reed, Oct 14 (Heavy graphics, Join us Oct 21!)

DC Chapter ^ | October 20, 2005 | BillF, with tgslTakoma and bmwcyle photos

[BillF]

For over half a year, FReepers from the DC Chapter and beyond have countered Code Pinkos at their weekly obscene anti-war blood dance outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center.  Despite the heavy concentration of liberals and leftist activists in the DC area, we've outnumbered the Pinkos at least 17 or 18 of these 26 FReeps at Walter Reed and we outnumbered them again on Friday, Oct. 14. This night featured some inspiring discussions from veterans, the first car crash in front of us, a Veterans for Peace bus repeatedly driving around the location and then getting stuck, a TV crew from London channel 4 interviewing both sides, and several of us going with a soldier onto Walter Reed to meet some patients there after the FReep.

Before continuing with the report, reprinted below is a public post from a service member who had read last week's report (paragraph breaks inserted and reformatted in color and size by me):

To: Albion Wilde

Thank you so much for everything that you guys are doing in D.C.

Words cannot describe how much this means to all of us to know that you all back home are taking up for us.

We are all in this together. Terror and tyranny does not distinguish between us (soldiers) and you Americans that we have sworn to protect. We are all in this together.

Thank you and God bless

152 posted on 10/14/2005 11:01:11 PM PDT by martywake (making the world a better place, one dead terrorist at a time) 

We have received numerous such communications privately and publicly from other troops thanking us for being there. The thanks go to the troops. We, who FReep at Walter Reed, have it easy compared to them.

Numerous amputees have told us how important it is for FReepers to be there to counter Code Pink. One told us "I don't want wounded troops just entering Walter Reed seeing the Code Pink people without you guys being there. It's just too hard on troops with severe wounds."

Will you come out this Friday night to help cover the backs of our brave troops against the psyche-ops of treacherous Code Pink and their allies? Will you be one of the persons "back home [who] are taking up for" the troops as martywake puts it?  Unless it is impossible or you have medical reasons or work or family obligations that clearly prevent you from coming out, you must do this at least once or you won't forgive yourself. How can you (yes, look in the mirror, I'm talking to you) do anything less for our troops that never let us down?

Pinkos and their allies are waging psychological warfare against our troops and their families visiting them. We cannot leave them undefended against being stabbed in the back. Will you help counter this threat to our troops' morale?

Code Pink is truly stuck in a quagmire as FReepers severely hinder the Pinkos' cynical attempts to manipulate severely wounded soldiers and relatives in hopes of finding those who will join the anti-war movement and break faith with the troops still fighting a ruthless enemy. Please help us by showing up next Friday night per details below.  Stand up against the Pinkos who've endorsed "the Iraqi resistance" (as they call our enemy, see here and here), given money to the other side in Fallujah, and called our troops "killers." Then, the Pinkos demonstrate at the hospital and pretend that they support our troops.

As we have done on a number of these FReeps, we ate pizza on site at the FReep.

The honor roll of those in attendance (lurkers are marked with an asterisk*): 2ndClassCitizen, Albion Wilde, ALlRightAllTheTime, Andi*, Apple Blossom and daughter*, beandog, Bill from MD*, bmwcyle, BufordP, concretebob, Coop, Doctor Raoul, Dustin10thMountain, Eric from MD*, Eric from DE*, Fraxinus, Iraqikurd, Jack Deth, Joan*, Justanobody, kristinn, Landry Fan, maica, Pleadeal, tgslTakoma, trooprally and wife*, and BillF.  That's 29, but I and another FReeper counted at least one other person for a total of 30. If you're the missing person, I apologize for leaving you off the list, but please chime in.

The event was so large that I can only present that part of the story that I saw. If you were there, please describe your own experiences at the FReep. Also, let me know if I publish your photo without your name or, worse, I mislabel you in a photo.

[CLICK ON A PHOTO TO OPEN A LARGER VERSION IN A NEW WINDOW if it has a border around it. If a photo doesn't have a border, it is not hyperlinked to a larger version.  Click on another photo and its larger version should open in the same window that the first enlarged photo did. Or you can simply close the window with the enlarged photo and click on another photo in the report to open a new window with an enlarged photo. Note that some of the wider photos may open in a window wider than your screen and you can use a horizontal scroll bar to see parts. Photos will be interspersed in the report. As it got progressively darker, my telephoto lens shots became less clear, requiring software enhancement. You will notice that people look more like cartoon characters in my later telephoto lens photos.

