MEDIA
ALERT
Community Event - American Heroes Air Show Florida – Fort Myers Event date: January 22nd
2011
Release date: December 20, 2010
New U.S. Citizens Take Center Stage at American Heroes Air Show. Be sure to land your entire family at the admission-free American Heroes Air Show when the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service hosts a special Naturalization Ceremony for members of the military.
In conjunction with
Florida public safety organizations and the American Veterans Traveling Tribute [AVTT], the American Anthem presentation is sure to be an emotional ceremony as members of the U.S. military and others in the community affirm their support for and love of America by taking their formal Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. Citizens in front of AVTT’s inspiring replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Deputy Bryan Smith with the Lee County Sheriffs Department is the Volunteer Event Director and is at work with his team to final event details in place. “We’re proud to have the American Veterans Traveling Tribute’s inspiring Cost
of Freedom presentation as well as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service partner with us to create this very special element of the American Heroes Air Show,” Smith explains.
“It will be our privilege to provide the Fort
Myers community with a clear view of the best of America when these men and women stand in uniform while facing the Vietnam Memorial Wall and recite their Oath of Allegiance to become America’s newest citizens.”
A key element of the American Heroes Air Show event, the American Veterans Traveling Tribute is a veterans-owned organization that travels the country to provide a forum for communities to HONOR - RESPECT - REMEMBER those who have sacrificed their lives for our country's freedom. Under the leadership of Don Allen, the organization’s CEO and retired U.S. Army Colonel, The Cost of
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Freedom Tribute includes a September 11th tribute, a Cost of Freedom display of Gold Dog Tags and their centerpiece: an 80% scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall, displaying all 58,253 names of the men and women killed in the Vietnam War. Although the AVTT Cost of Freedom Tribute has toured the country for many years, their team-up with the American Heroes Air Show is a new wrinkle. “It came together in 2009 via an introduction from Operation Gratitude’s Carolyn Blaschek,” explained Col. Allen. “When we looked closely at our organizations we felt the synergy would be great and the inclusion of the naturalization ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial wall would be a perfect match, …
what
more fitting atmosphere to welcome these men and women into our country ?” Evan
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naturalization presentation Col. Allen admits some things still surprise him: “The emotion and enthusiasm shown by everyone working on the project is amazing. The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service people have bent over backwards to make it all happen in the most professional manner possible. My hat’s off to them…. “
Allen notes the emotional impact is matched by the
educational value of the presentation.
“It amazes me that we meet so many
folks who do not know that non-citizens serve in the U.S. military …
it has
been very eye-opening education for a lot of people.” When Colonel Allen was asked about the guest take-away, there was no hesitation:
“When people join us at the American Heroes Air Show for the
naturalization ceremony we want them to understand and honor those men and women that we ask to defend and protect us and we want them to cherish the rights of citizenship.”
The USCIS Team Lands at American Heroes Air Show The unique level of team alignment continues with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service [USCIS] team leader Brett Rinehart. In addition to being the Acting Field Office Director at the USCIS Tampa office, Rinehart boasts personal aviation credentials from his seven years with the U.S. Army as a Staff Sergeant and Flight Operations Specialist.
“I worked with all aircraft
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associated with U.S. Army … but I remember clearly how much the pilots loved flying the Apache attack helicopters,” Rinehart recalled. “Working with all our citizenship candidates is also highly rewarding, but especially important is the time we spend with our serving military candidates,” Rinehart noted.
“It’s true that often folks don’t realize that many serving in our
military are not U.S. Citizens and that our office has a special team to accommodate their schedule with expedited processing.” Director Rinehart admits that performing a Naturalization Ceremony for active military members is a fine act of balance and schedule.
“It’s such an important
day for the citizen candidate - we understand that and go out of our way to accommodate these folks.”
To underscore the passion of the USCIS team,
Rinehart shared the story of a U.S. Coast Guard candidate that was working on managing the relief efforts to Haiti immediately following the earthquake in Jan 2010.
“We met him at the USCG Air Station in St. Petersburg, Florida – he took
a scheduled break to meet with us, … took his Oath of Allegiance and went right back to work.” The men and women of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service conduct naturalization ceremonies at public locations to reinforce the value and meaning of the process through which the United States naturalizes citizens – many of them serving in the military. As part of the Department of Homeland Security, (DHS), USCIS naturalized over 10,000 members of the military in 2009 and since 2001 has naturalized more than 55,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines at ceremonies across the country and in 17 nations around the world.
At the American Heroes Air Show in Austin Texas, members of the U.S. military recite their Oath of Allegiance to become America’s newest citizens.
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Event Director Bryan Smith has been working for months with the USCIS team on scheduling and presentation details. “It’s been an eye-opening privilege to work with USCIS Director Rinehart and his team from Tampa,” Smith noted. “The naturalization or ‘NATZ’ ceremony as they call it, held in front of AVTT’s inspiring Vietnam Memorial Wall will be a poignant reminder to our guests that many serving our country in the military are fighting to defend citizenship benefits that they themselves don’t fully enjoy.” “… they’ve always been our heroes, … we invite the community to join us as they become our newest American citizens … “ Bryan Smith,
Volunteer Event Director – American Heroes Air Show
More Than Just An Air Show The American Heroes Air Show is the nation’s premier admission-free, helicopter-only aviation event held at sites from coast-to-coast and dedicated to educating the public about the unique capabilities of helicopters in law enforcement, fire service, public / private EMS, homeland defense and national security. Produced by the American Heroes Aviation Network, the event also includes the CODE3 Career Fair which delivers recruiting teams from law enforcement, public safety, government service and the military who are onscene to profile their mission and provide information on their hiring, training and application processes. As a long tradition at American Heroes Air Shows around the country, collectible event trading cards will be available and free in limited quantities to early event arrivals. These popular trading cards feature photos of participating aircraft plus flight performance and mission profiles. In Fort Myers, the USCIS Naturalization Ceremony and the Cost of Freedom Tribute are part of the admission-free American Heroes Air Show.
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Event Details Date:
Saturday, January 22nd 2011
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The American Anthem Naturalization Ceremony is 11 a.m. The Cost of Freedom Tribute is open from Thursday, January 19 through Sunday January 22nd.
Location:
Lee County Sports Complex 14100 Ben C. Pratt / Six Mile Cypress Parkway Fort Myers, FL. 33912
Contact
Deputy Bryan Smith Lee County Sheriff’s Office – Aviation Section (352) 328-4248 Email: B G S M I T H @ H e r o e s - a i r s h o w . c o m
More event details are available on our website: w
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American
Heroes Air Show
A m e r i c a n
H e r o e s
- 2011 Fort Myers, Florida
A v i a t i o n
N e t w o r k ,
I n c .
Media contacts for follow up: Deputy Bryan Smith Volunteer – Event Producer Lee County Sheriffs Office / Air Operations Section Cell
(239) 896-3793
Email:
BGSmith@Heroes-airshow.com
James Paules
Volunteer – USA Producer
American Heroes Air Show Network Cell
(818) 631-8132
Email:
Jim@Heroes-airshow.com
G: AHAS FL /
11.1 FL Media / New Citz.doc
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