By Liv Stecker

In 2005, one of those email chain letters went around. You know, the kind that you get annoyed at all of your friends for sending? Well this one was a little different and something about it stuck with the ones who read it. The original email read thusly:

“The Americans who support our troops, are the silent majority. We are not ‘organized’ to reflect who we are, or to reflect what our opinions are. Many Americans, like yourself, would like to start a grassroots movement using the membership of the Special Operations Association, and Special Forces Associations, and all their friends, simply to recognize that Americans support our troops. We need to inform the local VFWs and American Legion, our local press, local TV, and continue carrying the message to the national levels as we start to get this going. Our idea of showing our solidarity and support for our troops is starting Friday, and continuing on each and every Friday, until this is over, that every RED - blooded American who supports our young men and women, WEAR SOMETHING RED.

Word of mouth, press, TV — let's see if we can make the United States, on any given Friday, a sea of RED much like a home football game at a university.

If every one of our memberships share this with other acquaintances, fellow workers, friends, and neighbors, I guarantee that it will not be long before the USA will be covered in RED - and make our troops know there are many people thinking of their well-being. You will feel better all day Friday when you wear RED!

Let's get the word out and lead by example; wear RED on Fridays.

Please forward this to everyone you know!!

Wear RED on Fridays . SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE, BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE. FOR US, THEIR BLOOD RUNS RED!! GOD BLESS AMERICA.”

Apparently somebody forwarded it, because fast forward to 2018 and #REDFriday has officially become a thing. While many family members of deployed troops have been sporting red on Fridays since that fateful day in September of 2001, the public trend took a few years to gain traction. More and more people are donning crimson on Fridays in support of the deployed service members around the world and at home.

In addition to Instagram and Twitter trends steered by hashtags like #remembereveryonedeployed, most veteran owned companies now offer R.E.D. Friday t shirts, hoodies and other paraphernalia. In 2016, the Big Voice made a run of R.E.D. t shirts which you can see your friends and neighbors rocking around the area. We have a few left, in addition to our Veteran’s Day shirts, which are available online at americanfreedomfund.org or you can call me (Liv Stecker) at 509.675.3504 or email thebigvoice31@gmail.com. Remember everyone deployed and get your R.E.D. on this Friday!