There Are Many Critical Tasks That We Need to Accomplish in Order to Make the Yellow Ribbon

TIMELINE

There are many critical tasks that we need to accomplish in order to make the Yellow Ribbon Express a reality.

First and foremost is money. We are estimating that it will cost approximately $75 million dollars to cover the entire DBOM (design, build, operate and maintain) budget and our business model calls for this entire amount to be raised by signing on five, $15 million dollar corporate co-sponsors.

Having the entire DBOM budget covered by sponsorships will permit all revenues generated by the 3 year tour of the Yellow Ribbon Express to remain in the foundation and be used in the years ahead to assist those veterans who are severely wounded in the service of our country and their families.

We are currently spending all of our energies constructing the full Program, Plan and Schedule (Business Plan) and Sponsor Acquisition Plan preparatory to seeking our five co-sponsors. We envision completing this phase by December 31, 2010. Then it will be hitting the road in search of our 5 partners. We hope to have that done by September 1, 2011.

As soon as we have secured this critical financial backing we can begin “cutting metal” as the saying goes, and start the actual construction of the train and the many pieces needed to complete the display site. We believe that the construction phase will take approximately 12 months to complete.

We will post progress reports on this page occasionally so that you can be kept current on where the project stands.

Thank you for your interest.

Contribution

We are most grateful to be able to announce that we have received a $250,000 contribution from a West Point graduate who after his army career went on to become a very successful Wall Street investor. He believes that it is vitally important that the nation show its appreciation to the brave men and women serving on the frontlines, and he further believes that the Yellow Ribbon Express will effectively deliver that message. This generous contribution will now permit us to begin in earnest the critical next step, which is the writing of the full business plan and sponsor acquisition plan.

The recent turmoil in the stock market and the severe recession have slowed our progress in seeking seed money support, however we are still hard at work attempting to raise the funding needed to complete our business plan and sponsorship package.

We are also working hard to gain the support of the new Obama administration who have evidenced their support for our troops and their families in many ways. Recent developments have encouraged us to believe that we will soon have an opportunity to make a full YRE presentation to senior-level Obama administration officials soon.

New Office

We are pleased to announce that the Yellow Ribbon Express Foundation, Inc. has opened an office in the beautiful historic Union Hotel (circa 1817) and we are now fully equipped with all of the modern tools needed to move forward smartly. You are invited to visit us in suite 305 should you be in the area. Please see for more information on our beautiful and historic home community.

Business Plan

We are pleased to announce, effective May 1, 2008, the hiring of the nationally acclaimed firm of Barry Howard Limited ( of Santa Monica, CA to construct the full business plan and sponsor acquisition plan.

As you can see from their website, they are an extremely accomplished, award-winning globally acclaimed company who have designed many successful exhibitions and their expertise will assure that our master plan is done so that we have the best chance possible of attracting our corporate co-sponsors.

Barry Howard was the master-planner for the highly acclaimed American Freedom Train and we are confident that he will produce an equally exciting and compelling exhibit for the ten display cars on the Yellow Ribbon Express.

The basic story line on the ten display cars will be to tell the story of our American history from 1720 to today with an emphasis on paying tribute to those brave Americans who have stepped forward at different critical junctures in our nation’s history and volunteered to answer the Call to Duty.

As was the case with the American Freedom Train, this exciting 22-minute journey through 300 years of our history will be amplified using all the latest entertainment technologies (i.e. surround sound, smell-a-vision, 3D holography, etc.) AND hundreds of ORIGINAL artifacts, paintings, and other meaningful exhibits that will help dramatize the experience.

As of September 2009, Barry Howard has completed the basic storyline and business plan for the project. We are awaiting additional success in the fundraising area to give us the funds needed to do the computer “fly-thru” which will complete the sponsorship package.

Any thoughts you may have as to what should be included in the story will be appreciated. Please email your thoughts to us using the link on this website.

Opening Ceremony

We have decided, for a number of valid reasons, to establish the opening ceremony for the Yellow Ribbon Express in the magnificent Union Station in our Nation’s Capital, Washington D.C.Following the official christening - ribbon cutting ceremony, led by the President, members of Congress, and other dignitaries…the Yellow Ribbon Express will proudly depart en route to its first display city, Wilmington DE and thus begin its epic 3-year, 48-state, 150-city journey through the nation.

See photos that follow.

We Need Your Help

In the very near future, we shall begin the task of finding appropriate display sites in all 48 contiguous states. As you can see from the artist rendering on this site, the YRE will require an open field of approximately 4 acres located immediately adjacent to a railroad track near to a population center.

If you know of a site or sites in your area that you believe might fit within the above specs, we would appreciate your notifying us so that we can further examine the feasibility. Your eyes and ears can be a big help and we will appreciate your assistance.

What It’s All About

We were blessed a few months ago to receive a poem from a trooper serving in Iraq entitled, “A Soldier’s Christmas Wish”, and it so perfectly and powerfully speaks to the very essence of the Yellow Ribbon Express project. We wanted to share it with you and thus post it below with special thanks to its author, LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN, serving in Al Taqqadum, Iraq.

A Soldiers Wish

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of night,

A long figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,

“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.

To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light

Then he sighed and he said, “It’s really all right.

I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”

It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I’m proud to stand here like my father’s before me.

My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,’”

Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam,

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife send me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.”

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue… An American Flag.

“I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother…

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.

So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”

“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,

Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,

For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eyes welled a tear that held no regret,

“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,

To stand you own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled,

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”