WELL DONE, FREEPERS!
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.
Thanks for the ping here, FRiend... :o)
After Action report including photos here...
The emcee did an EXCELLENT job as well! ;-)
BTTT
Yo! Bayb! Reporting for duty!
Dunno if my photos would add anything, but if you want them, freepmail me an e-mail address where I can forward same. Some are film photos which I sent out for development -- not ready yet.
bumpage
I would like to thank everyone who attended. It is frustrating to see so few freepers show up for activism. Sitting at a keyboard and giving an opinion will only get us so far.
Great job!
I think the emcee did a GREAT job although he was probably exhausted from handling all the details of the congressional visit, the rally, the dinner. . . . Keep up the terrific work. Wish CSPAN would play the video. . . .
PS, if you send me a real e-mail, I'll send you a pic of me with Pres. Bush at the Oval Office!
free dixie,sw
The flag was a favorite with tourists. Many came down to take photos of it.
free dixie,sw
Perfect, Thanks!
free dixie,sw
fanfan from Canada would like to see them, if someone did.
free dixie,sw
Thanks again, SW!
free dixie,sw
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