The Order Of St. George - My Thoughts

Last weekend I was invested into The Order Of St. George and now that I've had a week to let it all set in I wanted to share my thoughts on the weekend with everyone.

In November of 2011 I started receiving questions of specific details of things I had accomplished through “Thank A Soldier” & “Tim Horton’s for our troops from Major John Haylock (Canadian Forces) who I met back in 2007 as we were connected through the Military Family Resource Center for him to deliver thousands of coffee certificates that members of our Facebook page had to sent to be delivered to military members serving in Afghanistan. Major Haylock then sent me information on “The Order Of St. George” and to check it out as I had been nominated by him to be entered into the Order in October of 2012.

I had to keep this secret until it was official which for anyone that knows me was really tough however I managed to do so. The week leading up to this event I was so nervous that I started to have some pretty weird dreams such as when I was being Knighted I dreamt the Grand Master sliced my ear off with the sword, had one about turning around to the crowd after being knighted and then realizing I had no clothing on, however we’ll get back to the nervousness a little later.

Friday October 12th “Meet & Greet” night

I had no idea what to expect as I checked in to the hotel about four hours before the reception was to take place. At 18:30 I put on my suit at 18:25 and made my way downstairs. I walk in to a room with a lot of strangers at first but quickly started to be introduced to a lot of people once Major Haylock showed up. I also was joined by a friend who I had known through Facebook for many years but never met in person Julia Daniels who shared the evening with me.

Then the ceremony started where each postulant was given a miniature Order Of St. George medal and at that point Grand Master Gareth Green gave everyone a brief overview of some of my efforts. After that I had several soldiers come up to me saying they had received coffee certificates and wanted to say “Thank You” which at this point I had relaxed and was blown away already by the pre-events of the night before.

At this point General Rick Hillier walked in and got to speak with him for awhile which was one of the highlights of this night for sure. He remembered meeting me a few years ago at an event he was speaking at which was amazing. The feeling of walking in to a room of strangers was already gone and at this point I felt like I was with friends.

Saturday October 13th “The Investiture” 

After a morning breakfast with all the postulants to go over details of what would be happening in the church we made our way to St. Paul’s Cathedral on Bloor street and at this point the nervousness & anxiety of “Worrying about doing something to mess things up” went in to overload. I have never in my life felt like I was going to faint before but for the first thirty minutes of the service I was pretty sure I was going to fall over.

I was #24 on the list to be Knighted so I had to find a way to try and calm my nerves. The program they gave us had a write up on everyone being invested into The Order so as each person was called up I read their stories and was blown away at the company of people I was joining on this day. At that moment as I look three people to the left of me and see the Minister of Defense Peter Mckay sitting there waiting to be knight also I guess everything in the last five years hit me. I don’t stop long enough sometimes to think about these things but at this moment it all did at once and I was very overcome with emotion. Knowing that my whole family was ten rows behind me, friends had driven in from Ottawa for this, an aunt Uncle also from the same distance it hit me how big of a deal this really was.

As the 23rd person was being knighted I thought to myself “OK, I’m next calm down and this will be all done in about two minutes and I can relax” well after that person was done an opera singer got up and sang “hallelujah” which was so peaceful and beautiful I don’t remember if it relaxed me more at that point or made me more nauseous but I knew I was next and had to pull it together.

I thing started to think about my grandmother Annie Pretty who for some reason I could hear her voice saying “Now my son just take a deep breathe and you’ll be fine” I did that and next thing I knew I was shaking General Rick Hillier’s hand and what he said to me I will keep to myself but it did mean a lot to me.

It was done at this point, and I relaxed, enjoyed the music and watching others join the Order. After the ceremony was over I got to meet some Facebook friends I had never met in person that came out for the event like Keven Ellis NWRC & Sarah Blanche from Soldiers Portraits which was awesome and the day was still young.

Saturday October 13th – The Reception Dinner

My work (Shaw Communications) paid for all eight spots at a table for me for this reception (Along with my flight from Calgary to Toronto & other expenses) so I knew it was going to be a special evening. At my table were my parents, brother & sister & Major John Haylock who nominated me for the order. My other two spots were to be taken by MCpl Jody Mitic & his wife Allanah but sadly she & their children were ill but they could not make the trip.

