Walking the Walk During a Season of Commitment

Summer is almost here. In a couple of weeks, neighborhood pools will be opening all across America. With the new season, comes a whole list of new commitments – swim team, little league baseball, keeping up with yard work and preparing for vacation. While the Summer Solstice begins on June 21 this year, as always Memorial Day Weekend will mark the unofficial start of the summer.

Memorial Day Weekend. Some think of the holiday as a time to sneak away for the weekend or use the grill for the first time of the year – if you live in Georgia like I do, however, the grill can be used all year long.

Since 9/11 Memorial Day, an already meaningful holiday to me has had even more meaning, as have commitments. Commitment to securing our nation’s safety, commitment to faith and commitment to one another.

On Memorial Day we honor the ultimate sacrifice that comes from a strong commitment to country. Examples of this brand of commitment were illustrated along the banks of the Marne River, on the beaches of Normandy, in the jungles surrounding Ong Thanh, the snow covered hills of Chinpyong-ni, Helmund Province in Afghanistan, and the streets of Baghdad.

We do our best to honor the heroes by telling our children about many of the remote places around the world where our heroes have fallen and the character they possessed until the very end. While they never had the chance to hold the hand of a loved while passing away, some may have been fortunate enough to have had a note sent home that was carried from battleground to battleground, in hopes that relatives back home would never have the opportunity to read it.
We honor the fallen by keeping the memories alive in stories to our children about where they fell and why they were there.

The sight of men and women massed together in an airport, camouflage fatigues and duffel bags distinguishing from the typical business traveler give us more opportunities to think about commitment and share the message with our children. As do church services on occasional Sundays when the pastor asks the congregation to lift up a member of the choir, in the choir loft last Sunday and en route to a faraway desert land today, where he will be praying with members of his battalion before going on patrol. Commitment is all around us.

My wife and I are big believers in passing along a sense of commitment. We’re proud parents of a daughter and son. Both of our children know that an American flag is not to touch the ground or be thrown away. They know that a baseball cap comes off during the national anthem. They pray for the safety of our service men and women overseas and they know who Ruth Adkins is.
Who is Ruth Adkins? Ruth Adkins is the Founder and President of Inspiring Alliance Military Network (www.inspiringalliance.org), a newly created nonprofit service organization offering emergency care and long-term support to military service members, veterans and their families. The programs Inspiring Alliance refers clients to are supported through a variety of qualified nonprofit organizations and federal agencies whose web links are located on our their Military Support Links and Wounded Warrior Links pages.

Ruth was inspired to provide help to veterans after hearing stories of heroism from the mother of a soldier serving in Iraq. She felt a commitment to help the brave men and women who have given of themselves to keep our country free and safe.

The mission of The Inspiring Alliance Military Support Network is to help veterans help themselves by providing as many resources for support from one web site as possible. It is their mission to circulate timely and useful information that enhances productivity and quality of life for veterans and their families, especially those disabled by combat-related injuries who have served in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom offensives.

Ruth says, “Thousands of men and women are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with disabilities; few organizations provide long-term care and mentorship to help them meet the challenges they face. Inspiring Alliance provides a mechanism that allows us to offer a wide variety of transitional services to all military service members, as well as to support our Wounded Warriors with special services that meet those long-term needs. “

Staff from the “Inspiring Alliance” meet one-to-one when necessary with severely disabled veterans – in their hometown – to determine what assistance needs to be implemented & draw from program resources the organization hosts on our their site to maximize their support network.

The Career Transitions Training Program is set to launch July 1, 2009, offering online career training free of charge to all military service members – a service that will also provide free resumes. Once client assessment and training is completed, clients will be assisted in obtaining gainful employment through one of 150+ firms the “ Inspiring Alliance” partners with who are pro-active in supporting veteran concerns.

Ruth had lined up several sponsors to get the “Inspiring Alliance” up and running. However, given current economic conditions, most of the sponsors had to pull their support for the time being. Some would say that perhaps Ruth should shelve her plans for the time being and wait for the economy to improve. Ruth’s commitment level to the veterans who need “Inspiring Alliance’s” help is too high for that type of thinking and feels the time to for those who are arriving back to civilian life in need of assistance is right now.

So, Ruth Adkins, Founder and President of Inspiring Alliance Military Support Network will begin an incredible journey – the type of journey to tell your children about in order to illustrate commitment. Ruth and her organization set up a new Internet site (www.troopwalk.com) to promote the walk. She will walk across America to raise funds to support Inspiring Alliance’s new online training programs and the ongoing needs of their long-term care programs. Now that is commitment!

The 3,300 mile journey will begin on May 25, at 8am (Memorial Day) and will pass across the heartland of America – it’s rivers, hills, mountains and valleys. Her mission is to raise money for the “Inspiring Alliance Military Network” – an inspiring mission indeed!

The trip begins at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC and ends at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, CA. Ruth is planning to walk across eleven states and the District of Columbia en route to providing hope to those who have kept us safe.

Parents that have children in the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, or California will have the opportunity to illustrate real live commitment to their children as Ruth makes her journey, which is expected to last for at least five months. My son and daughter will be watching from afar, as I point to our friend Ruth as an inspirational example of someone possessing the type of commitment that makes leads to great things.

Donations for the Inspiring Alliance Military Network will gladly be accepted along the way, as well as your well wishes, thoughts and prayers.

Be sure to visit www.troopwalk.com to follow the progress of Ruth’s journey, donate, or learn more about sponsors like New Balance and Walmart who are providing sponsorship for the journey.