United We Brand
National Finals Rodeo header Charly Crawford, along with the foundations board of directors, continue to work hard to expand their outreach and offer new opportunities for servicemen and women. The first United We Brand event was held on Sunday, May 22, 2022.
“Branding is a community event for a lot of ranchers,” Crawford explained. “We have a community of service people that love the Western way of life so we wanted them to have more chances to experience it in an authentic way. We found local ranchers and started planning a day to work cattle.”
Those ranchers, Tyler Schnaffer and Lance Inderman, are raising corriente cattle that are used for team roping and steer wrestling. The property is owned by Mark and Ryan Sides and is southwest of Stephenville, Texas, that Crawford calls home.
“This area has supported me from the beginning of this endeavor,” Crawford said. “We moved our roping school and events to NRS in Decatur last year, so we wanted to have something in this area and we wanted to give the guys a chance to be cowboys outside of the competition arena.”
“What we see as a result of participating in the branding, teamwork, leadership and camaraderie are all things experienced in the military or as a first responder.” said Bill Force, who has a background in the military as well as law enforcement. “Giving military people an opportunity to have cowboy experiences is a natural fit. I saw that firsthand at the branding and heard many comments from others that were involved. It was a great day and we have a lot of people that can’t wait to do it again.”