FReep 55 at Walter Reed, May 5 (Heavy graphics, Join us May 12!)

DC Chapter ^ | May 12, 2006 | BillF with photos by PleaDeal and trooprally (Mrs)

[BillF]

This FReep is a continuation of a struggle over more than one year with Code Pink at Walter Reed after a preliminary skirmish more than two years ago. The background is in the beginning of the report from two weeks back. Here is a listing of reports (the link itself may open a pop-up window) from all of the WR FReeps as compiled and updated by BufordP. (Unfortunately, I have yet to upload the photos from most of the earlier reports following relocation of my website to a different hosting company. Until I do, many of the earlier photos will be missing.)

This week a grateful soldier give his Airborne hat to one of our patriots. We were disappointed to find out that two of our regulars were leaving the area, separately, and this would be the last WR FReep for one of them. We had several men in all black, baggy, gangster garb do a walk-by of us, replete with obscene language. On the positive side, it was great that a person from one of our stanch allies in the War on Terror joined us. We were honored when at least two Iraq war veterans joined our ranks.

We had a great turnout of dedicated FReepers from the DC Chapter and beyond as we FReeped on all four corners of the main gate at Walter Reed for the 14th week in a row.  Our control of the four corners followed the Pinkos' retreat as explained in the thread relative to January 20: Code Pink Retreats from Walter Reed-Freepers Win! (Week 40 Report at #1352).

The Pinkos continue to be relegated to an area about a block away such that the wounded and their relatives do NOT have to pass close by them to enter or leave Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Indeed, the Pinkos' presence is easy to overlook such that many troops and relatives may not even be aware of the Pinkos. 

We are winning our psych-op against the Pinkos and have almost demolished their heartless psych-op against our war-wounded troops, but we continue to need more FReepers and other patriots to attend. Please join us this Friday, May 12, at 6:30 pm per details below. Please also bump this thread to keep it on top. 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.

Lifting the spirits of our war-wounded heroes is what we aim to do. If you live in the area, please join us. If you really can't join us due to work, family, or medical reasons or you don't live in the area, you can help in other ways by contacting PleaDeal by FReepmail for ideas.

The honor roll of those in attendance (lurkers are marked with an asterisk*):

Albion Wilde, Bill* from MD, Christopher Lincoln, Cindy-true-supporter, concretebob, Daniel (T, husband of WR patient), Fraxinus, Iraqikurd, Jerry (WR), Jimmy Valentine's brother, Joanie*, Justanobody, kristinn, Laura*, Lauren*, Livy, Philip* from India, PleaDeal, Sensei Ern, Sisku Hanne and sister Carol*, tgslTakoma, trooprally (Mr. & Mrs.), and BillF.  (Walter Reed patients marked with "WR," other troops marked with "T," and lurkers marked with an asterisk.)

[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 hyperlinked 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 taken by trooprally [Mrs.] and by PleaDeal will be interspersed in the report. You may see all of PleaDeal's photos here. This is tgslTakoma's blog and this is PleaDeal's blog.

You can see who took a hyperlinked photo (i.e., borders at edge) by running your mouse over it. On other photos, right click on the photo and click properties. The key is this: photos taken by trooprally [Mrs.] have a name beginning with "D-tr" and photos taken by PleaDeal have a name beginning with "D-pd." My photos have labels beginning DSCN.  I may have cropped some of the photos of others and used software to correct red eye.]

Opposed to our at least 25 patriots, the Pinkos only had 12 America-hating traitors and their dupes. They were outnumbered, yet again, even in the liberal bastion of Washington, DC.

Although we outnumbered the Pinkos, we need you there this Friday to continue outnumbering the Pinkos, especially considering that at least two of our regulars will not be able to make it this Friday, one regular is immediately leaving the area, and another will be leaving in the next few weeks.

Veteran Jimmy Valentine's brother knows how to make an entrance on a beautiful, spring evening using his great ARMY hat. The
car is nice too. :)

FReepers around tgslTakoma's great MOAB (Mother-Of-All-Banners) on the Northeast corner.

Lauren to the side as tgslTakoma holds one end of the MOAB.		trooprally (Mr.) holds the other end of the MOAB, next to Philip and Jimmy Valentine's brother

Northwest corner: Sisku Hanne, Daniel, and Sisku's sister, Carol, wearing an Airborne baseball cap that one grateful soldier had
given her

A closeup of Carol proudly wearing her Airborne hat

A soldier in a passing car waved Carol to come over. He then gave her an Airborne hat.

