We never know from where they will come or how they become what they are. Sometimes it just starts out as someone doing something to help another and it grows from there. The someone who gets help from the someone who provided it, tells someone else who needs help, and before long, the someone who provided help is looked upon as a leader.

This can be said of a small town Navy veteran who has been helping others in his community stand up for their freedoms and hold government agents accountable for what they are doing to take advantage of people who would not otherwise know that they do have a way to defend themselves from the abuses of government agents. They do not need a lot of money or an attorney like they may have been lead to believe.

Randy Townsend is one of those leaders. Randy served these united states in the Navy as a corpsman. That's a medic for those of you not in the Navy or Marines. Marines know who their corpsman is. He is the most important guy that deploys with the platoon. He is the guy who may be depended on to save their lives. They will rib and tease their corpsman, because he is the only one of them who is not a Marine. But only they may rib and tease their corpsman, because he is theirs and he is protected. Anyone who has a brother knows of what I am speaking. Brothers may fight among themselves, but nobody else better ever step in, because that is a line that may never be crossed. It is ok for me to fight with my brother. But it is not ok for anyone else to fight with my brother, because when that happens, the intruder will be fighting against all of the brothers.

I met Randy online one day and provided a counterpoint to something he had posted. Rather than take offense to what I had said, he decided to look into it. He has learned much in the few months that I have been associated with him. He has had the character and courage to follow through on challenging government jurisdiction and is continuing to do so. He has shown courage where others have not, even though they claimed they would. Maybe he just got some Marine rubbed off on him while working with them. I tend to think it was in him before he ever worked with the Marines, because people who are like that were raised to stand up for what is right.

Randy told me a story once about what may have been the worst day and the best day of his life at the same time. It was a day that he had to save some of his Marines. Yes, just like Marines think their corpsman is theirs, corpsman think of the Marines in their care as theirs as well. This day, the worst day and the best day, Randy had to pump 27 pints of blood into a Marine who was badly injured. That made for a very bad day. He did not lose the Marine. That made for a good day.

Like many people whose jobs are saving the lives of others, during the time of need they go into action and do what they have to do to get the job done. After it is all over and the stress of what just happened sets in, the hero may cry for hours releasing the stress of what he just went through. Even after enduring the stress, the hero go back to work and continues to do what he has to do to help others, frequently putting the needs of others ahead of  own.

Randy can boast to himself that he has never lost a Marine. He could, but he wouldn't. Randy thanks God above for the hand that he had in saving the Marines using his hands that day and for not leaving him to live with losing a Marine. He is just that kind of guy.

He has continued his work of helping others in Texas using what he has learned in recent months to make sure that others know there is a way to defend their freedoms from government overreach. He now heads up the Texas chapter of the American People's Peacekeepers and the Hamilton County Chapter of the APP. Randy didn't have to do anything but look out for himself, but he chose to help others as well as himself. Randy probably did not plan to do put himself out there as a leader. He did not get up one morning and say, "I think I will be a leader today." It just worked out that way. He will probably be the first to humbly say he isn't doing anything special, but he is. That is how real leaders are. They do for others and other follow.

There are many people like Randy Townsend of Hamilton, Texas. You may know of one yourself. Recognize them for what they are and thank them for being there, for they did not have to be there for you. They chose to be and while there might be many of them, there are not enough. If you know of them you might point them to this site so that we may all work together.

So, Randy, I thank you for being there to help others around you. And just to clarify how I feel about you, I may fight with you, but nobody else better.