Last Ride for Rolling Thunder
By William Vitka
A massive annual motorcycle rally staged in Washington will end next year, with organizers citing a lack of law enforcement cooperation and “increased harassment to supporters” as reasons for stopping the 31-year-old tradition.
Rolling Thunder began in Washington in 1987 after Artie Muller, who served in the Vietnam War as an infantry sergeant, sought to call attention to veterans in need and prisoners of war.
In a statement Thursday, Muller said Rolling Thunder XXXII, scheduled for 2019’s Memorial Day weekend, would be “the final Thunder Run in D.C.”
“We had so many problems in the last two or three years with the [Pentagon Police] and the parking facilities after we leave the Pentagon parking lot,” Rolling Thunder, Inc. board member Gus Dante told WTOP.
After the 2019 run, “We are going to do it in our local areas, various states,” he said.
It’s now up to the 90 chapters themselves to independently put rides together. For example, the New Jersey chapters can team up with Pennsylvania and New York, and maybe part of New England, and gather at a centralized location.
Dante says there are a lot of members who believe independent organization will work out even better than Washington.
He believes future rides will be “more personal” and get “more coverage” for veterans issues.
“Let’s face it, we got coverage for a few seconds in D.C. and that was the end of it,” Dante told WTOP.
The reason the ride exists is to raise money and awareness for veteran issues.
Love them or consider them a mobile road block, you have to admit they got the message out, in a loud and visible way. I hope the independents can carry on with this and the other escort services they render. Yes, I rode a bike for some 40 years, so I’m hardly unbiased.
Keep the shiny side up,
AW1
Read the rest of the article here at: WTOP 5
Category: Veterans Issues
Before anyone gets too concerned, it’s the national gathering of Rolling Thunder riders in DC that is ending next year. Local chapters will continue to do what they do.
Too many issues, mostly with the Pentagon Police and parking. A shame, really.
Leave it to Federal Government entities to fuck something up!
“We’re from the government and we’re here to help.”
“Well, which is it?”
Rolling Thunder had to go. After all, they haven’t marched through the halls of Congress berating elected officials, they haven’t collected metal-rack barriers and piled them in front of the White House, they haven’t crapped on police cars or pissed in the reflecting pool, and they haven’t caused police to turn out in riot gear. They just have to go.
About all those little oil stains splattered here and there…
*obligatory Harley joke*
If Harley Davidson made an airplane would you fly in it?
From a Ducati owner.
BMW
I have a 1996 HD and it doesn’t leak oil. The old AMC Corp. ones did.
So you’re saying the Pentagon didn’t want all those Harleys to turn the parking lot into a superfund site? ;D
There is something about riding a motorcycle that just screams freedom. Not the Aviators freedom but a similar rush enhanced by the fact that it pisses off the hate America crowd as you stick it in their face.
Yeah, I miss my wide glide.
I get it. I used to get rides from a guy when I was walking home from cleaning the barn. When you ride pillory on one of those things, it’s exactly like being on a horse’s back.
Maybe I should get one for running errands around here instead of using a car. Less cost for gas, it can be stabled in my shed, and I can call it ‘Jack’.
Many of us have long advocated for coordinated State Capital runs to bring attention to the POW/MIA issue (one of Rolling Thunders main purposes.) Even DC politicians are home for the Memorial Day break. Less road time, fewer accidents, better media coverage results too. It’s about time – and could result in bigger demonstrations.
God forbid that the military leaders at the 5 Sided Puzzle Palace on the Potomac do anything to help raise awareness of Veteran’s Issues, especially anything to do with POWs.
I know the article talks about Pentagon Police being the cause, but still? Maybe local rides will be better overall for this cause; however, the Puzzle Palace showed have insured that no issues had ever even arisen to begin with. It ain’t like they didn’t know it was coming/happening.
The top brass in the military do not consider themselves to be a part of the larger military culture.
In fact, the leaders at the Pentagram do not even consider us to be human and worthy of their time.
After all, what can a veteran do for a GO/FO or an appointee?
What can we do? Continue to pay their salaries, that’s what. After all, they work for us, not the other way around.
My state does a smaller version of Rolling Thunder still.
Good times
I have mixed feelings about Rolling Thunder.
These Rolling Thunder riders look like shit every time I see them. Attire, personal grooming and some even have the flags reversed on their bikes. They try to make every veterans event about them and are tolerated rather than shunned. While I whole hardly support their good intentions, it sounds to me like they made demands contrary to policies and are now taking their marbles and going home to pout. Bureaucrats in DC are entrenched but I find it difficult to accept with all of the support they receive, something could not have been worked out.
I wonder what exactly the issues with the police were. I’m guessing far more political than actual issues with the police.
In my times we had events like this come through town, finding volunteers to work it was not a problem. It’s amazing to see hundreds of bikes bedecked in flags come rolling by. Lot of cops are bikers and many are also vets, so there’s a lot of overlap between an event like this and LE.
I have seen them several times back in the day.
The Sound of Freedom.
I only ever rode in one Rolling Thunder, way back in 2001. A memory that will be with me to the day I sign out. What a shame to see it go.
Speaking of shame, don’t you hate people who make false claims, Ken? Are you going to answer the question? The longer you avoid it, the worse it appears.
He gets real quiet everytime you ask him that. Wonder why.
Go dress up as one of the non-biking members of Village People and impose yourself on other people’s parades.
Notice how the stolen valor gang wear the gay biker stuff?