Washington Dinner Draws Big Crowd

Celebrating America's Finest Warriors

Past and present members of the U.S. military's Special Operations community and numerous representatives from corporations gathered at the Waterford Springfield reception hall just outside Washington, D.C. on September 18^th to honor America's most elite fighting forces.

The “Tribute to Special Operations Forces,” hosted by the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, is an annual dinner that draws nearly 400 guests, including several high-ranking military officers and civilian leaders, family members of fallen special operations personnel and eight special operations warriors recovering at Walter Reed Army Center from wounds received while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

One of the touching moments of the night was when retired Army General John Abizaid, former CENTCOM commander and keynote speaker, introduced each of the wounded warriors and asked them to come to the front of the room where he presented each of them with a coin. General Abizaid also asked for veterans of past wars dating back to World War II to stand and be recognized for their service.

The General pulled no punches when it came to assessing the state of America's military, “The American military has trained and built a fighting force the likes of which hasn't been seen since the days of Rome.” General Abizaid told the audience that building such a fighting force did not come without a painful learning curve. He recounted his own experience during the 1983 operation “Urgent Fury” in Grenada. The first major post-Vietnam U.S. military operation was designed to get American medical students out of harm's way in the wake of a coup that installed a pro-Cuban Marxist government.

Instead of a smooth joint operation involving Army Rangers, Marine amphibious units, as well as Navy and Air Force support, “Urgent Fury” uncovered serious and potentially deadly problems.

While the mission did get accomplished, it drove home the need for better cooperation between the various service branches. Those problems were addressed and the result is a command structure that allows special operators and conventional forces to operate as one deadly weapon against our enemies.

Special Operations Warrior Foundation success story, Courtney Robinson, charmed the crowd with her remarks thanking SOWF for making it possible for her to go to college. Courtney is the daughter of a Army Special Forces Lt. Col. Craig Robinson who lost his life in 1994. Courtney was able to get her degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's famous journalism program.

Since her graduation, Courtney has been on the career fast track. She recently joined WJLA- ABC 7 TV in Washington, D.C. as a reporter after spending two years at a station in Lynchburg, Virginia where her work covering the Virginia Tech massacre brought acclaim for thoroughness and sensitivity.

Entertainment for the evening was provided by the U.S.O. Liberty Belles. The lovely and talented trio of young ladies set a patriotic tone by opening the evening with the “Star Spangled Banner” and later entertained the crowd with nostalgic recreations of World War II era Andrews Sisters hits and a rousing rendition of “God Bless the USA”. A few lucky patrons even got a chance to dance with the young ladies.

Special thanks are due to the evening's Master of Ceremonies, Human Events magazine editor and former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Jed Babbin who presided with good humor and erudition.

The bottom line for the informative and entertaining evening was more than $500,000 was raised through the generosity of many corporate sponsors, listed below.

With more than 100 students currently in college and universities across the country, and another 600 children who have yet to reach college age, the funds raised will go directly to support the foundation's programs for providing full college educations as well as immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel.

Thanks so much to the following corporate sponsors for making this event such a success: