Wear R.E.D. Day, Every Friday in South Dakota

What is wear R.E.D. Day and how did it begin? Believe it or not the whole idea started with one of those chain emails back in 2005. Who exactly sent the original email is lost to the intricacies of time and the web, but it sought to organize Americans into showing support for all U.S. military personnel, deployed around the globe.

Here in South Dakota, in December of 2015, Governor Dennis Daugaard proclaimed every Friday from that point on (as long as South Dakotans were deployed somewhere in the world) would be a R.E.D. Shirt Friday. R.E.D. stands for "Remember Everyone Deployed"

May just happens to be Military Appreciation month in South Dakota by another gubernatorial proclamation.  And, Friday, May 12, 2017 the South Dakota Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, along with the South Dakota National Guard is hosting a special "R.E.D. Shirt Day" in South Dakota.

This day is to honor the service of members of the 153rd Engineer Battalion from Parkston who are currently deployed in Kuwait and the families who are supporting them at home. So just wear your red shirt to work, at school, to lunch or dinner and you'll be showing your support for our South Dakota deployed military personnel and their families.

Take photos of yourself, friends and family wearing your red shirts and share them at redshirtfriday.southdakota@gmail.com and the SD Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve will share them on their social media sites and of course, share them on yours too!

For more information on R.E.D. Shirt Day contact Major Lona Christensen at 605-737-6540. You can follow the 153rd Engineer Battalion, the South Dakota National Guard,  the South Dakota Army National Guard and South Dakota Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve on Facebook. You can read more about the origins of the event at SoldiersAngels.org. And, if you're motivated to shop for a special R.E.D. shirt for yourself, you'll find them all over the web.

Sources: Laurie Fluit & South Dakota Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, SoldiersAngels.org and USAToday.com

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