Most legends are written about people after they have died. The original "Crazy Horse" was a Ogala Sioux Indian, he was famous for his undaunted love and responsibility of caring for his people. The "Crazy Horse" I’m about to describe is in fact living today but nevertheless is a legend in his own time. His name is James P. Queen, he currently resides in the small residential community of Merritt Island in the state of Florida with his beautiful wife and two daughters. It’s for sure that they didn’t get their looks from Jim, but that’s another story. That may not seem unusual, but Jim has over a thousand sons, not one of them is a natural birth son. They are all spiritual birth sons in the greatest organization for boys and men alike "Royal Rangers".

I first met Jim Queen in 1983, after my son came home from church one night and proceeded to tell me about an organization called "Royal Rangers". Well my wife and I had been looking for something that I could get involved in with my son. We tried scouts and guides, but neither of them could provide me with what I was looking for. Until now that is, I had no idea how this organization was going to change my life forever.

As I entered the room that next Wednesday evening, I wasn’t prepared for what greeted me. There crowded into a double sized Sunday school room were almost thirty boys, varying in age from seven to eighteen. That itself was not so remarkable, what was that they all were quiet and standing at attention with their right hands raised. Up in front was a young man with white hair, he also had his right hand raised and he was leading them in some sort of pledge. That man was James P. Queen and he was soon to become my best friend. After the meeting he introduced himself to me and invited me back again the following week. I went home that night and for the first time I could feel an excitement building within me, one that at that time I could not explain. God was about to do a work in my life through this man for myself and for my family. Was I worthy?

The next week and the week after and the week after I went back. Commander Queen or "CQ" as the boys called him never pressured me to get involved. Then one night he asked if I would like to help in the recreation, I did and then with devotions and finally one week with the main feature. Like a big bass on the line CQ now set the hook. "You know Dennis", he began," I really appreciate all the help you’ve given me for the past six weeks but now it’s time to make a commitment. I explained that I work a rotating shift and every four months I could not attend for two months at a time. "Well", he said," think about it, more important pray about it." I said that I would and before you know it I found myself trading days off so that I would be free on Wednesday. Finally one night, I asked CQ if he would pray with me for guidance. I had made a commitment and I needed direction. In all the years I would come to know and love CQ, he never was too busy to pray with someone who desired it. Well later that week I got a call from a company at the Space center, they offered me a 7am till 3pm job Monday thru Friday. And what made it even sweeter is that they offered me more money to boot.

January 17^th 1984 was to become the day that I became fully hooked and reeled in to be a Royal Ranger for life. The outpost was going on a winter camping trip about 30 miles from home. I was coming from work so I said I would meet them on the road. Following the church bus in my pickup. The temperature outside was falling quickly as the sun went down. I had borrowed a cabin tent from a friend and bought myself a new sleeping bag. As we arrived I noticed that this was an old Boy Scout camping area. There was a screened in dining area and a cabin for sleeping. "Nope", said CQ "we came here to camp and not sleep in a cabin. Set up camp." I asked CQ if he would like to bunk in the big cabin tent I had brought but he told me that he was going to erect a tipi and he’d be plenty warm because he could have a fire inside and we could not. He had several poles of various lengths, which he tied together and proceeded to cover in a black industrial plastic. This would have been fine except that he ran out of plastic about halfway down. Now the temperature was falling pretty good and it started to rain. The wind was whipping across the pasture where the camp was located. We dug a big trench fire and served up hot chocolate for all before bed. Taps were sounded and after making sure all his charges were snug and warm ole CQ headed for his tipi. I called out to him to come and share my tent I had plenty of room. "Nope" he said, "I made it and I’m gonna sleep in it." The next morning when we arose, there was CQ sitting in the middle of a half covered plastic tipi all covered in a blanket wrapped all around him with this strange little wisp of smoke coming out of the top. As he finally unfolded himself we saw the little fire he had built inside his personal tipi inside the plastic tipi. It was still very cold out and no one, not even CQ objected to the suggestion that we adjourn to Mickey D’s for breakfast.

