SOONER STATE ABATE SENTINEL Sooner State Abate Vol 5 Issue 1 | Page 6

Sooner State ABATE Sentinel - Volume 5 Issue 1
lenges. Government bureaucracy has become more
entrenched and complicated, and our Elected Officials
Veterans Day
have been supportive of budgetary cutbacks to restrict
Pro-Veteran programs while simultaneously proclaim-
Thank you for inviting Oklahoma’s Motorcycling Com-
ing they’re “Supporting the Troops”. That phase means
munity to once again take part in this heartfelt ceremony far more than being a bumper-sticker proclamation: it
at one of the finest Veterans’ Memorials in the Nation.
needs to be augmented with positive, definitive action.
Across this great country and throughout the World,
Thousands of Americans face eroding Quality of Life due
Americans are pausing to honor our brave men and
to Service-Connected physical and mental illness; far
women who for more than 240 years have underwritten too many American Veterans continue to be homeless,
our Liberty by their duty, honor, and selfless Service.
even here in Oklahoma; and over Twenty Military and
For over Thirty Years, The Sooner State’s Riders have
Veterans EVERY SINGLE DAY reach such a hopeless
joined their fellow Americans to honor on Memorial Day impasse that they can see no alternative but to take their
our Military who made the Supreme Sacrifice. Now,
own lives. This is an intolerable situation which MUST be
we mark over Twenty Years where we’ve enjoyed the
remedied, and that’s why Veterans’ Day affords us the
opportunity, on Veterans’ Day, to recognize and celebrate opportunity to become energized and active in speaking
the contributions of ALL our Armed Forces and Veterans, up for our Brothers and Sisters who swore the same oath
and re-direct focus toward the need for our Government
to honor the promises and contracts made in return
for their dedicated service. The Motorcyclists you see
here represent the finest America has to offer-many of
whom are Active Duty Military and Veterans. We’ve long
recognized that Freedom is NOT Free but is Bought with
a Price. And, the Price of that Freedom is Written on the
Wall!
Veterans’ Day has evolved out of our remembrance of
the signing of the Armistice ending World War I, the “War
to End All Wars”-on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh
Day of the Eleventh Month. One can only imagine how
it must have been for those Warriors who spent years
killing each other to come out of the trenches and greet
each other as Friends! This year, we pause to reflect on
the Hundredth Anniversary of the end of a conflict which
cost over 120,000 American Lives, and caused Europe
to mourn the loss of an entire Generation. Ironically, less
than twenty years later the globe would be plunged into
an even more cataclysmic World War. Presently, our fel-
low Americans routinely place themselves in harm’s way
in the Middle East, and constantly have lived at risk in
Afghanistan for over seventeen years. Sadly, our present
situation reminds us of the timeless words of Plato, who
said, “Only the Dead have seen the End of War!”
Presently, our Veterans are faced with multiple chal-
as we did but are disadvantaged and hurting.
I’d like to conclude with a Veterans’ Day Poem, written
by Cheryl Dyson: “On Veterans’ Day we honor all, who
answered to a Service Call; Soldiers young and Soldiers
old, fought for Freedom, brave and bold. Some have
lived, while others died, and all of them deserve our
Pride. We’re proud of all the Veterans who, kept thinking
of the Red White and Blue. They fought for us and all
our Rights; they fought through many Days and Nights.
And though we may not know each name, we thank ALL
Veterans just the same!”
Thanks very much for taking the time to honor our Mili-
tary and Veterans. May God Bless You, and God Bless
America!
Tiger Mike