Lonely Pilot Bob

I am proud this morning – proud of what ‘we Brats’ have been able to do here in 2 months – what our Congress has been either unwilling, or unable to do in over 3 years – create a icon that represents and honors Military Brats!  The BratPin.  As of this morning, 21 October 2013, the bill still languishes “in committee,” with a 2% chance of getting past committee, and a 0% chance of becoming law.  And today, we have “our” pin.

In April this year I attended a Dining In, where I heard a ‘3-Star’ tell about seeing “the blue car” come to his house when he was 7 years old – to tell his family that their father had just been shot down (in Vietnam).  At that dinner I committed myself to the passage of HR 1889: Children of Military Service Members Commemorative Lapel Pin Act this year!  I told myself I was going to do “something” every day; to create awareness and promotion of this bill.

I began by “re-energizing” my US Representative, Bob Latta, R/OH, who introduced the bill, by visiting his office in Bowling Green, OH.  He wasn’t in, but one of his staff assured me that “the Congressman” was totally behind the bill.  Then I visited Marcy Kaptur’s office in Toledo,OH, D/OH, who is a co-sponsor of the bill.  And again, I was assured, by a staff member, that Ms. Kaptur was also “totally behind” the bill.  This guy was actually very helpful in that he explained exactly what I/we would have to do to garner support for the bill – telling me that the process could take upwards of 10 years to come to fruition!  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear; in 8-10 years I might be a “mort!”  I really don’t care to have my pin presented to me posthumously!

In July I made a You Tube video, essentially promoting HR 1889.  After the filming, the interviewer asked, “Don’t you think 3 1/2 years of ‘sitting in committee’ isn’t a bit disrespectful toward these kids?  You bet your ass I do!  Then he asked, “Why don’t you just design a pin yourself?”  and that’s where I decided to take a different direction.

And today, we have out pin!  The BratPin.

Am I “spiking the football” here this morning?  You bet your ass I am!  I am so proud of what “we” have created here to honor ourselves, and all Brats!  It is also with great humility that I thank all of you who contributed to this project. As I have said all along, I didn’t do this alone… I hope all of you share in the pride of this effort this morning…

(I ‘pulled’ this off another blog I manage; bratpin.com.  After the first of the year I plan to hand the whole operation over to a ‘non-profit’ that supports military children.  There are a couple-3 posts I don’t want to lose…)

In December 2009 I asked my US Congressman, Bob Latta, (R/OH) to introduce legislation to the Congress to recognize and honor Military Brats.  At first I was thinking in the form of a medal of some kind or another.  Then I learned that Congressional medals (in the nature I was seeking) are reserved only for “serving military members.”  After 5 months, to his credit, he introduced HR 5333: Children of Military Service Members Commemorative Lapel Pin Act, (2010).

At first I wasn’t shot-in-the-head with a lapel pin – aren’t those for old guys?  Then, the more I thought about it, the more it appealed to me.  I learned early in life, ‘when the handwriting is on the wall, learn to read it!’

One of the provisions of the proposed legislation was to send the bill to the Army Department of Heraldry upon passage – for design, and approval of the pin.  “Oh crap,” I thought to myself, “I can only imagine what those ‘shoeclerks’ (bureaucrats) will come up for us!  After all, right from the very beginning, ‘they’ attempted to diminish a bit of our charm and identity by referring to us as “the children of military service members,” vs “military brats!”  (I can ‘appreciate’ that not every child of a military service member embraces the term ‘military brat,’ but I do – and that is what is important here!  LOL!)

Then it wasn’t too hard to imagine a very formal, government conference room wherein a collection of self-appreciating bureaucrats could congregate to design “our” pin.  Can you imagine the “bickering” that would have evolved?  Each shoeclerk with his or her “special” interest.  Why, we would need to all kids represented – be they white, black, Asian, Lutheran, LGBT, ‘special needs,’ what-ever!  By the time everyone got their “special interest” inserted into the design, the damn pin would have been the size of a medium pizza pan!  So this summer, when I decided to “go it alone,” I wasn’t too torn up that I would be bypassing the Army Department of Heraldry.

Sometime during the summer the “dandelion” came to my attention as a contender for the pin.  Again, I wasn’t all that shot-in-the-head with idea, but the more I thought about it, and read about it, the more sense it meant to me. And so I began looking around for dandelion ‘concepts’ to use… I wanted something with a dynamic vs. a static look about it – a design that reflected movement.  After all, we are so very transient ourselves.  This was the first design I looked at:

About the same time I began considering the image, I also began to concern myself with the shape of the eventual pin.  I wanted a pin that would be easily recognizable in shape – like an oval.  So, to get that, I had to ‘lose’ the figure blowing the seeds – yet I liked the concept of the seeds scattering to the winds… so, I essentially took a “puff ball” and had an artist “pull the seeds” out in the form of an arch.

So, the first version came out like this:

Kinda ‘boring,’ huh?  Then it was suggested (by Mari) that we add a dog tag chain as the border.  And Steve suggested we add the word “American” on the back.  So, Version 2 came out like:

Two things I was not happy with: 1. the dog tag clasp looked like bailing wire and 2. the ‘order’ of the wording on the back of the pin – I wanted the word “American” featured more than the web site address.  So, back to my Account Rep I went again – and soon, Version 3 was came out:

He got the back fixed, but ignored the clasp.  (He must have thought I would miss it.  I didn’t!)  And so we continued to dance – round and round we went.  He told me it wouldn’t make a difference when the pin was produced, but I wasn’t buying it.  So I contacted a dear friend who is a graphic artist and he came up with this:

I sent this design to my Rep, and asked him, “How hard can it be?”  Finally, after being beat like a rented mule, he acquiesced and we went into production!

Today I am pretty happy with this design – simple, yet elegant!  And I think it does represent the Military Brat; with a sense of reverence and honor.  I deliberately kept the wording, “Military Brat” off the face of the pin because we will soon know who we are, and that is what is important!