Thankfully MCpl Jody Mitic did come to this event and as I have written about him many times on my blog he has probably been the most inspirational person I have met in five years of my various efforts.

The meal was amazing and after the meal they were going through various announcements and then Minster Peter Mckay gave a speech was great to listen to. 

Grand Master Gareth Green, Mister Peter Mckay & Mcpl Jody Mitic

 

Then something happened that I was not prepared for Grand Master Gareth Green made some announcements about promotions within The Order and then announced “We have a special guest here with us this evening please stand Jody Mitic” he was then given a standing ovation by the room and it was when Gareth said “Jody, YOU are now a member of this order” that I lost it. I had no idea this was going to happen and to know that one of my biggest personal inspirations would be joining me in this brother hood was something I can’t put in to words.

Major Roland & Joan Murphy, David & Darrin Murphy & Dana King

Having my entire immediate family at all these events with me was also something very special. My parents who are retired Salvation Army officers with over 35 years of service it’s pretty easy to see where I get my charitable heart from. My brother and my sister who I am also very close with made the nervousness a little easier with their jokes and made the evening very comfortable. At the end of the night though I felt as if I had gained a new family with the people I met. 

Grand Master Gareth Green then spoke about how he had a “Flame” inside him for the Order and that is how I feel about “Thank A Soldier” it’s a flame that I have for our military and their families that drives me to keep going and it just keeps getting bigger.

After the dinner and main event was over one of my favourite parts of the entire weekend was just being around the new members and people that had been in the order for years listening to them tell funny stories I could have stayed there all evening but the night ended at around 03:00.

I would like to say THANK YOU to Major John Haylock for nominating me, The Chevalier Gareth J. Green, CD, KGCStG & The Chevalier Gerard A. Nudds, KGCStG for accepting the nomination and allowing me to join such a prestigious Order.

Thank you to Shaw Communications for covering a good part of my personal expenses I would have had to pay for this weekend.

Thank you to every person who has ever joined a page of mine, shared a project or a post as without all of my group members none of this would even be possible. Most importantly to all the men and women who serve our countries and have served in the past THANK YOU

I am not the type of person that organizes these efforts looking for recognition but when they come from members of the military I humbly accept them as I did when receiving the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal thanks to a Veteran of the Canadian Forces who referred me. A quick history of some of the things we’ve been able to do through our site :

- Sent over $100,000 in free coffee to troops serving in Afghanistan

- Petitioned to Canada Post to release a stamp honouring Veterans and successful

- Connect military spouses together through our page

- Connect families of fallen soldiers together anonymously

- “The Gratitude Project “ which was a series of YouTube videos of people holding “Thank You” signs to show thanks to our men and women serving

- “Holiday Cards For Veterans” which is now in our second year

- promote other organizations with various ongoing projects they have

- Spread the word about “Red Fridays” on social media and other efforts on Twitter & Facebook on specific days “Team Thank A Soldier Thursdays”, Military Monday & Warrior Wednesday

- setup over 6000+ school children with soldiers as pen pals


View photos of the event on our FACEBOOK PAGE

Holiday Cards 4 Veterans & Donation Drive

Last year we did our “Christmas Cards for Veterans” program and Sunnybrook Veterans care center received over 200 cards to give out to Veterans over the holidays.

This year we’re going even bigger and adding a twist. For our members in the UK we could not find anyone that would accept holiday cards on our behalf but will be posting a link where people can make a donations to various organizations below.

So whether it's sending a card or making a donation to one of the charities listed at the bottom of this page, let's see how much of a difference we can make this year!

