FR Idea for MIA Bracelets Honoring WTC/DC/PA Patriots

self ^ | 9/20/01 | self

[William_Rusher]

After discussions from a previous thread concerning POW/MIA day on Sept. 21st, I bounced around the idea of finding engravers here at FR to come up with tribute bracelets in the POW/MIA tradition for the victims of the recent attacks on America. In no way do I mean to detract from the respect and honor due the POW/MIA issue.

I am looking to get the ball rolling on this quick.

FR should find a way to auction off the bracelets of the 5000+ victims of these attacks and send the money to the victim's survivor's funds.

We need a source of supply for the bracelets, probably available from POW/MIA sources.

We need a slogan for all the bracelets, a standard phrase or maybe something from the Presidents speech tonight.

We also need engravers.

I am open to suggestions my friends. Help us get this started and help us follow through to completion this fund raising effort. Surely we have the resources at our disposal as a group to make this happen.

We need folks to keep this bumped to the top (bttt)

And last but not least,

"LET'S ROLL"

[William_Rusher]

Nothing wrong with a few suds buddy! :) I will bump this again in the a.m. around 0530 pst. Get some sleep this could be a long road. The idea is too good to die and once the powers that be here at FR get in on it it will take off

"Big Time"

[William_Rusher]

bttt

[Storm Orphan]

For your consideration.

[William_Rusher]

bttt

[William_Rusher]

great idea!

[William_Rusher]

bttt for Gonzo

[William_Rusher]

bttt

[DoughtyOne]

I'm all for doing it from a FR angle. I believe it was a fundraising tool, but I do not have a link or even remember the department that was doing it. They were rasberry colored, and that's about all I remember.

[Prodigal Son]

Just another idea. After leaving the military, I carry my dog tags on my keyring. Maybe if someone couldn't afford $5.00 for the bracelet, they could afford a military type id tag (they're dirt cheap). Soldiers and other military people might be interested in the id tags because there would be little conflict with military dress code. It could be an inexpensive option sold alongside the bracelets for people to show solidarity and support for the victims and sort of a symbolic connection to the military who are now marching off to find justice for the victims.

[Nam Vet]

I did the basic manufacturing for quite a few thousand of these bracelets in the '70's. (All less engraving) I did the cutting and finishing, and supplied the form fixtures for forming after engraving.

Nam Vet

[Storm Orphan]

We owe you a "present arms" x2.

more than that, really</font size>

Thank you, sir.

[William_Rusher]

great idea, I still have my dog tags with AFOD's number to call when you got grounded enroute in Germany to let them know where you were and to extend or re-file your light plan!

AFOD...DSN...CIV
**0-****
*****-******
Teletype
********

Those were the days. We should sell the dog tags at cost and auction the bracelets, waddya think?

[TheOtherOne]

I read that there is a fireman in California who already started selling them to support his brethren in NY. I think he was based in San Diego.

[William_Rusher]

Do you have any connections or reccomendations on how to go about purchasing these? Anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for you service!

[William_Rusher]

Maybe we can talk to him, any other info on him? We will auction the bracelets to raise cash and sell the dog tags at just over cost. I want an FR logo or the popular one with the 2 wtc towers overlayed by the pentagon with 9-11-01 on it!

[William_Rusher]

I will be back at this in the morning, gotta get some sleep! FReegards All!

[Prodigal Son]

The thing that got me thinking about the dog tags was little kids might not be able to get a bracelet. Children are often the most patriotic Americans. Very often kids also have an affinity towards military type things so I just thought that could be a way for them to show support at low cost. Something like that could quickly become a cult item though, so you'd want to think carefully before selling them at cost. You might want to make a few pennies per item at least in case demand became very high. I mean, if every American suddenly wanted one- that's a heap of dog tags.

As you probably know, id tags are cheap and require zero skill to make. The machine is basically a beefed up version of one of those old plastic label makers (the ones that looked like a gun with an alphabet wheel on the top)but dead simple to use. The machine itself could perhaps be obtained cheaply from a military installation (perhaps an old one).

[William_Rusher]

A great idea, I will look into the cost of a machine tomorrow. Probably find one in the GSA cat. or at a local GI store, maybe the US Cav store would have one. This is still in the baby stages and I don't care what anyone else has done, this could be an FR thing and we could raise a lot of cash doing it for the families. Keep those ideas coming but at some point I am going to need volunteers to get all these ideas into motion. You want to check on the dog tag idea and I will get on the bracelets?

[William_Rusher]

bttt

[Nam Vet]

Have the know-how, but would take a few weeks to line up machines, tooling etc. and be in production. Could have them around Thanksgiving if someone else had the engraving capacity and a minimal backlog of orders.

Nam Vet