HOTH: Help On The HomefrontThe PGR sponsors several programs to assist the War wounded, veterans, and their families.
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June 18, 2007It is with great pride that S.E. TEXAS PGR announces the appointment of the new Area HOTH Coordinator. Please join me in welcoming Vicky Keller who has graciously volunteered to lead our new HOTH efforts to support the Troops in our local area. Vicky will coordinate the S. E. Texas PGR HOTH efforts with Debbie Horton the Texas State HOTH Coordinator. Vicky will be looking for volunteers to build a team of riders to help support our Troops in the area. Our local HOTH Team will visit wounded Troops at Local Veterans Hospitals, Attend Welcome Home Events for Troops returning to their Local Area Families as possible and Send Off Missions for Troops being deployed or re-deployed to name a few things on their Mission Statement. They will not be involved in the State BAMC efforts. If you would like to volunteer to join these teams please contact Vicky Keller for more information. I'm sure you will all enjoy working with Vicky who has been a valuable asset and supporter of our PGR efforts. More information will be available shortly.
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What is " Help on the Homefront?" From the national pgr site 10 Oct 2006 6:36 AM Every night, all across America, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers,
aunts and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers pray to their God and ask for
all of our young men and women to return home soon and safely! The war will be
over and if you can believe the predictions of Nostradamus, there will be peace
for a thousand years. The Patriot Guard Riders will have performed whenever and
where ever needed with patriotism and dignity. Our jobs as Patriot Guard Riders
will almost be complete...ALMOST
This is going to be a little long, but I ask you to please read it through to the end. It isn’t possible to get us all around a table to discuss this, so this is the only means that I have to communicate with you.
Help on the Home Front was created because there were formal requests from PGR Members to National to do something to support our wounded soldiers, airman, sailors and Marines. A poll was posted on the PGR site asking if this was something that the membership at large wanted the PGR to do. Granted, this was not a scientific poll, but of those who responded, the answer was a resounding “Yes.”
Jeff “Twister” Brown and Jason “Waldo” Wallin consulted with the National Board Members and the decision was made to establish the HOTH program based upon the requests to national, the responses to the poll, and the findings of the visit to BAMC. I was charged with the development of this program on behalf of this unanimous finding of need.
Help on the Home Front – What it is, and what is it intended to do.
HOTH is intended to be a two part program. First it is to provide a conduit for PGR Members to be able to go into the major military critical care hospitals and visit with our wounded soldiers. How that is organized, what activities happen, and how extensive it is depends on the passions and desires of the PGR members located near those hospitals as well as around the nation. Secondly, it is to provide a framework so that when one of those critically injured soldiers is finally discharged and goes home, there will hopefully be a PGR member who can continue the relationship that was established at the medical center
These kids are the most critically wounded of all. Their lives have been forever altered by their wounds; most of them will never have what we consider to be a normal life again. While they were at the medical facility, they received excellent care and support. All of their paperwork was done for them. But when they go home, the world that they once knew has been crushed, and they no longer have the support infrastructure of the military to support them.
We can provide some of that support. We can find those PGR members that want to do something to help these young men and women, and give them a way to help. Those PGR members could be doing things like connecting them to the existing fine support organizations such as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. We as a national organization have no way of knowing what that help will be. That will be a unique experience with each young man or woman and will be something that is determined at the local levels in your state and region.
What HOTH is NOT!
HOTH is not a separate organization within the PGR. There are two levels of activities within HOTH, nationally, and within your state. I have been assigned by Twister and Waldo to be the HOTH National Director and voting member of the National Board of the PGR. I have requested that each state create a HOTH Coordinator. And I have requested that a coordinator be established for each major military critical care hospital. Those are the only nationally requested positions within the PGR for the HOTH program
The mission of the Patriot Guard Riders has always been, and will continue to be, to honor our fallen heroes. I can not stress this enough, because some feel that HOTH is a separate mission that national is placing on the heads of our state and regional leadership. I would like to delve further into what those positions are:
National Director HOTH
I will say up front that I am very passionate
about HOTH. Many of the soldiers we visit were not honor missions but for
divine intervention. I have watched them look at me thinking, “Oh boy, another
civilian wanting a feel good experience for themselves,” and after many visits I
hear “Hey Bear! Glad to see ya’! Look, they turned my big toe into a thumb!”
