On Sunday, May 16 th , 2010, us Warriors' Watch Riders and friends who live, say, east of the Mississippi , will have an opportunity to engage in a specific form of troop support that you will remember for the rest of your life. The event planned has the potential to change lives – not only the lives of volunteers, but more importantly, the lives of some of our most dedicated and severely wounded young American soldiers – those who have sacrificed almost everything for an American ideal.
As the sun rises on that day, the spring air will gradually fill with the rumble of V-twin engines meeting, converging, adding another here and a group there, and finally heading south together. Three hours later hundreds of patriot-bikers will converge on Walter Reed Army Medical Center , there to strike a spark of hope and human possibility. “Bikers” who are actively in the military, who are veterans, family members of military and veterans, will join forces to create a small miracle.
Individuals, independents, unaffiliateds, as well as members of the Friends of the Forgotten, Rolling Thunder, the POW-MIA Motorcycle Club, the Leathernecks Motorcycle Club, the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle club, the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club, the Marne Riders Motorcycle Club, America's Guardians Motorcycle Club, the Blue Knights and Red Knights Motorcycle Clubs, the Centurions Motorcycle Club, and many more, will ride as one from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, and as far away as Texas.
As many as 200 bikers will come together with 200 wounded American Warriors to share a BBQ lunch and to launch a project that will put a goal in front of some of our most severely wounded American soldiers.
Also riding with us will be bike-builders with experience in building or modifying bikes to suite various disabilities, such as a missing arm, leg, or other severe handicap. The bike builders (from “Bikes Built Better," Horsham , Pa. ) will give talks and make themselves available to describe to any wounded soldier who asks what is possible for him/her – hand-operated kickstands, automatic transmissions, trikes, and so on.
Perhaps most important, riding with us will be four men and one woman who are amputees and who currently ride. These people exemplify the American notion of rising up out of the ashes and overcoming obstacles to meet a personal goal. The reasons for these disabilities differ with each person, and each has his or her story.
Beth from Reading , Pa. , for example, told me that “I am an amputee - left above knee - 6 1/2 years ago - and I ride a Harley Softail Deluxe Trike. I have a heart for veterans and a love and passion for riding that I'd love to share.”
What we are really bringing with us then is not five people who happen to be missing a limb. What we are really bringing with us are five stories of hardship and pain overcome, five living examples of nobility, five living examples of the human drive to surmount the insurmountable.
Folks, the Warriors' Watch Riders do a lot of missions for our troops. While none of us can possibly do them all, collectively we are always there – two, three, five or more times a week. Planning, riding, cheering, welcoming our troops home and seeing our old veterans on their Final Ride with the honor and dignity that they deserve. With all that we do, all the time, it's easy to forget what each mission we do means to the subject of that mission. It's easy to become jaded, to begin to feel as though all of this is old hat. We must stay focused. We must see each mission through the eyes and hearts of ONE family, ONE soldier. What we do for them has never been done for them and the soldiers are grateful and the families are justifiably proud.
The same applies to the Walter Reed mission coming up this Sunday. Those of you who will be making this ride have an opportunity – not just to hang with some young troops – but to touch the lives of those who need us most and have done the most for us – they wrote a check payable to you the citizen in the amount of their own flesh, bone and blood. These are the heroes you will touch this weekend.
We are trying to help some wounded soldiers to heal by holding out hope to them. Is it worth it? Will it even work? If we spend time with 200 wounded warriors this weekend, and ONE of them becomes a rider on a modified bike five years from now, instead of sinking into depression or entering the hell of addiction, then yes, it was “worth it.”
Forward this message to everyone you know who rides. I'm intentionally keeping it short. The more riders, the more of an emotional impact we will have on the heroes of Walter Reed.