You can send a “Christmas Card” or “Thank You” card and may include a message inside with your card if you like however please observe the following guidelines to ensure a quick reviewing process:

· Ensure that all cards are signed.
· Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member.” Cards addressed to specific individuals can not be delivered through this program.
· Only cards are being accepted. Do not send or include letters.
· Do not include inserts of any kind, including photos: these items will be removed during the reviewing process.
· Please refrain from choosing cards with glitter or using loose glitter as it can aggravate health issues of ill and injured warriors.
· If you are mailing a large quantity of cards, please bundle them and place them in large mailing envelopes or flat rate postal shipping boxes. Each card does not need its own envelope, as envelopes will be removed from all cards before distribution.

Where to send cards : 

For our Canadian page members : 

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre,
Recreation Therapy, Room L1-108,
2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M5

Four our members in the United States

Operation Gratitude has come on board with us and going to be distributing cards from our U.S. members in their care packages. 

Operation Gratitude/California Army National Guard
17330 Victory Boulevard
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Attn: TAS CARDS

There is no limit to the amount of cards we can send so if you want to do a group package you are more than welcome to do that. 

                                       

Team Thank A Soldier donation drive : 

As you know we don’t accept donations but a few months ago we posted a status asking page members there top charities that they frequently give to so we have one charity from the top five regions with the most representation on our Facebook page. Included you will find the donation link and on all these pages there is a spot where to put a additional note and we are asking that you put “Courtesy of Team TAS” in it.

 After you make a donation please let us know by commenting on the original Facebook Photo and which one you donated to so that we can keep a running total or emailing info@thankasoldier.net with your amount.

Who's up for a friendly competition to see what country can donate the most money between October 1st to November 30th?

Canada :

Donate to Soldier On 

United States 

 Donate to Operation Gratitude 

 United Kingdom :

Donate to Help For Heroes 

Australia : 

Donate to Legacy 

Tweet

Note : For people asking why there are only links for Canada, United States, UK & Austrailia, these four regions represent 89% of our Facebook page members.  However if you are located in another region you are welcome to make a donation to them on behalf of "Team Thank A Soldier" and report it is as well. 
Thank You - Dave Murphy

I'm not me anymore - by Trudi Kwakernaak

I received this in our inbox today and wanted to share

"I wrote this for my son who suffers from PTSD. Many of our soldiers are suffering and they need our support and understanding. It's an illness that hits every individual differently and it's difficult to comprehend it's effects, difficult to diagnose, difficult to treat and very difficult to overcome. My thoughts and prayers are with all those afflicted."

- Trudi Kwakernaak

I’m Not Me Anymore 

I went over there anxious and willing to fight 

I came home beaten and far from alright 

They say I’m different, definitely not the same 

Some days I don’t even know my own name. 

I wore my uniform with overflowing pride 

Carried my rifle easily by my side 

Displayed the Maple Leaf for all to see 

I was exactly where I wanted to be 

I did my job each and every day 

Didn't stay back, hide or shy away 

The enemy had weapons we had never seen 

They were heartless, relentless and downright mean 

I was doing okay with days to go 

When my time was up, I could go happily home 

Of course I couldn't predict what was to come 

Now I’m someone my friends shy away from 

One minute we were enjoying esprit de corps 

Then the scenery changed and we became victims of war 

Laughter receded and misery prevailed 

Only those involved will know what that day entailed 

I lost my buddies, watched them die 

I was forced by the enemy to say goodbye 

I had a close call but they paid the price 

My life is forever changed because of an explosive device 

You say I’m lucky because I lived 

I came home in one piece with nothing physically wrong 

You can’t see my injuries, can’t feel my pain 

I came home alive but I’ll never be the same 

I’m depressed and anxious, my head is quickly spinning 

I’m slowing dying inside, the demons are winning 

I was a soldier; dedicated, proud & gung ho 

Living each day in a fog is now the status quo 

You say I’ve changed and you don’t like what you see 

You tell me to get over it and start living again 

I’m trying but inside I feel numb, totally off track 

Depressingly unsure if the old me will ever come back 

Forgive me for being a different person 

But you can’t even imagine what I've been through 

Don’t judge me or hate me or tell me my future’s bright 

Life isn't the same, and I’m not alright. 

