So I now have an iPhone and it seems they are now coming out of the wood works. My daughter Shelly just got one. Everyone at work is now getting them. I love my new iPhone!!!

Gettysburg Trip

6/30 Monday – Well with Jon and family struggling to find out how Bailey is doing, the rest of us were excited about getting started to Gettysburg. We all met up at Jon’s house and got things loaded into vehicles. We finally left and went to get Albi while at his house, Jon found out that Bailey is getting better and would not need surgery. Very good news, let’s hit the road!! We planned on driving straight thru. the following people came on this trip. Yours truly, Steven Fowler, my good friends Jon Bateman and Dave Henman. Jon’s son Will Bateman and Will’s friend Albi. Michael Trapp, a new recruit to the Confederate Marines and Junior, a son of a member of the Neipert’s group. We set off for beautiful Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was to be a long drive and with 3 drivers and two vehicles, it was starting to get hard to hard around 3:00 am. We finally found a spot in a rest area to stop and get about an hours nap. Got up refreshed and continued on.

7/1 Tuesday – Hit Quantico, Virginia before rush hour and could see the new Marine Museum from the highway. Wow, what a building. We kept on moving to through Springfield, Virginia. Didn’t see much traffic due to it being past rush hour. Thank goodness. We went around Washington via Virginia and hit 270 north toward Frederick. Got to Frederick Maryland around Noon-ish and figured out that the GPS’ were taking us thru downtown. Set it for fastest and things got better. We hit Gettysburg at the registration site around 1:30pm. WooHoo we are here. So we went in and got to register, that took a while. Ugh!! We then went about trying to find out where we are going to be camping for the week. Found General Goodrich and General Way’s location at the top of the frickin hill in the authentic camping. This is going to be a bear walking up and down this hill!! I will get over it, how often does one get to do the Gettysburg reenactment anyway. We setup camp and then tried to figure what was for dinner. We found a great place to eat called the Appalachian Brewing Company. Very good food and very good Beer!!! We will be back. We then hit the local WalMart, got supplies and some snacks and we headed back to camp and hit the sack for the night.

7/2 Wednesday – Up the next morning. We aided the staff with getting folks to their respective camps on the hill. This took a while and pretty much everyone else just hung around the camp. While sitting in camp, I noticed and brought to the attention of the my commanding officer Major Jon Bateman, that the traffic was now backing down the hill and things looked ugly. We went over to find out what was going on and the hold up seemed to be that some idiot in Hoods division didn’t want the horse trailers in the woods, so they were lined up waiting to get in and at the same time the Hood’s folks were driving in there and not leaving which eventually clogged the traffic up getting into the woods and they blocked the road getting out of there. As Jon and I tried to work it out, people in their vehicles were starting to get mean. We were then advised by another officer that this happens every time this division shows up and the commanding officer lets it happen so he can complain and take control of the events. SO we simply backed away and let Hood’s Division to their own rewards. That was fine by me, I had a nice cool spot in the shade to sit and relax under!! Later that afternoon we were able to get out of camp and got hit a few places around the battle field. Hit the eternal flame and some places around the railroad cut on the battle field of the first day battle. Hit the Brewing Company again for dinner and beer. This time brought some back to camp with us. Also hit one of the antique stores in downtown Gettysburg on the way to WalMart again. Yes some of the boys forgot stuff and we had to go back.

