HONORING OUR VETS

A couple of days ago, I was returning home from running a few errands, and as I approached the high school, I noticed 3 Havasu P.D. Patrol cars leaving the parking lot. As I got closer to the main entrance, I could see a long line of motorcycles and cars, most with large American Flags attached. At the end of the line was one of Havasu's fire trucks.

At first, I thought there must have been some sort of incident at the school, then quickly realized that this was a welcome home parade for one of our local military service members. There's a motorcycle organization called the Patriot Riders, that team up with the city, the American Legion, and the Veteran's of Foreign Wars t0 organize these impromptu parades. The purpose is to recognize our returning servicemen and women, who are either home permanently, or just temporarily home on leave.

When I first learned about this patriotic endeavor, I can remember thinking how cool is that, and what a contrast from how our military was treated during the Vietnam War. One of the things I like about living in Lake Havasu City, is that the patriotism is palpable. When you drive around the residential streets of this city, you are almost NEVER out of sight of a flagpole with the American Flag blowing in the breeze. I just took our flag down for the summer, and dropped it off at a local business that sells flags, poles & related items. They take in used flags for proper disposal.

Speaking of the military and our veteran's, my oldest son Michael has been in Afghanistan for the last 2 1/2 months, as a civilian adviser. When he retired from the Army as a military intelligence Warrant Officer, he had been deployed overseas to places like Japan, Korea, and Panama. Fortunately, his foreign assignments didn't include war zones like Iraq, and Afghanistan. In just a couple of weeks, he'll be returning home, and there will be a big sigh of relief from this household. His brother and I were discussing how neat it would be, if we could be there with his wife Amy, when he returned home. Unfortunately, we can't, but we'll be thinking of him, and how proud we are of his military service, and his latest work assignment in a very unstable part of the world.