Trudi Kwakernaak

Military Minds & TAS - Break The Silence

As you may or may not be aware, PTSD is a very crippling illness which has proven to be tragic with one veteran committing suicide every 80 minutes. It’s time to BREAK THE SILENCE.......

Two groups have come together in a NEW mission to spread the word about PTSD awareness and we need your help to do this. Military Minds & Thank A Soldier have a combined network of over 100,000 members and with that number of people we should be able to make some noise :

Military Minds was started by a currently serving Canadian Infantry soldier Cpl Chris Dupee to raise PTSD awareness and help educate people about PTSD and its effects on soldiers and their families. Military Minds has no borders and offers a voice & support to members of the military past and present seeking support.

Thank A Soldier was started by civilian Dave Murphy five years ago which originally started as a campaign to send Canadian Forces members serving in Afghanistan coffee certificates but has now grown to a Networking site within Facebook for all coalition forces from all branches.

Please help us 'Break the Silence' for our troops before another is lost to the illness. Here you will find the links to the Military Minds PTSD awareness sites. 

It seems most media outlets don't want to cover anything to do with PTSD until "After the case" well it's time for that to change.

Military Minds :
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/MilitaryMindsYT
Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/Military_minds
YouTube :  http://youtu.be/uR1lh8_6ADk
Email : militaryminds@hotmail.ca

Thank A Soldier :
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/ThankasoldierNET
Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/thankasoldier
Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/Thankasoldier.net
Email : info@thankasoldier.net

Thank You 

--------------------- Do Not copy and paste below -----------------

Between TAS & MM our three main media outlets are as follows : Canada – CTV National News, USA – Anderson Cooper 360 – CNN & UK – Daily Mail all we are asking you do is to pick your region below and click the link to open a new window to copy and paste everything above this paragraph and send to them.

You can also copy and paste the above write up and send to your local news outlets via Radio, TV & print.

Canada – Click here to email CTV National  (Link will be here to take to CTV email)

USA – Link to email Anderson Cooper - CNN  (Note enter your information and copy and past everything after our contact information)

UK – Daily Mail - Click here to send an email to the Daily Mail UK

IF you use TWITTER click one of the below links to automatically send a tweet to these news agencies

Link

Post A Message to your Twitter Followers

Tweet

Tweet to @andersoncooper
Tweet to @CTVNationalNews
Tweet to @MailOnline

NOTE : If you receive a email in response to sending this to any email outlets, please have them respond to 
Chris from Military minds at militaryminds@hotmail.ca 
or Dave from Thank A Soldier at davemurphy@thankasoldier.net 
Thanks 

From the wife of a fallen soldier

I just wanted to take a minute and say thank-you for your continued work with Thank a Soldier. I know that positive comments cannot always make up for the negative ones you may receive but I thought I'd put my two cents in. I am well into my second decade of service in the Canadian Army, I have served on many missions both aide to civil power and NATO and I have buried family and friends who have died in the line of duty.

For the most part I have witnessed a slow change through the years and have been honoured recently to have several civilians approach me to say thank-you. While I always find this slightly embarrassing I accept their words with as much grace as I can muster because I have also been subject to more negative encounters several of which are similar to the email you received. Thankfully I have seen less of that type recently and more yellow and red ribbons out in my community.

 I love to see signs of support be it a website, yellow ribbon magnets on vehicles and in businesses and it actually brings a smile to my face to see people wearing red on Fridays or otherwise taking a moment out of their lives to be supportive of our military and coalition partners. To be honest, most soldiers don't feel as if they have done anything special that deserves to be acknowledged but some of the men and women I have served with over the years truly are amazing individuals and knowing that there are people and organizations out there like you who care enough to take time out of their lives to honour them gives me hope for Canada and humanity. 

My husband and fellow soldier Cpl Bryce Keller MMV was killed in action six years ago and each and every time I read the positive comments on TAS or have someone thank me when I'm out in my uniform I feel like thanking them back because one of the worst fears for me as family of a fallen soldier is that Bryce will be forgotten by the people he served. He was truly a hero and every thank-you I receive I accept on his behalf. I will never get sick of talking to people about Bryce or accepting their words of appreciation for his service and his life.

