Posted on 09/27/2006 6:00:03 PM PDT by kristinn
After Action Report - Support the Troops and Their Mission Weekend 2006
Thanks go to our cosponsors: Protest Warrior and Military Families Voice of Victory. And a heartfelt thanks to those who gave so generously of their time and resources to make this happen.
About 150 people participated in some aspect of the five activities over two days that marked the second annual Support the Troops and Their Mission Weekend.
The weekend kicked off Friday morning with a visit to congressional offices by a small delegation of military family members. Leofl, armymarinemom, armymarinedad, olgaesq01 and myself met at the Rayburn Building and visited the office of Rep. Jim Moran (Virginia) first.
Even though it was a drop-in visit, Moran’s military staffer took the time to meet with us for almost thirty minutes. Moran is adamantly against the Iraq war but, as they say in diplomatic parlance, we had a frank exchange of ideas.
After that meeting, we went to the Cannon Building to drop in on Reps. Michaud (Maine) and Carter (Texas) I had to skip those two visits as I received a request to do a phone interview with CNN Spanish radio.
I stepped outside to do the interview, which went quite well. The interviewer said she would translate it for broadcast in a few days. We spoke for about fifteen minutes about a freep planned for later that day at the Venezuelan embassy in D.C. and our opposition to Hugo Chavez.
While I was waiting outside for the others to finish their meetings, I spied Code Pink cofounder Jodie Evans get out of a chauffeur driven Cadillac Escalade, accompanied by some of her Pinko minions. A report about that was postedhere.
Leo, Olga and armymarinemom and dad came out after the Pinkos were gone. Olga had to go elsewhere, but the other four of us made our way over to our 2 p.m. freep at the Venezuelan embassy across D.C. in Georgetown.
Ten Freepers eventually arrived and formed a decent freep line on the sidewalk in front of the embassy. Those in attendance were: Jim Robinson, Synchro, TBP, Trooprally (mr.), BufordP, armymarinemom, armymarinedad, Leofl, upchuck and myself.
We had a good time for the hour-plus we were there. We got cussed in Spanish by a Chavista embassy staffer and got a lot of positive feedback from most of the people passing by--including many foreign born people. The Secret Service showed up to make sure the embassy was okay--it was. We left about 3:20 p.m. to get ready for the Walter Reed freep.
When we arrived at Walter Reed around 6:30 p.m., we were pleasantly surprised to see a good number of people already there. The George Washington University College Republicans had come out to join us in our salute to the troops and their families. The evening went very well. A separate report will be posted soon.
Saturday morning started as a gray day with a threat of showers and thunderstorms before noon. The rain never materialized and the clouds went away, allowing the set up to proceed unencumbered. The hardest part of the set up was getting the large American flag secured from the top of the facade of the Sylvan Theater.
Showtime arrived at noon. I looked out on the expanse of grass from the stage to the Washington Monument. It was virtually empty. About 100 people were gathered in attendance along the wall at the foot of the stage with a few people scattered on the lawn.
The rally had been announced six weeks in advance and had been promoted on the Web, via e-mail, in press releases, radio interviews and radio ads. But we weren’t alone in drawing small crowds for political rallies in D.C. in recent months. The pro-illegal movement and the so-called antiwar movement have also had trouble drawing their supporters to their events.
The rally began with an invocation by Air National Guard Chaplain Lt. Col. Richard Marciano, followed by Eve Tidwell of God Bless Fort Benning who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. We played a recording of the Star Spangled Banner and then went in to the speaker program:
Larry Schweikart – co-author of Patriots History of the United States; Kevin Martin - Project 21; veteran, USN; Diana Irey - Washington County Commissioner, Pennsylvania; Nikki Mendicino - POW/MIA activist; Frank Schaeffer – co-author of AWOL, author Faith of Our Sons-a Father's Wartime Diary; Ray Davis - Military Families Voice of Victory; taped remarks by Mark Levin, talk radio host; Capt. Larry Bailey, USN Ret. – Vets for the Truth; Wes Vernon - Accuracy in Media; Mychal Massie - National Chairman, Project 21; Evan Sayet - Writer/Entertainer; Becky Davis - Military Families Voice of Victory; Leo Flood, father of son who served in Iraq and Afghanistan; Richard August - father of Capt. Matthew J. August, KIA 1/27/04, Iraq; reading of letter from Nancy Hecker, mother of U.S. Army Maj. William Hecker, KIA 1/05/06, Iraq; Richard Linn, father of LCpl. Karl R. Linn, KIA 1/26/05, Iraq; Tribute to the fallen - Mansions of the Lord; closing remarks.