7/3 Thursday – Got busy today. Revelry at 6:30. I woke at 4:30 and upon seeing how bright it was out, came flying out of the tent in uniform only to find out is was only 4:30. Oh well, I’m up now. Got some water heated and had coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. Relaxed for a bit. Skirmish battle on the field at 3:30pm today. All of Cleburne’s Division got their dander up and were scrapping for a fight!! The CSA Marines were assigned the task of Honor Guard, which meant we had the Division flags with us and we were to protect it at all costs. We hit the field about 4:00pm and saw the first group of federals coming at us from the left. Huge group too. A division, we instantly wheeled to the left and started engaging the blue bellies. They put up a fight but so did we. After the fighting started we also noted and Yankee division coming down the road behind us. Uh oh, this does not bode well for us!! As the second division took the field, our division proceeded to break up to take them on. At one point we had 5 fronts working and held off the Yankees for over 45 minutes. It was a site to behold. We were facing a group of Yanks on the left of the field when we were pulled back and placed in the center of two companies holding off a bunch of blue bellies. One of the groups proceeded to charge us and we countered charged and both companies came together there in the middle of the field. Some pleasantries were exchanged and then young Corporal Bateman decided to step it up a bit and walked up to the biggest Sergeant he could find and proceeded to flip his bummer cap off. The sergeant handed off his musket and cap and got into young Will’s face with a stern look. And then he said, “Boy, I have been doing this long before you were a twinkle in your father’s eyes”. Kept the stern face for a second or two and we watched as young Will smiled nervously. Then the sergeant pointed at Wills and said, “Gotcha!!” I thought Will was going to pass out!! I think he had to change his shorts when we got back to camp tho. At this point I realized that we did not have anymore support and proceeded to back away from the companies we were facing. Then the orders came to double time the flags off the field. They were not to be taken. We ran!! We moved the troops and the colors to the far end of the field and we were not alone. All the calvary that was on the fields with us came over to provide cover and a small company also came over to provide protection for the colors. Very cool. I have never, in my 5 years of reenacting, have seen this kind of loyalty to the colors. Very cool and much appreciated. The battle basically came to and end at this point and the main bodies of the Yankees moved off the field. General Way gathered the troops up and and told them how proud he was of the fighting we had done. Held off five fronts for over 45 minutes. That was impressive. As we were listening to General Way talk we saw some movement in the talk grass, the wheat field. General Way dismissed the troops and company after company proceeded to move thru the wheat field to engage whatever Yankees were prowling around in there. Musket fire soon broke out and the colors proceeded to move forward and help with engaging the blue bellies. We had two groups of Confederates, large companies on either side of us with us being the colors in the middle. the companies started to wrap around the 15 or so yanks that were putting up a fight. They charged us. My boys fired their muskets and brought down about 10 yanks in the scrub and the fighting was over. We started our climb back to camp. Very rough climb for me. I tweaked my knee trying to get over a small berm of rocks, backed off and used the other leg and got over it. But it was acting up big time. General Goodrich rode by and noticed I was struggling. I told him I was OK, but he knew I was lying thru my teeth. He stopped a golf cart and had them take me up to camp. Once we were there and everything settled down, Goodrich called me over and ordered me to stay in camp for the next two days if I wanted to participate in Picket’s Charge on Sunday. I obeyed orders. O would have loved to have seen the fighting but orders were orders and I knew my duty. The evening was uneventful and quite.

7/4 Friday – This will be the start of an extremely busy day. Two battles start today. One in the morning and one later on in the afternoon. I get to watch and maintain camp. The various division start to form up. There are about 7 divisions at this event. Longstreet’s Division, Cleburne’s Division (the one we are with), Calvary Division, Artillery Division, Hoods Division, Army of Northern Virginia, and various other smaller ones. It was big and I got to sit back and watch all of them file off for battle.

After the battles, yes plural, the troops started coming back to camp. The one thing I noticed after a bit was that General Goodrich looked a bit dirty.  Well dirty was an understatement.  He was covered in Mud.  Evidently the horse he was on, yes he was riding a horse this weekend, lost its footing and rolled over dumping the General under a car.  Covered in about 1/4 inch of mud.  It was great.  Pics looked awesome with the general that dirty.

7/5 Saturday -

7/6 Sunday -

7/7 Monday -

7/8 Tuesday -

PGR Ride

I am a Patriot Guard Rider (patriotguard.org). This is a group of motorcyclist that have been formed to block the family and friend’s view of radical protesters showing up at Fallen Soldier’s Funerals. I did a ride with them on Tuesday. The ride captain documented the event and I wanted to share this with you. The note below is from the Ride Captain in this area, documenting the Days activities. It gives you an idea how these rides typically go and, I think, gives you the feeling of how the people doing the ride felt on Tuesday. This is something I feel honored and privileged to do. The service men and women have made a commitment far greater than a lot of us are willing to do. I have a very high respect and gratitude to anybody that has been or is currently in the Military.

Quoted from the FL State Ride Captain “SlowPoke”:

Tuesday, March 18th, was a fairly typical day at the office until…
The phone rang. My heart sank and I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach as I looked at the call information screen. I answered, “this is John”. Calls coming from this number usually brought bad news. After just a moment or two of conversation it was evident that today’s call was going to be the norm rather than the exception. The news was not good. By the end of the call I had been informed that a nineteen year veteran of the United States Army had passed away in his sleep a few days prior in New Jersey, he was survived by a wife and five children that live just a few miles from me, and his family had extended an invitation to the Patriot Guard Riders to stand in Honor of their Hero. The planning stage of the mission began.

