Operation Stand Down Nashville Welcomes Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour 2nd Annual Heroes Breakfast

Aug. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- Operation Stand Down Nashville, Inc          
Lynda Evjen
levjen@gmail.com

Operation Stand Down Nashville Welcomes Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour for
2nd Annual Heroes Breakfast

Nashville, TN, July 23, 2012 Operation Stand Down Nashville, Inc. (OSDN) will host the 2nd Annual Heroes Breakfast this year. The event will honor female veterans by presenting keynote speaker Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour, on Monday, September 17th at 8am at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel and is sponsored by HCA-Tri Star, COMCAST, Fox 17, My30, CW58, Clear Channel, SouthComm and Danker and Danker.

Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour is America’s First African American Female Combat Pilot. She is a former Captain in the United States Marine Corps. She flew the AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and eventually served two tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour is no stranger to Nashville. In 1996, she took time off from college to become a Nashville police officer (her childhood dream). She became the first female African-American on the motorcycle squad. Armour graduated from MTSU in 1997. In 1998, Armour became the first African American female to serve as a police officer in Tempe, Arizona before joining the U.S. Marines as an Officer Candidate in October 1998.

The Honorary Chair for this 2nd Annual Heroes Breakfast is Colleen Conway-Welch, Dean, Nursing Vanderbilt School of Nursing. She is a huge supporter of women and veterans. “We are honored to have Colleen and Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour this year to honor women veterans” said Robert D. Tuke, President of Board of OSDN.

“We host this annual breakfast to honor those who served our country, who know and understand what it means to be a veteran in today’s world,” said Tuke. “Operation Stand Down Nashville is the only Veteran Service Center in Middle Tennessee. Our clients are honorably discharged veterans with an emphasis on veterans who are homeless or jobless. Our ultimate goal is to give veterans in need the tools to rejoin their community as productive, contributing citizens.”  All of the dollars raised for this event will help OSDN provide services for more than 2,000 veterans each year.

“The Marine Corps prepared the platform for my purpose,” Armour said. She has since published a book, “Zero to Breakthrough-The 7-Step Battle Tested Method for Accomplishing Goals That Matter” which she has been seen on Oprah, CNN, PBS, Good Morning America, and many others. There will be a book signing after the event on September 17th at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel. “I only wanted to be in the Marine Corps,” she said. “For me, it was the toughest. It was the biggest challenge
“Marines don’t settle,” Armour said. “Failure’s just not an option for us.”

Individual tickets for the event are $50 and Table Captains are $1000. Sponsorship information of this event can be obtained by calling 615-248-1981 or go to www.osdnashville.org.

About OSDN
Operation Stand Down Nashville, Inc (OSDN) is the primary nonprofit resource for veterans in Middle Tennessee providing life changing social services including transitional housing, or referrals, employment readiness training and placement assistance, and coordination of the activities of other agencies in the delivery of such services.