Our Airborne forces, like all our brave troops, deserve the thanks, respect, and love of all who love America. Two things come to mind.

Sign from earlier FReep tells leftists about the Airborne.	First, at left is a sign that an NC FReeper brought to an NC FReep of leftists last year. Her husband was in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne and she proudly held a sign telling the leftists who was keeping them free. Second, having personally seen Airborne troops making a massive parachute deployment (see file photo at right taken from the 82nd Airborne website), I know how brave and impressive these troops are. I encourage all to appreciate our Airborne troops. For those who want to see the 82nd Airborne troops in a mass parachute drop, there will be one every noon from Friday, May 19 to Sunday, May 21 (May 19 is only for DOD personnel and pre-approved school groups) at the Joint Services Open House held at Andrews Air Force Base, near Camp Springs, MD. It's a great chance to meet heroes from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard, as well as see some amazing military demonstrations and equipment.	Click photo to see how impressive the 82nd Airborne is. (Photo from DOD)

BillF, Lauren, and concretebob at the Southwest corner.

Bill, Albion Wilde, and Sensei Ern on the Southeast corner.

Note especially the Welcome Home Our Heroes banner. It's the first that I've seen it.

concretebob and PleaDeal with tripods, flags, and signs

Laura, Joanie, Fraxinus, and Christopher Lincoln

Laura, Joanie, and Livy

Jerry from WR joined us.

Philip from India was passing by and asked to join us.

Cindy-true-supporter, one of our most dedicated FReepers

We were grateful to have Philip from India join us as shown above, India being one of our staunchest allies in the War On Terror. I discussed the problems with radical Islam in India and beyond with him. Although it's a small percentage of Muslims who adhere to the most radical Islamic beliefs, it is a sizable number. They have created an area of the world where Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and other non-Muslims are killed simply for living in close proximity to the radicals. (Incidentally, we had an Italian, another ally, join us at WR some time back.) As concretebob, Lauren, and I were on the Southwest corner, about 5 young white men in all-black, baggy, gangster garb (or were they anarchists?) came by telling us, "F*** Bush. I was a soldier and I hate Bush" and similar. Thankfully, they kept on walking. I resisted the urge to engage him verbally by saying what immediately sprang to mind: "you're a liar" (or, more subtly, ask him about his military service).  For one thing, we did not have the numbers at that corner (another reason why we need you to come this Friday, even though violence is highly unlikely). After they walked on by, I simply commented that "if he was a soldier, then I was on the Olympic team."

The Pinkos keep telling us that their action isn't a protest, but they forgot to tell this leftist that wounded soldiers don't make our Iran policy, anymore than they make our Iraqi policy. The guy is also dragging the defaced flag on the ground.	The weather was finally good enough for the evil Gale Murphy, Chief DC Pinko, back to camera, to return to the scene of their anti-troop psych-op.

Princess accompanies Perry, both on guitars.

Did reality kick him in the head? Not much chance of that. Totally unclear why he's holding his head. Maybe his own music is giving him a headache?

Post-FReep, wounded soldier Dustin poses with Laura.		In addition to having two of our regulars away on May 12, we regret that Laura is ending her temporary stint in the area and returning to a far-away location. Last Friday was the day after her birthday and her last day at WR, but we had not known in advance and had no cake. Laura, whose energy level exceeds that of a cheerleader in constant cheer for our troops and our country, will just have to return for a long-distance FReep. With enough advance notice, we could even have a belated celebration of her birthday. She was a great person to FReep with and will be greatly missed. Lauren is a short-timer at the WR FReeps and will be facing a real challenge in a few short weeks. We wish her great success, thank her for all the times that she stood with us, and hope that she can still attend for a few weeks. With the loss of these two great patriots, as well as the temporary loss of some regulars, we continue to need FReepers and lurkers to join us. If you're outside the DC area, we would gladly welcome you to FReep with us. Come to DC, which is now beautiful (most of the time) in spring, visit the tourist sites, and FReep with us on Friday night. Support our troops in person. Meet with some of them and you'll be moved.  Smithsonian's vast array of Museums (Air and Space Museum is most popular and now has an extensive and amazing annex in nearby Virginia close to Dulles Airport), the Iwo Jima Memorial, Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln Monuments, the Vietnam and WWII Memorials, Arlington National Cemetery, and the International Spy Museum are among the more popular places to visit.

