I recently commited to donating some of my time to the Patriot Guard Riders. The first "mission" (their term not mine) I went on was last night to help escort New England's only Gold Star Mothers Memorial to my (new) home town, Manchester NH.

Only six of these monuments will be made and only one will be in New Englad.

Our group picked up the caravan that was coming from Gettysburg PA @ the state line and the dozen or so bikes we had joined the 3 dozen or so already escorting the caravan to ride up Route 93 into downtown Manchester with a State Police escort.

In the caravan were various members of the committee working to put the memorial in place as well as some of the Gold Star Moms. If you're unfamiliar with the term, loved ones of military personnel serving in areas of conflict may display a blue star for each loved one serving. If that service man or woman dies during their service, the star can and should be changed to a Gold one.

Lynn & I currently have a blue star in our front window as her son is deployed in Iraq with the USAF. I have to tell you, riding in that caravan, and eventually standing in front of 6 women who have lost children in combat is a humbling experience. You realize that no matter how over worked you may be, how under appreciated you feel, or how worried you are that the budget will balance at the end the end of the month, it pales in comparison to what some have given so we can have the precious ability to do just that no matter who we are or where we come from.

No matter what your political or idealogic leanings are, support the troops that are serving their, and your country by donating or volunteering to one of the hundreds of great organizations that do so.

Bravo, very cool!

I also am a member of the Patriot Guard. I have been on missions where we had to deal with people protesting the war at a fallen heros funeral. The flag lines helped to seperate the families from the distraction. One time we had to take a line of Harleys over by the protestors and let them idle to drown out their noise.

I would have to think that the fallen soldier had died to protect the rights of those idiots who used his funeral as a platform for their political or religious manifestations. I wanted to go over and kick their asses. We are told of course that there is to be absolutely no confrontations, we are there to honor a hero and provide a shield for thier families.

I much prefer other missions like escorting the Wall to where it is to be displayed. There are usually hundreds of riders and lots of food. Thanks for taking part!

NH has had a string of lost soldiers recently (three I think in the last few weeks) so unfortunately more fallen hero missions are in the near future.

Very good cause. They are active around here and do too many funerals, IMHO.

Matthew

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but a war protest at a soldiers funeral is way out of line. Glad you're helping.

Great group! Our area is very conservative and I have not seen or heard of any protests. I would hate to think what would happen to them if they did protest. We have memorial rides to raise money for families that have lost a loved one in service to our country.
I'm glad your involved!
My VFW Post has fund raisers for our Memorial Cementary and families with loved ones in Afgan and Iraq.

Tom,

Thanks for your support.


AFAIK the protesting Church tries to incite violence and then they SUE.

IMO ignore them and they will get their just reward later.


Mike