Unless labeled otherwise, the photos were taken by me. Photos marked with an asterisk (*) are from bmwcyle (bmwcyle has his full outstanding collection of photos here). Photos marked with double asterisks are from tgslTakoma (click here for her full outstanding collection of photos).  Both are taking better photos than I, because of their superior photography skill level and their use of tripods. I've cropped some of their photos.]

Opposed to our 30 patriots, the Pinkos managed to get 24 America-hating traitors and their well-meaning, but incredibly-misguided, dupes. The dupes do not realize that their Pinko organizers, who claim to support our troops,  call our troops "killers,"  endorse "the Iraqi resistance" (those killing and wounding our troops, see here and here), and  have given money to "the other side" in Fallujah.

An early photo of the FReepers, prior to deployment of the MOAB. (* = photo by bmwcyle)

This far into autumn, it is starting to get dark even when the FReep starts at 6:30 pm. Near the beginning of the FReep, the TV crew from London channel 4 showed up and did pre-interviews off-camera with some of us. Seeing no opposition across the street, the TV journalists asked where the other side was. We said that the Code Pinkos often show up late as they did on that night. After the MOAB ((Mother-Of-All-Banners, designed and built by tgslTakoma) was deployed, a FReeper waiting to turn in front of us was rear ended by another driver. Fortunately, there were no injuries and the other driver admitted fault as she was looking at the MOAB. The unfortunate FReeper, whose car was still drivable, can weigh in, at his or her discretion..

FReepers around the "God Bless Our Soldiers" MOAB (Mother-Of-All-Banners, designed and built by tgslTakoma)

Apple Blossom in the middle under the MOAB *

ALlRightAllTheTime, beandog, Jack Deth, and Landry Fan (L-R;  ** = photo by tgslTakoma)

Iraqikurd stands in the FReep line *

beandog and Justanobody hide behind their signs

Justanobody, wife of trooprally, and BufordP

Andi (check out her great blog) and trooprally	I think that it's the wife of trooprally and Pleadeal hiding behind their signs, trooprally on right
BufordP, partially hidden person, ALlRightAllTheTime, Jack Deth, and Landry Fan	Fraxinus, trooprally, person looking away, and Pleadeal *
ALlRightAllTheTime and concretebob **	concretebob, injured Iraqi war veteran Dustin10thMountain, and Iraqikurd

Doctor Raoul as Rush wearing "Club G'itmo" shirt *

"My Mullah went to Club G'itmo and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" printed on the shirt of Doctor Raoul as bmwcyle stands at right with his camera and tripod

Bill from MD, Coop, and tgslTakoma *

As happens often, we were thanked by veterans for standing up for them. Two that I talked to stand out. One young veteran described his injuries from an IED in Iraq. This was our own Dustin10thMountain. He told us of  leaning out from his vehicle and realizing that he was looking at an IED, which exploded before he could pull away. Miraculously, he lived, but lost one eye. He said that, if had it to do over again, he would proudly go back to Iraq. He believes in the mission. (A young soldier who lost both legs in Iraqi combat had told us something similar a few months back. He said that, "if God gave him back his legs, he would go back to Iraq to continue the fight.") The heroic efforts of that veteran, and all our other troops, are the reason that ten million Iraqis could go to vote last weekend. Those ten million figuratively gave a thumbs up to our troops' great achievements. Those ten million gave the Pinkos and allies the finger. The other veteran, a much older man with a cane, walked across to talk to us. He applauded our efforts and said that his reception when he came back injured from Vietnam years earlier was quite different from our group. I said, "Thank you for your service, thank you for my freedom! What happened to you then wasn't right and we're going make sure that it doesn't happen again."

tgslTakoma talks with the TV news reporter

When the British TV crew came back, they interviewed numerous FReepers. The TV reporter questioned us like a cross-examining attorney and did so from a left wing perspective. In the hope that they would likewise closely question the Pinkos, I suggested that they ask them if they would prefer a victory of the U.S. in Iraq or a victory of the "Iraqi resistance," as they call those who kill and wound our troops, lop the heads off of non-Iraqi civilians, and car bomb groups of Iraqi civilians. If peace broke out tomorrow because of an American victory, would the Pinkos be joyous or sad? Oh, wait, we know the answer because many of these same characters were saddened when the Iraqi regime collapsed, when the Saddam statue was pulled down, when Saddam was captured, and whenever the U.S. has any military or political success. It was great to have Dustin10thMountain and Iraqikurd there to give the reporter the perspectives of an Iraqi war veteran and an Iraqi respectively.

