Ten years strong. Every morning, Neal McCoy gets up and starts his day the same way many of us did when we were in school: He says the Pledge of Allegiance. And the ’90s country superstar broadcasts it live on Facebook for thousands to watch and recite along with him. It’s a tradition that started on January 7, 2016, which means this week McCoy will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance live on Facebook every morning – 3,653 days, to be exact. We recently sat down with Neal to talk about the milestone, and why he started saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in the first place: “I was sitting at home and I told my wife, I said, ‘I’m just going to type in the Pledge of Allegiance on my Facebook page.’ And she said, ‘What are you doing that for?’ … It was early January of 2016 and I knew that the the Republicans and Democrats were trying to figure out who their nominees were going to be for president… I said, ‘Really, what I want to do is just let people know that the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America is just a small, short thing. But it’s pledging your love for our American flag and our country.'” He had no idea at the time that it would go on for 10 years, and didn’t even expect it to become a regular thing. In fact, some people reached out and questioned whether he was sick and if everything was alright: “I said, ‘No, I just want to let people know before we start bickering back and forth that we still should show love and respect for our flag and our country.’ Pretty simple.” And as he kept saying it, Neal says he began to realize how much it meant to some of the people who were tuning in every day: “I just kept saying it for the people that wanted to say it. And a lot of those people are some older folks in nursing homes or living by themselves that just don’t have many people come and talk to them or visit with them. And they’ll watch. They’ve written me and said, ‘You know what? I don’t see many people in a day, maybe a caretaker or two… and I see you and you’re doing the Pledge of Allegiance.’ And they say, you know, the ones that can stand up, they’ll say, ‘I stand up and say it with you. It just sometimes I feel like I haven’t even started my day until I’ve said the Pledge of Allegiance with you.'” Of course, starting every day with a Facebook live can be a challenge, especially with a crazy touring schedule or even just everything that happens in 10 years. In fact, McCoy says that even through the death of his parents, he continued to hop on Facebook and say the Pledge of Allegiance every day – and he’s even said broadcast live from the middle of the ocean to make sure he didn’t have to miss a day: “I’ve been on cruise ships, and sometimes you’re in the middle of an ocean. I’ve gone to the staff and said, ‘Look, I say the Pledge of Allegiance every day on my Facebook, can I do it? Well, I haven’t enough signal to be able to say that go live.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, we’ll make sure you do.’ Sometimes have a staff [WiFi], it’s a little stronger … and they’ll say, ‘Here, just use this password.’ The one that I go on, it’s called the Country Music Cruise, and I’ve been on it, I don’t know, six, seven, eight years. And now, it’s in their morning program, they put on there, ‘Join Neal McCoy at Seaside or at so-and-so deck to say the Pledge of Allegiance,’ and you’d be amazed at all the people that show up. I do it every day before we get off the ship. And so you’ll have a huge room full of four or five hundred people saying the Pledge of Allegiance with you. And then you run into them on the beach or somewhere and they go, ‘Hey, we love you and we love your music. We really think that’s cool, that Pledge of Allegiance thing.'” In fact, McCoy says that fans will even join him to say it in person when he’s out on the road – and that he’s had fans at his shows tell him they weren’t familiar with his music, but they came out to a show because they saw him saying the Pledge of Allegiance. And while some might take it as a political statement, McCoy says there’s nothing political behind it: “I just want to let people know before we start bickering back and forth that we still should show love and respect for our flag and our country. Pretty simple… It’s not meant to be political. It’s just meant to show your love and respect for our flag and country. Doggone, it can’t be that hard.” Amen. As for his end game, well, McCoy hopes to keep it going as long as he can, starting every morning with a simple, 31-word pledge, the same one that many of us grew up saying in school. The same way he’s started every morning for the past 10 years. The post Neal McCoy Celebrates 10 Years Of Saying The Pledge Of Allegiance Live On Facebook Every Morning first appeared on Whiskey Riff.