Letter to the Dothan Eagle

Sunday a large group of Motorcycles organized by the Patriot Guard gathered to provide the 1203rd Engineers, Dothan, Alabama with an escort to the airport where more bikers waited with American Flags to see them off and wish them safe return. The Dothan Police were there and did an outstanding job providing safety for the bikers around Dothan Circle and out to the Airport, stopping traffic all along the route.

And I would have loved to have seen a little investigative reporting as to, how did the Army "lose" the buses that were to take the soldiers to the airport requiring the servicemen and ladies to be transported by their families. Maybe you covered it. But looking at your Website it looks like the Top stories are "giant Pigs" and the "Sopranos". There may be one or two people who don't live in Dothan that might have been interested. But then "Giant Pigs" are important. We got it here:
http://bigbendbikersforfreedom.blogspot.com/ ; But then maybe it wasn't Worth your time. rc

I've lost all touch with reality

Ok, I have definitely gone over the edge now. Im sitting here staring at the website for the Dothan Eagle and have yet to be able to find the first bit of coverage of yesterdays Patriot Guard escort of the soldiers to see them off. I reckon a heap of police escorted bikers toting American Flags followed by a train of families carrying soldiers to the airport cause the Army couldn't find their buses ain't news in Dothan. According to their website this is what is the top stories in in the Dothan Eagle as I look at it:

The Sopranos ended the series with a "challenging finale" Sunday Night (Damn thats front page news).

Hunter's brag of killing pigs bigger than "Hogzilla" (reckon thats why BBQ restaurants can charge less than Fla. for pork).

Milk prices are heading higher (maybe they need shorter cows).

And the Dothan schools are looking for a "few good teachers" (Um, hey Dothan Eagle, ya think you might be able to find a few good reporters?) .

They do have a fine section on local eating establishments. But then hell, with all them big pigs floating around.

Now to be fair they may have like printed it real quick and took it down to replace it with their new poll, "Where do you think Paris Hilton should be forced to serve the rest of her 45-day sentence?".

Well my answer would have been yes, but now I'm thinking maybe they ought to let her out to make room for whoever makes the "what is news decisions" for the Dothan Eagle.

Oh yeah, in case your interested you can click here to rate them. Im just gonna send this whole &*#! to em...........rc

Patriot Guard Blows Dothan Away. Army loses their buses?

All to often Patriot Guard runs are to pay respects to soldiers who for whom it's to late to see the appreciation. This time it was to show them before they left for Iraq.

So yesterday morning Mike Donahue (area Patriot Guard coordinator) his wife, Bob, Rex (from Tennessee, sorry guy if I got the name wrong. Combination of burnt brain and burnt brain ya know) and I took off for Dothan for the first Patriot Guard "Send Off" Mission I have been on. (Link to pics below)

The mission: To let the 1203rd Engineers, Dothan, Ala. know we want them back safe!

Well when our meager little crew showed up at the staging area I was like, "damn at the bikes". The Victory dealership was overflowing. Jeanne and Julie (the two J's) from Tally chapter of "Chrome Diva's" were there as well a strong turn out from "Whitesands" (PC) and Pensacola's "Gulf Coast" ABATE chapters (my understanding is that Tally's Big Bend Chapter was busy worrying about coffee pots and the like). In fact there were riders from to many places and to many groups to count. Thank God for CMA handing out water.

I've heard various estimates on the number of bikes so I'm not even going to guess. There were enough that we had to split into two groups. One group went to the Airport to form a Flag Line and the other went to the Armory to provide an escort.

Those of us who went to the Armory were greeted by a line of soldiers with whom we all shook hands and wished them safety. The Armory was full of Family, friends, tears and good byes and as with everything Service related though it was, "hurry up and wait".

Why were we waiting? The Army couldn't find the buses that were to transport the soldiers to the airport and waiting Jet, that was to take them to Wisconsin before heading to Baghdad. Now I ain't real sure how you lose buses, maybe "a bus", but buses???

Finally someone made a command decision (I'm assuming someone in a command position) that the families would transport the soldiers to the Airport behind the bikes. Well now, an escort was just turned into a train and the Dothan Police were like, "what???". Hats off to the Dothan Police Chief though. He called in all the help he could get and the train headed out.

American Flags, Bikes and families making their way around Dothan circle at 15 to 20 miles an hour (if you were on a Harley just add hotter to hot) with cars pulling off the road everywhere to pay their respects. I'm not sure they knew what it was about, but they knew it was an awful lot of American Flags.

Arriving at the airport we were greeted by the second crew that had formed a flag corridor for the procession to ride through. After parking our bikes we grabbed our flags and joined them as the soldiers walked through and thanked us??? THANK US??? We were there to thank them!!!

We did get the opportunity to join some of them in the airport lobby as they were again saying goodbyes to family and I did get some pics (click here). But between riding, holding a flag and trying to drink water many didn't come out well and I didn't get as many as I would have liked.
But to be HONEST, it's just to damn hard to take pics with tears in your eyes.

Ride Free and REMEMBER WHY YOU CAN!!!!........rc