Iraq war vet Daniel, shown in a photo way above, is on extended leave as his wife, Elizabeth (we met her several weeks ago), also a soldier, continues to face quite serious medical problems (not war injuries) at WR.

In addition to praying for Elizabeth and Daniel, please also send prayers and best wishes for a number of FReepers, and their loved ones, who have medical problems. These are FReepers who have participated in the Walter Reed FReeps.

Cindy-true-supporter's son Gavin has been home from the hospital for about a month. He has had a near miraculous recovery, but still suffers from being hit by a hit-and-run underage drunk driver.

3D-Joy, who was severely injured in a car crash over a month ago, has been staying with a relative in the DC area and still faces quite a long period of recovery.  I visited her in the hospital last week when she had a temporary setback and had to be hospitalized. Thankfully, she is back at her relative's house.

Although we've had no further updates for several weeks, last we heard, AirForceBrat23's grandfather is well on the road to recovery from a serious medical problem.

Landry Fan, who FReeped at Walter Reed countless times beginning last summer to February and was outstanding in arranging contributions for injured troops as well as helping them in other ways, remains sidelined with medical problems. We hope and pray that she will recover in the near future and would ask all to pray for her, the others mentioned above, and all of our troops.

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, and their families have repeatedly told us how important it is for us to be there to counter Code Pink and their ugly anti-troops agenda.

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. If some are immune to embarrassment, and, at the very least, we can hinder their psychological warfare operation against the wounded troops. 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?

If you missed all of the first year of these FReeps, please join us at least once in the near future. You'll be glad that you did.

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

[bmwcyle]

Another success at Walter Reed.

[JLO]

Wow, thanks for the ping, big time! Pinging along to FRiends.

Not all though. Some aren't recognized anymore.

Sad to say.

JLO

[reagan_fanatic]

Care to do your magic with any of the photos?

With pleasure, BillF!

[Landry Fan]

thanks for the good wishes. I'm looking forward to coming back but don't know when that might be.

[JLO]

Thanks!

Don't miss this! And please pass along, tooprally.

Many of us have accumulated air miles. I tried passing mine along to a vet wife. No, she could buy a RT ticket for the price that I had to pay to transfer the miles, LOL.

HOWEVER - for FREE - we all can donate our miles - no charge - and miles get pooled to help our injured vets reuinite with their families.

And can also help their families travel to them.

We can donate miles here, where wounded vets and their families can meet up!

I'm still looking into it, but hero miles via Northwest Airlines looks good.

Thanks, trooprally - keep in touch!
http://www.fisherhouse.org/

PS - hero miles is all-inclusive!

trooprally - hope you have a good ping list!

[Kokojmudd]

Great work as usual!

[PGalt]

Thanks to the greatest FReepers supporting the finest men and women on the planet.

[freema]

That's wonderful. I know someone who escaped Castro who likens our educational system to his...

[freema]

Oh my! : o

[freema]

So glad to see you here!! How are you????!!!

[freema]

And you! How are you?!!

[freema]

Extreme thoughtfulness bump

[Dinah Lord]

bttt.

dc FReepers rock!

God bless our troops.

Cheers - Dinah

[W04Man]

Morning Bump! HEY GANG, CHECK OUT WHERE I WAS YESTERDAY. VERY MOVING EVENT AND I'M GLAD I WAS THERE. I WAS ABLE TO GET SOME PEOPLE TO HOLD SOME OF MY SIGNS:

Video of Fallen Hero Procession in my local area

[bert]

Hey girl......

Glad to see you back on line.

Thoughts are with you.

[Marylander]

Bump for a magnificent job by DC patriots. Once again, well done!

[Albion Wilde]

Video of Fallen Hero Procession in my local area

I saw your signs in the video, which was very touching and respectful. Thank you for sharing this link. Condolences to the family.

[oneofmany]

Bump

[oneofmany]

Code Pink holding "Peace Vigil" outside Indiana County courthouse, Indiana Pa Sun night May 14