Bunny In The Foxhole

2012-01-08T12:44:00.000-06:00

When a dog isn't a dog

By CNN National Security Producer Jennifer Rizzo

When an insurgent rocket attack badly injured Cpl. Dustin Lee while he was on patrol in Iraq, his shrapnel-impaled partner, Lex, picked himself up to lie over Lee - an effort to protect him.
"He knew Dustin was injured," said Lee's mom, Rachel. Lex was his bomb-sniffing dog.
Lee didn't survive his injuries, but Lex did - and became a part of the Lee family when Rachel adopted him.
"When Dustin was killed, one of the first things I asked about was Lex, because of their camaraderie. They depended on each other"
Lex, a German shepherd, served in the Marines as a military working dog.

There are about 2,700 dogs serving worldwide, according to the Defense Department. Roughly 600 of these dogs are deployed in designated war zones overseas, including Afghanistan, areas of Africa and Kuwait.
These "war dogs" are used on patrols, in drug and explosives detection, and on specialized missions, like the Navy SEAL raid that took down Osama bin Laden last year.
But while these dogs walk side by side with their troop handlers or go on jumps from helicopters in service members' arms, the Defense Department classifies military working dogs as "equipment," a term that advocates want changed.
"These dogs are more soldiers than they are equipment," said Debbie Kandoll, founder of Military Working Dog Adoptions.
Kandoll, who helps civilians adopt military working dogs, estimates that the average war dog saves 150 soldier lives during its service.
Dogs have been serving in military conflicts since World War I, returning home after the conflicts ended. But thousands of dogs were left behind during the Vietnam War. Of the roughly 4,900 dogs that the United States used in Vietnam, around 2,700 were turned over to the South Vietnamese army, and a staggering 1,600 were euthanized, according to veteran and former Marine dog handler Ron Aiello.
"Equipment you can leave behind," Kandoll said. "We've left tanks in Iraq. Everywhere we've been, we've left stuff. If you reclassify them as manpower, then you can't leave them."
Today, dogs are no longer left in war zones. In 2000, President Bill Clinton signed a law that allowed the dogs to be adopted by former handlers, law enforcement agencies and civilians. But Kandoll says this law didn't go far enough and is pushing for an amendment to include the reclassification of war dogs.
U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-North Carolina, agrees that a new classification is needed to elevate the "solider dog." Jones has been working on a bill that would reclassify the dogs as "K-9 members of the armed forces" and provide a way for the Defense Department to honor the dogs with official medals.
"Those who have been to war tell me that the dogs are invaluable," he said. "That they are just as much a part of a unit as a soldier or Marine. They are buddies."
Jones has submitted the proposed legislation to the Congressional Budget Office for a cost review. A response is expected by mid-February.
Despite the classification, the military says the dogs are respected.
"While there is a proper, legal classification for a working dog, we know they are living things, and we have great respect and admiration for them," said Lackland Air Force Base spokesman Gerry Proctor. The dogs are trained at Lackland. "A handler would never speak of their dog as a piece of equipment. The dog is their partner. You can walk away from a damaged tank, but not your dog. Never."
But if the dogs are retired on an overseas base, the military will not provide for their transportation back home, a practice that Kandoll says is like leaving them behind.
"The day the dog is retired, the dog is considered excess equipment and not entitled to any transport back," she said.
When a dog is retired on an overseas base and is adopted by someone in the United States, the adopter is charged the dog's shipping cost, which can be up to $2,000.
"It is essentially the same as a government surplus sale," Proctor said. "If the government has a surplus sale in Ramstein, Germany, and sells you a truck, then should the American taxpayer be on the hook to get that truck back to your house in Atlanta? The government doesn't own it once you buy it."
"That doesn't make sense to me," said Aiello, who thinks the military should wait to retire a dog until it's back in the United States. This way, it will be entitled to transportation benefits.
Kandoll says the cost to the taxpayer to send the dogs home would be minimal.
"We have half-empty military cargo transport planes transversing the globe daily. It would be more than feasible to place a retired military working dog on the transport plane back to the continental United States," Kandoll said. "Uncle Sam got them over there, and it's a point of honor for Uncle Sam to get his soldiers, whether they are four-legged or two-legged, back to the U.S."
But once home and placed with an adoptive family, medical bills are sure to stack up. Many of these retired dogs are more than 9 years old and are plagued with battlefield issues such as arthritis and even post-traumatic stress disorder. The Defense Department, Kandoll says, should allow military veterinarians to treat retired dogs.
A dog's medical history however is made clear during the adoption process, according to the Defense Department.
"So they go into it eyes wide open," Proctor said. "If you buy that truck, how far do you want the American taxpayer to be on the hook for the truck's oil changes and tuneups for its life?"
A one-month supply of all the medication the dog needs is also given to the adopter to ensure that the adoptive family has enough time to procure veterinary care for the animal, according to Proctor.
The brave dog Lex that stayed by his handler's side until the end is now 11 years old. He is doing well but has PTSD and pieces of shrapnel that cause spinal complications, Rachel Lee said.
"To be able to reclassify them would be to also get them help in a better manner," Lee said. "To be able to have them looked at differently - as a vet, as a soldier and to give them benefits."

