I'm looking to pull the attention of the Command Group of III Corps and Fort Hood Garrison to moving the Boot Display done yearly on Sadowski Field to a more appropriate date.

On and around Memorial Day strikes me as best, but I believe there are other alternatives far more appropriate than on and around Independence Day. If you agree, please sign this petition and share it to others.

The Boot Display is a great project, with great purposes, that is done very well. I love almost everything about it. I'm confounded by its placement on the calendar, however, and believe moving it to Memorial Day, or to another holiday, would serve those purposes far better.

Every Veteran I've spoken with on this has agreed with me on this point, and so I've started this petition to find out how widespread this sentiment in fact is. If you agree, please sign it and share it to others.

The Boot Display is a great project that serves many great purposes. Foremost, to me, is that it helps bridge the divide between the military and civilian communities. It brings literal faces to the cost this country bears and has borne - puts that cost in real human terms.

I'm certain every visitor to it walks away changed - awed by the dedication of those that have served and died for our country. It puts real meaning to civic duty and helps both the local and wider civilian population understand what can be a confusing and alien military culture.

Those of us who have served know how deep that civil-military divide has grown.  I consider its depth a danger to the health of our country. Anything we can do to make things easy to understand, like this Boot Display, helps our country.

How the Boot Display is done is also very good. The fact that the boots are organized by year but not set out by date forces the viewer to walk the lines of many boots before finding one particular one. I think this adds to the impact. War is not about one individual.

It impacts us all. It impacts the families of the Soldiers who served hugely, first - families of the dead, wounded, PTSD'd, and just too-much-deployed. I know I'm not alone in thinking that the more that impact reaches our country's non-military affiliated population, the better.

But if the message is unclear, does it help, or harm?

Click on over to the Fort Hood MWR page https://www.facebook.com/forthoodfmwr/

...and watch the banner video advertising the July 4th Celebration. It's happy, and fun, with dancing, fireworks - and the 1st Cav Band - a party!

It's very appropriate to the spirit of Independence Day - it's a celebration. As it should be. 

Compare and contrast the very well done video on the III Corps / Fort Hood Facebook page for the Boot Remembrance Memorial here: https://www.facebook.com/forthood/videos/477052173099594/

It's respectful. It uses sparse, somber piano music. It references Duty, Courage, Sacrifice, Family, the joint (not-just-Army) nature of the loss. The first boot shown is that of a female Soldier to emphasize that it's not just men that have died. It even brings in Military Working Dogs to show that it's not just humans that have borne the cost. Very inclusive and somber in tone.

It's entirely appropriate to the spirit of Memorial Day. It's not a celebration. It shouldn't be. It is, in fact, as the event is named by III Corps Fort Hood itself, a: Remembrance Memorial. A Boot Remembrance Memorial.

Which is scheduled on and around our July 4th Independence Celebration.

Why are we trying to have a Memorial and a Celebration at the same time?

Does this confuse you as much as it does me? 'Mixed message' doesn't cover it. 'Cognitive dissonance' fits far better. These things don't match.

To further bolster the point, I started looking up when other military installations do boot displays, intending to offer you a chart of which major installations did boot displays when.

A little bit of Googling in, I learned that Fort Hood's display was at one point around Veteran's Day (I had forgotten that), Fort Bragg has done them around Memorial Day, Fort Bliss has done them around September 11th, and there I stopped.

I decided at that point that what other installations are doing is not the point of this petition - it's about what Fort Hood is doing. This Googling did open me up to the idea that of course, Memorial Day is not the only alternative, though it strikes me as best.

Veteran's Day and September 11th are both better than Independence Day for this display, although July 4th should still rank above Arbor Day, I believe.

Thank you for your time and interest. Please share.