It is a bitter sweet experience for me, to establish a strong relationship with
these kids, and to see them discharged and going home and my fear that no one
will be there at the other end to care what happens to them. I fear that they
will be forgotten by
My responsibility is to help the states and regions establish a HOTH Program at their local levels. I am responsible for establishing a conduit so that PGR members in distant locations who want to do something for the wounded at these critical care hospitals have a way of making it happen. I am also responsible for coordinating at a national level with organizations such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars to let them know that we have folks who would like to participate in their activities as guests of their organizations. We are having some great successes on the national level that will be announced when they are finalized.
State HOTH Coordinator
The State HOTH Coordinator is someone that is picked by the State Captain. The State HOTH Coordinator reports to the State Captain and works with the State Captain to establish a HOTH program that is suitable to the needs of their state and the desires of the state PGR Members, yet is still there to coordinate with the other HOTH Coordinators near critical care hospitals to find those who would like to help our discharged wounded soldiers when they get home.
Critical Care Facility Coordinators
The major critical care hospitals that
the PGR is targeting for
We know that there are other hospitals nationwide, but these are the hospitals where the most critically wounded soldiers are treated, so we want to establish coordinators for these hospitals. These critical care hospitals are the only Nationally coordinated facilities. That is the intended extent of the National HOTH program in your states.
If the PGR Members of another state want to do something for the patients of the critical care facilities, he would be the point of contact to coordinate the hospital end of that activity. We have no way of knowing what the PGR Members might come up with, but as State Captain, it is assumed that your HOTH Coordinator will have been working hand in hand with you all the way. As these hospitals are very important and maintaining our PGR reputation in them is critical, it is wise to have a single point of contact to advise our members of rules, regulations and procedures.
Other Activities – Often Lumped Under HOTH
Folks, there are a bunch of ideas floating around out there amongst the PGR Membership of things that they would like to do that are not related to the primary mission of the Patriot Guard.
Nationally, we support what ever you and your state’s membership want to do. But those activities are up to you and your state’s membership. It is your state! Nationally we are here to help if you want it or need it, but we aren’t dictating that any of those many fine ideas be done in your state. It is totally up to you!
If you and your membership want to coordinate with organizations for support activities, that is great! We will let you know of any national agreements that we set in place so that you can take advantage of them if you and your membership wish.
PGR Members – A Diverse Bunch
Nationally, we have over fifty thousand members and growing every day. As State Captains you look at your state and you see those that have stepped up to the plate to be your Ride Captains and other support staff as you see fit to establish in your state. You also see those dedicated riders who show up at every mission. Then sadly, you add up those who participate and compare that to the membership of your state and wonder why they aren’t at missions.
We all know why there is that difference, there are many reasons. Folks joined to post for a specific mission. Folks joined out of curiosity after hearing about us in the news. But the ones that can help you are a different group all together.
The members of your state who joined, who are passionate about our mission, but never show up, don’t for a number of reasons. Their jobs do not allow them to attend missions because they are mainly during the week. There are those who are committed, but emotionally can not stand with us on a mission that is a funeral. And, there are the family members of our fallen heroes, our Gold Star mothers and fathers, who can not attend a mission because it is too painful for them.
HOTH activities can be mainly on weekends. They are a great way for those who want to do something, but can’t for a variety of reasons to participate. I don’t want you to look at HOTH as an additional burden on your riders who attend missions. I want you look at this as a way for those members who want to help but can’t, to be able to do something that is not only rewarding for them, but will have a positive impact on the lives of our wounded soldiers.
Also, many State captains are finding that a “feel good” mission can recharge the batteries of some of our members. While some fear member burnout, the uplifting experience can do the exact opposite and relieve the emotional stress of honor missions.
In Conclusion
To those of you that have named a HOTH person for your state, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If not, I ask you to please look at your state and identify someone who would like to be your HOTH Coordinator and let me know who they are as soon as possible. We have troops being discharged every day that we have established relationships with, and we don’t have anyone on the other end to take them under their wing. I have seen an old Vietnam Combat Vet have more in common with these young wound soldiers than their high school buddies of the same age. The common bond at work. I have seen civilians impact these soldiers lives by being proof that Americans really do care.
If you have a critical care hospital in your state, please identify a coordinator as soon as possible. There are those that are banging their heads up against a wall because they don’t have anyone to help on the hospital end of things.
I would like to thank all of you who read this all the way through and listened to me with an open mind. I hope that I was able to clear up many of the misconceptions about HOTH that are out there. And I hope that you now understand the vision that we have for the HOTH program.
Serving You,
Ronny "BEAR"
Awtry |
Last Modified: Windrider 3/25/08