One evening, I was cruising through downtown Boise on my favorite Harley, Boomer, and as always, I was flying a 3-by-5 foot U.S. flag on it.
I went through an intersection and heard a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ behind me. I turned around and there they were, at a sidewalk café, about 20 Army personnel in uniform. Some even stood at attention! I waved back and kept going but I thought: that was awesome. I should get back there and tell them I appreciate their service to this country. So I went around a few blocks, and pulled my obnoxiously loud badass machine onto the sidewalk, right by their group. They went nuts. They said it was the greatest thing that I flew that flag, and they thanked me for it. I replied: No, I ought to thank YOU all for your service and I want to buy the whole group a round of drinks. No, they said, that was not necessary, just flying that flag was good enough. Of course, I insisted. They may pay for me with their lives, so my paying for their drink is a no-brainer. It cannot begin to compare. They invited me to sit with them. What an honor! Every single one of them had been in either Iraq or Afghanistan. We then parked the bike in the middle of the street and got the bartender to snap a few pictures of the whole group gathered around it. At the end, each and every one of them shook my hand, and the tall serious looking guy in the middle of the back row (he could be a Russian extreme fighter) looked me straight in the eye and said:” Sir, it is people like you who make me proud to serve this country. Thank you, SIR!”
Folks, it doesn’t get any better than this. God Bless these superb people and God Bless America.
Straight from the heart,
Frank Daniels
Boise, Idaho
P.S. Happy 4th of July from VISTA!