CEO Responds To Veteran-Hating, Cop-Hating Gym Owner In Epic Letter
Kyle S. Reyes | August 10, 2017
Dear Jim Chambers, owner of the police and veteran hating gym:
I’d like to start by congratulating you. All it took was a simple sign on the door of EAV Barbell Club stating “no Fu***** cops” to bring national media exposure to a d-list gym that probably has fewer paying clients than bourbon has ingredients. Well played.
Jim, I’d like to introduce myself to you.
I run an agency called The Silent Partner Marketing. Last year we launched a campaign to donate $500,000 worth of services to police and veterans (along with other first responders) to help tell the stories behind their uniforms.
Jim, my team watched your interview in the local media. We heard your comment:
“We don’t want to make police stronger so that they can make people hurt more efficiently.”
First of all, we want to apologize. Perhaps you’ve had a difficult experience in the past. Perhaps you’ve had run-ins with the law. Perhaps, when growing up, you didn’t have people telling you that they love you. Perhaps you’re just desperate to have someone pay attention to you. Whatever your story is … it’s obviously difficult. And painful.
Want to know who else has experienced challenges in life? The police officers you are speaking out against.
And to your point – they absolutely hurt people. As a matter of fact, they do it regularly.
They hurt parents when they tell them that their child was killed in a car accident.
They hurt kids when they tell them their parents aren’t going to come home because they were shot and killed by an armed robber.
They hurt wives when they tell them that their husband, who was a veteran, took his own life because he lost to the demons of PTSD.
And I believe police officers NEED to be made stronger every day.
They need to be strong to hold that thin blue line.
They need to be strong to survive the attacks – both physically and mentally – on police.
They need to be strong enough to pull people out of burning cars … drowning children out of rivers … victims out of active gunfire. And they need to be strong enough to kiss their wives and husbands and children goodbye every day not knowing with certainty that they’ll return to them.
We heard you, Jim, when you said: “You put a uniform on and quite honestly, I view that as an occupying enemy army.”
To us, courage is serving your country and your community. It’s putting on that uniform. It’s defending those who can’t defend themselves. It’s putting one’s own life in harm’s way.
It’s carrying the bodies of fallen comrades – not carrying weights.
It’s training for service – not training to try to pick up chicks at a dive bar.
It’s putting on work boots – not lacing up your pretty squatting shoes.
It’s wiping tears – not wiping sweat.
But you inspired us, Jim. So we’d like to do something to recognize that.
We’re partnering with several gyms in the area – including a couple run by police — to pay tribute to those officers and veterans that you spit upon. And these gyms are going to offer 30 days of free training to police and veterans who aren’t currently members.
But that’s not all. We’re going to continue to inspire others. So every single veteran or police officer that takes us up on the free training will also be invited to The Silent Partner Marketing for a glass of bourbon and to be featured on an episode of a new show we’re launching – “Behind The Uniforms”. We’ll be highlighting the positive and the difficult stories that our first responders and our veterans have lived. We’ll make sure to share all of those stories on Facebook here as well – so keep following!
We’re not doing this in your honor, Jim – we’re doing this in honor of the men and women who serve our country. Because THEY are our heroes. THEY defend your right to speak out against them. But they also defend OUR right to call you an idiot and make sure the world knows it.
Sincerely,
Kyle S. Reyes
PS – If any other gyms would like to be a part of this patriotic initiative … feel free to drop us a line through here. And I’d ask that EVERYONE who stands behind our police and veteran SHARES THIS!
Kyle S. Reyes is co-host of The Whiskey Patriots and the Chief Executive Officer of The Silent Partner Marketing. Reyes is also an acclaimed keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can follow him on Facebook.