Things went very smoothly during the planning phase. The Casualty Assistance Officer assigned to the family was one that we have worked with on more occasions than I care to count. We had done a mission for a soldier who’s services were arranged by the funeral director that would be assisting the family of SFC Joseph Vazquez. The Loyless Funeral Home had been wonderful to work with previously and would prove to be a joy to work with again. By the time Mission Day rolled around we thought that we were in pretty good shape. There was one thing that we couldn’t plan and that was the weather. The morning hours of Tuesday, March 25th, turned out to be the some of the coolest hours of the month. I checked the temps of some places that I knew people were riding from before leaving for staging. I knew that at least one of our members would leave the warmth of his home to ride in temperatures below 40 degrees to reach the church.

Bikes began to roll in to the staging area shortly after the posted start time. Within twenty minutes any concern that I had that the cold temperatures would hold attendance down faded. It was evident that we would have a respectable turn out for SFC Vazquez and his family. About ten minutes before we were supposed to start the brief I got a call from the CAO. He was relaying a message that the funeral coach would arrive forty five minutes to an hour ahead of the time planned earlier. We did a quick mini-brief, during which the name “popsicle brigade” was assigned to the group that rode this day. We moved the bikes to where they would need to be at the end of the service. We set the flag line and waited for the hearse to arrive. The silence was deafening as we waited. A young man who had dropped his two young sons off at the church’s day care center earlier came back carrying a few boxes of donuts and a couple boxes of coffee from the local Dunkin’ Donuts. It was his way of thanking those who don’t need to be thanked, the members of the Patriot Guard Riders. His father in law had been killed in Iraq in 2006. The Patriot Guard Riders in Georgia had taken on the mission of making sure that he and his family were able to grieve without any outside interference and he wanted to be sure we understood how much that meant to them. We set the donuts and coffee aside and waited. Soon, word spread down the Flag Line that the hearse had turned into the drive. As it looped around and approached the church’s portico, it entered our tunnel of flags. Forty plus members of the PGR stood at attention rendering a salute as the hearse rolled to a stop.

We spoke with the funeral director and he again confirmed that the casket would not be carried into the church until just before the service began. We moved the Flag Line to where it needed to be for the arrival of the guests. I would estimate that somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred and fifty people arrived over the next forty five minutes to attend the funeral of SFC Vazquez. Representatives from his unit brought Certificates of Appreciation for our Ride Captains and one for the membership in Florida in general. The family arrived in a fifteen passenger van driven by their CAO. The CAO had explained to me earlier that they had requested a large passenger van, forgoing caravanning in their own cars, so that they could all be together during these most difficult of times. The doors of the van opened and SFC Vazquez’s children came out, all wearing white tee shirts bearing the words “In Loving Memory Of” above a likeness of their father over their dress shirts. When the children saw their cousins and extended family gathered and waiting for them they went back to the van and got more shirts for their relatives to put on. The hugging and crying was laced with laughter and the joy of reunion, even if under trying circumstance.

John Loyless, the funeral director, asked the pall bearers to come forward. They lovingly carried the casket from the hearse into the church and services began. We broke the Flag Line. Most of the members grabbed a donut and a cup of coffee. We talked to the deputies from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office who would provide escort from the church to where the procession would get onto I-75 to go up to Florida National Cemetery. We briefed the riders on how the procession was going to work and talked about safety being priority one for the trip up the Interstate. We were all on the same page and everyone was good to go with the way things were planned.

Fifteen minutes prior to the end of the service we reformed the Flag Line as a tunnel that the guests would exit through. The service concluded and moments later the casket was carried from the church’s sanctuary followed by SFC Vazquez’s family and friends. It was covered with an American Flag just prior to being carried out of the building. Again, PGR members stood at attention, holding flags, and offering a salute as the flag draped casket was carried to the waiting hearse. We broke the flag line after the hearse’s door was closed and headed for the bikes to make ready for the ride up to Bushnell. The temperature had come up to where it would be a pleasant ride from a weather perspective. We made ready and after about ten minutes the Sheriff’s cruisers rolled by to start blocking for the procession. About thirty five motorcycles and three cages led the hearse up the lane from the church to the road. The Deputies did a wonderful job of getting the procession through mid-day traffic and safely out to the interstate. The forty mile ride was, thankfully, uneventful. We arrived at the cemetery right on schedule. We were ushered immediately on arrival to the committal shelter.

Our Flag Line was set to line both sides of the sidewalk leading from the hearse up to the shelter. The Honor Guard removed SFC Vazquez’s flag draped casket from the hearse with the greatest of respect. They marched, carrying the casket through a tunnel of red, white, and blue followed by our Hero’s family and friends. The religious portion of the graveside services began and the emotional strain that the family had been bearing became painfully evident. The Army took over for the presentation of Military Honors. The order was given to the firing party to fire three volleys. As the sound of the guns pierced the quiet many cried out. As the mournful sound of TAPS filled the air, tears filled my eyes. The flag that had covered the casket was folded and presented to Mrs. Vazquez with thanks from the President and a grateful nation. Prefolded flags were presented to other family members.

