Support our Heroes

I intend to keep this blog focused on the outdoors, but this is too important to ignore. The reason we are able to enjoy our many freedoms in America is because there are brave men and women willing to risk their lives for us and our way of life. We are able to live in peace and enjoy the outdoors because of their sacrifices. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you believe or how you vote, these brave souls are out there defending you. The least we could do is support them and take care of them when they return home. The Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit organization that does great things for our heroes who have been injured. You can check out their website (https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/) for more information on what they do. Be sure to take a look at the outdoors section, where they help wounded Soldiers cope through outdoor pursuits. Ranger Up is a clothing company that makes some pretty funny shirts and shows tremendous support for our troops. I think you can guess their background from the name (no they are not Park or Forest Rangers). Anyways, Ranger Up is trying to get the word out about the Wounded Warrior Project and raise some money to help. They are now selling a shirt that reads “Operation Grim,” and donating all of the profit to WWP. Grim stands for GRace In Maxim. Grace is one of their lovely models, and they are trying to get pictures of her wearing the shirt printed in Maxim to raise national awareness for WWP. They already have professional pictures of her and Tim Kennedy (MMA fighter and Special Forces Soldier) wearing the shirts and ready for print. It seems that they were well on their way to accomplishing this when Maxim went through an editor change. Now they are starting all over again. You may ask, “What can I do about that, I don’t work for Maxim?” There are several ways you can help. You can make a donation to WWP, every penny helps. You can buy a cool shirt and the profit will go to WWP. You can write an email to Maxim encouraging them to print the pictures. I believe that Ranger Up is trying to collect all the emails and send them in mass. You can check their site (http://www.rangerup.com/operationgrim.html) for details and a block letter, or write your own and send it to operationgrim@gmail.com. You can tell everybody you know about this and encourage them to get involved. I have lost many friends in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and know many of the wounded. These people have incredible spirits. It seems that everyday I read an article about a military amputee running a marathon or accomplishing some great feat against all odds. They do this because they refuse to be defeated, and because they want to set an example for others. WWP assists these people and helps provide the necessary equipment, which is quite expensive. Please show that you care and get involved somehow. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a lot of money, just help raise awareness or give what you can.
Thanks,
Matt B