Well winter passed and spring arrived with sunny skies and warm balmy evenings. What a great time for camping. The biggest camping trip of the year was approaching. District POW WOW. Everyone was looking forward it. Now CQ was still in the military and I worked on a military base nearby, so we figured that we’d go and see if we could find some scrap canvas to make some real tipis, with enough material to go all the way down. Rummaging through the salvage yard I spotted a big pile of canvas and called CQ over. "Hey!" he said, "do you know what these are?" I didn’t and he proceeded to tell me that they were old Command tents, the big kind. We went inside and got the ok from the NCOIC to use them for the boys. We loaded them into my truck and proceeded to take them back to Rockledge. They had holes in the tent material and half the screens were ripped out, but that did not douse the spirit of enthusiasm that ole CQ had lit. We spent weeks repaired the tents and making poles from heavy duty PVC, Finally they were ready, in fact just three days before POW WOW. We borrowed a lawn equipment trailer from a member of the church and proceeded to pack. We had even constructed a giant ice chest from a jet engine box in which all our food was loaded. We packed it and three of the tents and poles and all the personal equipment from the 20 plus people who were going to attend into this little trailer. It was full to say the least. Next we hooked it on to the brand new church van that Pastor Joe has just purchased a week before and lettered two days before. You should have seen his face when CQ claimed that van for the Rangers and pasted Ranger stickers in every window and put a Ranger tag on the front. The caravan was formed and we prayed for safety and traveling mercies and set out. It was to be a good thing that we prayed.

About a hour later we were travelling across a stretch of road called the "Beeline". I was driving and CQ was doing the pre-POWWOW paperwork in the next seat. All of the sudden I saw the trailer in my left mirror, then it was in might right mirror and then back in my left one. We had no idea at that time that the pin on the tilt portion of the trailer had come undone and the rear of the trailer was dragging on the road, causing a drag effect on the trailer. Finally the tongue broke and the only thing holding the trailer to the truck were the safety chains. I told Queen that I was going to let up on the gas to let the trailer to nudge against the van and slowly bring it to a stop. He agreed, however ole Mr. Trailer had another idea. The safety chains now gave way and the trailer with all our gear started it’s own direction of travel down the highway. First it started to cross the left lane into oncoming traffic, we moaned, then it came back to our lane we cheered.

Then edged to the embankment and started a bumpy slow down, we really cheered. Then fate wagged its ugly finger in our face as the runaway hit a bump and landed with a thump and the broken off tongue stuck into the soft ground like an arrow. This caused the rear of the trailer to rise into the air. That wasn’t so bad, but the trailer was travelling so fast that the whole thing became airborne and landed upside down in a pond. Probably the only water within miles of this particular spot. Slamming on the brakes CQ and I jumped out of the van and ran to the site to see our trailer bobbing like a cork upside down, tires still turning. Without thinking CQ jumped into the water and I followed my leader boots and all. We turned the thing over and yelled to get the rope out of the truck. We tied the rope to the trailer, but the grade was too steep and the rope too short to use the van to pull it out. All the boys got on the rope and we pushed and that ole trailer came up out of the water like a gator up for a sunning. Everyone jumped and cheered that we had gotten the trailer out of the water, but now we had a bigger problem.

The tongue on the trailer was snapped in two and there was no way to hook it on to the van, what was more there was no room in the van for all the equipment and people too. Plus we could not leave the trailer there on the side of the road. Well don’t you know that God has everything under control. Pulling up behind the scene was a brown DOT van. They said that they had seen what had happened and they wanted to help. Little did we know, but they had welders and scrap metal right there in their van. The most amazing thing was that these two men were assigned to I-95, a road about 30 miles from this location. They were not even supposed to be here. We laughed because we knew that God sent them. Upon our return to Rockledge a certificate and letter of appreciation was sent to the men and their supervisor. After stopping to replace the taillights which got broke in the initial dragging we were back on the road in just under two hours. Finally arriving at camp, we had to scare up someone to register us as we were so late that registration was already closed. As the sun fell we set up camp. A wet camp, but nevertheless a camp. Most of the night was spent trying to dry out something to sleep in or to wear. Almost everyones belongings were wet. The next day we got permission to be excused from campsite inspection and strung up clotheslines, spread sleeping bags and clothes baked in the sun all day long. Everyone said we looked like 4077th MASH from the TV show.

CQ had many duties here at POW WOW, not only as outpost commander but also in the FCF functions. That night they had a business meeting that went on until about 2am. I had stayed up with the guys and finally about midnight had them all in bed fast asleep. I crawled into my now sunbaked warm sleeping bag and fell fast asleep. About 2:30 am CQ came into the tent. Being totally involved with getting everyone else’s stuff dried out he and the rest of us had forgotten to dry out his stuff. I heard him rummaging around and finally heard him wrap himself in a sheet of plastic to try and keep warm. Now I thought about opening my sleeping bag all the way up and sharing it with him really I did. Then I rolled over and went to sleep with the sound of CQ’s teeth chattering away into the night.

