TEXAS GOODBYE
This is why America
will remain strong. We take care of our own as well as others who may not
deserve taking care of. I just wanted to share with you all that out of a
horrible tragedy we were blessed by so many people.
Chris Kyle was Derek's teammate through 10 years of training and
battle. They both suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent and took great
care of each other because of it.
2006 in Ramadi was horrible for young men that never had any more
aggressive physical contact with another human than on a Texas football field.
They lost many friends. Chris became the armed services
number #1 sniper of all time. Not something he was happy about, other
than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of American lives.
Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the SEAL teams
as he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda. He did and wrote the book
"The American Sniper." 100% of the proceeds from the book went
to two of the SEAL families who had lost their sons in Iraq .
That was the kind of guy Chris was. He formed a company in
Dallas to train military, police and I think firemen as far as protecting
themselves in difficult situations. He also formed a foundation to work
with military people suffering from PTSD. Chris was a giver not a taker.
He, along with a friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were
murdered trying to help a young man that had served six months in Iraq and
claimed to have PTSD.
Now I need to tell you about all of the blessings.
Southwest Airlines flew in any SEAL and their family from any airport
they flew into
...free of charge.
The employees donated buddy passes and one lady worked for four days
without much of a break to see that it happened.
Volunteers were at both airports in Dallas to drive them to the hotel.
The Marriott Hotel reduced their rates to $45 a night and cleared
the hotel for only SEALs and family.
The Midlothian, TX Police Department paid the $45 a night for each
room. I would guess there were about 200 people staying at the hotel, 100
of them were SEALs. Two large buses were chartered (an unknown donor paid
the bill) to transport people to the different events and they also had a few
rental cars (donated). The police and secret service were on duty 24
hours during the stay at our hotel.
At the Kyle house, the Texas DPS parked a large motor home in front
to block the view from reporters. It remained there the entire five days for
the SEALs to congregate in and all to use the restroom so as not to have to go
in the house. Taya, their two small children and both sets of parents
were staying in the home.
Only a hand full of SEALs went into the home as they had different
duties and meetings were held sometimes on a hourly basis. It was a huge
coordination of many different events and security. Derek was assigned to
be a Pall Bearer, to escort Chris' body when it was transferred from the
Midlothian Funeral Home to the Arlington Funeral Home, and to be with
Taya. A tough job.
Taya seldom came out of her bedroom. The house was full with
people from the church and other family members that would come each day to
help. I spent one morning in a bedroom with Chris’ mom and the next morning
with Chad Littlefield's parents (the other man murdered with Chris). A
tough job.
George W Bush and his wife Laura met and talked to everyone on the
Seal Team one on one. They went behind closed doors with Taya for quite a
while. They had prayer with us all. You can tell when people were sincere
and caring
Nolan Ryan sent his cooking team, a huge grill and lots of steaks,
chicken and hamburgers. They set up in the front yard and fed people all
day long including the 200 SEALs and their families. The next day a local
BBQ restaurant set up a buffet in front of the house and fed all once
again. Food was plentiful and all were taken care of. The family's
church kept those inside the house well fed.
Jerry Jones, the man everyone loves to hate, was a rock
star. He made sure that we all were taken care of. His wife and he
were just making sure everyone was taken care of….Class... He donated the use of Cowboy Stadium for the
services as it was determined that so many wanted to attend.
The charter buses transported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30
am. Every car, bus, motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and police.
I am not sure if kooks were making threats trying to make a name for themselves
or if so many SEALs in one place was a security risk, I don't know. We willingly
obliged. No purses went into the stadium!
We were taken to The Legends room high up and a large buffet was available.
That was for about 300 people. We were growing.
A Medal of Honor recipient was there, lots of secret service and
police and Sarah Palin and her husband. She looked nice, this was a very
formal military service.
The service started at 1:00 pm and when we were escorted onto the
field I was shocked. We heard that about 10,000 people had come to attend
also. They were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a beautiful
and emotional service.
The Bagpipe and drum corps were wonderful and the Texas A&M men's
choir stood through the entire service and sang right at the end. We were
all in tears.
The next day was the 200-mile procession from Midlothian, TX to
Austin for burial. It was a cold, drizzly, windy day, but the people were
out. We had dozens of police motorcycles riders, freedom riders, five
chartered buses and lots of cars. You had to have a pass to be in the
procession and still it was huge. Two helicopters circled the procession
with snipers sitting out the side door for protection. It was the longest
funeral procession ever in the state of Texas. People were everywhere.
The entire route was shut down ahead of us, the people were lined up on the
side of the road the entire way. Firemen were down on one knee, police
officers were holding their hats over their hearts, children waving flags,
veterans saluting as we went by. Every bridge had fire trucks with large
flags displayed from their tall ladders, people all along the entire 200 miles
were standing in the cold weather. It was so heartwarming. Taya rode in
the hearse with Chris' body so Derek rode the route with us. I was so
grateful to have that time with him.
The service was at Texas National Cemetery. Very few are buried there
and you have to apply to get in. It is like people from the Civil War, Medal of
Honor winners, a few from the Alamo and all the historical people of Texas.
It was a nice service and the Freedom Riders surrounded the outside of the
entire cemetery to keep the crazy church people from Kansas that protest at
military funerals away from us.
Each SEAL put his Trident (metal SEAL badge) on the top of Chris'
casket, one at a time. A lot hit it in with one blow. Derek was the
only one to take four taps to put his in and it was almost like he was
caressing it as he did it. Another tearful moment.
After the service Governor Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, invited
us to the governor's mansion. She stood at the door, greeted each
of us individually, and gave each of the SEALs a coin of Texas. She was a
sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess.
We were able to tour the ground floor and then went into the garden
for beverages and BBQ. So many of the Seal team guys said that after they
get out they are moving to Texas. They remarked that they had never felt
so much love and hospitality. The charter buses then took the guys to the
airport to catch their returning flights. Derek just now called and
after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot, in a dangerous land on the
other side of the world, protecting America.
We just wanted to share with you, the events of a quite emotional,
but blessed week.
Punch-line:
To this day, no one in the White House has ever acknowledged
Chris Kyle.
However, the President can call some sport person and congratulate
him on announcing to the world that he is gay? What the hell is happening
to our
society, our honor and our pride??
society, our honor and our pride??
Please, keep this moving!
LOVE ONE ANOTHER...HUGS
