Another large turnout of patriots attended our weekly rally.  Everyone looked sharp and enthusiastic.  We had about 8 newcomers - including Matt, the son of regulars Mary Lou and Harry.

Matt’s an American soldier, and a hero in our eyes.  He’s been in uniform about 12 years, started out in the Marines and is now in the National Guard.  He wore a “Got Freedom” T-shirt and looks every bit like the All-American Freedom Fighter that he is.  We thank God for guys like Matt – doing a job that must be done, for us.  In addition, we met his Uncle Bill, also a veteran, and his girlfriend Melissa.

We loved little Madeline’s sign that said, “Thank You Troops for Protecting ME” It even had her hand prints on it.  That’s what its all about – parents teaching their kids to respect and appreciate the volunteer members of our Armed Forces.  Madeline is as wise as she is adorable.  Kudos to her parents.

Another highlight was John and Nina, two total strangers, who drove by, then pulled over and came back to stand with us -  turns out they are diehard patriots who had never seen us before.  They were excited to be with us and said they would be back next week.   Like all of us, they are very grateful for our group and our Victory Rallies.

We also say “hello” to Howard, John and Jeri (Linda’s friend) – Welcome aboard!

Once again we finished with a strong rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and Pledge of Allegiance, followed always by our prayer for the troops’ protection and success.

It’s worth noting that the so-called “peace” protesters continue to violate the separation agreement by sending one of their haters over to our side pretending to be a photographer – but he was there only to agitate and argue.  He started with me by asking, “What did Iraq have to do with 9/11?”  As I tried to reply he constantly interrupted me, wouldn’t let me finish and just kept repeating his points of view – which consist of all the far left talking points.  He believes if he talks loud enough and fast enough and long enough that he will convert us.  He’s the typical “peacemaker” who’s only there to agitate and annoy decent people trying to shop or dine in West Chester. The only thing he succeeded in doing was giving me a shower from all the drops of foam and spit that came out of his mouth while he frothed his arguments at me.  In addition the aggressive so-called ‘peace” protesters screamed and shouted “we hate Bush” over and over – which is real reason why they are out there.

Go to Skye’s blog Midnight Blue – to see more great coverage, photographs and a video!  (Photos in this post are courtesy Skye – see more here.)  See you next week – and remember “VICTORY IS THE ANSWER”

Our Troops are fighting hard (and winning) for US over there, and we are doing our part to counter the insurgents within and show America that we proudly stand behind Our Troops!

I just got a passionate call from Mark Driver, a borough councilman from nearby Phoenixville, PA.  We’ve known about the anti-American demonstrations going on there for a while, with a few ragtag hippies holding their Surrender Now signs.

Well Mark tells a story of almost 50, probably the same bunch of miscreants that we have here in West Chester screaming for surrender while pushing and slapping women.  He has also witnessed one of the hippies spitting on one of our troops - sound familiar?

Mark has extended an invitation to any of us (he has stood with us in West Chester before) to come out and show the Friday commuters that there are still some people around Phoenixville who love their country.  Tonight from 6pm – 9pm, Mark tells me, the Republicans will be setting up a table with literature for the candidates who can bring us out of this defeatist malaise – people like retired Two-Star Admiral Steve Kantrowitz, Guy Ciarrocchi, and Craig Williams.  Mark said that he won’t be there due to work reasons until 8:30pm, but the Republicans manning the table will welcome us openly.

If anyone can make it, the table should be near Bridge Street and Main Street.

Great Rally! Huge Turnout!

What a positive message of support we had for our troops today – while the anti-victory side looked like circus clowns, with their deadly message that blames America, prolongs war, and causes more Americans to die.

Thanks to all who came out to fight the insurgents at home – the honks and thumbs up were overwhelmingly in our favor.  Special thanks to Joe for his banner and special welcome to our 5 newcomers: Elizabeth (just graduated from West Chester University) joined her family, Norman from Malvern,  Marine William, Navy man Bruce*, Veteran Charlie (from the West Chester VFW) and Linda.

