Veterans Day Parade

JONESBORO, Ark. - Veterans Day came early this year in Jonesboro.

The big Veterans Day parade up Main Street had the usual bands and dignitaries in cars, but it also included the 200 or so men and women of the 1037th Road Clearing Co. of the Arkansas National Guard. They leave next Tuesday morning for training, preliminary to shipping out to Afghanistan. These are the soldiers whose task it is to keep the Afghan roads clear of IEDs and other bad stuff.

They got a pretty good sendoff. The mayor was there, the Arkansas National Guard Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. William Wofford was   there, the Patriot Guard Riders were there, and of course we were there with a few thousand of our neighbors.

They're part of the ANG's 875th Engineer Battalion. Jonesboro welcomed the battalion home from Iraq about the time we moved here in 2007. This, then, is the second - and in some cases the third - deployment for members of the 875th.

As far as I'm concerned, they're all heroes. I only wish they served under a competent commander-in-chief who didn't put politics ahead of national security and the safety of our troops.

I'll be at the National Guard Armory with my camera when they ship out Tuesday morning and I'll wish them luck.

Here's my BMW-riding friend Charlie (on the left) bearing the Elks Lodge banner in the parade this morning.