Valor Route, my thoughts

General RFTW Discussion
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IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED WE START A CONVERSATION HERE, SO HERE GOES.

Hello all, my name is Mike “Scoop” Cooper, FNG SR ATW and the SB 2024. I am not a Veteran but I am the son of an Air Force Veteran of Korea and Vietnam. I was 12 when he retired in 1970. I have two uncles who served in WW2, one was KIA in Europe and the 2nd was a Marine Medic in the Pacific and Purple Heart recipient. That history makes me very proud and supportive of our Veterans, ALL OF THEM!!!

I have some thoughts and feelings about the changes in the routes and want to start a discussion here rather than in a public place, Facebook, which has already reached a GOLD STAR MOTHER. :frowning:

  1. Losing some long term stops with the move to the MECWM.

Yes one route was moved away from Cookeville, but another route is going there. The faces may change to these people but they are not being forgotten. They will still see and interact with riders who are doing the same mission. I will presume leadership has looked at covering more of the same with the SR.

  1. How would I feel to lose a stop on SR?

I’ve only been there once but, I am forever hooked by a Kindergarten girl at Montvale Elementary. She gave me a hug when leaving her classroom and made me promise to come back when she was in 1st grade. Would I miss the stop and be upset? YES!!! Would I give up on RFTW and the “Mission” because of this? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

The mission is more than one stop, It is more than my family who are Veterans. It is for EVERY VETERAN OF ANY TIME!!! Did all of us join the run for us, or to honor them? If you leave due to some changes I question if you still have the motivation you once had.

  1. Not being able to do the Sandbox.

As I see it, no-one has been disabled from doing the route. They will just need to show up the night before Valor goes to the MECWM and ride to DC. Either way they hit both ends and need to get to and from those end points. If they join Valor, after they have been to the MECWM they will then be riding several days with a great support team. What better way can we help them heal. I do hope there is a way found to overnight near the MECWM.

There are many times in my life I have been directed to perform at the direction of leadership. Did I always agree, absolutely not. Did I do the task assigned, yes. Why, because it was my job.

When I joined RFTW in 2024 I feel I took on an assignment. Did I follow what leadership asked? Yes.
The reason I followed direction is because it was now my Mission to complete.

My Mission is:

TO PROMOTE HEALING AMONG ALL VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS, TO CALL FOR AN ACCOUNTING OF ALL PRISONERS OF WAR AND THOSE MISSING IN ACTION, TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF THOSE KILLED IN ACTION FROM ALL WARS AND TO SUPPORT OUR MILITARY PERSONNEL ALL OVER THE WORLD.

I don’t know about the rest of you but I do know this about me. I will ride and support RFTW until I can no longer do so. I gave myself an assignment and will complete it to the best of my ability, just as soldiers do when they are given an assignment.

Joining RFTW has made me part of the biggest family I could ever know.

