On June 28, Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale, a Texas A&M alum, was killed during a training exercise at Fort Bragg by another solder who then shot himself. The Westboro Baptist Church, known for protesting soldiers' funerals with anti-gay messages, posted plans to show up at Tisdale's funeral on their website.

A fellow "Aggie", Ryan Slezia, came up with a plan to create a human wall to block any protesters from getting near the funeral, and invited fellow Texas A&M students and alum to join. One participant tweeted that over 650 people showed up in maroon shirts to create a "maroon wall". It appears that the Westboro protestors never showed up.