OK, gang.

I'm sure we all have a little sick feeling somewhere in the bottom of our guts about what we saw happen on Thursday in the heart of our state at Fort Hood, as we watched an Islamic Army Officer sworn to help and protect our soldiers butcher them as they stood defenseless in line waiting to go to war. 43 of our bravest and finest either died or were wounded. Many of them not only ON Texas soil, but FROM Texas soil. It happened "on our watch"...on our turf...in OUR backyard!

I know I'm not alone in my outrage. As the husband of a soldier about to deploy and a combat vet w/Ft. Hood mud in my boots, perhaps I feel it a bit deeper than some. But I know all of you are with me.

So, here's the deal...

The Adaptive Fly Fishing Institute stands ready to coordinate and fully support ANY sort of activity showing support and assistance to the Ft. Hood community y'all want to put together.

We are a TX non-profit association, and we work with a 501(c)3 tax exempt corporation called Global Opportunites Unlimited, Inc. We can raise funds and take donations if need be.

But I'm thinking we should put together a fishing day cookout/weekend getaway for the soldiers and their families who were literally THERE at the Soldier Readiness Program Center.

We've done a ton of these all over the country in the past 3 years. And we have Army chaplains, VA psychologists, etc. on our board...and we can sure get more pretty easily for an event like this through the ones we've got!

I could probably bring other military support charities into support roles, such as the Military Spouses Corporate Career Network. I know they are interested in reaching out, and their CEO is a friend of mine.

So don't be afraid to think of something that might take resources to pull off. I'm pretty sure we can pull the resources together for the right project. I'm looking for specific ideas that include time, place, format, etc.

Y'all still got nothin', huh?

I just don't know the fishing around there...or parks, facilities, and such.

We could go a different route and raffle off a really sweet fly rod or trip or something to raise money for one of the families of someone wounded or killed, instead.

What do y'all think?

I am in.

Me too

OK...seriously...

If we were going to raffle or auction off a fishing trip to raise money for the families of victims, what would folks like to see?

I think I'll start a poll thread...

Oh wait! They disabled that function. So I'll have to list some choices out of my bag o tricks here.

San Juan River, NM (trout)
Costilla, Red River, Rio Grande, near Taos, NM (trout)
Rio Grande, NM (pike)
Backcountry pack trip into Gila Wilderness, NM (trout)
Jemez Mountain Streams, NM (trout)
British Columbia, Canada (steelhead, salmon)
Lake Fork of the Gunnison watershed @ Lake City, CO (trout)
White River, AR (trout)
S. Florida/Keys Saltwater (bonefish, permit, etc.)

And then there are the "pull out all the stops options" where the raffle tickets would be like $30 each and we'd sell 1000 of them...

British Columbia Spey w/April Vokey
Arkansas Trout w/April Vokey
Florida Saltwater w/Dr. Marty Arostegui (holds over 330 IGFA world records for anyone who might not know)
Patagonia Fly Fishing w/yours truly (trout)
Belize (bonefish, permit)
Bahamas (bonefish)

AFFI can deliver any one of these trips at a price that would make good $$$ as a fundraiser. Since Dr. Arostegui is on our board and April is one of our certified instructors, they'll be happy to pitch in. The NM stuff is all similarly in hand among 3 members of the board, myself included. The British Columbia stuff is Aaron Goodis' and April Vokey's backyard...both AFFI certified. White River would most likely be guided by Davy Wotton, but that's my stomping ground for the past 10 years too. And so on...

Yes that event sickened me to the core. We need to stop this politically correct nonsense. As a vet, I am particularly outraged.

I am also a vet, but still no use when my dog gets sick

sorry I'm just now chiming in. There are a lot of places around the Belton/Stillhouse area where you could do an event on the water. There's even Belton Lake Outdoor Rec Area (BLORA) on base that has a paddle boat dock and a protected cove where people could get out and paddle and maybe do a little fishing.

If you'd like to actually do an event, let me know how I can help.

Colleen

I'll be happy to contribute to any of these. Let me just offer this one thought, having been involved in the aftermath of workplace violence (thankfully on a smaller, less horrifyingly tragic scale) in the past.

At some point after the trial is done, the story will fade and the people who were impacted by this will be left with the aftermath. We won't forget them, of course, but they'll become faceless and the story will give way to the next crisis and the next. A political season will be upon us and there will be all THAT shrieking going on.

Wouldn't it be nice to do something then? I think it would be great to come back six months, or even a year later, and to say, "we remember, we're still here, and we still want to help."

This isn't to suggest that all those people in the depths of agony over this unimaginable tragedy don't need our support and help today... instead, it's just a thought that perhaps when the rest of the world has moved on, we might still make a difference for them then.

Whatever the group decides, count on my support.

Heck yeah, I agree! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Just give me a direction; if we get something going I will definitely contribute what time and effort I can.

Jackman65,

That's an excellent point, and one that matches my own observations and thoughts in more ways than one. BUT...in military towns, only the civilians stay the same for very long. So the logistics of a "reunion" event get pretty sophisticated and usually require major corporate sponsorship, which generally comes with major media exposure. That tends to be a "dance with the devil" sort of thing. I have found a way to balance it pretty well, but it's like steer wrestling every time to get it under control. I was thinking more along the lines of waiting a few months. That gives us time to plan and organize, but not so much time that most of the impacted families will have moved on. So I'm thinking maybe around the time of the Gulf Coast Council Conclave in New Braunfels in April.