*Bruce is still in the Navy Reserves, at 75-yrs young and this October will do his 2 weeks at Willow Grove Naval Base!!  He may be the most senior sailor in the Navy – and we salute him and are proud of his service to this great nation.  God Bless our Military and their Families.

VICTORY IS THE ANSWER !

Thanks to ‘Cork from Ohio’ for your service and devotion to our country.  His email articulately explains the threat we face and how noble our troops are.  The anti-victory protestors need to read this.

First of all, I want to thank you and your group for making a public stand for our freedom.  I read about the Chester County Victory Movement in the WSJ.

I just returned from a 6-month tour in Iraq.

As an Intelligence Analyst supporting both conventional and Special Operations troops, I saw up front the evil that will be brought into our country (and all western, democratic countries) if it is left to grow unchecked.

Do I believe that Iraq and other middle-Eastern countries will ever be like the US? Not really. It may be a by-product, but I do not believe that should be our main goal! 

One way or the other, we will be in this fight – it is either here or there!

Our goal should be to stop the spread of this insidious evil ideology which cannot flourish in a free society.

Our strategy should be to continue to keep the fight there, so it doesn’t come here.  But (and I truly hope this is not the case) maybe that is what it will take to wake our citizens up!

I truly believe we are in a battle for our very civilization and existence of our way of life!

Our enemy is the most evil we have ever faced. They are masters of treachery, duplicity, and dis-information.  They claim to be fighting against an immoral Western society, yet they perform immoral deeds to achieve what they see as a moral end.  They lie, cheat, steal, murder, sell drugs, rape women, and use children as hostages all to fulfill the will of a “just” God!

This is the rule, not the exception!

Has anyone from our own forces done some of these things? Unfortunately, a few  individuals have, but they are the exception not the rule. They are vigorously (and sometimes erroneously) prosecuted, convicted, and punished for their mis-deeds.

The nature of my work allowed me to observe the conduct of our troops in battle.  Because of their professionalism, the vast majority of missions are conducted without ever having to fire a shot. Careful attention is given to protecting women and children, including those associated with the terrorists themselves!

Detainees much prefer the humane treatment from the Americans to being captured and held by the Iraqi forces.

The Islamists stated goal is to shroud the whole world in Sharia Law! They are not “Freedom Fighters”! Freedom is antithetical to their belief.

I don’t think our Anti-war protest friends quite get the fact that they will be the first to be beheaded. They will be the first to have their women silenced, uneducated, and clothed with Burkas. They will be the first to be re-educated or killed.

There is evil in this world and evil people who have evil agendas. The naivete’ about this is astounding to me.  The very fact that our citizens can protest freely and without fear is because of what our troops are doing to prevent this evil from spreading to these shores.

Thank you again for your service here on the home-front. It is just as important (if not more) as the service of those on the front-lines!

Cork H.
Ohio

This reminder was sent from Wayne, our good friend from Warriors Watch:

Here’s a short story that illustrates how vitally important what you do is to our troops. My friend, a police officer named John, just called me from work to tell me this before he got busy and forgot.

He took his little ones to Karate School and was talking to the instructor. In the course of their conversation he learned that the Instructor’s son is in Iraq, an MP.  John asked how their morale was, and he replied that according to his son, their morale was good RIGHT UP UNTIL THEY COME HOME ON LEAVE. Then, they see the protesters and others speaking against them and the war, and that’s all they see, and they go back at the end of their leave demoralized, wondering what they are doing it for.

Of course, the ones who see US – A Hero’s Welcome, Warriors’ Watch, GOE, and the Sheepdogs, learn something different. But this serves as a stark reminder to us that, for all we do, THERE IS MUCH MORE TO BE DONE. For every protest that we counter, there are too many that go unanswered. For every soldier we treat like a Rock Star, there are too many who come home to no fanfare at all.

WHAT WE DO IS VITAL, AND IT MUST EXPAND AND SPREAD. I truly believe that the very lives of our soldiers could depend on it, and John’s story reminds us of that.

John told the Karate guy to be absolutely sure to let us know when his son comes home, and we will show him what the REAL America feels about his service.