Pinkos' main corner with the TV crew at the right end interviewing Gael Murphy in pink, partially obscured

Pinkos' secondary corner at right with upper floors of Walter Reed hospital visible on left in this great photo of bmwcyle. Bright
lights at left are from the guard house. Note the "Quiet Zone Soldiers Healing" sign that the Pinkos brought out a couple months back
because we were getting honks of support much more often than they were *

The above photo shows the windows that allow some patients to look down and see the MOAB saluting their efforts. Medics from Walter Reed have told us that patients look out the windows and are cheered by our presence. Some patients, who are too severely injured to come to the windows, are told of our presence by other patients. When those troops, who can't come to a window, are told that "the FReepers have arrived," will you be there outside Walter Reed to lift their spirits or are you too busy?

Guitar player in middle, Gael Murphy at right of Pinkos' main corner. No "quiet zone" here as Guitar Guy led them in songs. **

Another shot of Pinkos' main corner *

Pinkos with a U.S. flag. I think it was Doctor Raoul who said "they [the Pinkos] consider the flag defective because they haven't
been able to ignite it yet." *

Squeegee Guy, Pink Hat Pinko, and Crazy Backpack Guy *

Gael Murphy in pink at center **

Dueling pony-tails? Blue pony-tail guy at left with brown-shirt- wearing guy with pony-tail just to the right of the light post. **

The Veterans for Peace bus (see below photo) cruised up and down Georgia Avenue guzzling gas. They didn't hear Doctor Raoul's chant on other occasions: NO OIL FOR PROTESTS! WALK HERE AND WALK HOME! At first I wondered if the bus driver was going to drop off a bunch of leftists, but then we realized that the bus was empty except for the driver and one other person. No, this was not transportation. It was a rolling bill board, spewing noxious fumes and congesting traffic simply to get out their message. Speaking of gas-guzzling, sure we do it because we want to destroy the ozone layer, but what's their excuse?  After cruising the main drag for at least twenty minutes and making several passes, the bus tried to sneak up on our undefended back side and split the FReepers on two adjacent corners. However, we had cleverly laid a bus trap, parked cars on the back streets to protect against such an assault from the rear. The result was a snared bus as shown below, a block behind our lines. I couldn't resist telling the driver, "you're stuck in a quagmire!" A FReeper took pity and did "mon back" duty for the driver, helping the bus driver back away from the corner, but the bus was stuck for quite a while.

Veterans for Peace bus got stuck in a quagmire as it tried to come at us from behind our lines *

The bus was later parked a few blocks away and this photo was taken of the back of the bus. They may be wrong about Iraq, but it's good that they support locking up the terrorists at GITMO per close up photo on right. *

Close up photo of back of the bus *

As usual, the leftists had fled the scene of their psyche-op against the troops when a different bus, a bus of heroes back from a night on the town arrived. The injured patients and their family members are treated at a fancy restaurant on Fridays and the patient bus returns around 9:15 to 9:45. This forced Code Pink to change their 8 to 10 pm "vigil" to 7 to 9 pm several months back.

The Pinko leadership kept telling their dupes that the Walter Reed patients were happy to have the Pinkos protesting outside their hospital, but the patients overwhelming indicated displeasure at the presence of the blood dancing Pinkos. Specifically, the patient bus would stop before it turned into the gate. The driver would turn on the interior light and numerous of the troops would flip-off the Pinkos. The troops on the side of the bus facing us waved and signaled thumbs-up. Rather than having to explain the contradiction repeatedly, the Pinko leaders just rescheduled their protest so that the leftists would be disbanded by the time the bus arrived.

At any rate, and with the Pinkos gone on this night, the bus interior light came on when the patient bus stopped to turn into the gate. FReepers chanted USA, USA, USA and waved at the patients. They waved back appreciatively.

After the FReep was over, several FReepers were invited onto Walter Reed Army Medical Center by a soldier to meet some of the patients. This was an amazing experience.

We were honored to be able to thank several patients for their service. The patients and their relatives told us that they appreciated the FReepers being out there for the troops.

An uncle of one of the patients told us that he wished the FReepers were outside Walter Reed every day. I know that BufordP would like to go every day, but I told the uncle that it was not possible for us to be there every day. However, I mentioned that FReepers were making other efforts to support the wounded troops.

The uncle also wanted to throw rotten potatoes on the Pinkos.  I explained that we keep our actions peaceful and legal. I did my best to discourage him from throwing potatoes at Pinkos. I also mentioned that if he did throw the potatoes, the Pinkos would probably blame us and possibly retaliate. (I didn't tell him that one FReeper, Doctor Raoul, had already been subject to a "drive-by fruiting," click here and search for "fruiting" paragraph. I also didn't mention the night that Gael Murphy dispatched disruptors to our side, one of whom claimed that he had a gun in his pocket.)

One patient mentioned that he was injured on his way to see the movie "Blackhawk Down." Like Dustin10thMountain, this soldier was amazingly positive in attitude.

