Jonathan Rojas – 88 photos
Aaron Seal –
staging area, 100
photos
Aaron Seal – flagline prior to the service, 105 photos
Aaron Seal –
waiting during the service, 45 photos
Aaron Seal –
winding through the streets of Elkhart looking for the cemetery, priceless.
Eighteen
pics from the Allen Rioux funeral taken Tuesday 10/3 are here.
~~~
Robert Paul of
43-year old army sergeant. Reservist. Father of Ilena, son of Ester & Sheldon, brother to Monica and
Debra. Jew. Urban Planner.
Urban planner? That’s right. He enlisted two years after receiving his
Master’s Degree in Planning and Economic Development. Most armies now, and all those of history,
employ only infantry, artillery and a few other disciplines aimed at projecting
force. Our army can project force very
effectively, but then we rebuild what we knock down. Robert J. Paul was in
SSGT
Paul wasn’t killed for that reason, but he wouldn’t have been spared even if
his attacker knew his mission. The
suicide car-bomber only knew that the HMMWV he targeted in front of the
The
other soldier, also a reservist, was a 52-year old woman, a sergeant first
class – the same age and rank as my regular army wife, Robin. Merideth Howard was
from
It
was our grandson’s second mission – he had guarded another funeral home during
the visitation for Timothy Mackenzie two weeks earlier. He is 4 years old, the same age as Staff
Sergeant Paul’s daughter. Little Ilena would be inside the funeral home while Kevin marched
just outside.
This
time, he would not be the only boy there.
The funeral home is located on the corner of two busy streets in
Two
nice boys wearing bright t-shirts.
Kevin’s reads “
In
1977, the National Socialist Party of American threatened to march in
Many
PGR members are members of biker clubs.
The Jewish bikers of http://chaiwayriders.com/
stood among us. That was helpful to Old Coastie, Ride Captain for this mission and an elder of his
church, who is always ready to offer a Christian prayer to end our
briefing. He first asks if there is any
CMA member present who might lead the prayer in his stead. This time he was able to call on Judy.
Judy
explained that a variation of the prayer she would offer is repeated in nearly
every synagogue every week. We
Christians and Jews prayed together the words Judy then spoke.
(“Hashem” refers to God.
Traditional Jews use the word “God” only with extreme respect and show
that respect by using this synonym in other contexts. “Neshama” is the
Hebrew word for soul.)
Hashem, we all gather to mourn the loss
of Staff Sergeant Paul.
Almight God on High, we ask that you look
down from your Sanctified Abode and bless the neshama
of Staff Sergeant Paul as well as the valiant soldiers of the American Military
Forces who risk their lives to protect the welfare of all Your creation.
Benevolent God, be
their shelter and fortress.
Grant us true peace
in fulfillment of the prophecy:
Nation shall not
lift up sword against other nation, nor will they learn war any more.
May all inhabitants
of the world know that Dominion is yours and that through this we find strength
during these difficult times and in these days before our judgment day.
Let us say, Amen.
And
then we Christians and Jews set about God’s work. Pictures 802 through 891
document our activity through this point.
Pictures 892
through 997 document the
balance of our activity.
Old
Coastie had warned that we would be fulfilling both
parts of the Patriot Guard Mission which is stated right at the front of the
PRG website: (1) Show our sincere respect for our fallen
heroes, their families, and their communities.
(2) Shield the mourning family and friends from interruptions
created by any protestor or group of protestors.
That was his low-key way of letting us
know that the
Because the LEOs
(law enforcement officers) allowed the
Westboro people to set-up diagonally across the
intersection from the funeral home, they were less than 100 feet away. The
And that is all quite correct. The First Amendment provides for freedom of
assembly, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. So the Westboro
people could call on First Amendment protection in three ways. In
But if you are a male Wahhabi Sunni Muslim, you have got it made. Unless you say the wrong thing, in which case
they cut out your tongue.
So it is characteristically American
that when the Westboro people do their best to be vile
and incite a hundred macho ex-military bikers just a hundred feet away, they
know they have nothing to fear. Because
tolerance is characteristically American.
Intolerance is something the Westboro Baptists
and the Saudi Wahhabis have in common.
Robin,
Kevin and I found our places in line near the intersection, well within earshot
of those Uninvited Guests, or “Ugs” as we call
them. Robin was squirming. The mission of her Army and the role of her
faith are both central in her life. The
only thing she wanted more than to run away was to run toward them,
attacking. In the end she did
neither. She took the fire and held her
ground like she was supposed to.
One
of us did fire back. In the old days,
long, long ago (like last winter) a PGR group backed their bikes to the Ugs and exercised some 93 octane free speech. One from our group pulled his bike around the
intersection and stopped just in front of us, his straight pipes aimed at the
offenders. He didn’t twist his throttle
a third time before Old Coastie was at his side,
gently explaining that we just don’t do that.
Me,
I think they are just hysterical. They
called me a “biker chick” presumably because they thought I would be blinded
with rage and charge into the street, only to be arrested by the LEOs guarding them.
I recently ordered a patch that says “Scooter Sissy and Proud Of It.”
Kevin
was too busy marching outside to hear what they were saying. The little girl Kevin’s age was inside with
Old Coastie who would later write:
Between
the military component of services and the religious portion I presented
Robert's mom with the PGR plaque and American and State flags that had traveled
with us to the chapel. I also presented Robert's four-year-old daughter Ilena with a beautiful hand-made blanket provided by
Project Linus. I told her this was something she
could hold onto forever while remembering her dad and that it would keep her
warm. Ilena took the blanket and hugged it - and
that's when I remembered why we big tough bikers wear dark sunglasses.
The
Ugs left and we returned to the parking lot where we
formed a circle of flags interrupted by an open door to the funeral home. In the center of our circle stood the detail
that would fire three volleys of seven – except they were five who fired the
three volleys. One of them later
explained to me that they fired fifteen instead of twenty-one rounds so that
they would have three cartridges to fold into each of two flags that would be
presented to the family. Then the
trumpeter played Taps.
The
door closed and we waited again for a while.
Word came that the family was about to emerge and enter a limousine that
would carry them off. We formed a
corridor of flags for the limo.
The
Ugs had left; the limo had left. We packed-up, said good-bye, and then we
left.
Jacob Ortiz of Camp Douglas, WI
Shaun Novak of Two Rivers, WI
Timothy Mackenzie of Elmhurst, IL
Adam Servais of Onalaska, WI
Ryan Jopek of Merrill, WI
Daniel Crabtree of Akron, OH
Nyle Yates of Grand Ledge, MI