Tonight, Scott and I attended the Vets For Freedom National Heroes Tour event at the officers’ club at Fort Snelling. It was a great event.
I got there a little early, and was fortunate to meet several people I really admire: Pete Hegseth, David Bellavia and others. This photo is of Ed Morrissey, who covered the event for Hot Air, Jimbo from BlackFive, and an unidentified woman:
Meeting David Bellavia was a particular highlight. His book House To House is one of the most extraordinary narratives I’ve ever read. Sgt. Bellavia, who has been nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor, killed a succession of al Qaeda terrorists in a house in Fallujah; by the time he finished off the last and most fearsome opponent, his weapons were gone. The ultimate combat was low-tech, not much different from Beowulf. If you haven’t read it, you should.
The crowd was great, as lots of Minnesotans didn’t want Democratic Underground to have the last word. There wasn’t enough room for everyone to get into the room:
Inside, the house was packed when Pete Hegseth took the stage.
Jeremiah Workman, recipient of the Navy Cross for his heroism in Iraq, was one of several veterans of the GWOT who spoke. One of the themes of the evening was the remarkable improvement in Iraq over the last nine months. Workman and others contrasted the brutal conditions under which they won their medals with the far more peaceful and prosperous Iraq they encountered when they returned.
David Bellavia brought the house down. He’s passionate, funny, volatile, and he speaks with the authority of a man who has killed al Qaeda jihadists with his bare hands. The MoveOn crowd would do well to give him a wide berth. Unfortunately, the photo I took of David is out of focus:
It was a wonderful evening. The Vets succeeded, I think, in bringing their message of hope, confidence and patriotism to Minnesota, with an assist from the myopic lefties who tried to silence them.
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