Home Away From Home, at the Tacoma Dome!

This past week found us at the Tacoma Dome for the Monster Truck Show ... Back again for NASCAR reps supporting the building of a NASCAR track in Washington State ... and once more, for the Toby Keith concert!

SHertz had so much to do at the Monster Truck set up at the Tacoma Dome.  Between working with the grounds crew, helping the mechanics with the final turns of the wrench, making cotton candy, and sprucing up the trucks ... a bears work is never done!

The drivers were all so friendly.  Grave Digger, Blue Thunder, Pastrana ... all of them were just so much fun to play with!  And it is always fun to see who is involved with what ... did you know that Martina McBride is involved with Monster Trucks?!  Check out Survivor.

The Tacoma Dome staff was just as helpful as possible!  And the grounds crew helped SHertz get everything just right!  Of course, to hear him tell it, he did it all by himself! 

And for the record, if you think a Monster Truck driver isn't a Hero ... ask the young boy who got to ride in one of the trucks as part of the Make-a-Wish Foundation.  He was all smiles, as were the drivers who got to shine in his huge, happy smile!

January 19th, we were back at the Dome for the "Back the Track" event, that brought out some of the legends of NASCAR, and the Indy Racing League. 

For us, it was a chance to come face to face with Kasey Kahne, and thank him for all he has done for troop morale via HeroToHero.us.

Reps from our own JTF joined us, and were rewarded with a photo op that included some of the greats of the racetrack.  Not only did Kasey stand with us, but we were honored when he was joined by Al Unser, Sr, Darrell Waltrip, and Sam Hornish, Jr.

SHertz was working his charm on Darrell, and they made quick friends!  Kasey and Al were honored with coins from the 555 "Triple Nickel" troops.  And newly returned Cpt Harris, of the 555, was honored in a photo with the greats!

Kasey added his signature to SHertz' bunker coat ... SHertz is really getting hard to live with!

Thank you so much gentlemen, you made our night!

You'd think it couldn't get much better ... but did I mention Toby Keith?  TOBY KEITH!!!  Wow!  He performed with Joe Nichols, Scotty Emerick, and Danielle Peck, at the Tacoma Dome on January 21st.  And we were there to experience it all ... from the truly funny Ford Truck commercial that opened his act, to the explosion of red, white, and blue confetti that shot out at all of us as he ended with "American Soldier", and "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue".  Toby rocked!

We even got to see one of our JTF on the screen, when the camera panned over to a jubilant USMC Sgt Jonathan Coffey, in full dress blues!  Well done Jonathan!  Sgt Coffey actually escorted a recently wounded fellow Marine backstage for a personal "meet & greet" with Toby.

One of our favorite moments during the concert was when Toby paused to pay tribute to our Firefighters, State Patrol, Sheriffs, and men & women in the military.  Obviously, he hit on all of our personal faves!

I had never heard Joe Nichols before, but he has a new fan now!  This guy is a sweetheart.  Great voice, and huge talent ... and fun songs! the crowd was on its feet for most of his performance.

Afterwards, Joe Nichols showed up at McCabe's American Music Cafe wearing a #37 Seahawks jersey ... niiiiiiiiiice!

He signed autographs, and even posed for photos with SHertz, after signing SHertz' bunker coat.

McCabe's was packed!  Wrangler butts, cowboy boots and hats set the mood, and the WSCFF Burn Foundation firefighters lifted the mood even higher!  Everyone had a blast!

Toward the end of the evening, SHertz was hanging with the firefighters, when he made friends with the DJ.  Before you knew it, he was lifted high above the crowd, to cheers, as his exploits were touted!

Folks came over and added special things to his collection of pins and more.  Just an absolute great night!

We look forward to our next trip to the Dome ... look at what has happened already!