During the services the flag line had been shifted to a sidewalk that leads from the committal shelter to Section 402 where so many killed in the Global War on Terror have been laid to rest. SFC Vazquez’s casket was carried by the Honor Guard through a tunnel of flags held by members of the PGR standing at attention. The family and friends followed. At the family’s invitation the PGR fell in behind them as they passed. An Arc of Honor was formed around the family and guests as a final prayer was offered and the casket was lowered into the ground.

I don’t have words to convey the devastation brought to the family of SFC Vazquez by this untimely loss. I can only pray that our being there to put a face on America, to show that Americans do care and appreciate the service of their son, husband, father, uncle, cousin brings some measure of relief and comfort to the family of SFC Joseph Vazquez. We thank the entire Vazquez family for allowing us to show our respect for your Hero, for the sacrifices your entire family has made over the years, and for sharing Joseph with a grateful nation.

SFC Vazquez, may you rest forever in Honored Peace. You will never be forgotten…

As I just recently past my 50th birthday, I have looked back on the things I have seen in my life time. Things good and things bad, things personal and things global. People I have met and been involved with along my way. People that I am still in touch with and people I haven’t talked to in decades. I have a rich and full life, made possible by those people around me to share it with.

So with that note and to make a few of you jealous that you are not 50 as well, here is a list of events, both personal and global that have helped to forge the person I am today.

• Sputnik launches October 4th 1957. Two days before my birth, coincidence? I think not.
• I was born in Washington, DC.
• Watching these on a Black & White TV, boy those were the days!!
- Alan Shepherd’s launch into space.
- Gus Grissom’s launch into space.
- John Glenn’s orbit of earth.
• JFK’s Assassination. I can still see the images of the funeral in my mind as I sat in amazement watching the funeral on TV.
• Ed White, Roger Chaffe & Gus Grissom dying in the Apollo 1 capsule.
• Dr. Martin Luther King’s Assassination. I remember seeing the smoke rising from downtown Washington, DC and hiding in my grandmother’s house to avoid the riots as they were rumored to be moving out into the suburbs.
• Robert Kennedy’s Assassination. Remember being worried about things to come.
• Neil Armstrong stepping on to the Moon!!
• Richard Nixon’s election into the White House.
• Also around this time I also became painfully aware of the Vietnam War that was going on in Southeast Asia and the amount of troops being sent.
• Roe v. Wade
• Skylab Missions
• The break in at the Democratic National Headquarters in Washington, DC at the Watergate complex.
• Richard Nixon claiming Executive Privilege to avoid turning over the tapes of conversations in the oval office.
• The firing of the Special prosecutor. Remember Nixon telling one person after another to fire him and they would not do it.
• Richard Nixon’s resignation. Never thought I would see something of that magnitude in my life!!
• Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon.
• The end of the Vietnam War and the evacuation of Americans from Saigon.
• My graduation from High School.
• The draft ending a couple of months before my 18th birthday. I was sweating that one out.
• Disco, I bet you couldn’t do the Hustle :O)
• The 200th Anniversary of the United States. Picture 1 Million people on The Mall in Washington, DC for fire works.
• I married Sandy, my high school sweetheart. May 28th, 1977
• The gas shortages of 1979, I remember sitting in a car for three plus hours just to get a few liters of gas on my assigned day.
• Three Mile Island!!
• The Iran hostage situation in Tehran.
• John Lennon being shot in New York. The first night in our first house we bought.
• Mount St. Helens popping its cork.
• Sherry, my first daughter being born, January 25th, 1981
• Being at the Washington Hilton just hours before Ronald Reagan was shot outside. I left the building from the same entrance hours earlier. Washington being in a state of shock that Reagan may have been killed.
• Shelly, my second daughter being born, November 11th, 1983
• Space Shuttle Challenger blows up on launch.
• The fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
• The Berlin Wall being torn down.
• Black Monday October 14th 1987, the second stock market crash. Fearing I was going to be out of a job after just moving down here in June.
• The earthquake during the World Series in San Francisco.
• The first Persian Gulf War. Still amazed that it only took about 100 days to push Iraq out of Kuwait, but I guess we are still paying for that today.
• My dad passing away Oct 1992.
• Northridge Earthquake in California.
• The Okalahoma City bombings.
• OJ Simpson acquitted.
• President Clinton is acquitted in impeachment trial by U.S. Senate.
• September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon.
• My 30th Wedding Anniversary. May 28th, 2007.