Everyone who took to the podium during the three-hour long program gave it their all and were well received by those in attendance. Our sound system carried the speakers’ voices up the hill to those waiting in line at the base of the Washington Monument--and was projected way over the hill toward the W.W.II Memorial if a speaker really got into it. Many people walking in the area came to attention when we played the tribute to the fallen.
We ended the rally on time at 3 p.m. and finished the load out around 4 p.m. Hungry Freepers mutinied and started the anniversary dinner an hour and a half early, causing heartburn for the restaurant but making our waitress very happy.
About thirty Freepers joined JimRob at the FR 10th anniversary dinner: Doctor Raoul, Exit148; NCPAC, 3D-Joy, Just a Nobody, tgslTakoma, sonoftgsl, TBP, Christopher Lincoln, olgaesq01, nutmeg, zelig, armymarinemom, armymarinedad, Synchro, Mr. and Mrs. Trooprally, concretebob, Blueblade, Leofl, Gunsareok, bmwcyle, appleblossom and daughters, stand watie, Albion Wilde, TFroatz, Fraxinus, JoyjoyfromNJ, myself and whoever I’ve missed.
The highlight of the dinner was watching The Beltway Boys on the Fox News Channel when they flashed on the screen the top conservative political web sites and Free Republic was listed as second behind Newsmax. The study was done by Nielson Net Ratings. We all cheered Jim and thanked him for the wondrous work he has done creating and keeping FR online.
Media coverage of the rally was almost nonexistent before (one article by CNS News) and scant after. The Washington Times ran an article with two nice photos. I’m told that WRC-TV 4 and NewsChannel8 ran brief stories, as did WTOP-FM.
Video clips comprising the entire rally are being posted to Google video. Links will be posted later on this thread. Please take the time to watch them. The speakers did an excellent job (the emcee, so, so.) Other clips and photos have been linked at various points on this earlier thread. More photos will also be posted here.
Great work to all of you. My hats off.
D.C. Chapter after action mega ping.
D.C. Chapter after action mega ping.
Bravo, Sir!!
God bless you for all you do. I look forward to a time when I can join you again.
DC FReepers and FRiends are the best !
It's support from across the country that keeps our spirits up.
We were thinking about all of you. You were missed, but were present in our hearts!
If there had been any possible way for me to be there, I would have been there. I was so hoping for Jim to have a large crowd. I'm happy about our FR rating as #2 conservative political website though. Thank you and all the Freepers who did the hard work. We appreciate you and love you. Eagles up!
Larry Schweikart – co-author of Patriots History of the United States; Kevin Martin - Project 21; veteran, USN; Diana Irey - Washington County Commissioner, Pennsylvania; Nikki Mendicino - POW/MIA activist; Frank Schaeffer – co-author of AWOL, author Faith of Our Sons-a Father's Wartime Diary; Ray Davis - Military Families Voice of Victory; taped remarks by Mark Levin, talk radio host; Capt. Larry Bailey, USN Ret. – Vets for the Truth; Wes Vernon - Accuracy in Media; Mychal Massie - National Chairman, Project 21; Evan Sayet - Writer/Entertainer; Becky Davis - Military Families Voice of Victory; Leo Flood, father of son who served in Iraq and Afghanistan; Richard August - father of Capt. Matthew J. August, KIA 1/27/04, Iraq; reading of letter from Nancy Hecker, mother of U.S. Army Maj. William Hecker, KIA 1/05/06, Iraq; Richard Linn, father of LCpl. Karl R. Linn, KIA 1/26/05, Iraq; Tribute to the fallen - Mansions of the Lord; closing remarks.
PS, Diana Irey gave a great speech: See the Video on Google
Thanks for the ping, Tonk.
8mmMauser and T'wit, get over here.
My thanks to everyone there and for your AAR. Great job!
Taxman Bravo Zulu! to all who made the events possible.
Thank you! I sure did miss being there with you!
Thanks for the great photos of the rally. That flag on stage is really beautiful! Thanks to all who were able to attend and thanks to all who donated time and resources.
Thank you, Kristinn. God bless you.
What you do is amazing.
Just... thanks.
BTTT
Wonderful report Kristinn... and thanks to all who made it a priority & were able to attend.
(God knows how I tried to be with you)
I guess I must express frustration that some many LOCAL & not too far away folks did not participate.. but it is like so many things in life.. lotsa talk & no action from many. The obvious absence of the silent majority?
Good report & so many good speakers at rally.. and LS.. I really wanted to be there there & cheer you on.
THANK YOU again for all of your hard work in organizing this amazing weekend. As others here have mentioned, we continue to be amazed at all you and the DC Chapter accomplish.
EAGLES UP !!!
nutmeg & zelig
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