We LOVE the Tacoma Dome!  It is such a staple of our skyline, immediately recognizable.  Did you know ... The Tacoma Dome’s roof was built with 1.6 million board feet and weighs 1,444,000 pounds. 24,541,382 cubic feet of concrete was used in the construction of the Tacoma Dome.  This is enough to build a sidewalk 70 miles long.  The Tacoma Dome is 530 feet in diameter and 152 feet tall.  Facts from ... http://www.tacomadome.org/DomeInfo/Facts.htm 

Oh, and one last thing ...

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

YOU'RE IN GOOD COMPANY!

Today finds us just under a month to the deadline for shirts to be received by all agencies/departments who will not be able to join us for the Pack-Out on February 25th.

So, we thought we'd let you see who a few of our contributors are.

Deadline is Valentine's Day.

Shirts can be sent to:

HeroToHero.us

Attn: Liz Jackson

PO Box 98954

Lakewood, WA 98498

**If you will be using UPS, please contact us at HeroShirts@aol.com for a street address, as they will not ship to a PO Box

We are still in need of nearly 1,000 shirts!  5,000 troops are waiting for their shirt.  Please do not let them down.  It's a small gesture to you, it's huge lift to morale to them.

Those of you who are able to attend Pack-Out '06, February 25th, please RSVP to HeroShirts@aol.com as soon as possible.

Be sure to make plenty of time that day ... Tacoma Fire Department Local 31 Honor Guard, is hosting a "Post Pack-Out Party" at the Union Hall.  You don't want to miss either event!

Families are invited.  There will be activities for the kids, lots of shirts to sign and help pack, drawings for some pretty great items, refreshments, and a few surprises along the way.

We will also be retiring SHertz ... he gave his notice.  We have found a replacement for him, who will be introduced at the Pack-Out.

So, come join Heroes & Angels, and do something to make a troop smile!

NOTICE:  If you are one of our out-of-state shirt contributors, and would like to get in on the drawing held specifically for this situation ... Send us your ...

NAME ~ DEPARTMENT ADDRESS & SHIFT ~ PHONE NUMBER 

The drawing will be held during the Pack-Out, and the name of the winner will be posted on this journal afterward.

Every member of a contributing department can enter once.  Spread the word!

Now, get those shirts to us!!!  PLEASE!!!

lj

Hometown Boy does good -- Even in his absence

Saturday, January 7th was the beginning of the HeroToHero.us JTF ... Joint-Task-Force.

We were honored in many ways.  First, we found out that one of our own Hometown Heroes, NASCAR Race Car Driver, #9, Kasey Kahne, of Enumclaw, Washington donated over 200 shirts to our troops for the HeroToHero.us effort!

Then we finally got Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Tacoma Fire, Seattle Fire, King County Sheriff's Dept, and the Washington State Patrol, together for a truly memorable photo op.

Kasey's Mom, Tammy, opened her doors at Kasey's storefront, located at Topping Dodge.  And was extremely surprised to see the troop representation that greeted her with unit coins, and shirts signed for Kasey, from the troops.

She knew there would be a few troops joining us, but the response was wonderful!

We had members from one our adopted units ... our biggest to date ... the 555, Triple Nickel!  Joining them were reps from the Marines, Air Force, and Navy.

Things started off slowly, but as we all got more into the event, there was laughter, and smiles all around ... almost!  We learned that Marines do not smile!  I never knew that.  As we would take photos, we would say "smile", the Marine faces rarely changed.  We were concerned that they weren't enjoying themselves, but they assured us that in their own way, they were smiling.

We did see all out laughter when the shirt exchange happened, and our female firefighters out shined the guys!  Check out the guns!  There is no question that they could pull anyone to safety in an emergency!

Laughter also ensued when we "ticketed" our uniformed officers from the WSP, and Sheriff's K-9 Unit.  Our Sheriff rep displayed what an actual mugshot normally looks like!

Then, poor ol' SHertz got in trouble again!  Before we knew it, he was getting ticketed, a finally they had to restrain him.  The poor ol' puffball is getting cranky as his tour of duty winds down.

Members of the soon to deploy 508th Military Police, from Fort Lewis signed messages to Kasey on an Army NASCAR shirt.  Kasey, if you get the chance, they'd love to see a photo of you with the shirt.  We'll make sure they get it!  We hope to shake your hand when next you're home.

