Welcome Home... I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!
One thing that all Warriors' Watch Riders Welcome Home missions have in common is what I call the "flash." When we do our "thing," it's loud, it's colorful, and it's hard to miss.
If you are new to the Warriors' Watch ( and we get new members every day, thank you for joining us!) you may have wondered something like, "Shouldn't we be in the background? When we make all this noise, aren't we "making it about us?"
Well, yes. And no. When the Warriors' Watch was founded we made a deliberate decision to make our work as visible as possible. In our Vision statement we talk about the need to spread the word about what we are doing so that others will get the idea and so similar things themselves. The goal is to create a culture in which our American warriors are seen by the public as the celebrities that they are to us.
As I began to write this, the TV was on and it was set on "TMZ." If you don't know, this is a show about the media obsession with celebrities (it's really kind of funny, in a ribald way). But the paparazzi were following some celeb through an airport and finally cornered him and were firing questions and flashing cameras. Of the millions of people tuned in to that show at that moment, I wonder how many of them noticed what I noticed - two uniformed soldiers standing in the background, watching all the hubub.
In a perfect world, in a Warriors' Watch world, it would have been those two soldiers who the TV cameras were surrounding and the photographers were shooting. That was my first thought.
My next thought was, "what if a Warriors' Watch Welcome Home had been happening in that airport in that place at that time? Would the noise and cheering and flags and signs have been noticed by the media and drawn their attention and cameras?" The answer is "probably."
In the Philadelphia area the media have become supporters of the Warriors' Watch and A Hero's Welcome to the point of almost being partners in our troop support efforts. They see us again and again, they cover us on their news programs again and again, and that in turn spreads the word and draws more public attention to the rightness of honoring our troops like celebrities.
I consider it a part of the WWR/AHW package to include media, noise, color, and flare. Our goal is to make people take notice, see what's going on, and join in - a culture of "hero worship" in which it is the real heroes who are, not worshiped, but honored.
So take those baffles out and light 'em up!
UPCOMING EVENTS
The nature of most WWR "rides" is that they are all relatively short notice, if not actual short notice. Rarely do we have more than, say, 2 or 3 weeks at the outside to plan a ride. Sometimes we have only 2 or three HOURS. (If you don't believe it, read here about the Army Wedding that the Warriors Watch riders did on 2 hours notice. In two hours we said "yes," got the riders together, got a church, got a minster, got the flowers and a photographer, and got the Army couple married, right before the bride deployed to Iraq. I believe this is still a WWR record.)
But there are a few events coming up this season that we need and want as many of you as possible to participate it - it's even worth travelling for and staying over night.
Ride 1: Wounded Warriors Rider Project, ride to Walter Reed. The Wounded Warriors Rider Project is a permanent organization with a website and a mission. We will be riding to Walter Reed where we will put on a BBQ for 200 wounded warriors, and during this we will bring bike builders and amputee riders to give talks and demonstrations of the kinds of modifications that can be made to bikes to accommodate amputees. The idea is to put the possibilities in front of these heroes in the hopes of giving them motivation to heal, to go on, and to avoid sinking into depression. THE DATE IS STILL IFFY. We are trying for May 29, that is the Saturday of Memorial Day, but it might not work out. So please, continue to follow the mission thread on this ride on the WWR Forums, and check in to the Wounded Warrior Riders website for updates.
Ride 2: The Annual Ride for Freedom in Philadelphia. This is not a WWR ride, but it is a WWR Partner ride, the Friends of the Forgotten. I will be the speaker in a brief ceremony held just before the ride commences. As last year, the beginning point is Norristown High School, and the ride will end on Hallowed Ground, Valley Forge, Pa. Check the FotF website to get details and download a flyer.
Ride 3: Ride of Reflection, September 29. This is a fundraising ride that will be the first of an annual event, for the Garden of Reflection, the Pennsylvania Memorial to the victims of the attack on America on 9.11.2001. This is an awesome opportunity for the WWR to directly aid the memorialization of the honored dead from our state. Check the Ride of Rememberence website for ongoing details as they become avaialbe. This is a first ride, so a lot of planning is still underway.
SPEAKING OF PARTNERS... Our (the WWR) partnership with A Hero's Welcome has, over time, strengthened to the point where we are really two branches of the same organizaiotn. The WWR relies heavily on AHW for planning and logistics, and for volunteers to come to airports and to the home destinations of our charges. The WWR is equally important to AHW, providing the means of transporting our heroes to the places they are returning home to. If you haven't thecked the A Hero's Welcome website lately, please do so now to see the changes that have taken place there.
Finally, the growth of the American Warriors' Watch Coalition is nothing short of astounding. All across America, all manner of Troop Support Organizaitons are lining up to join the AWWC, to share their ideas, resources, communications, while minimizing lost opportunities to serve our troops by covering the most possible area of the country. Check out the lists of members in good standing of the AWWC at the AWWC website.
Another group that has become a steadfast WWR Partner is "Fast Lane Biker" magazine. If you live in New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania, stop in to almost any bike shop or dealership and pick up a copy. I write a monthly column for this magazine and in turn they are promoting our organization and our rides. Check it out!
