Texas Goodbye ... Thx Ramey H!

TEXAS GOODBYE

This is why America will remain strong.  We take care of our own as well as others who may not deserve taking care of. I just wanted to share with you all that out of a horrible tragedy we were blessed by so many people. Chris Kyle was Derek's teammate through 10 years of training and battle.  They both suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent and took great care of each other because of it. 2006 in Ramadi was horrible for young men that never had any more aggressive physical contact with another human than on a Texas football field. They lost many friends.  Chris became the armed services number #1 sniper of all time.  Not something he was happy about, other than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of American lives. Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the SEAL teams as he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda.  He did and wrote the book "The American Sniper."  100% of the proceeds from the book went to two of the SEAL families who had lost their sons in Iraq . That was the kind of guy Chris was.  He formed a company in Dallas to train military, police and I think firemen as far as protecting themselves in difficult situations.  He also formed a foundation to work with military people suffering from PTSD.  Chris was a giver not a taker. He, along with a friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were murdered trying to help a young man that had served six months in Iraq and claimed to have PTSD.  Now I need to tell you about all of the blessings. Southwest Airlines flew in any SEAL and their family from any airport they flew into free of charge. The employees donated buddy passes and one lady worked for four days without much of a break to see that it happened. Volunteers were at both airports in Dallas to drive them to the hotel. The Marriott Hotel reduced their rates to $45 a night and cleared the hotel for only SEALs and family. The Midlothian, TX Police Department paid the $45 a night for each room.  I would guess there were about 200 people staying at the hotel, 100 of them were SEALs.  Two large buses were chartered (an unknown donor paid the bill) to transport people to the different events and they also had a few rental cars (donated).  The police and secret service were on duty 24 hours during the stay at our hotel. At the Kyle house, the Texas DPS parked a large motor home in front to block the view from reporters. It remained there the entire five days for the SEALs to congregate in and all to use the restroom so as not to have to go in the house.  Taya, their two small children and both sets of parents were staying in the home. Only a hand full of SEALs went into the home as they had different duties and meetings were held sometimes on a hourly basis.  It was a huge coordination of many different events and security.  Derek was assigned to be a Pall Bearer, to escort Chris' body when it was transferred from the Midlothian Funeral Home to the Arlington Funeral Home, and to be with Taya.  A tough job. Taya seldom came out of her bedroom.  The house was full with people from the church and other family members that would come each day to help.  I spent one morning in a bedroom with Chris' mom and the next morning with Chad Littlefield's parents (the other man murdered with Chris).  A tough job. George W Bush and his wife Laura met and talked to everyone on the Seal Team one on one.  They went behind closed doors with Taya for quite a while.  They had prayer with us all.  You can tell when people were sincere and caring. Nolan Ryan sent his cooking team, a huge grill and lots of steaks, chicken and hamburgers.  They set up in the front yard and fed people all day long including the 200 SEALs and their families.  The next day a local BBQ restaurant set up a buffet in front of the house and fed all once again.  Food was plentiful and all were taken care of.  The family's church kept those inside the house well fed. Jerry Jones, the man everyone loves to hate, was a rock star.  He made sure that we all were taken care of.  His wife and he were just making sure everyone was taken care of....Class... He donated the use of Cowboy Stadium for the services as it was determined that so many wanted to attend.  The charter buses transported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30 am.  Every car, bus, motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and police.  I am not sure if kooks were making threats trying to make a name for themselves or if so many SEALs in one place was a security risk, I don't know. We  willingly obliged.  No purses went into the stadium! We were taken to The Legends room high up and a large buffet was available.  That was for about 300 people.  We were growing. A Medal of Honor recipient was there, lots of secret service and police and Sarah Palin and her husband.  She looked nice, this was a very formal military service. The service started at 1:00 pm and when we were escorted onto the field I was shocked.  We heard that about 10,000 people had come to attend also.  They were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a beautiful and emotional service. The Bagpipe and drum corps were wonderful and the Texas A&M men's choir stood through the entire service and sang right at the end.  We were all in tears. The next day was the 200-mile procession from Midlothian , TX to Austin for burial.  It was a cold, drizzly, windy day, but the people were out.  We had dozens of police motorcycles riders, freedom riders, five chartered buses and lots of cars.  You had to have a pass to be in the procession and still it was huge.  Two helicopters circled the procession with snipers sitting out the side door for protection.  It was the longest funeral procession ever in the state of Texas.  People were everywhere. The entire route was shut down ahead of us, the people were lined up on the side of the road the entire way.  Firemen were down on one knee, police officers were holding their hats over their hearts, children waving flags, veterans saluting as we went by.  Every bridge had fire trucks with large flags displayed from their tall ladders, people all along the entire 200 miles were standing in the cold weather.  It was so heartwarming. Taya rode in the hearse with Chris' body so Derek rode the route with us.  I was so grateful to have that time with him. The service was at Texas National Cemetery. Very few are buried there and you have to apply to get in. It is like people from the Civil War, Medal of Honor winners, a few from the Alamo and all the historical people of Texas.  It was a nice service and the Freedom Riders surrounded the outside of the entire cemetery to keep the crazy church people from Kansas that protest at military funerals away from us. Each SEAL put his Trident (metal SEAL badge) on the top of Chris' casket, one at a time.  A lot hit it in with one blow.  Derek was the only one to take four taps to put his in and it was almost like he was caressing it as he did it.  Another tearful moment. After the service Governor Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, invited us to the governor's mansion.  She stood at the door,  greeted each of us individually, and gave each of the SEALs a coin of Texas.  She was a sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess. We were able to tour the ground floor and then went into the garden for beverages and BBQ.  So many of the Seal team guys said that after they get out they are moving to Texas.  They remarked that they had never felt so much love and hospitality.  The charter buses then took the guys to the airport to catch their returning  flights.  Derek just now called and after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot, in a dangerous land on the other side of the world, protecting America. We just wanted to share with you, the events of a quite emotional, but blessed week. Punch-line: To this day, no one in the White House has ever acknowledged Chris Kyle. However, the President can call some sport person and congratulate him on announcing to the world that he is gay???  What the is happening to our society, our honor and our pride?? Please, keep this moving!

Re: ID Theft, Photo ID required on cc cards, written bty an attorney ... Thx Jean and Marge R!

Dear Webby
1. Do not sign  the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.' 

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts,  DO  NOT
put the complete  account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the  last
four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone
who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing
channels won't have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a
PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use
your work address. Never  have your  SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!)
You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine.
Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you
had in your wallet and all of the account numbers
and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. 
I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or
abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on
us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.
In case your luggage is lost, take another list in your carry
on bag, especially if you are abroad and need immediate access to
those numbers.

Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because
my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered
an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit
card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer,
received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record
information online, and more. 

But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens
to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should  cancel our  credit cards immediately. But
the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you
know whom to call.. Keep those where you can find them.

6. File a  police report immediately in the jurisdiction
where your credit cards, etc.., were stolen. This proves to credit
providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward
an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps  most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.) 

7. Call the  3 national credit reporting organizations  immediately
to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud
line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that
called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my
name. 

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows
your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by
phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after
the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of
all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases,
none of which I knew about before placing the alert.
Since then, no additional damage has been done, and
the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone
turned it in). It seems to have stopped them
dead in their tracks..

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact
about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax:  1-800-525-6285  1-800-525-6285  
2.) Experian (formerly TRW):  1-888-397-3742  1-888-397-3742 
3.) Trans Union :  1-800-680 7289  1-800-680 7289 
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line):
1-800-269-0271  1-800-269-0271

Jean