Friday, June 10, 2011

In the saddle for a worthy cause

Fredericksburg.com Tenhut Blog

June 10 2011

by Rusty Dennen

If you happen to see a group of horses and riders heading West along Route 3, you might want to wave. That would be Jeff Keegan, 63, his son, Patrick, 19, Mike Proscia, 45, and a couple other wrangles who all hail from Lake Havasu, Ariz. Jeff Keegan is a retired Marine, Patrick is a working cowboy who graduated in May from high school, and Proscia is a former Arizona National Guard soldier injured in Iraq during a deployment in 2006-2007. Around 10 this morning the riders set out from the Dahlgren Navy base on a 3,500-mile cross country ride to benefit the Wounded Warriors Project.

The Keegans started planning the ride several months ago, arriving in King George County a few days ago with their horses and gear. They were put up at Dan and Deb Crowl’s farm on Poplar Neck Road. Crowl is a retired Marine Corps colonel.

Keegan, himself a retired Marine, and a longtime rider, was looking to spend some time with his son, while doing something to help troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. ”I found out that the government was not taking care of the troops as they should when I ran into Mike” out in Arizona at another Wounded Warriors ride , Keegan says. So the trio decided to start in Virginia. When their first place to stay in King George fell through, the Naval Support Facility’s family services office got them in touch with the Crowls...

Read more here:
http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/tenhut/2011/06/10/in-the-saddle-for-a-worthy-cause/

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