Fayetteville, NC FReep: After-action thread II

Free Republic Network & others ^ | 03/21/2004 | Constitution Day

[Constitution Day]

Some random thoughts:

On Saturday, March 20th, 2004, the Old North State Chapter of the Free Republic Network was joined by FReepers & patriots from NC and other states.
We came from points far & wide to FReep International ANSWER when they descended upon Fayetteville in an angry, festering mob that had the sheer shamelessness to bring their anti-military vitriol to the home of Fort Bragg.

I arrived at our permitted location before 10 AM, and it wasn't long before people began to arrive and set up signs and flags.

One thing that was striking to me at this event was the amount of media present.
I was interviewed by at least two local TV stations, one local newspaper, and the New York Times.
kristinn has a full list of the media present at the event.

Before long, there were many veterans and a few active-duty soldiers with us, and I deeply appreciate their service and their time spent with us, advancing the cause of freedom.
As the beautiful morning progressed, many drivers passed by, honking their horns and giving us thumbs-up for being there.

Before noon, we began to notice the anti-war march making its way up the street.
You couldn't miss the ramshackle "peace truck" leading the way; this was the same truck that Freepers were falsely accused of vandalizing.

We yelled "WE GAVE PEACE A CHANCE, WE GOT 9/11" at them as they passed us, giving the middle finger and shouting who knows what kind of epithets at us.
After they had passed, we relocated to the hill across from the park where the anti-war rabble had arrived at.
The Rolling Thunder group was out in full force with their Harleys, signs and flags displayed prominently.
I listened in amazement as virtually every liberal cause celebre was trotted out for their audience.
This ran the gamut from pro-union diatribes to anti-police screeds, feminist dictums, Halliburton/Cheney conspiracies and the like.

The D.C. and S.C. Chapter members present were also a great help. I'm especially grateful for the emcee duties of kristinn and Doctor Raoul, who also led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of "God Bless America".

The officers from the Fayetteville Police Department were very professional and I personally would like to thank them for the hard work they did.

One thing that was striking was that the Airborne & Special Ops Museum and the war memorials across the street had to be cordoned off from the "pro-military" anti-war crowd.
I will post more later.

[Constitution Day]

I am calling this "Thread II" because IAmNotAnAnimal posted an earlier thread here:

IAmNotAnAnimal: My thoughts on the Fayetteville, NC "pro-peace" March

[SC Swamp Fox]

SC Ping

FReepmail me if you want on or off this list.

[Constitution Day]

Some who joined us were:

Old North State Chapter
Constitution Day
mykdsmom
TaxRelief
Huber
TaxDeduction2
TaxDeduction3
Helms
Congressman Billybob
dstarr (and her sister, daughter and husband)
IAmNotAnAnimal
rrrod (and fiancee)
Vinnie (and wife)
Clyde Asbury
funnynurse (new FReeper)

DC Chapter
kristinn
Doctor Raoul
tgslTakoma
Daughter of tgsl
Angelwood (and husband)
BufordP
BillF
Taxman
always free

SC Chapter
Dixie Sass
SC Swamp Fox
upchuck (and dog Snoopy)
Mattma
Hillarys Gate Cult

Citizens Coalition For Responsible Media
bert

Liberty Post
Cal
Fred Mertz (and his Army buddy)
Darth Sidious

Virginia Beach, VA Protest Warrior Chapter Leader
hockeyfreak

Last but not least
Longtime lurker 'Proud AF Dad' who did a very nice thing for a young military wife whose husband was recently deployed.
I will let him share that if he wishes.

[upchuck]

We Done GOOD!!!

On my drive home about 11:15pm last night I was punching around on the radio and managed to pick up WCBS from NYC. They are an "all news" station.

The world wide protests led their 11:30pm newscast. Then they started talking about Fayetteville and ran a report from one of their reporters who was there yesterday. I damn near wrecked my car.

Of course the report was 99% leftest and 1% us, but we did make the local news in NYC.

[Constitution Day]

Below are some photos by dstarr.
After this I will not post till tomorrow; I'm having computer issues and am not at home now.

kristinn addressing the crowd.

FReeper rally as viewed from across the street, #1

FReeper IAmNotAnAnimal and others.

Rowan St. Park with much BS being projected.

Rolling Thunder rally, crowd shot #1

FReeper rally as viewed from across the street, #2

"Peace Truck" (LOL)

Doctor Raoul, kristinn; BufordP around the PA system.

"Anti-war" march heading past us, #1

"Anti-war" march heading past us, #2

FReeper rally as viewed from across the street, #3

"Anti-war" march heading past us, #3.