Tammy was so gracious, posing for photo after photo, and always smiling.  She is absolutely gorgeous!  You gotta love this woman ... we do!

**Kasey is doing great things, check this out ...

President Busch appoints Kasey to the Presidential Council on Service and Civic Participation
President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate three individuals and appoint seventeen individuals to serve in his Administration, including Kasey Kahne of Washington for a two-year term on the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.

All of you fans, check out his site, and the store.  We will be linking it to the site!

We want to thank Kasey and Tammy, and wish Kasey every success in his bright future.  Make us proud!

Special thanks also to Colonel Rapp, who made sure we had representation from his troops, even though he is deployed to the desert!

And special thanks to SPC Ray Waliany of the 537th Firefighters, for his incredible support ... Your guys rock!

lj

**Mark your calendars!  Shirts are due Valentine's Day, unless you're coming to the Pack-Out on February 25th.

Shirts can be sent to:

HeroToHero.us

Attn: Liz Jackson

PO Box 98954

Lakewood, WA 98498

Pssst, SHertz here! **UPDATED**

Hi everyone!

The core group at HeroToHero.us is gettin' pretty danged busy.  I know there are rumors flying around about me, and my latest adventures, so I thought I'd see what I could do to set the record straight.  Here we go ...

NO, I am not seeing Carmen  Elecktra, or Kirstie Alley ... Carmen's married, and Kirstie won't return my calls.  (But she's lookin' good!)

NO, I am not traveling as a roadie for Toby Keith.  However, I am planning on catching up with him (And the WSCFFA Burn Calendar Firefighters ... who will be at McCabe's -- 26th & Pacific -- before & after Toby's concert) at the Tacoma Dome on January 21st ... I have message for him from Liz's son Bo.  "Thanks for the awesome concert you put on in Afghanistan while I was deployed there.  Made another fan!  A lot of them!"

Yes, I did take off recently with my passport.  A bear's gotta do what a bear's gotta do.

And taking care of all of my troop morale duties this past year has caused me to come dangerously close to being noncurrent.  So when this mission came up, I was able to serve my country as only a small fuzzy bear can.

You see, there were some things that needed taking care of.  Now, normally we leave that to the big guys in uniform, but every once in a while ...

I can't give you all of the specifics, as a lot of what I do is classified.  And on occasion I have to sign a "Nope, didn't see that" clause. 

In any case.  I can tell you that I just got back from the desert.  Had a couple missions come up overseas.  America, rest assured, I handled it.

Fortunately, my crew was backing me up, and my Secret Service detail performed to their utmost when things got furry ... er, I mean, hairy.

But, I have to tell you I am exhausted!  Check out the photos, they had me man every position on the aircraft.  In between perusing my pubs and checklists, I was giving the loadmaster a hand, checking up on the crew, making flight meals, inspecting the avionics system, and playing cards.

I even got a limo pin, (that was misplaced/lost on the flight), and the loadmaster got a really cool coin!  If my buddies there in DC have another pin, it'd be nice to have it on my uniform.

And I won't say we were shot at ... but let's just say it's never dull flying over the sandbox.  But, I'm okay!

There was a small incident when I tried to put my foot in place to help tie down a load. And before I knew it I was in a rather precarious position.  This danged leg is never gonna heal!  But I think I may qualify for a disability pension when I retire.

As if escorting the Presidential limo over to the desert wasn't busy enough, I had to plan a return photo op for HeroToHero.us.  (Don't know what they'd do without me!)

And so after my fur-raising international travel, I found myself back on terra firma in the good ol' Pacific Northwet ... but not for long!

Just when I thought I'd catch a mini-hibernation, it's off we go again.  This time it was to the newly merged Federal Way & Des Moines Fire Depts.  Now they are South King County Fire & Rescue.  (Which to H2H means, more shirts!!!)  And they seemed like a great bunch of folks!

They made me BC for the day.  Set me in the BC rig, where I immediately checked out their computer.

