AAR: 2011 Military Appreciation Night with the Round Rock Express

This year's Military Appreciation Night at the Dell Diamond with the Round Rock Express was different than what we'd done last year. This year, Soldiers' Angels was one of many veteran service organizations invited to participate in the activities organized by TexVet.

There were nine of us able to come out to represent Soldiers' Angels. All the exhibitors were given tables inside the Heritage Center, which was nice, since it was beastly hot outside, and there was A/C in there! We got there before the gates opened so we would be ready when the fans arrived.

Some of these Angels are ones who have helped me out before, a few I met back in April - at the Dell Diamond for Letters for Lyrics at the Zac Brown Band concert - and some I met for the first time. Everyone did a wonderful job of sharing about Soldiers' Angels to everyone who came by.

As part of the festivities, Dana Bowman, former Golden Knight and double-amputee, skydived into the ballpark and threw out the ceremonial first pitch:



Dana is the first double-amputee to re-enlist in the U.S. Army, and he did that more than 15 years ago... Angel Maggie reports he recently joined the Texas Army National State Guard (thanks, Maggie, for the clarification...)! If you are on facebook, you can see a photo of Dana's follow-through on that first pitch.

As part of Military Appreciation Night, the Express wore special camo jerseys. These were to be auctioned off to benefit Heroes Night Out and our friends, Veteran Outdoors. Here's first baseman Chad Tracy:


We had many people stop by our table to talk to us. As always, we truly appreciate when those who have received support from Soldiers' Angels want to tell *US* thank you. Here is SPC Williams and the Angel volunteers having a conversation:


I also got to shake the hand of - and say "thank you" to - Mike Thornton, Medal of Honor recipient. Mike was introduced to the entire stadium later in the ballgame and got a standing ovation from the fans. That's Mike in the yellow shirt down near the third base line:


Before leaving the ballpark, I did want to speak to Dana Bowman. While waiting for my turn, a soldier noticed I was wearing a Soldiers' Angels polo and wanted to show me his tatoo:


It's a little hard to see in the photo, but below the Soldiers' Angels logo, it says "SPC Dore RIP". He also wears a bracelet in honor of Jason Dore:


I gave him my card, but I didn't get his name, which I could kick myself for now. I hope I'm able to track him down!

Overall, I am very pleased with how things went for us: the Angels did a fabulous job spreading the word and making contacts, and we were able to do some brainstorming after all the exhibitors closed down their tables and there were no more fans coming through. I look forward to being back out at the ballpark representing Soldiers' Angels again next season, but until then, I'm sure we'll be able to do lots of other things in the Austin area to support Soldiers' Angels mission. If you want to help, please email me at cnctx06 -at- gmail -dot- com.