A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
Well, I went to the Gathering of Eagles event, but only to cover it from a reporter’s standpoint. I wanted to be there, take pictures, and observe and then compare my observations with how the event gets portrayed in the media. I came to some interesting, though not entirely surprising, conclusions. But, let me back up.
A bunch of us bloggers met at the Holiday Inn in Fairfax prior to the launch. The hotel was a major meeting place for the Gathering of the Eagles band of misfits. I was there to meet with Skye from Midnight Blue, the City Troll, and Grizzly Mama. Later, I was to meet up with the talented (more on that later) Kit and Heidi from Euphoric reality. I got there a little early and hung out with the Patriot Guard Riders, Rolling Thunder and various other riders who were in town for the Gathering. I met a couple that had met on the internet, one of whom was from Germany the other from California. The guy from Germany was a Soldier in the German Army. We had a wonderful talk about patriotism and respect among Soldiers. He apologized for his government’s stance since 9/11 and was embarassed that it was so political. I told him he didn’t have to apologize. I won’t reveal his name, but we took a picture together and he gave me permission to show it. Once Sky, Grizzly and Troll were ready, we rolled out to the Gathering – cameras, pens and recorders in tow.
My first observation was that there were a LOT of flags over at the Gathering of Eagles “bullpen”. There is a lot of love for those colors and this country. Patriotism oozed out of and spread throughout the mall. Everyone got out of the way and yelled to “make a hole” (move out of the way) whenever an injured vet was wheeled through. And the bullpen was FULL. It was difficult walking in there without stepping on someone’s toes. The majority of the people there were Vietnam Vets and their reasons for being there were similiar from person to person: “We’re going to ensure that our troops are treated with the respect missing when we returned from Vietnam.” They refuse to let it happen again. Everyone was united with one goal – Victory!
Skye and I decided to walk down to the “other side” to see what they were up to. The first thing that caught my was this:
Funny…I didn’t see any media vans covering the Gathering of Eagles. Which is weird because the following two pictures were taken within about 30 minutes of each other at each “bullpen” on either side of the Vietnam Memorial:
And just so you don’t think I’m cheating by not showing it all, here’s another look at the other side of the ANSWER bullpen:
This is from the South Side facing north.
In an effort to make it look like there were more people for their protest for the media to photograph and tape, they announced for as many people as possible to congregate on the south side of the bullpen near the beginning of their march. Here’s the audio.
Boy, was the media salivating over covering those leftists. As we walked around I noticed a few signs talking about “unity” but didn’t see any physical signs of it. There was the “Out of Iraq Now” group. The “9/11 Was An Inside Job” group. The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) were there – basically anarchists despite the name (more on that later too). By the way, they publicly state that “U.S. forces are being defeated by the Iraqi resistance” despite the fact that we haven’t lost on engagement with anyone that takes us on. The “Support War Resisters” group. The Socialist Party was there. The Hate-Halliburton group. The list really goes on and on. And not one of them – NOT ONE OF THEM – carried an American flag. Coincidentally, however, many of their signs were yellow – much like the people holding them. After making an initial assessment we headed back to base camp to meet up with Kit who was going to sing the National Anthem. We were running late, but thankfully the mud temporarily knocked out the power and she was postponed a little. We made it in time to see her sing and I was able to take a few more pictures from the stage afterward to get the full effect of what the Gathering looked like.
After the speeches, we decided to head out and get a feel for the other side again. Again, we waded our way out and headed towards the protester side to get some more motivation for gathering.
More on that and how the media has so far mismanaged and misinformed the public on this march in Part II.
Also blogging:
Smash
Old War Dog
Midnight Blue
The City Troll
Grizzly Mama
AntiMedia
Michelle Malkin
Gathering of Eagles
Free Republic
Age of Hooper
A Soldier’s Mind
Chromed Curses
Flopping Aces
Gazing At The Flag
Mike’s America
Cajun Tiger
Sparks From The Anvil
A Rose By Any Other Name
Now For Something Different
Far Right Conservative Point of View
The Wide Awakes
Anna’s Clue Tank
Always On Watch
Freedom Eden
Wake Up America
Pete Republic
American And Proud
The Astute Bloggers
The Chatterbox Chronicles
Small Town Veteran
Conservative Propaganda
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Terri
Great coverage CJ and it’s really fantastic to see your pics of the sea of Red, White and Blue! Thanks for sharing, my friend.
GailAlison
Thanks CJ. The next best thing to being there. I absolutley can’t wait for your audio…
I saw the comment from the chemtrail post and figured you were just going to tease us with this
CJ
Gail, I put in one audio clip under the picture of the empty ANSWER bullpen. I’ll have more in Part II. The good stuff is yet to come.
Flag Gazer
Thanks for doing this series – I would have loved to have been there, and this is the next best thing! I did get interviewed by the state’s big newspaper – hate mail in the inbox!!
Kit’s rendition of the National Anthem gave me goose bumps – thank you, Kit!!
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GailAlison
Oh I missed it the first time through. Thanks. Now I listened like 6-8 times. Did that moonbat say “let’s bring the war home”??? Uhh silly me I thought the point was to keep the war away from our home?
bdfaith
Forty years lost in the wilderness. Forty years in exile. Behind us
now. Yesterday we took our country back. It’s in the air. I can feel it.
I excerpted and linked at Old War Dogs.
Bill Faith
Proud Veteran-American
tankerbrosbrat
Thank you – really seems inadequate BUT you will know it comes from the heart of the wilderness called Bratville.
And in case any of you missed it, I have posted a pic of Jane Fonda’s office over at Tanker Bros…lol
THANK YOU
CriticalFacts
Clearly, the GOE folks forgot to set their clocks an hour ahead for daylight savings time. That would explain the empty ANSWER bullpen while the GOE folks were still sitting around waiting for something to happen.
Beth A.
CJ, I’m reading all the posts I can find today on the Gathering of Eagles. Glad you were there to cover both sides for us! As per Michelle Malkin’s site, he National Parks service has a estimate of 30,000 vets and supporters! OUTstanding!
As to the American flag issue, so far on all the sites (over 10) that I’ve visited, only one shows the ‘opposition to the war’ gang with an American flag – and it was being held upside down.
It makes me wonder if perhaps people saw that Spartan movie, and the timing was right. It rekindled in them the drive to take a physical stand, and attend this historic event in such numbers, even after such a short time of being made aware of this Gathering.
300. 30,000. A stand was taken. And a tide was slowly turned.
teresa
CJ,
Thank-you for posting this info….most of the pro-American and pro-troop info at these events gets over looked by the media so it is great to see the positive ascpects as well.
Am looking forward to part II!
wordsmith
CJ, excellent “reportage”. I’ll incorporate yours into a post later on tonight. Looking forward to Pt II.
Tracy
CJ, thanks for posting. I look forward to reading more.
I wonder why the media continues to be so biased. They KNOW the bloggers will out them on the truth. Why do they bother??
Anyway, thanks again. I look forward to the rest of your report!!
Donna
CJ,
Thank You for the report on what happened yesterday. I watched Fox News thinking they would have something about the Gathering of the Eagles and I didn’t hear a thing about it. All I saw was some protesters from the other side that they showed. Like Tracy said, the media is biased it seems!
Wow! That was alot of people who turned out to support our country and our troops!!
sealpatriot
I don’t know if anyone else here was at this event other than CJ, but I am glad this went peacefully and that everyone went home without bloodshed. Well, I say that because I was told at a soldier’s mind that it did and there were no physical skirmishes!
CJ
CF, let me help you with the math. Maybe is was the ANSWER folks who forgot to set their clocks forward since they weren’t there. You see, if it were the fall time change, your logic would make sense as they WOULD have been late if they didn’t change their clocks. If they GOE folks had forgotten to change their clocks, it would have been 1300 before they showed up for the 1200 kick-off. And John Kerry thinks we’re uneducated… What I think really happened is that they were all so stoned, they couldn’t READ their clocks or were just too “happy” to move fast enough.
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CriticalFacts
Ahh, CJ, the point was that the ANSWER folks had already left for the protest because they had the correct time – i.e., they properly set their clocks ahead – while the GOE folks were waiting for the protest to start because their clocks were running an hour behind. Spring time change works just fine!
Miriam
Thanks for the pictures, CJ. It looks like a great day. I saw a headline on one of the MSM sits that ran something like “War Protest Grows All Over the Country”, and thought …yah, whatever! I think they had it backwards.
I also was talking with my ultra-left neighbor who was giving me the “9-11 was an inside job” schpeal (just in case anyone thinks it’s just a few on the left that spout that). Since he isn’t amenable to reason, I refused to argue it with him. He is soooo knowledgable about the world having never left Washington State. But he’s very interested in moving to Canada…so all the Canooks can look out if he decides to wander across the border.
Terri
But the thing you’re failing to see CF is that MANY of the GOE crowd were there bright and early and met the ANSWER folks head on. Not only were they across the street from them, but they lined the entire path from the Wall to the Pentagon. GOE folks weren’t left waiting at all…. so sorry, your logic is faulty.
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L40carruth
Sorry I didn’t run in to you. WAY too many amazing and wonderful former and currently military personnel to meet, listen to and thank. Then so many more amazing patriots from all over the US and beyond. GREAT job on your reporting. I’m not back home yet to write anything up – stuck in the ATL airport on a bench for the night. Life! Anyway, of the MANY things I took away from this event one was that the GOE folks showed up to protect our precious monuments if need be. I was thrilled to watch thousands and thousands of them stand with their arms crossed, steadfast in their resolve, shouting out what needed to be said but NEVER engaging in unnecessary violence of any sort. Talk about powerful! Those yellow bellied “whatevers” KNEW better than to cross any lines. Priceless I tell you. Priceless!
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