Fellow Sheepdog Sharon Hyland Keyser, founder of one of our great partner organizations, A Hero’s Welcome, has a great profile written about her in the current issue of MainLine Magazine.  Click here and flip to page 28 to read the excellent and inspiring article about Sharon and A Hero’s Welcome.

It is through our close partnerships with groups like A Hero’s Welcome and Warrior’s Watch and Gathering of Eagles that we Sheepdogs can individually thank and honor those for whom we rally every week.  I know that many of us attend these welcomes and participate in the escort rides because every single one of us truly supports our troops.

Way to go, Sharon!

Another outstanding rally, large enthusiastic turnout!

It felt like a 4th of July festival, all the flags, patriotic music and signs of support for our troops.  One highlight was an elated passerby named Anthony who said he was going into the Navy soon and how supportive we were and how unsupportive and harmful the peaceniks are.

Special welcome to four newcomers.  One is a Marine Mom named Laura, her 22-yr old hero son Brian, has been a Marine for 18 months,  she was ecstatic to be part of us and vice-versa.  Also Daniel was there,  joining sister Kristen and father John, who found out about us from the Wall Street Journal story.  And Mike K’s cute little daughter was there all dressed in red, white, and blue. And Harrison’s dad, Steve, was there.  Thanks to each of you for participating!

At the end we sang the National Anthem (the anti-Americans on the other side began to belligerently shout and tried to drown us out – they possess no honor or class).  They used to have the corner to themselves for 5 years – hurting our troops and helping Al-Queda and our enemies.  They used to be unopposed, but we showed up 45 weeks ago and they can’t stand seeing us in public.  Now they know how we felt for 5 years.   They truly are in-your-face, intolerant arrogant traitors who can’t stand seeing the US flag and sees our troops as occupiers and bullies (or victims tricked by recruiters), they fight ROTC at West Chester University, and they fight other decent Americans who decide to publicly disagree with their far-left extremist blame-America views.

Thanks to all of you regulars and newcomers who come out every weekend to present the patriotic image of America that most people love and cherish.  At the end, we prayed aloud, like we always do, for our troops protection and success.  We stand behind them all the way.   THANK YOU TROOPS!  THANK YOU MILITARY FAMILIES!

(Group photo and bottom photo courtesy of NeoCon, middle two photos courtesy of Sean.)

We have a fellow patriot on the left coast, in southern California. 

I read the article in the Wall Street Journal about you and your group in West Chester, Pennsylvania.  Thank you for your group’s courage, honor, and patriotism in staging counter-demonstrations to support our brave troops facing death daily to protect our freedom.  People need to see – physically, vocally, publicly – that many Americans support our missions against America’s and freedom’s enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan.  May God bless you and your colleagues.

Never Forget.  Ever Honor.

Nick
Beverly Hills, California

Here’s an email from a patriot named Daniel – his best friend fell in Vietnam, in Quang Tri – the same place my Marine hero Al Schultz gave all, in the same year 1967.  

I read the article in the WSJ by Kevin Ferris. You guys are heroes, plain and simple. I had my best buddy from high school killed by a sniper in Quang Tri in ’67. I raised money for a memorial at our high school.  Tomorrow I call his parents again. Thank God someone is doing something about and against these anti-war people. THEY ARE DESPICABLE. For my money, they should be arrested on the street. Thanks for all the work you have done. It is more courage than I have.
 
Daniel

Thanks Nick and Daniel – UNITED WE STAND!

We had a great follow-up to the full day promoting the Sheepdogs on the Fourth with a great turnout for our weekly rally.  We saw some new faces and plenty of regular ones, all of us there to show our support for America and her troops.

We found some new Marines joining us:

Thanks one and all for the great rally!

Thanks to our good friends at Warriors’ Watch, and marching under their umbrella as one of the many pro-troop and pro-America groups, the Sheepdogs proudly presented in both the Marlton (NJ) and Glenside (PA) July 4th parades.

Skye very capably documented the Glenside parade, check out her work by clicking on her shot below:

(See a bigger version of us in action here!)

You can also check out the Warriors’ Watch official photographer’s shots in Shooter’s album here.

I was also able to take some shots when not on my motorcycle, check them out by clicking my shot below: