Central Florida Bikers Rally Behind Wounded Veteran
Florida Daily Mike Synan March 7, 2019
Central Florida’s motorcycle and veterans communities will bond together this weekend for a charity bike run designed to help a wounded veteran.
Ride organizer John Stalzer with One Is Too Many served in the War on Terror and knows returning can be difficult for servicemembers as they try to adjust to life back home and as a civilian.
“I made it through some rough times,” Stalzer told Florida Daily. “One of my very close friends did not. Just a couple of years ago he took his own life. If I have the opportunity to avoid that, that is all the thanks I need.”
The ride will begin at Horsepower Ranch in Geneva at 3pm on Sunday and end an hour later at Seminole Harley Davidson in Sanford. It’s all to benefit Patrick Wickens who lost his right leg in an RPG attack in Iraq in 2004.
Steve Shuman of the Asphalt and Iron riding club says he has the highest respect for Wickens.
“He is going to struggle for the rest of his life in the sacrifice that he made for the rest of us here that are getting to enjoy what we are doing. So, this run is 100 percent about Patrick,” Shuman said. read more here
Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos February 17, 2019 This morning, I opened my email and saw something that I knew I had to read. It has veterans and motorcycles in it. I am reading how Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association donated a huge check to help veterans in Virginia, thinking what a great thing to do...but that thought went poof soon afterwards. I had to read something like this,"Most issues stem from combat in recent conflicts." Bet the reporter still uses "22" as if that is supposed to mean anything. Isn't it bad enough that after all this time few have learned the lessons Vietnam veterans fought so hard to provide? Have we sunk so low that it has become acceptable to forget all about them or the other generations who came home with the same wounds? Safe bet they do not even know that the majority of veterans in this country are over the age of 50...as well as being the majority of the veterans committing suicide.
So what started out as thinking a great story was in front of my eyes, it is just another bad dream. I may just go back to bed!
Veterans' motorcycle club raises awareness, funds for veterans' support Fredericksburg.com February 16, 2019
Members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Chapter 27–2 presented Carlos Hopkins, Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs, and members of Virginia’s Veterans Services Foundation with a donation in the amount of $20,000. The Veterans Services Foundation directly funds the Virginia Veteran and Family Support program, which supports veterans by providing resources and access to behavioral health, rehabilitative, supportive services, and veteran care centers.
Funds are raised each July at the chapter’s annual Bull Run III motorcycle event, an 80-mile ride through picturesque Virginia. The first two battles of Bull Run took place on the Manassas battlefield during the Civil War; however, a civil war continues to be fought. Bull Run III was organized to bring awareness to the battle still being waged by veterans as they encounter debilitating issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and veteran suicide which continue to bring death, casualties and missing men. Most issues stem from combat in recent conflicts. read more here
Rolling Thunder: Lack of money to silence POW/MIA support run
Smyrna-Clayton Sun Times Jeff Brown January 30, 2019
For the past 30 years, Rolling Thunder has sponsored a ride to Washington, D.C. to remind the public about POWs and MIAs. This year will be its last.
The rumble of motorcycles rolling across the nation’s capital in memory of America’s missing service members and prisoners of war is on the road to becoming a thing of the past.
The yearly event, sponsored by the New Jersey-based Rolling Thunder, Inc., will end with its 32nd ride in May 2019, Executive Director Artie Muller and President Joe Bean announced in December.
Since 1988, Rolling Thunder’s annual First Amendment Demonstration Ride has seen hundreds of thousands of bikers and supporters converge on Washington, D.C., in support of the MIA/POW cause. The first event attracted about 2,000 bikers; more than a half-million turned out for the 2018 event.
Delawareans who ride in support of Rolling Thunder were shocked to learn the news.
Bikers coming in from across the country traditionally assemble in parking lots around the Pentagon, where Rolling Thunder would sell products such as pins, patches, and flags to raise additional money.
A particular point of contention, according to Muller, was a growing lack of cooperation with security forces at the Pentagon who he accused of diverting the bikers and not allowing them to enter the parking lots, which also prevented participants from buying Rolling Thunder products.
Department of Defense spokeswoman Susan L. Gough has denied those charges, saying the DoD is focused on supporting Rolling Thunder’s right to protest while at the same time ensuring the safety and security of both the bikers and the Pentagon complex itself. read more here
Rolling Thunder to end annual Memorial Day ride in DC after 2019
STARS AND STRIPES By NIKKI WENTLING Published: December 13, 2018
The ride started in 1988 with about 2,000 riders, Muller said. In 2018, there were more than 500,000.
The rain didn't stop motorcyclists from taking part in the 30th anniversary of Rolling Thunder on Sunday, May 28, 2017, in Washington. AMANDA L. TRYPANIS/STARS AND STRIPES
WASHINGTON – Rolling Thunder will no longer hold its annual Memorial Day motorcycle ride through Washington, D.C., after 2019, the group’s founder announced Thursday.
The tradition is ending because of escalating costs and a lack of cooperation from the Pentagon and metropolitan police departments, said Artie Muller, a Vietnam veteran and founder of Rolling Thunder, Inc.
“It has been a hard decision to make,” Muller wrote in a letter that he plans to send to supporters in January. “After much discussion and thought over the last six months, Rolling Thunder National Officers have concluded to end our 32-year annual D.C. Memorial weekend event.”
Rolling Thunder is a nonprofit organization that honors prisoners of war and servicemembers missing in action. Its “Ride for Freedom” through Washington every Memorial Day weekend draws thousands of riders and onlookers.
Costs for the 2018 ride totaled more than $200,000, Muller said. The nonprofit hasn’t been able to recruit a new corporate sponsor, and Rolling Thunder didn’t sell enough merchandise, such as patches, pins and flags. read more here
UPDATE A ride for life PTSD Patrol Kathie Costos September 30, 2018 Today my husband and I are celebrating our 34th anniversary. No matter how hard some years were, we had love and fed each other hope. He is the reason I have done this work for the last 36 years. I have seen the darkness but have also seen what brighter days bring. Yesterday I went out to East Orlando Harley Davidson for Ride to Fight Suicide
All of our lives have been changed in someway by the lose of hope, but none of us are ready to give up this fight for life. While our lives may be different, the purpose of our lives has become one of restoring hope.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Suicide is a painful thing for the families left behind. They never find the answers they are looking for. It is always with them, when the person they loved gave up on themselves. Beyond that, they gave up on the people who loved them as well.
The never ending questions of "why didn't they come to me" or "talk to me" or "let me know how much they were hurting" or "why didn't they trust me to listen to them?"
I know those feelings all too well, because it happened in my family. My husband's nephew was also a Vietnam veteran and he committed suicide 18 years ago. I have all those questions still in my head that will never be answered. read more here
