Bikers have soldiers back

[Lunatik3]

I will be participating in this at my earliest opportunity.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/08/10/biker_vets.ART_ART_08-10-09_A1_C9EN7IB.html?sid=

PATRIOT GUARD RIDERS

Bikers have troops' backs

Those ignored when they came home from war make sure current returnees are shown respect

Monday, August 10, 2009 3:07 AM

By Jeb Phillips

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

CHRIS RUSSELL | DISPATCH

Sgt. 1st Class Meyer, who declined to provide his first name, greets rider Mike Farley of Lancaster at a ceremony in Groveport. Meyer's Guard unit returned home last week after seven months in Afghanistan.

CHRIS RUSSELL | DISPATCH

The Ohio Patriot Guard Riders, part of a national organization, offer a show of support at any deployment or homecoming ceremony or funeral for any veteran. On Thursday, they provided an escort from the Ohio/Indiana border to Groveport for an Ohio National Guard unit's homecoming.

Related Multimedia

• Slideshow: Ohio Patriot Guard Riders
  

No one met Bob Woods at the St. Louis airport in 1971 when he came home from war, and he has never forgotten it.

No one visited Wayne Cox's mother in support while he, his brother and his father were all in Vietnam in 1969. That still bothers him.

So at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Woods, 58, waited with his Harley-Davidson at a rest stop near the Ohio/Indiana border. A few hours later, Cox, 60, pulled into the Groveport Recreation Center's parking lot on his motorcycle.

Some soldiers were coming home to central Ohio. Woods, Cox and about a dozen other Patriot Guard Riders wanted those soldiers to know that this is a different age.

"We want to make sure that none of what happened to us happens to those guys," Woods, who lives near Cincinnati, had said the night before.

"I want them to know that the American people are behind them," Cox, of Lancaster, said 20 minutes before the soldiers rolled into Groveport.

The group that became the Patriot Guard Riders formed in Kansas and Missouri in 2005 to shield the families of service members from people picketing at their military funerals. Those picketers, members of a Kansas church, weren't objecting to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; they were welcoming American deaths as punishment for immorality.

The first Patriot Guard Riders wanted to keep space between the picketers and the funerals. Because the church threatened to picket funerals across the country, Patriot Guard Rider membership spread to every state. There are now 4,600 riders in Ohio alone, said Woods, the state captain.

The riders' mission expanded, because those protests are threatened but often don't materialize. They will provide an escort at any deployment or homecoming ceremony. They'll also ride along at the funeral of any veteran. They come only if they are invited, Woods said.

On Thursday, the riders had the Groveport homecoming, another in Dayton and an afternoon funeral in Dayton. Woods posts the schedule on www.ohio- pgr.org and trusts that riders in those areas will show up.

Members don't have to be veterans, or even own a motorcycle. But Vietnam veterans are a kind of guiding spirit of the group; the memory of how they were treated when they came home drives the way they treat the new veterans.

"It's 95 percent of why I do this," Woods said.

Woods and his crew waited at that rest stop for a bus carrying members of Ohio National Guard Company B, 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), who were returning from seven months in Afghanistan by way of Camp Atterbury, Ind. They would meet the bus at the state line and lead it to Groveport.

In Groveport, where families waited for their soldiers, another contingent of riders stood with huge American flags as a kind of honor guard. Cox was there, along with two veterans from the 1950s and one from the 1970s.

Just before 1 p.m., the motorcycles pulled into view of the Groveport Recreation Center, followed by the bus. The families cheered. The riders parked their bikes and walked back to the bus to watch the soldiers come out.

"Daddy!" a boy yelled when the bus door opened.

"Look at that," said Mike Farley, 50, a rider from Lancaster, who held one of the big flags. "I love it."

The 35 or so soldiers had helped train Afghan military forces. They'd been on 274 patrols, in direct combat 27 times. They hadn't seen their families in a long time. But many of them, after hugging their wives and their kids, made a point of walking up to the Patriot Guard Riders, too.

A sergeant came over to shake the riders' hands. So did his mother, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Thank you so much," she said. "That was great."

Bob Vogt, 56, of Columbus Grove in Putnam County, stood near the front of the bus with a few other riders. Maj. Larry Henry, the returning company commander, was being tugged in all different directions -- it seemed every civilian there wanted a minute with him, to thank him for bringing the soldiers home safely.

But Henry made a point of walking over to Vogt and the others.

"Thank you," he said to every one of them.

"It was a privilege," Vogt replied.

[Strictly Street]

I have something in my eye....

[Cheech]

I know Moose has been out to a PGR mission or two. I know I wouldn't mind coming to one.

[Lunatik3]

Doubt my 200cc chinese bike would look at home with the rest of the guys.

[EvilTwin]

That would be cool to do.

[Vulcan_Rider]

been a member for a few years been on a few missions and it is something you will never forget. Don't worry about what kind of bike you are on nobody cares because you are all there for the same purpose.

[Ziggy]

Doubt my 200cc chinese bike would look at home with the rest of the guys.

Bring it out... We don't care what you ride, don't even care if you ride. It's not about motorcycles, it's about our soldiers, and honoring them for defending our country. I've been a PGR member for about a year and a half, and make every mission I can. It is the least I can do.

[luvkawzx6-R]

This is something i always wanted to do since i got back from iraq in 05. My dad was a vietnam vet and he told me stories of being spit on at a airport when he returned home. He was ashamed to wear his uniform after that. That kinda shit pisses me off. What do you have to do to join?

[Ziggy]

This is something i always wanted to do since i got back from iraq in 05. My dad was a vietnam vet and he told me stories of being spit on at a airport when he returned home. He was ashamed to wear his uniform after that. That kinda shit pisses me off. What do you have to do to join?

Go Here. Up at the top of the page, it says "Freedom isn't free, but membership is." Right below that is a link to the membership form.

[shittygsxr]

there is a "welcome home" for some OHNG members on the 25th of August in grove city

[shittygsxr]

I have something in my eye....

Is it hot in here? My eyes are sweating

[alab32]

I am all about doing something like this. The troops need to be recognized as much as possible! When I get back to OH I will be participating!