Album Notes

KENI THOMAS ON THE HERO FUND

The Hero Fund was started to raise awareness for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarships and educational grants for the children of special operations personnel killed in training or real world combat. SOWF is committed to sending over 400 children to college, providing them with educational opportunities their fathers would have wanted them to have.

The quiet professionals of Special Operation forces are all volunteers. And they did so fully knowing the hazards of their chosen profession. The training is dangerous because it has to be. The missions are real-world. Train as you fight. Fight as you train. There has never been a greater need for Special Operations Forces than right now. They are leading the war on terrorism and are in the heaviest and often times unreported fighting in Iraq.

But ask anyone in the military and they will tell you the most difficult job belongs to the families. During the never ending deployments, they are left at home alone to deal with the difficulties of not knowing, the worry and the very real threat of "What if?" This is something I have a huge appreciation for.

As a member of Task Force Ranger I was part of the unit sent into downtown Mogadishu in search of a criminal warlord. You may know the battle from the book and movie Black Hawk Down. We lost 18 Americans in that fight, another 76 were wounded. For those of us who make it out of something like that, you spend the rest of your life thanking the men to your left and to your right. Because they are the reason I am still here today.

This country is at war. Special operations units are at the forefront of the fight. They will go into battle. And men will die. Families will be left shattered.

I wish I could be there to help. To ensure they all come home alive just as my buddies did for me. But as a musician all I have now to offer is the gift of song. I wrote "Hero" years ago as a tribute to a friend of mine. Perhaps the song will move you, inspire you, or motivate you to reach out and embrace a cause, any cause, that supports our troops and their families. The Special Operations Warrior Foundation is an excellent start.

RLTW,

Keni Thomas