Let's help our wounded heroes maintain a positive attitude.  We absolutely must keep the pressure on Code Pink and keep showing the wounded troops at Walter Reed that Code Pink doesn't speak for the nation. If you live in the DC area and haven't yet come out for one of these FReeps, please do so this next Friday. Injured Walter Reed patients, including amputees, have repeatedly told us how important it is for us to be there to counter Code Pink.

If we can sufficiently outnumber the leftists often enough, embarrassment may cause the leftists to stop these outrageous morale-damaging ("Maimed for a lie" was one of their commonly-used signs) demonstrations at the hospital. At the very least, we can continue to hinder the Pinkos psychological warfare against our wounded heroes. What about you? Can you spare a few hours on a Friday night?  

Can you give up next Friday night at the movies to support troops who've given up limbs for your freedoms? Will you?

This FReep is rewarding, fun and important for our troops and our nation.

Thank you so much for everything that you guys are doing in D.C.

[jan in Colorado]

Thanks for the pings! The pictures are awesome!

[Gadsdenman]

Luv, I just uploaded a pic that I cropped and enlarged from another picture, just for you. Go back to my webshots album. It will be the last picture, #47.

[luvie]

Thank you! I just found it! Great view! I am so proud of all of you for doing this in all kinds of weather!

[Just A Nobody]

Thanks Gads - you are the bestest!!!

[Gadsdenman]

Aw, shucks. And I got a great shot of you that I didn't upload. (as you wished)

[Just A Nobody]

And I thank you for it!!!

[Landry Fan]

Thanks for posting your pictures so quickly! You both took great shots.

[bmwcyle]

It's all in a Friday's work.

[Landry Fan]

Your pictures, Gadsdenman's and tgsl's bring the freeps to people who aren't able to attend. [Being there in person is important, so freepers and friends, attend if you can.] And BillF's and Albion's reports are wonderful.

It's your chance to thank a vet for their service and make sure what happened to Nam vets never happens again.

[Gadsdenman]

I love taking photographs. I love it even more when I'm doing it in the furtherance of a good cause. It's great to feel useful. And, I get to hang out with all you wonderful patriots.

[Landry Fan]

Can you make albums of your earlier freep pictures? Your pictures rock.

[bmwcyle]

bring the freeps to people who aren't able to attend

I wish the people who are able to attend see the pictures and show up.

[bmwcyle]

bttt

[Landry Fan]

bump

[Cathy]

Thanks to all of you, I love Freeping vicariously through you and hope to be there in a couple weeks.

[bmwcyle]

bttt

[Landry Fan]

All,
We were thanked tonight for being at WR by an OIF vet. Our presence makes a difference. It's important. It's easy. It shows our wounded heroes and their families that we care about them.

If you need directions, post a message or get directions off the net. Parking is available on the street. If you metro, there's a bus you can catch that will take you to WR. I think the bus ride is about 5 minutes. I took it once and it was quick. Or, maybe someone with a car could pick you up at the Takoma metro.

It's your chance to thank soldiers in person for what they do and what they've sacrificed so that we can live in freedom. I spoke with a vet who was injured in Iraq by a suicide bomber. He told me that he heard us cheering for him as he arrived at the WR hospital and that it made him feel good. Don't you want to be there to greet soldiers like him? Pinkos are there with phony signs and outright lies.

Our troops aren't political pawns in the wacky left's War Against President Bush. They're crazed with hatred (many of them are) and don't care what they do or who they hurt to get their messages across.

Please show up to Walter Reed Friday nights. Some outstanding freepers drive and even fly long distances to be there in person for the troops. I'm not putting people down who don't attend. I hope that those of you who can be there but haven't yet will reconsider. You will be glad you did.

If you would like to bring a collapsible chair, you can do that. If you can't stay the whole time, or you have to arrive late, no problem.

The pictures and AARs don't capture the full story. You're missing out. All the soldiers I've spoken with have thanked us for being there. Not one has told me that it doesn't matter or that they're indifferent to our cheering for them and thanking them.

I can't think of any more obstacles, but if you need help getting there or have questions, post or freepmail and ask one of us. We'll be glad to help you.

If you know of like-minded people, spread the word about our WR counter-protests. When you show up, see if you can bring a friend along. Or your neighbor, grandma, co-worker, whoever.

Thanks for reading.

Landry Fan

[popdonnelly]

Code Pink urges us to support the "insurgents". I cannot think of a more reprehensible group of Americans than Code Pink.

[bmwcyle]

Code Pink is trying to create another Vietnam for our men and women. It is our duty to stop this before they get their way.

[conservatrice]

bump