Military Troops Calendar 2008 - These Colors Don't Run

These calendars are a gift from the families & businesses that care about our troops. Their sponsorship makes this possible. Thank you to all our sponsors past and present.

It was August 20th, 2006. LCPL Randy Newman was less than a month away from returning home to Bend, Oregon after a six-month deployment with the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Company D based in Twentynine Palms, California. On that day, LCPL Newman was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. This was his third encounter with these devices that litter the countryside of the Al Anbar province of Iraq, but this time it took his life. While we know it is an unfortunate reality that many soldiers have paid the ultimate price for our country, this soldiers death struck a chord in our community of Central Oregon. He was the first one of “us” to not come home. This calendar was inspired by LCPL Randy Newman, and was dreamt up and brought to life to honor ALL U.S. soldiers by civilians who simply care, respect and appreciate what our troops do for us.

Mike Aldrich, a concrete contractor from Central Oregon said, “This all started when my good friend Wayne Mitchell and a few others of us felt compelled to do “something”. After hearing the news of Randy’s death I called his parents to ask their permission to do a project in his memory, and ask what he was passionate about. They told me that like many of his peers he liked physical fitness, fast machines, pretty girls and e believed in serving our country. With that, we created the 2007 Military Troops Calendar.”

Our inaugural issue resulted in nearly 10,000 calendars being sent free of charge to U.S. troops overseas. We sold a few here at home, and when combined with sponsorship contributions were able to pay for all of the calendars and have a little left over to donate a memorial wrestling mat to the High School where Randy graduated and make a modest donation to the Central Oregon Veteran’s Outreach program. We heard a great deal of positive feedback from soldiers who received the calendars, and civilians within our community. With that we decided that this project had to live on.

When planning the 2008 calendar a new twist took place. Mike reached over the fence to, of all places, a competitor in the concrete construction world. He contacted Robert Berman & Monte Burch of Cascade Concrete Solutions. He explained where he needed help to continue to grow the project and together they set their sites on a revised approach. We decided if two competitors could put their differences aside for the bigger good, we could do amazing things together. We turned the project into an official non-profit (501 C3) organization, then we took what we had in common (concrete) to build support. We began working together to align local and national people who work in and around our industry to make this our industry’s gift to the troops. We want them to know how much the hard working people in the construction industry back home appreciate the efforts of our troops. After all, concrete is synonymous with strength, toughness, durability, quality and being rock solid dependable. Ironically, that’s exactly how we would describe the men & women serving our country in the armed forces!

Together, with a great deal of help from others recognized in our sponsorship area, , we set out to produce 20,000 calendars of which 10,000 will once again go to troops overseas free of charge, and the other 10,000 will be sold locally and now abroad. A special thanks to the concrete industry for their help in pulling together to make another year possible. A special thanks to the 2008 World Of Concrete Convention in Las Vegas, who is allowing us to distribute and sell in their bookstore. In addition to the calendar distribution, our goal this year is to raise over $100,000 that will once again go to fallen-soldier memorial projects and veteran’s outreach programs. We also want you to know that plans for 2009 include a second calendar of men’s photos (for the women serving in our military) and we are continuing work to develop other ideas, products and events that will continue to raise awareness and support.

A local marine that paid the ultimate sacrifice was the inspiration for this project. Perhaps when soldiers receive these calendars it will put a smile on their faces and let them know that those of us back home truly do support and appreciate them. In these unsettled times of war, I believe many of us feel we want to help, but also feel somewhat powerless in the big picture. This is our humble effort to do something good that has local impact and global reach. We hope you enjoy it.