My boat and I were one of the last to leave that morning waiting on a few straglers to make it to the ramp. A young man by the name of Richard Newton a tender 19yrs old from western VA and I headed out running down to deep bottom.. We had the kind of start that u sometimes wonder if you should have wetted a line. A few good take down and a lost fish half way to boat, she was pulling pretty good. We went to deep bottom and picked up Bruce (redcat) and headed back for some more fun. The nibbles we good and hard but still no hook ups. We move for the third time and  the poles started to bend. Finally a nice hook up. Richard got the rod and was fighting this fish real good. If u notice he is not a very big young man. This fish made 2 or 3 good runs and Richard was having a ball. The fish finally surfaced for the first time and we thought he was gonna swallow his chew.. his eyes got so big. We landed the fish and measured for his citation. A new best for Richard... 40lb. The grin from ear to ear was priceless... Its amazing how young he was and to have gone through so much. We all need to thank a veteran and say a pray for our men and women over seas... It made me think while I watched him fish and smile of how lucky we are to have brave men and women to serve our country. Thanks for all you do!!

Hats off to everyone that participated to make this outing a winner,especially the WW.Glad to hear yall had a great day on the water. :mrgreen: Wish I had the words to describe how greatfull I am to everyone in uniform that defends our freedom here at home. [smilie=a_goodjob.gif]

Glad to heard that everyone had a blast. Jamie you must of just got  there after i had left. After i got off work i stop by on the way home to see if i could help Jim or Earl some. Before i got home to get back up to go back to work that night. They had things rolling pretty good so i headed off to bed.
     Sorry that i missed a chance to meet you face to face to say HI.

Thanks for sharing the pictures RACN35.

Awesome Pic's Jamie and I want to add My Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put this together I am sorry I missed it Thanks Folks  [smilie=a_bravo.gif]  [smilie=a_bravo.gif]  [smilie=a_bravo.gif]  [smilie=a_goodjob.gif]  :cheers

you were there and that counts as much as anyone else in my book, not to mention 1/2 the nite in the cold darkness catching bait till your toes were frozen.........your right there at the top with the others man-


I see now thanx man !!

I had the honor to take out Jason Scarbrough.  He was injured in a roadside bombing in Afganistan Oct 2, 2007.  He is still in pretty bad shape which I won't go into details b/c of his privacy, But one thing was memory loss from the explosion.  Both his memory loss is short and long term which he is slowly and pain stakingly recovering from.  Saturday was the first day he was allowed out on his own since his convoy was attacked. The outing Saturday served true to the purpose of the Wounded Warrior project getting soldiers outdoors. This day had a very big impact on his life, moral and recovery. By mid day his meds were wearing off and the pain was intense and he still stood strong and didn't want to go back.  Listening to him tell his emotion filled stories the one thing that angers and saddens him most is he is not with his squad still serving.  He is a TRUE Warrior and Hero.
The day started with getting to know him and progressed into smiles, laughter and ended with a true friendship.  He is a avid Ohio outdoorsman and fisherman (loves flathead fishing and hunting). Today he caught his PB blue of 48lbs. The rod went down I took it from the rod holder he jumped up threw the cane to the floor, forgot his adversity for a moment, grabbed the rod and for 5 minutes fought his fish like a pro. He said now he is hooked on big James river blues.  He expressed that "The one thing he never wanted to forget was this day".  My wife met his wife over the phone yesterday morning and got the details of his life to make it easier on him to explain his situation.  She sent the pic of his fish to her over the phone and with in hours his brothers called and ribbed him because he had beaten their PB blue and flathead cats.  He was so excited. He told them he got blowed up and still beat their PB and was grinning from ear to ear. It was great to see his moral increase that much in just a few hours. :grin:
He and his wife will be going with me again as soon as he recovers more. We heard from his wife today that he was still smiling this morning and still remembers the details of Saturday everytime he looks at the pics. I could go on for days about how this event effects your life, but those of you that were there know.  We should all be dedicated to our sevicemen as they are to our country and to each of us. We can never repay the debt to them, but we can always support them and their families in may ways like the Wounded Warrior Project.  Thanks Jim, Earl and the supporters of the Wounded Warrior Project to make this possible for me and my wife to be involved and do what we could to help the Warriors. A big thanks to Stonewall, REDCAT and Frank also for spending hours catching the bait.  A big thanks to Wayne Atkinson (CRASH14me2) for letting me borrow his boat for the event after mine broke.  
God Bless America