00:18 – Staff Sgt. Tim Chambers: My name is Motivated Staff Sergeant Chambers, Tim for short, Marine veteran, known as the Saluting Marine. I’m the AmVets official spokesperson and we’re here today to get the word out that that amazing ride Vietnam veterans started 32 years ago called Rolling Thunder, is going to remember, thanks to the AmVets, its going to be called Rolling to Remember. The most important thing about this ride is prisoner of war, missing in action awareness, but also something dear to our hearts that’s still happening, the veteran suicide epidemic. We’re going to bring that to the light, this is still going to continue as a demonstration ride and you know, we’re going to be a voice for the families and try to get the government to do more, get accountability and closure and stop this unfortunate epidemic that’s striking down veterans left and right.
01:01 – Staff Sgt. Tim Chambers: 18 years ago, I was out honoring veterans and learning about our history and I see all these bikes rolling by and a lot of veterans on the bikes, and I wanted to thank them before they die, you know, because I do a lot of funerals and that’s too late for me to pop up a salute and show my appreciation. So I jumped off the curb, popped up a salute. The bikes keep rolling by me, people started, I saw tears rolling down their faces but they kept coming. I’m like, what did I get myself into? How am I going to be able to hold my salute the whole duration? I just thought about the impact it was making on them. Four and a half hours later, last bikes rolled around me, dropped my salute, both sides of the street rushed me and said Marine thank you for giving me my welcome home. So, it became my moral post, I’ve been there every year since, 18 years, and now with the AmVets support I’m going to continue to be there and continue to be the voice for our country.
01:51 – Staff Sgt. Tim Chambers: So this epic ride that the AmVets are going to continue forward called Rolling to Remember, you can go to RollingToRemember.com, Rolling to Remember Facebook group, you can register, you can get all of the info. The ride goes down Sunday Memorial Day weekend. The dates are right there motivators. It’s not that hard to make a stand, and make a difference, and serve your country.