We did some photo ops with them.  A few of them were just downright cuddly!

Then I hear the words I have come to dread ...

"You know, almost all of the other departments have done something fun & creative with SHertz.  Any ideas?" 

Have I mentioned that Liz is on my list?

And I see that look, that crazed look of a firefighter with "an idea".  And I realized that to them, BC meant Bear Cub, and nothing more.  Oh, to be back in the desert!

These guys are nuts!  They informed me that their truck was red, with yellow stripes ... You look at the pix, and decide ... I shoulda run then! 

But before I could say, "Ummm, excuse me, no!"  I saw the rope. 

Then I saw the ladder being pulled out (For you nontechnical types, that means a big firetruck with a realllllly long ladder that points straight up in the air!)

Can you see where this is going?  I could.

So look real close, that "spot" you see on the rope?  Yup, that's yours truly!  And they didn't even seem to feel bad about it.  They just did their thing, then waved to the camera from the ladder. 

There is a shot taken from the 105 ft mark ... and if you think it's blurry from YOUR point of view?  Change seats with me!

Even the big guy that looked like he'd be on my side?  Noooooooooo, he just covered his eyes!  You'd think he'd signed one of those "Nope, didn't see that" clauses like I had.

Only thing that saved this furball was that MY HERO, the Commissioner showed up.  Whew!  

And I got hugs from Debbie ... sigh.

So, summing up ...

-Flying over to the desert on a USAF C-17 ... awesome!

-Hangin' with the Secret Service ... way awesome!

-Hugs from Debbie ... again, awesome!

-Hanging like a pinata from a 105 foot ladder ... not so awesome.

-Giving notice that after this Pack-Out on February 25th, at the Fortson Armory, I am retiring ... PRICELESS!

Gotta go, phone's ringing ... Kirstie? 

( ;

SHertz Forda Troops

PS ... I will be holding interviews for my replacement.

**And NOW it can be told ...

K, folks.  The  powers that be have come down from on high and released more info from my recent forays to the sand and beyond.   So to clarify prior statements ...   We got to Ramstein and were taken back to the states for a high priority mission.    The big limo is the President's.  The others are Cheney's, it was a VP mission...not presidential.   We also stopped in Gandor INTL, New Foundland where I assisted in the refueling so that we could get to Andrews,  then  home for a R&R and one day later back out to the system.   I pulled a Deadhead on a KC-10 to Turkey, and spent many hours out with over 50 aircrew partying up the scene for Christmas.  As for those photos, ummm, geez can't seemto find any.  Hehe.   Our down time was busy.  We visited friends in Al Udeid for a bit, and watched Four Brothers in the free AOR movie theatre. Had some pool time even though it's not pool season at the "Deid Pool".  Then it was back into Bravo Alert for our mission that night.  Work never ends for us warrior types.   I helped back the aircraft up on the way to the sandbox to get some of those oh-so cherished tax-free dollars ... Hey, wait a minute, I never did get a check.  Better call Finance!   We flew to Al Sahre, then Balad then back to Turkey. Pictures from this part of the mission are being scrutinized, and will be posted very soon.  Got some good ones in the cockpit when our pilot let me fly the C-17 for a while!  So, I took over the left seat, and humored the right-seater.  (It's good to let these young upstarts think they have power, you know.  No worries ... he'll get the hang of it!)   Start engines time was pretty busy for me.  Had to check the aircraft forms for anything that could be wrong with the plane before we take off ... all was well, but just goes to show how much I had on my small furry shoulders.    And with that, it was off to Germany where we had New Year's Eve at the Blarneystone, with fireworks everywhere.  Got our attention when a "dud" went off by my A/C and Loadmaster's feet!  As a diversionary tactic, I pretended to be scared, seemed to help calm everyone.  I do what I can.  Again, I can't seem to locate those photos, either.  (Hey, I signed a clause, you know!)   We hauled our load, and my furry backside back to the States, so the crew could get some rest before their next mission.   I would like to thank and commend my fine crews ... appreciatethe lift.    SFT