March 6th finally came and went after much anticipation. That was the date we hosted an event at Camp Pendleton where the four branches of the Armed Forces came together in a pankration (Mixed Martial Arts) event. The Marines were the "last man standing" having defeated the Army, Navy and Air Force teams in the preliminary matches. The Camp Pendleton team was left to fight in the finals, the United States Marine Corps fight team out of 29 Palms. Yup, Marines fighting Marines for the championship. Exciting matches, coming right down to the last man in each team facing off and the Camp Pendleton team winning and standing tall with the trophy. I will say that there was nothing but good sportsmanship from all the participants especially the winning team. Made me very proud to be associated with these young men and we are already getting geared up to host the next one.

The entire event was filmed and should be seen soon on a few cable networks. I'll keep everyone posted as to which ones will be showing this extremely entertaining event. I'll also post more pictures as I get them. The one above came from the Marine Corps but our own guys took a ton and as soon as I can I'll post them.

Well, here it is the new year 2010, unbelievable for us old vets who wondered in the jungles and rice paddies 45 years ago if we would make it another day and now here's one of them writing in a "blog", trully unbelievable. But it's okay, my family is healthy and growing, (I now have a new son-in-law), and we have a major event going on with the Marine Corps the first week in March. More on that as the time grows nearer. I'm going to design a new booth for our charity www.rearareasupport.com and book as many events as possible in order to send out more and more care packages to our troops this year. My brother-in -law Dennis is going to concentrate on targeting businesses and corporations to help fund our mission. Our efforts last year met our goals but we want to do so much more. Any ideas out there let us know, we're the first to admit we're new at this.

One of my new Years resolutions is to keep up this blog.

Thanksgiving

Well, here it is Thanksgiving 2009 and the year is almost over. I've been busy down south and not keeping this blog up to date. Sorry bout' that. Dennis and I did the Miramar air show and then the Los Alamitos air show for www.rearareasupport.com raising a bunch of money for our care packages. Met a lot of folks who feel pretty much as I do about what's happening to our country. In talking to the military, both veterans and active duty, law enforcement and firefighters I'm moved by the amount of patriotism and feelings of commitment in carrying on the fight against terrorism. Now if only our elected officials would get back to at least using the term "terrorist" and believing in "victory" and get over this political correctness crap then the folks who know how to win will win. I'm confident this will happen, don't anyone out there lose the faith.

That's it for my update, I'll climb down from my soapbox now and try to find a few pictures to post.

Just posted a picture of the United States Marine Corps Mixed Martial Arts fight team out of Camp Pendelton. Cold Forged just became their sponsor about a month ago. The guy standing at the far right is named John Walsh, watch for him as he will soon be a contender. We printed the shirts you see on them and they all wear them to all their matches. Very cool. We just did a fundraiser for our charity at the Mirimar air show in San Diego and about six of the team as well as their coach came to our booth to sign autographs. All the kids and young girls mobbed our booth. It was so popular that we discovered that while they were there we couldn't get near the booth to sell shirts. But that wasn't a bad thing and after the first autograph session I limited them to only an hour at a time. They certainly helped to make the air show a big success. I'll take this time to say what a great bunch of guys. Very humble and nice. Not at all what you'd expect. I think it comes from their discipline and dedication to the sport as well as to the corps. I'm very proud to be associated with them.

U.S. Marine Corps MMA fight team

U.S. Marine Corps MMA team

Just posted a picture of the Orange flag ceremony in Orange California. I missed posting my text with the picture so bear with me. The lowering of the flag happens every Wednesday evening at dusk. A friend of mine, Mark Walen heads the ceremony because the city was going to discontinue because of budget cuts. Mark is a retired Orange fireman who also at the age of fifty became the first firefighter para medic to join the Orange SWAT team, going in with them armed on calls. He's also an ex-Marine Vietnam Veteran and a close friend of many years. Unfortunately he's absent in the picture but both Pat, Dennis and I are there. Yea, I know it's hard to believe I actually have Marine friends. I try to make this ceremony every Wednesday I'm in town. Pat Noonan has been attending with me along with my brother-in-law Dennis. Again I know it's hard for my Airborne buddies to understand but both Pat and I have developed a tolerance, (in our old age), for associating with "legs".