Minnesota Patriot Guard Flag Project Pictures The Patriot Guard Flag Project started with Beth Elskamp, Recreational Therapist at the Minneapolis Veterans Home and John Redfield, Metro SW ride captain when they were talking about doing something to improve the moral of our troops, which they felt must be down due to the Antiwar Protests and all the debate in Congress. They wanted the Minnesota National Guard and Regular Army troops to know that there were people in Minnesota who cared about what they were doing, cared about them, and appreciated the sacrifices both the soldiers and their families have to make. Since they had heard about other people sending Patriot Guard Flags to Troops to sign and send back we decided that we should write a line of appreciation and sign it ourselves and send the flag to our troops. This way the troops will know that not only do we appreciate what they do, they will know who appreciates their sacrifices. It would be something they can keep and be reminded that Minnesota supports the Troops and appreciates what they do. John Redfield soon realized that he could not do his original Job as Ride Captain justice and do all the work of finding the troops that are in Iraq and Afghanistan, and contacting them and asking them if they would like to fly a Patriot Guard Flag with our names on it so he recruited John Stolte who also became the Southwest Metro Assistant Ride Captain. John jumped at the chance to work on the project and it is through his hard work and financial support that this project has got off the ground. So far we have sent off 6 signed Flags to our Minnesota troops, and we are searching for units we have not yet made contact with. It is especially surprising to me that we have found no Minnesota troops in Afghanistan. We purchase each flag from the National Patriot Guard Site at the original cost of $38.00 and it is paid for by the contributions of our members. If anyone has a contact in a Minnesota Unit in Afghanistan or Iraq We would appreciate their contact information so that we can inquire about sending them a Patriot Guard Flag for their unit. Please email Metrosw@mnpatriotguard.org. with any information you may have. Click on Minnesota Patriot Guard Flag Project Pictures above to view larger Website Content: Copyright 2007 All rights reserved Minnesota Patriot Guard Logo: Our logo is copyrighted and is owned by Minnesota Patriot Guard for its use only. The logo may not be used without the written approval of the board of directors. Any requests to use the logo may be sent to directors@mnpatriotguard.org.