Posted on 12/29/2008 5:50:57 PM PST by Tom the Redhunter
Honor Roll of Attendees Cindy-True-Supporter, Jimmy Valentine's Brother, kburi, Mr. Trooprally and his Grandtwins, your author Tom the Redhunter, Doctor Raoul, and his friend Carl from Pennsylvania.
We soon got set up and were in business as usual. There was a light wind, not enough for us to preclude setting up the MOAB (Mother Of All Banners), but enough for the flags to fly nicely.
Carl is not an official FReeper but does have much experience at rallies and countering the left as a member of a group called the American Sheepdogs. The full explanation is on their website, but essentially the Sheepdogs "live to protect the flock and confront the wolf." The sheep are ordinary productive citizens with no capacity for violence, and the wolves are those who "have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens."
Dr. Raoul is at left, and Carl to the right. Carl used the same sign at a rally in West Chester a few weeks ago.
Carl said that the Sheepdogs gather every Saturday morning at the West Chester PA courthouse to counterprotest a gathering of various leftist groups that include Chester County Peace Movement, Code Pink, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and more. It's no small affair, as they've been written up in no less a newspaper than the Wall Street Journal. The leftists had been protesting there for 5 years, and one day the right-thinking citizens of Chester County decided they had had enough. Supported by Gathering of Eagles, 20 year U.S. Navy veteran Rich Davis organized a counterprotest, one thing led to another, and for the past year and a half the Sheepdogs are out there every week.
Thank You's from the Troops
As always, troopers and workers at Walter Reed come out as they leave work and wait for a bus or their ride home. We had a few tonight greet us and say how amazed they were that we do this every Friday, and have done so for so long. We in turn thank them for their service and work at helping the troops. We usually end up thanking each other and acknowledging that each group needs the other; the troops and workers are bouyed by our rallies, the purpose of which is for us to thank them for their service to our country.
Here are Trooprally's Grandtwins doing their part. They stayed their all night, waving to troops, workers, and their families as they left Walter Reed.
MOAB Slogan Contest
As regular readers may have noted, our current MOAB has been in use for some time. As such, the material is showing much wear and tear and will need to be replaced soon. Sometime in the next few months a faithful FReeper will be sewing a new one.
You can see our current MOAB at the top of this post.
Apologies that I don't have a handy picture of our original MOAB, but it said
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS
LIBERATING THE WORLD OF
ONE TYRANT AT A TIME
We could put the current slogan on the new one, but a replacement is a good time for something fresh. The troops, their families, and the workers at Walter Reed have seen the existing one for some time and we want to change things up.
We want your suggestions! Keep just keep in mind that it must fit on the banner and that it should be pro-troop, that is, something that will inspire and encourage the troops, their families, and the workers at Walter Reed.
We would like to unveil the new saying on our 4th Anniversary, which would be Week 208 or April 3. We will announce the winner on that AAR thread. The cutoff for suggestions will be early March (sorry, we don't have an exact date, so just keep 'em coming until we stop posting this in the AARs).
The contest judges will be your Walter Reed AAR writers: BufordP, Kburi, Jimmy Valentines Brother, and me, Tom the Redhunter
The grand prize will be ... bragging rights!
Sorry if you were hoping for a check ;-)
Update from Landry Fan. She has not being doing so very well and so we wanted to provide a quick update. This was sent in by her sister:
Faithful readers will remember Landry Fan from our early days at Walter Reed
Hi. Just wanted to let you know that your gift arrived yesterday and Landry Fan loved it! We opened it for her and she was thrilled with all the personal messages on the flag.That was very thoughtful. Please let everyone know how much it means to her that she is missed.
She is still in pain and not very mobile.
We wish you and the whole DC Chapter of Free Republic a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Best Wishes from NJ,
Landry Fan's sister and Landry Fan
There was no troop bus, so my final send off is Cindy-True-Supporter holding down her corner
Please also FReepmail them or any of us if you would like to join us at Walter Reed and would like additional information about parking, directions, what to bring, etc.
Come join us every Friday night between the hours of 6:30pm to approx 9:30pm.
Directions to our Walter Reed freep location from the Takoma Metro station
* You can find all of Mrs. Trooprally's photos for this Freep on her Photobucket site.
* Thank you to BufordP for maintaining the BIG LIST of all Walter Reed FReeps.
* Thank you to all FReepers who transport and store our many signs and banners every week.
* Tom the Redhunter blogs at The Redhunter
* Plea Deal blogs at Semper Gratisr
DC Chapter Ping!
Great AAR.
Way to go DC FReepers.Maybe one day I will make it back to DC to stand with all of you again.
God bless you all.
Here comes the judge , order in the court ‘cause here comes the judge.
For the first time in my many Fridays at WRAMC a taxi driver yelled out the window a heavily accented, “Bring them home now.” I was caught flat footed as the taxi drivers have been very supportive.
Another fellow wanted to know if we haven’t made our point after all these Fridays. I guess not.
"Osama yo Momma!"
How many times I gotta beat that into everyone's head?
Hey, what happened to freep number 192? I’ve waited and waited to see the 192 freep. Did ya’ll sit that one out? Glad to finally see 193. My suggestion for the MOAB. VICTORY IN IRAQ 2008! THANK YOU AMERICAN TROOPS! (This to announce that it was Bush who won the victory, not the Oboy).
JUDGES - WVNan has our first suggestion in her Post 7.
Thanks Nan for starting them out.
Re Week 192, one quick answer, Christmas Week and computer problems. But Santa was there.
[Mr] T
You two might be interested in the MOAB contest. Post any suggestions to the judges.
[Mr] T
Jimmy...
“I was caught flat footed as the taxi drivers have been very supportive.”
You have never been flat-footed. I think you were just catching your breath in between your booming support the troops shouts.
Good write-up Tom.
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