Letters

I work for a local TV station in Augusta, Georgia, and have been a Kiss fan pretty much my entire life. Yesterday was an amazing day for me, as I got to meet Paul, Tommy, and Eric. It's been a dream of mine since I first bought "Lick It Up" at age 11. They stopped by the Norwood VA Center here in town and spent a good amount of time with people who are part of the Wounded Warriors Care Project of the CSRA. It was a great pleasure to get to meet members of my favorite band and chat with them for a few minutes. But, what was even more awesome was to see how they interacted with people who put their lives on the line for our freedom. You could tell, KISS were the ones who were honored to be there and spend time with those special veterans. I have been to many KISS shows, and have seen first-hand how the band salutes the military in their shows. But what I saw yesterday was a much deeper, more heartfelt salute. Taking time out of their busy touring schedule to stop in a town where they weren't scheduled to play, before jetting off to Nashville for last night's show, says a lot about the people behind the make-up, fireworks, and great music. I feel very lucky that my job allowed me a glimpse of that. The Wounded Warrior Care Project is a great project here in Augusta, and it's nice to see it get some recognition from some huge celebrities. It was wonderful to see how excited the veterans were when Paul, Tommy, and Eric came into the room yesterday. But it was even more impressive to see how excited Paul, Tommy, and Eric were to be there. It was a wonderful moment that will certainly stay with those veterans the rest of their lives, and it is something I'll never forget either. I'm glad I was lucky enough to be a "fly on the wall." I've always been a proud member of the KISS Army, but I've never been more proud than I am today. Thank you, KISS, for recognizing how important these wounded warriors are to our freedom and ability to do whatever we want. And thank you for spending some time with them. I have enclosed a photo of myself with Tommy Thayer.