Being the new guy on the block, I had no real responsibility so to speak. So I had free run to do what I wanted. I took a lot of pictures and enjoyed watching our boys compete in the events. But most of my time was spent in or around the FCF village. I was really fascinated in their dress, tools, shelters and the way that they did things. I met Leon Spangler who was at the time the president of the chapter. He took me under his wing and showed me everything. I absorbed it all and decided right then and there that this was something I wanted to do. Later that night I watched in awe at how the FCF’ers put on the pageant and more importantly how they held a tremendous altar call where hundreds of boys, men and family visitors came and met the Lord. Yesir this was something I wanted really bad. Later that night I told Queen about my desires. He just laughed and said that he thought that I might. "So tell me what I have to do?" I asked. Little did I know at the time that this was all part of his master plan to get me totality involved. Needless to say it worked.

The first thing I need to do was complete the Royal Ranger LTC course. As there were no instructors in the area to teach it I elected to take it by mail. I took me almost 18 months to complete all five books and get them mailed in, graded and returned. These were sent to Commander Walt Monroe, who also was to become one of my best friends. Little did I know that CQ had some news that he’d been keeping to himself. It seems that Uncle Sam got a wild idea that Sgt Queen needed to spend two years in Italy and then 18 months in Korea. Guess who got promoted to be Senior Commander real quick like. There was only a short period of time before he was scheduled to leave. During that time CQ trained me in the ways of Rangers and in FCF. I came to appreciate why he was called "Crazy Horse" by all those who knew him. Of course that skunk he wore on his head didn’t help matters any. When I or anyone else messed up, Jim never got mad, he’d just smile and say "Let’s try it again". I came to love this man more than a brother. Over the years we’ve shared hundreds of campfires, traveled thousands of miles and never had a single regret one for any of it. I don’t think that CQ and I ever had a real argument over anything. This man, this holy man rightly deserves to be called "Crazy Horse".

Because of him, independent churches like ours throughout the world became eligible to receive the Royal Ranger ministry. In the beginning when Jim wanted to start a outpost here in his home church he was refused a charter because we were non-AG. He had sent all the required paperwork in and was waiting for and answer. Finally he called Springfield and talked to Paul Stanik who served with Johnnie Barnes who was our founder and National Commander. Paul had said that he had talked to Johnnie and being we were non-AG decided to reject our charter request. Well old CQ didn’t get a bit flustered. He asked Paul if he would ask Commander Johnnie one question. "Were we in the business to save only AG boys or to save all boys?" Well I’m here to tell to tell you in a few days CQ received our first charter signed not stamped by Commander Johnnie Barnes himself. Commander Queen and myself had the opportunity to meet and shake Commander Barnes’s hand just before he went to be with the Lord. " So", he said looking at CQ, you’re Commander Queen. We both just smiled. From that point on things really started hopping in our church boys and men alike came into the program and met God and talked with him all because of the vision of one man called "Crazy Horse".

There are so many stories I could tell about "Crazy Horse" but this next one really tells how he cares for his fellow man . We were attending District POW WOW in 1993 at the newly purchased Ranger property in Ft. Meade, Florida. A severe string of violent tornadoes was heading our way. The highway patrol was called in to evacuate over three thousand men and boys from the woods to shelters spread all over the area. Our group totaled about 500 people, we were led to a High School gym in the city of Ft. Meade. Commander Queen and I were working security that night so we naturally were picked to head up this shelter. Men and boys filled the gym finding anyplace that they could to sleep for the night. Unknown to us, on the way were about thirty senior citizens who were evacuated from a nearby trailer park. This was also their safety shelter. When they saw the mess there they were going to try and find somewhere else for them to go. Commander Queen would not hear of it. He made sure that they were found safe and warm places to rest. Delegated someone to bring them blankets and hot coffee and or cocoa which ever they preferred. Commander White the district commander was making his rounds to all the shelters trying to asses the situation. When he came to Commander Queen’s shelter he saw that everything was in order and said he wasn’t needed there and left. What a great confidence he placed on his shoulders, over 500 men women and children all under his guidance came out of a total of 27 tornadoes that night without one scratch. Who better to carry the moniker of "Crazy Horse"?

How do I know he’s a great Christian? Well our pastor explained it one day like this, he said that you know you’re in God’s will when the devil doesn’t leave you alone. So true for CQ. Ole slewfoot reached out and struck him with Parkinson’s last year. He’s on everyone’s prayer every moment of every day. I’m not sure why, but I know one thing, God has got something great for this man. The best friend a person could ever have. Truly a monument to Christianity, the Royal Ranger ministry and a definite tribute to our GOD.

Crazy Horse, Jim, CQ just remember this, I love you my brother.

Thank you for being you.