SAY THEIR NAMES
TELL THEIR STORIES
NEVER FORGET

Mike “Scoop” Cooper

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Preacherman

8m

I would like to express some thoughts and feelings about the change in the Midway route. First of all, I love all you guys even if I don’t like you. I started riding with the RFTW back in 2008 and have ridden at least part way with Central, southern and Midway. My first participation ride was from Missouri to Dc and my experience with Rainelle was awesome, rode many times from Missouri. I have also ridden all the way with central and all the way with Midway twice now. I love what the rftw stands for. Now for the bad and I mean this in Love, just expressing my feeling about the future of rftw. Three years ago, while going all the way on central, I have never experience so much negative towards Midway route and so much negative comments about them going to 11 days instead of 10. I personally didn’t think I would like it either, but after riding all the way with Midway last Year, I do like it. The very people that said we shouldn’t be changing from 10 to 11 are the very people that are totally changing a route that possibly some involved in the decision, have never ridden. I also was treated in a disrespectful way on central route that caused me to decide to not ever ride on central again, again I’m trying to say this in love to help not hurt the rftw. Some of the things that I saw, in ways took all the fun out of the mission. I know it is a mission not a vacation, but the mission can continue and be fun also. I know there are rules and things that have to be done, and I totally respect that. It’s not a party; therefore, the main leadership might want to cut back on the partying at night and maybe not show up in the mornings smelling strongly of alcohol to lead us across the country. I have nothing against someone relaxing and having a few, but the public sees overindulging also and that doesn’t represent the mission well. Now one other thing is the fact that central won’t change because of rainelle and I understand that. I have been there even when they were in the old school building and some of the small children that I met back then are now teachers but last year at Wilson elementary, on the Midway Route, was just as moving and emotional as Rainelle to me and I’m sure many others and many other stops. I’m an Army veteran of 28 years and I have friends on the mecw also but, to take away from what the midway has spent 10 years building is a hard thing to take. I will not post anything negative about rftw on public fb, that’s why I’m here. Some people might only want to go to the middle east conflict wall and can do that now already. You say the numbers are going down, that might be true, but I don’t believe the number of patriots and veterans that ride is going down. I do believe there are fewer people wanting to ride with the rftw but are still riding. Rftw is not the only veteran-based ride that crosses the country to Dc. The National Veterans Awareness Organization also does a 13-day ride from I believe Sacramento to Dc, stopping at veterans’ homes and schools all across the country, I haven’t ridden with them but have heard that they have hundreds of bikes. There are also small groups that ride to the wall. Maybe instead of trying to kill something that means so much to so many people, schools, children’s homes AND the Midway riders, we should relook at making the rftw something that so many of the riders choosing not to go with the rftw will want to ride with us. Leave no one behind we say but I saw Central leave an entire family behind because they would not go back a few miles a pick someone up that got stranded beside the road and the standard was not even talked about what do if you break down beside the road that morning or hardly any morning because he was too busy trying to be a first Sargent in basic training and wasn’t even ever in the military, very bad attitude. I talked to those people later and tried to convince them that rftw is a great thing, but they are fully convinced that rftw is horrible and will never support it again or tell anyone anything good about it. Yes, I put this in the AAR not on fb. Again, I say none of these things to hurt any part of rftw and only to bring light to how I see some things. I have been doing this mission for a long time and am now 59 years old and up to this point, I have said I will continue to do this ride until I am 80 years old and then I will look at retiring from it, but seeing the way things are going I’m not sure the rftw will still be going, I’m confident it can be, but the change needs to take place in some of the Leadership, sorry I don’t mean to offend anyone but that’s how I see things. I love you guys and gals; brothers and sisters and I love the rftw and may God bless each and every one of you, but we can’t be pushing people away, we need to be bringing them in. It’s my way or the highway doesn’t work in this kind of a thing, we all volunteer to do this, why volunteer and be treated bad? People can get to each wall, other ways and will, if it comes down to that. I understand the BOD is looking at the future but I’m not sure their lenses are clear at this point. Just my opinion but I truly believe doing this drastic of a change to midway route is not the correct decision. I believe if we want to attract more riders, we can, but we won’t be by making changes like this in the way that it was done. I will continue to support the rftw and will continue to pray for the leadership and for success of the run, even with the change that was made. If I have offended anyone, that is not my goal, but I do hope I have challenged some of you all’s thoughts and beliefs on what to do now and in the future. If you are part of making this decision and have never ridden the midway route, I challenge you to go on Midway and talk to those little children at Wilson elementary and all the other stops and tell them why we won’t be back. It’s not too late. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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I am just throwing my 2 cents into this to see what sticks!
:grin:
I was an FNG on Midway in 2022. I also participated on Central in 2023. Both ATW.

