My speech this morning at the beginning of the annual Houston MS walk. I ad libbed to drag it out for 3 minutes. Sorry about the caps, but this is what I took to read.

Tom

WELCOME EVERYONE. IF THERE ARE ANY VETERANS IN THE AUDIENCE, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND AND VOLUNTEERS WILL BE PASSING OUT AMERICAN FLAGS.

HI. MY NAME IS TOM AND I'VE HAD MS NOW FOR ABOUT 25 YEARS. THIS IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY FOR ME. I AM A PROUD VETERAN. I SERVED IN THE EARLY EIGHTIES IN THE 56TH FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE, THE PERSHING MISSILE UNIT IN GERMANY. OUR MOTTO WAS, WE GAVE PEACE A CHANCE. YOUR SUPPORT IS MUCH APPRECIATIVE.

BUT WHAT IS MORE IMPRESSIVE, IS THAT YOU ALL HAVE SHOWED UP TO HELP COMBAT AN ANNOYING MEDICAL CONDITION CALLED MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS. ALL OF US WITH MS ARE TRULY APPRECIATIVE OF YOUR EFFORTS AS WE LOOK FOR ANSWERS AS TO WHY MS EXISTS AND POTENTIAL FIXES FOR THE EFFECTS OF THE DISEASE. I TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO OUR CAUSE BY BEING HERE TODAY.

I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE EVERYONE TO JOIN ME IN A SALUTE TO THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. THANK YOU TO THE AFJROTC FOR PRESENTING THE COLORS.

Thank you, Tom, for your service to this country and for helping to find a cure for this annoying disease.

Great Tom. The only thing is, is that I think you should have used my discription of MS, instead of merely annoying.

Good job, my Friend.

Sally - you know what I wanted to say. But the warm-up exercises involved tons of 4-10 year old kids, so...

Tom

Thank you for your service to this country, Tom. And congratulations for being chosen to speak at the Walk! I bet you did a great job!

Thank you for your service, Tom.
Happy Veteran's Day to you.