The Mega “Mission Serve” Media Roundup
Subscribe to the Blog RSS FeedYesterday's Veterans Day launch of ServiceNation's Mission Serve was both inspiring and full of promise. First Lady Michelle Obama, who was joined by Dr. Jill Biden, spoke eloquently about the patriotism and dedication of our military community (full transcript here):
One of the greatest privileges that I have as First Lady is the chance to meet with veterans, and to meet with service members, and their families all across America. And I have to tell you, I always come away from every single visit with this sense of pride, and gratitude -- but also with a sense of awe. True awe.
I'm in awe of sacrifices they make -- if you think about it, a tiny fraction of our population bearing the burden of eight years of war, serving tour after tour of duty, missing out on birthdays and anniversaries and those precious moments with the people that they love most.
I'm in awe of the men and women that I meet who have been wounded -- and some very seriously -- who will tell you that all they think about is not their injuries but about the folks that they left behind; and all they want to do is to be back in their unit, serving this country again. I'm in awe.
And I'm in awe of the military families that I meet: spouses who play the role of both parents, trying to juggle getting to baseball games and ballet recitals, doing it all; grandparents who step in to care for the children when a single mom or dad in uniform is away; people who find the strength to carry on after those they love most have made the ultimate sacrifice.
And we witnessed their courage and grace this past week in the aftermath of the unthinkable tragedy at Fort Hood. And we hold those who lost their lives and those who love them in our thoughts and prayers today. All of these men and women, they joined our armed forces because they love this country so much that they're willing to give everything they have to protect it.
And that commitment, it doesn't just disappear when they return to civilian life.
See, that's the beauty of it -- it doesn't go away. For many of these folks, service is the air they breathe. It's the reason they were put here on this Earth. And they don't just want to serve for a certain number of years of deployment -- they want to make their entire life a tour of duty.
(Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
Mission Serve is clearly an idea whose time has come (in fact, it's past due). And the launch got plenty of coverage. We'll have lots of video and pics to share in the coming weeks. But here are some media reports that help capture what went on:
Cincinnati.com Op-Ed From SN Convener John Bridgeland
WAMU (Listen: Real Audio, Windows Media)
Examiner.com (plus an excellent slide show)
Finally, one of the highlights of the program was the performance by The Telling Project, in which vets described snippets of their lives in the military in an effort to convey just an inkling of what the experience of service is like. One of the veterans, Jeremiah Washburn, gave an especially powerful recounting of how the loss of close friends in combat haunts his civilian life to this day. We'll have all the video for you in the coming weeks, but in the meantime here is a clip of Washburn talking about what it was like to patrol in Iraq during Ramadan.
Ramadan - Jeremiah Washburn from Jonathan Wei on Vimeo.