My FNG was very emotional and it was the greatest thing I have ever participated in. The following year was a disappointing trip. The camaraderie that I experienced on Midway from all the participants, donors, just everything was awesome. But CR was not, the leadership was not there and somewhat condescending. It felt like I was an outsider looking in. It felt “clickish”. Things did not go well. I was glad to make DC just so I can get away. Several other riders departed the group and continued to DC on their own.

Which this being said. It was my experience.

I believe in the mission, the help it provides, the meaning each and every person gets from the experience good and bad.

I know this has been a contentious topic. But change is life. If you don’t change you become stagnant. Change is hard. While I don’t agree with the BOD on the change, I think it should at least be tried out and see what happens.

But after that all said, I also 100% disagree with the censorship I am seeing about this. It is intolerable, repulsive and reprehensible especially from people who say they love this country. Especially on FB, where post are deleted, whole pages are all of a sudden missing. That is not what should be happening. It makes me reconsider my participation in this event.

So, just for kicks I went looking for bylaws, rules, what ever they are called for RFTW. Especially on the BOD. I could not find any. Is it possible to remove the BOD for breaking their word? Whether anything can be done about the censorship is unknown, since we all volunteer our time, efforts and monies to this event. It is so sad to see this happening to this event as I really enjoy it and really hope to see it continue.

But like I said before it really tests my commitment to this event when such a thing as censorship happens. I even wonder if this post will stay or disappear. Who knows.

Now I see that MR has no upper leadership according to the MR contacts page. Is this true? WTH??? We are 3 months away and to replace leadership at this late date, is it even possible? I wonder if the BOD is doing this on purpose?? I wonder if they are doing this to disband MR before 2027? God, I hope not! It just makes me wonder!

Anyways, my opinion, my 2 cents.

Bernard “Sgt Buzzz” Pata

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Good day, Preacherman. Please don’t think we were ignoring you. We weren’t,
but we did want to check on some things so we could put together a thoughtful response.

We agree with your statement that we can accomplish the Mission and still
have fun. Each route should wrap its collective arms around one another with understanding, acceptance and brotherhood, as we are all part of the Run for the Wall family.

We’ve both seen and heard about the partying at night on all routes and have addressed our concerns with the RCs. Let’s leave it at that. The concern about Wilson Elementary has been noted, and we anticipate that SR will continue to support that particular outreach effort.

I remember your AAR regarding the Chase team. We looked into the situation
then and looked at it again when we saw this post. Both times, we went back
and talked with our Chase Team lead. He sent a chase truck back to the
reported location and was unable to find those who were stranded.

I would encourage you to reach out privately to the CR RC, Kirk Olson,
kirk.olson@rftw.us mailto:kirk.olson@rftw.us , with the name of the person who seemed to give an incomplete morning briefing. We need to do our best to ensure that does not happen again. Especially the attitude you describe.

We don’t deny that the upcoming changes are significant, but they are also 2 1/2- years out. Timing the announcement of the decision was somewhat of a
no-win: too early or too late; either way, it was not going to be easy. But
we did go into the announcement with a clear vision.

Thank you for your thoughtful post. Rest assured you haven’t offended anyone.

I hope to see you and perhaps meet you in Ontario in May.

John “Turkey” Staub

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I will be there in May 4th platoon leader.

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From your post, I’m guessing Midway again this year?

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Yes Midway and platoon leader also on SB

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How about leaving all of the routes the same, except have Sandbox leave DC on Monday, Memorial Day. Run For the Wall was created for the purpose of joining up with Rolling Thunder (Rolling To Remember). When Sandbox was created it left RFTW riders with a choice. Either do Sandbox or do Rolling To Remember. If Sandbox left on Monday RFTW riders could do both. Anyone who wants to visit the MEMCW will now only have one choice of routes to take.
Thats my 2 cents

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I felt the same way that’s why I left A certain route in 2013 after I’ve done it four times. I tried to see if it was gonna change and maybe get better, but it did not pan out that way and there was an opportunity to make a new route and that’s where I went.

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Well said Scoop. -rb