If you haven’t yet, please check out the ‘Photos’ section of the Real Radio 860 web site. There you will find pictures from around Laurens County. The Greg Lawson Show talking Raider football up at the Hub or the Bobby Bentley Show or Activate Laurens County………….plus Limos For Learning and pictures from Guatemala of the donations you made to a clinic to help poor children. There are also some pictures from what has become my passion in life…………the Patriot Guard.
It was December 2005 when I first heard about the Patriot Guard Riders. I was on a web site for enthusiasts who ride motorcycles and saw a post about the organization. I clicked on the link provided and was amazed at what I saw.
I learned that there were people………people who said they were a part of a church………traveling the country to protest at the funerals of American soldiers. I couldn’t believe it. I fully support the right to protest. But at a funeral? The Patriot Guard Riders had organized about a month before for the purpose of shielding families from the protestors and to let them know that their sacrifice was acknowledged by people they did not know.
I joined the Patriot Guard right away. I never served in America’s armed forces. Because I did not I have often felt that I left something important undone. I saw in this organization an opportunity to make at least a small payment on the debt I felt I personally owed to those who did serve.
The Patriot Guard Riders do not conduct motorcycle rides. We conduct missions. We call them missions because we take our obligation to show honor and bring comfort very seriously. If protestors are present we make them invisible. If the protestors don’t show, we still do. I learned very quickly that the sight of 75 or 100 men and women, people you don’t know, standing on a hillside holding American flags brings immense comfort.
Patriot Guard Riders conduct missions for military men and women who are killed in action, for police, fire and EMS personnel killed in the line of duty, and for any honorably discharged veteran of America’s armed forces.
I began riding these missions and attended as many as I could. I rode in the cold and in the rain and once in a light snow. I went to Georgia and North Carolina and Virginia and all over South Carolina.
As time went by I was appointed as a Ride Captain. Ride Captains are in charge at missions and it’s their responsibility to make the mission one of honor and respect. Later, I became State Captain for South Carolina and then Regional Captain for the Capitol Region which stretches from South Carolina up to Delaware. I currently serve as the Vice President for Members in a national organization with 150,000 members.
And so it is that I’ll be taking some time off this week. Missy and I will leave on Wednesday and head to Danville, Virginia for the national meeting of the Patriot Guard Riders………..the Gathering of the Guard. Riders from all over the country will be there. We’ll shake hands and hug and some of us may shed a few tears as we remember those awful moments in cemeteries as we watched over a family burying their 19 year old son.
Wear a red shirt every Friday as a simple way to say ‘thank you’ to the men and women who have served and are serving in America’s military. And never forget……….freedom is not free. Never miss the opportunity to thank those who protect it for you.
Take a look at the photos posted WLBG’s site of Patriot Guard missions and if you want to know more, check out these web sites:
http://www.patriotguard.org/
http://www.listenfortherumble.org/
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I discovered something tonight viewing the web site, no one has commented to any of the WLBG teams Blogs. I wanted to be the first.
Thank you for the support on the PC issue. Economic development should be and is for some, a major part of what Council must work towards. It takes more than one view to keep the eye on the prize (in our case a prosperous community) but a unified Council will be what it takes to Build Laurens County.
As many of you know, the best way to pay for new and better services is Taxes from businesses. We as home owners can’t afford the taxes to pay for everything we want or even need.
There will be wrong decisions made but keep in mind changes are a’ coming. The decisions we make will decide if they will head us into good times or bad.
I had a friend call and tell me not to support PC he said “we just poor country folk” the problem is both of his daughters are in collage trying to better their lives. I’m glad they did not share his dead end attitude aint you? We can no longer be poor folk, for the future of my children and grandchildren I need to make sure we keep changing for the better.
The Mills are gone and I don’t want them back. I want jobs for our county that pay better, have better safety records, and are better on the environment. These jobs will come if we look for and go after them. Keep in mind it’s up to all of us to make our future better.
One more thing. I can’t hear your show each morning anymore and miss it; can you put it on the site like the news? My company blocks streaming sites but I can get the news.
See you on a ride and don’t forget the wave when we pass.
KT
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