Louis' Dream:
1-25-08 My name is Louis Wardroup one of the three person one dog crew of the Remembrance. The Remembrance is a twenty six foot sailboat that will be embarking on a 6,000 mile, 90 day adventure in memory of the Americans that fell in Iraq and the sacrifices made by their families. Jeff Krueger, Karen Sparks/ Krueger and I are DoD civilian contractors working in support of the military in Iraq for a combined total of 8.3 years. Handsome Insee (Insee) is a one hundred twenty pound, nine year old Germen Sheppard search and rescue canine that worked with me at both the Pentagon and World Trade Center after the attacks of 911.
Jeff, Karen, and I have seen both the best and worst of people here in Iraq. The members of the military and civilian contractors are determined and among the bravest souls I have ever seen. Our hearts have dropped at the sight of the medivac choppers bringing our injured and dead to the hospital landing zone.It is amazing the amount of damage that can be done to one person by another. The members of the military have voluntarily put themselves in harms way on our behalf. The Remembrance crew wishes to show the members of the military, civilian contractors and their families that their sacrifices are remembered.
The Remembrance Memorial Cruise 2008 started out as a dream that I had on November 4th 2007. I awoke out of a sound sleep at about 2:30 in the morning and vividly remembered the dream of a sailboat named remembrance sailing one mile in memory of every member of the military and civilian contractors that lost their lives in Iraq. This route for the cruise was in the dream and went from Maine to Mexico. This experience was so intense that I spoke to Karen about it and she was convinced that it was some kind of vision. We then spoke with Jeff about the dream and the decision was made to make the dream a reality. The planning of the cruise started and the more research we did the more accurate the dream was. The distance of the course 6,000 miles will more than cover the roughly 5,200 people that lost their lives in Iraq.
The Remembrance a twenty six foot McGregor sailboat was purchased by me from Sailventure
in Baytown, Texas. This boat has a fifty horsepower outboard motor and is easily trailered. The boat was also part of the dream.
I have been purchasing equipment for the Remembrance. My next R@R starts the 10th of February and ends on the 24th and I will be busy getting everything installed. The Remembrance will soon be completely outfitted and ready to put some miles to her stern. Soon I will have to make the decision to come back to Iraq for anther month or stay home and work on the cruise. Going back is not looking good but I am keeping the option opened.
Karen headed back to Texas on January 10th and she is settling in to stateside life. She has attended a Market America conference and is as full of life as I have ever seen. She is starting to market the Remembrance Memorial Cruise 2008 and we are already making headway.
My wife Amore has been working Insee out to get him ready for a long run. Insee is more than a dog. He has worked some very difficult jobs and doubles as a therapy dog. German Sheppard's are either loved or feared by people. Insee brings out the love for the breed by being both intelligent and sensitive. He and I have traveled many miles together and he has never let me down. His only drawback is that in a truck he still thinks he's a puppy and wants to lay in your lap and he has an endless supply of shedding fur that he loves to share.
The Remembrance will be leaving the Tyler,Texas area on the 1st of May and will be trailered to Calais, Maine. We would like to encourage people to fall in line with us as we are heading northeast turn on your lights and give us a friendly wave. One or one thousand miles it's your choice. The goal is to let the families of those that died or were injured in Iraq know that they are remembered. The more that join with us the better. We will be posting an itinerary to let people know where we will be so that it is easier for them to join in. The Remembrance will be launched in Calais, Maine on May 14th weather permitting.
Insee and I will be sailing down the coast as Jeff and Karen form the chase team following us on a parallel land course. If you know of someone that has been injured in Iraq or a family member of someone killed in Iraq that would like to ride on the Remembrance for a portion of the cruise please contact us at remembrance2008@hotmail.comso we can try to line it up. Several riders have lined up already including several members of the military. Insee and I could use some company. If you been injured we will do our best to facilitate your needs.
The Remembrance Memorial Cruise 2008 is a project be conducted by Disaster Response Inc. a non profit 501(C)(3) organization. Coins, patches, and sponsorships will provide the money needed for the cruise. Profits will be used to form scholarship funds for members of the military injured in Iraq and their families. The Remembrance and it's equipment are being purchased by me and funds will only be used to cover expenses incurred during the cruise. We are making every effort to minimize the expenses by utilizing donated products and careful planning. Donations are welcome and are tax deductible.
Whether you believe in the war or not the people fighting on our behalf deserve to be supported and remembered. One of the patches on my Remembrance jacket says it all."The Nation That Forgets Its Defenders Will Itself Be Forgotten"
One of my Trainers here in Iraq also had a dream about the cruise. I asked him to write it down and I have placed it below: Enjoy and thanks for checking the site
Steve's Dream:
I also had a dream. . . . . .
