I'm Q, an American, a proud citizen of the United States of America, an
..amateur photographer and novice web designer who has taken on a task to remind people of our heroes, of our veterans, of our women and men serving honorably in the United States Military, and of our heroes that have paid the ultimate price for your freedom!!I started my initial project in May of 2000 with my Vietnam website dedicated to to a group of Marines that served in Vietnam. I have located and reunited many of them. While at a reunion in D.C. I received an award from them. This tribute site has over 3,000 Images and over 2,000 pages.
12/30/00 "FROM WHAT I GOT FROM YOUR WEB SITE Q IS THAT I'AM VERY PROUD TO BE AND SERVE IN OUR MARINE CORP AND WHEN I LOOK AT OLD GLORY I ALWAYS REMBER THE MARINES THAT FOUGHT FOR HER THAT IS WAY I'LL LOVE HER AND FOR WHAT SHE STANDS FOR THANK YOU Q FOR THE HISTORY"
12/25/00 "I just spent an hour looking at your site. The pictures brought back quite a few memories. You have an outstanding site. It is truthful and presents war as it really was. Great job. Shows a whole lot of dedication to the brothers of Delta 1/5...Semper Fidelis Bro. Boondocker, aka-Rich" Read more comment by visiting this old guest book.
On March 17, 2003 I started web preparations for the upcoming war in Iraq/Afghanistan. I have since dedicated the majority of my time and resources to preserving the memories of our heroes that served in Iraq or Afghanistan and have deceased. I started a website to honor these heroes and to help people remember who they are. Little did I know what kind of commitment to do this I was facing.
A couple months later in 2003, I was approached by a friend that worked at a funeral home, asking if I would take some photos for a mother of a hero killed in Iraq. I said I was honored to and only armed with a Sony Mavica floppy drive camera and about 200 floppy disk in a bag, I shot my first service for one of our heroes. Cpl Travis Bradach-Nall . The big B/W photo was posted at the request of the mother.
It was later, after I handed off the photos that I realized I was doing something good to show my thanks for their sacrafice. It took a long time to get everything together, to learn about DoD releases to use them to track and figure out who to contact etc. Since then I've been on over 200 missions for the families of our heroes. I travel as far north as the Canadian border and as far south as San Bruno CA and as far east as Boise Idaho area.
I've worn out the Sony Mavica, 2 Kodak cameras, a Minolta Dimage 7 and 3 Nikon cameras. It wasn't really till late 2006 when I started to beg people for help. I have gotten way over my head and still at it.
Along with tracking our heroes and adding them to the website, for each name I added at least 1 page. All done by me manually. I also started to track AP headers which I still do to this date and logged many stories from the early part of the war. I continued the headers but stopped adding stories, it was just too much work. As of 01/28/08 I have logged 1775 days. Visit www.031903.org . There are over 7000 pages here.
Someone tells me there is no tribute site for the folks that died in Panama, so I responded with www.OperationJustCause.org . There are other projects, just visit www.OurWarHeroes.net .
So, not to drag this profile too much longer, over 70,000 Miles traveled, Over 85,000 photos I shot prepped for the families, over 46,500 photos posted from various sources, and over 28,000 pages created later.... I'm still at it.
I also helped build the first memorial, the Afghan/Iraq War Memorial located in Salem Oregon next to the VA building. Assisted with 9/11 Healing Fields. Numerous Home Comings for our troops and individual military members returning home. Mailed out over 5,000 postcards and handed out over 10,000 business cards, both with my simple 2 lines: Don't Let The Memory Of them Drift Away www.IraqWarHeroes.org .
I no longer have a personal life, so if I seem impersonal... forgive me because my head is probably someplace else. I wear darker prescription glasses so I can see and have a few less light induced migraines. I lost a part of me to cancer a few years ago and don't know how the leftover stuff is doing. My views on Politics, Pro Sports and Religions is not mainstream. I'm a Cipher.
Comments
Jul 3 2009 10:43 PM
Just stopping by to wish you a very happy Independence Day! God bless you!
Jul 3 2009 9:56 PM
I am not my scars
I know you see my pains reflection through the window of my eye
Every let down, misconception, every hurt, and every lie.
I try to cover up, yet my nakedness still shows,
You see me, in my truest form, I am vulnerable and exposed.
Sometimes the phantom of my past appears, though I try to forget
Even when I hide it in the darkness, I still see its silhouette.
So why do I regret…? These events are the fabric of who I’ve come to be
Every instance like a fiber woven in my life’s tapestry.
I can only look back for wisdom, I must let this be my strength
But even I have yet to discover the true extent of its length.
I have only gone so deep, on the surface it hurts so much
When I feel my ugliness visible, I just want to cover up.
But these memories, the pain from my past, and what I see…
This is only an illusion, not the definition of me.
I am not my downfalls, and I am not my mistakes,
Yet when they look at me, this is all they seem to take.
But look at ME, look into my soul…
Look at who I really am, not the scars that clearly show.
I have to remind myself who I am every day,
Because everyone and everything tries to lead my mind astray.
They want me to believe I am who they see me to be…
They try to show me what I’ve overcome as if it’s still me.
Will I live up to be the conceptions as they have made
Or will I make my own path, let the past lie where it may
See, I am not my scars, my scars are just the proof
That I have healed from my afflictions, and I have made it through.
-Fiyah
Shoot ur email addy over to get on my mailing list! have a great day! =)
Jul 3 2009 9:41 PM
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Jul 1 2009 6:01 PM
I can't wait to bring you the new music....it's coming very soon!
-David
Jul 1 2009 4:18 PM
Thank you for re-adding me as your friend! Apparently, I'd lost my entire friends list when I'd recently changed my URL. :(
I hope and trust you and your friends 'n family are doing well, and that you're smothered with love, happiness, and mega smiles today and for the rest of this week, at the very least. (And then to continue on through next week and beyond).
Much love and good grace to you. :)
Sharma
musesk.com
Jul 1 2009 1:19 PM
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Jul 1 2009 8:23 AM
Buy our new CD "Torture Circus" our buy our merch!
Shirts, Girlies, Poster, Big Metal Keychain:Blood tripping Eye!!
No Itunes, CDBaby...no Company!
all the money goes straight to the Band!
Support the Underground!
Support FAR BEYOND INNOCENCE
www.myspace.com/fbiaustria
Jun 30 2009 6:46 PM
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoOy1CsepGs
Thankyou =D
Jun 30 2009 11:26 AM
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