Laid to Rest

The other day, I posted about a 18 yr old soldier killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb from our area. Well the funeral was posted in the paper to happen today at a nearby church only about 2 miles from my house. The other thing posted was that this church out of Topeka, KS called Westboro Baptist Church was going to be picketing there because of their hardcore oldschool No Gays in the Military way of thinking. How I feel about homosexual people is you can do it, just don't do it in front of me. I don't think it's the best but whatever. If you visit that link be prepared these are some screwed up church people. They are glad Katrina hit, glad for roadside bombs, and super happy about AIDS. Those are some really fucked up things to be happy for. Thankfully the Patriot Guard came as well. The Patriot Guard is a group of veterans, motorcylists, and others, based in Kansas, who make it a practice to disrupt protests against the Iraq War at funerals of members of the US Armed forces killed in Iraq.

After hearing about this hoop-la, I came up with a whole senerio of wild ideas. I could fire off some fireworks at the church bastards, shoot off a paintball gun, or throw eggs! I wanted to even have my sister Mandi in for the ride because I knew she'd be one to help cause a scene with me. I decided though, it wouldn't be a smart idea since I would have 5 kids in tow in the minivan. Instead I decided to drive by because I needed to go to the bank anyways and take these pictures. I'll just say at the end, driving through the Patriot Guard tunnel of flags was absolutely overwhelming (tears formed LOL) and GOD BLESS THEM FOR ALL THAT THEY DO. I rolled down my windows and told them they are awesome and keep up the good work. This is the funny thing. I didn't see the church protestors. I don't think there were any! LMAO! If there were, they were no where to be found. On my way there I drove one way around the church and on the way back I drove another way and I didn't see them. HA HA HA! Cowards! Here's the Pics...

This first pic you can't tell much but that is the major intersection near my road. YES I LIVE IN BFE. That thing sticking up is the church where the funeral was at.

Ok, since I wasn't sure how big this was going to be and if roads were going to be blocked, I decided to take this dirt road a mile from the church because since the church is on the other side of the road, I figured it wouldn't be blocked and I was right but.......
As I got near the intersection "Holy Shit" was about the only word I could muster out of my mouth. Hard to tell but there's American flags all over and the road had tons of Patriot Guard people all over it. They were on the other side of the road by the church so I wasn't blocked.

This is where I turned from the dirt to the pavement and headed towards town. The cars there on the left are in the other church parking lot across the street from where the funeral was. The First Church Of the Nazarene where the funeral was had no parking at all. On the right side is a blog of Patriot Guards at the enterance to drive in the parking lot.

This is the church and the bikes. They were like this pretty much around the church from what I could see. This is when I went into town now below are the pics when I came back home.

I didn't think I was going to be able to get down the road coming home. It's kinda blocked if you can't tell! I drove all the way up there and the police officer said "go but go slow"

On the right where the cars are, that is the church parking. This is about 15 minutes into the funeral. Getting ready to drive through. WOW. I bet there was atleast 200 + people there.

All I can say is it was an awesome to witness what these guys do. I really don't like the fact that we are still in Iraq, I don't care for Bush, but I do support our soldiers and I believe that standing up for them at a funeral in the 20 degree Kansas windy weather is a great way to show our appreciation like they did today.