Rolling Thunder rally, crowd shot #2

[Jumper]

Darn - I missed this event and I was actually in Fayetteville from Saturday evening until 1300 this afternoon (Sunday) when I headed back to DC. Congrats on liberating the liberals from their one-sided thought processes:)

[TaxRelief]

Flora. What of FLORA????

Flora our prayers go out to your son. May god protect his eyesight.

Sorry you had to leave so quickly. Your signs were the biggest hits.

[IAmNotAnAnimal]

Hey Charlie, we also made a headline on MSNBC and Nightly News

About 2,000 rallied in Fayetteville, North Carolina, near Fort Bragg, one of the largest U.S. military bases. Several hundred counter-demonstrators stood along the march route.
“The appearance that we get in the media focuses on one or two people killed, when we are opening schools and people are giving us flowers,” said Capt. Todd McDonald, 35, who said he broke both his legs in a parachute accident in Iraq. (IAmNotAnAnimal)

I was interviewed by the NY Times and the Fayetteville Observer. I hope they don't distort what I said. (Swamp Fox)

We're national. They refer to me here Capt. Todd McDonald )of course that's not my real last name), but hey, the reporter said she was from Reuters (and she was really cute, just ask Rod). Not exactly what I said, and they didn;t mention Free Republic, but we're making progress.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4568374/

[Huber]

Hey Tax Relief,

Here's a big ole' public kudos to you for all that you did!

A big part of this going off so well was all of the weeks of pre-work that you put into the press releases, public relations, permitting, dealing with the police, handling the media, coordinating with the locals, and keeping the rest of us pumped up in general!

Any time you want to organize another FREEP, count me in!

[Ligeia]

11:30pm newscast. Then they started talking about Fayetteville ...

We heard a similar broadcast on our way back to Virginia. Could you hear the chanting in the background, "Saddam needs a hug! Saddam needs a hug!" It was great!

[Huber]

If anyone has come across my full-sized Betsy Ross flag, please let me know! :-]

[IAmNotAnAnimal]

I'm with Huber, count me in for any pre-work for future FReeps...this one was great, and we can always use Huber's Explorer (sorry, couldn't help it).

[Angelwood]

I second KUDOS to TaxRelief for all the hard work that goes into organizing a rally like this -- especially when you don't live in the area. She did a fabulous job!

[Flora McDonald]

Thank you for remembering my son in your prayers. We saw him yesterday and today. The infection is a tough one and they are trying different concoctions of antibiotics but it is slowly getting better. We won't know about the vision part for awhile yet. My 0311 has a good attitude, faith in God and good doctors so whatever the outcome, I think he will be ok.

I saw a clip of the Rally on NBC news last night!!! What a great job you did. It has been pure pleasure browsing through all the after-action reports from across America.

I started posting responses last night and pooped out! I am so proud of Free Republic and all the other organizations that responded to this call for action.

God bless America!

[TaxRelief]

beware of Greeks bearing gifts

I see what you mean. This is all the mention we got out of one article on WRAL

Hoffman said he did not plan to re-enlist. "We don't want him, anyway," said Jose Perez, a 39-year-old former member of the Fort Bragg- based 82nd Airborne Division and a Gulf War veteran.

"I'm here to support my brothers and sisters," Perez said. "This war is about freedoms. And the soldiers are defending freedoms. Even the protesters'."

Perez and other veterans who support the war chanted: "We gave peace a chance. We got 9-11."

As one war protester walked by, Perez told him to get a haircut and join them. Others chanted "Four more years" and "Osama loves you" while police stood in the street between the groups.

"I'm here because (anti-war protesters) are here in a military town, where there are wives with husbands overseas, and husbands with wives overseas," said Ed Penick, 50, who drove about 200 miles from Roanoke, Va., to join the counter-protest. "This kind of thing gives aid and comfort to the bad guys."

Not too bad considering, but NYTimes et al will surely attempt to discredit us sooner or later.

[TaxRelief]

And add Ligeia to the list of FReepers in attendance... Wow! Anyone else we forgot?

[TaxRelief]

"Stop," she said, blushing, "It was a joint effort on the part of every FReeper who attended or even just bumped the threads."

The real kudos goes to all the FReepers from the DC Chapter --who provided the excellent advice, guidance, signs and sound equipment--and to every FReeper and FReeper-by-association who made the trip.

You guys really helped us show the troops and the press how much people care and how deep the support is for the effort in Iraq and the war on terrorism.

Thank you.

[Howlin]

Ah, why did you ping me to this post?

[TaxRelief]

Sorry, Howlin, I meant to type "Helms".

Well, Hey! How was your weekend?

[Howlin]

Fine.