 He deserves that, as do all the soldiers, sailors and airmen/women that serve our Country. It's not 'holier than thou' it is kindness and appreciation extended freely by fellow Canadians and I will always be grateful and thankful for that. Thank-you to Thank a Soldier and to each and every person that has supported your endeavor and websites.

 Keep up the good work! Sincerely, Sarah Keller, CD.

Note : This article was Sarah Keller's response to this posting on our Facebook page 

Cpl. Bryce Keller was 27 years old when he was killed in a firefight with insurgents in the Pashmul District of Kandahar, Afghanistan, August 3, 2006.

From a family member of a fallen soldier

I was browsing the “Thank A Soldier” page today and saw a very nasty email from someone clearly nothing better to do saying how useless the page was and people wasting their time. I wanted to share my story about how this page has helped me.
I was browsing the “Thank A Soldier” page today and saw a very nasty email from someone clearly nothing better to do saying how useless the page was and people wasting their time. I wanted to share my story about how this page has helped me.

About four years ago my first cousin was killed in Afghanistan I will never forget the day I got a call from my mother to tell me the news. I was visiting Toronto at the time for school and felt all alone as I had no family or friends to comfort me or talk to.

I was browsing around facebook for “Military Support Groups” and came across a page started by Dave Murphy the founder of “Thank A Soldier” called “Tim Hortons For Our Troops” at that time it was a page started in April for sending coffee to Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. (Note : our page didn’t become for all coalition forces until about a year in)

I met up with my family in Trenton, Ontario where his body would be taken to the coroner’s office in Toronto down a stretch of highway now known as “The Highway Of Heroes” every overpass we went under from Trenton to Toronto (A 35 minute drive and easily over 50 bridges) was filled with people with flags and waving at our procession. This blew me away and a few days later when I went back on the support Facebook page people were posting photos and telling their stories.

Skip ahead about two years and my family didn’t want to talk about it anymore, I felt like I had no one to talk with so I sent Dave M. A message asking if he could post on his page a request for anyone who would be willing to talk to a family member of a fallen soldier. The next day I had over 150 emails in my inbox and one of them was from the sister of a soldier who was killed the same day my cousin was.

All this from ONE person sharing Dave’s request on the TAS page.

We began talking on Facebook and then on the phone pretty much every night for about a year, she lived in Montreal and I was now residing in Ottawa, Ontario. We decided to meet in person and the weekend we shared together was one of the most comforting and memorable I have ever had.

She’s getting married next spring and guess who was asked to be in her wedding party......... yes that’s right me

If it were not for “Thank A Soldier” I never would have never met my new best friend, been able to grieve my loss and gain so much comfort.

THANK YOU TEAM TAS

Sandra Gardiner - Ottawa, Ontario

If you would like to share "Your Story" please email submissions@thankasoldier.net

TeamTAS Jersey Design Contest

A few months ago we started the “Team TAS” (Team Thank A Soldier) theme to go along with our page and people post on their Facebooks that they are member of #TeamTAS and it has really taken off. I have received several emails from people asking that we make “Team” jerseys that they can wear to show that they are proud members.

That being said we are launching a contest to our members to design a football, basketball, baseball & hockey jersey for TEAM TAS.

Submissions :
The football, baseball & basketball jerseys will just have TEAM TAS on the front but people can submit their suggestions on the Facebook Photo with colour options. You can customize them with your number and own name on the back when they go live.

The Hockey jersey needs to have a logo on it so we’re going to open that up to our graphic guru’s out there to design. It has to be military related, not one country specific and be generic for all branches and include Team TAS on it somewhere.

If you have an idea you’d like to submit but not graphically inclined you can also email JERSEYS@Thankasoldier.net please put “Jersey Idea Submission” in the subject line.

We will have our members vote for their favourites once we receive a number and the winning one will be featured on our site and receive one of the jerseys.

I will set the deadline for submission temporarily at September 30th, 2012

These will be sold at cost so there will be no proceeds to disperse from the sale of them just people wishing to show their support by wearing a TEAM TAS jersey.