Before I write about the dream I had, I need to give just a little background information so the dream will make just a little more sense to those who read it.
My boss, Louis Wardroup, besides being a consummate fire, rescue and safety expert is considered by his peers and students to be an outstanding instructor. Having been one of his students I can attest to this. I’m not patronizing Louis just because he’s my boss; ask anybody who’s been in any of his classes and they will tell you the same. I think one of the many reasons Louis is such a successful instructor is because of how well he relates to his students. He has a way at making people feel at ease and welcome in his classes. This, with the fact that he always peppers the classes with stories of his own personal experiences makes the subject interesting and sometimes just downright fun!
The first time I noticed Louis’ hospitable nature when he was teaching a much coveted safety course that was super popular among both the civilian contractors and the military. Because if its popularity, only a limited number of seats could be assigned for each of the four-day classes. I was a student in this class once and I remember Louis was just about to start teaching when some unregistered military personnel and contractors showed up and asked if they could still take the class. Now Louis could have easily told them politely that there was no more room in the class and that they had not registered. But instead, he looked in the back of the classroom and said that if he put a couple of spare tables and chairs together that that we could probably fit them in the class. For some reason, I didn’t forget Louis’ big smile as he told them in his Louisiana twang “Come on in, I’ve got room for everybody!”
Several months later, news started to spread of Louis’ plans to sail his new boat from Maine to Texas, or the equivalent of one mile for every person, military or civilian, who gave their lives serving or working in Iraq. This trip would be known as the Remembrance Memorial Cruise 2008. I am not going to go into all the details of this tour because most of you reading this article already know them.
Now for some reason, because of all the talk and planning of the cruise, I started having a recurring dream about this cruise. This dream was not very noteworthy at all. It consisted of me of standing on some hill near the ocean and looking out and noticing Louis’ boat “Remembrance” sailing by. And that was it. There were no other people in this dream. This dream repeated itself about 3-4 times.
Then I had a dream that definitely differed from the recurring one. This time, instead of standing on a hill, I was standing on a beach at the ocean side. I was looking for Louis’ boat but it was nowhere in sight. In this dream it was just starting to get dark so everything wasn’t clearly visible. I was still searching for Louis’ boat when I saw something that made my heart go into my throat. There was a large wooden ship with sails, similar to the USS Constitution located at the inner harbor in Baltimore. I even noticed the cannons coming out of the sides. This was warship! Then I had to ask myself if I was dreaming inside a dream because I noticed that the ship was not sailing in the water but was floating just above it in the air. It immediately reminded me of the “Flying Dutchman”. The ship was passing by me when it suddenly stopped and I noticed a gang plank extended that led to its bridge. I was frightened but my curiosity got the best of me so I walked to the bridge on the gang plank. When I got to the bridge I didn’t see anybody except a man at the helm of this ship. I noticed he was dressed in a 19thcentury Naval Officer’s dress uniform complete with frilly epaulettes and a triangular hat. I assumed he was the captain. This man looked at me with a smile that immediately put me at ease. Then I realized it was my boss, Louis! I asked him what was going on here and why wasn’t he on his boat and where did he get this giant wooden ship. He remained silent, kept smiling with his hands on the wheel and looked straight ahead as he navigated the boat just above the water. Then all of a sudden I noticed that Louis and I were not alone. I noticed people suddenly appeared on the bridge and then I noticed there were people all over the ship. They were on the sails, on the deck; they all seemed to be working. They were carrying things, painting things, doing things that a ship’s crew would do. There were not only men; there were women scattered among the crew too. Then I looked at them harder and noticed that some of them were in uniform. The uniforms differed; there were marines, soldiers, airmen and sailors. Some were not in uniform but were dressed appropriately to be crew members. This was indeed an international crew on board because it seemed like all the countries of the world were represented. They were all so hard at work that they didn’t even notice me as they carried out their duties. None of them were smiling; they all seemed to be concentrating on their duties with a look of determination on their faces. Then, once again believing this was a dream within a dream, somehow, I realized that these busy crew members were the same brave men and women who had paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives while serving in Iraq. I couldn’t understand why there were on the ship or how they got there or why I was even there. I screamed at Louis and asked him to explain to me what was going on! He looked at me with his calming smile and said, “Steve, as I told you before, I’ve got room for everybody.” I woke from this dream in a cold sweat with my heart racing, tears silently running down my face.
Steve LeMelle
Please Donate....I did
http://www.remembrance2008.com/index.html