Original Link

2011-08-26T11:02:00.006-05:00

At funeral, dog mourns the death of Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan

By Claudine Zap | The Lookout – 22 hrs ago

Jon Tumilson, a Navy SEAL, was one of 30 Americans killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 6 when a rocket-propelled grenade took out a U.S. Chinook helicopter. He was mourned at a service in Rockford, Iowa, attended by 1,500 family members, friends--and Hawkeye, Tumilson's dog.

The Labrador retriever was such an important part of Tumilson's life that the friends and family of the San Diego resident called the dog his "son."

When Tumilson's friend Scott Nichols walked to the front of the room to speak, Hawkeye followed, Today.com reports. "As Nichols prepared to memorialize his friend, Hawkeye dutifully laid down near the casket," Scott Stump writes.

A video clip of the mourning dog can be seen here. KIMT-TV of Mason City, Iowa, covered the funeral.

The photo on the right was taken by Tumilson's cousin, Lisa Pembleton, and posted on Facebook. Pembleton wrote on her Facebook page, "To say that he was an amazing man doesn't do him justice. The loss of Jon to his family, military family, and friends is immeasurable."

Loyal to the very end.This is truly heartbreaking,the video even moreso.I dont care what ANYONE says,I believe Hawkeye knows his master is in that casket.I also believe he knows his master is not coming home to him...I feel myself tearing up again.I hope Hawkeye can retire in peace now,and live the life of a well loved pet.
RIP Jon Tumilson,thank you for your service and ultimate sacrifice...Thank you Hawkeye,for being you,the loyal friend til the end...Much love to you!

2011-07-04T23:53:00.001-05:00

Thank you to all our service members protecting us!!!

2011-01-19T12:57:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Wednesday Hero

Maj. Dick Winters
92 years old from Hershey, Pennsylvania
Company E, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
January 21, 1918 – January 2, 2011

Maj. Richard "Dick" Winters passed away a couple of weeks ago and Beth has written a wonderful piece honoring his service and his life.

Some of the awards Maj. Winters was honored with for his service: Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation with one Oak Leaf Cluster, American Defense Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 service stars and arrow device, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, Croix de guerre with palm, French Liberation Medal, Oorlogskruis with palm, Belgian WWII Service Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge with 2 combat stars and the Medal of the City of Eindhoven

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2010-11-21T12:34:00.002-06:00

Sorry I am LATE...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Wednesday Hero

Posted by Christopher Lee on 11/17/2010 07:00:00 AM

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy

SSgt. Salvatore Giunta
25 years old from Ceder Rapid, Iowa
173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team

Yesterday, SSgt. Salvatore Giunta became the first living recipient of the Medal Of Honor since the Vietnam War.

From the official citation:

Then-Specialist Salvatore A. Giunta distinguished himself by acts of gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a rifle team leader with Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment during combat operations against an armed enemy in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan on October 25, 2007. When an insurgent force ambush split Specialist Giunta’s squad into two groups, he exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a comrade back to cover. Later, while engaging the enemy and attempting to link up with the rest of his squad, Specialist Giunta noticed two insurgents carrying away a fellow soldier. He immediately engaged the enemy, killing one and wounding the other, and provided medical aid to his wounded comrade while the rest of his squad caught up and provided security. His courage and leadership while under extreme enemy fire were integral to his platoon’s ability to defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow American paratrooper from enemy hands.”

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go her

2010-11-10T23:05:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Wednesday Hero

Capt. George Vujnovich
95 years old from Queens, New York

66 years after he was instrumental in the rescue of almost 500 bomber pilots who had been shot down over Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, Capt. George Vujnovich was finally awarded the Bronze Star in October.

You can read the rest of Capt. George Vujnovich's story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2010-11-03T18:30:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Wednesday Hero

Lt. Wilson W. Brown
Company F, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Dec. 25, 1839 - Dec. 26, 1916

Private Wilson W. Brown was part of "The Great Locomotive Chase" or Andrews' Raid. It was a military raid that occurred April 12, 1862, in northern Georgia during the American Civil War. Volunteers from the Union Army commandeered a train and took it northwards toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, doing as much damage as possible to the vital Western & Atlantic Railroad (W&A) from Atlanta, Georgia to Chattanooga as they went, pursued by other locomotives. Because they had cut the telegraph wires, no warning could be sent to Confederate forces along their route. The raiders were eventually captured and some were executed as spies. Some of Andrews' Raiders became the first recipients of the Medal of Honor, including Pvt. Wilson Brown who was able to escape and later promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. His citation read:

"One of the 19 of 22 men (including 2 civilians) who, by direction of Gen. Mitchell (or Buell), penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Ga., in an attempt to destroy the bridges and track between Chattanooga and Atlanta".

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2010-10-27T12:01:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Wednesday Hero

GySgt. Carlos Hathcock
May 20, 1942 – February 23, 1999

Carlos Hathcock was a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant sniper with a service record of 93 confirmed kills. Hathcock's record and the extraordinary details of the missions he undertook made him a legend in the Marine Corps. His fame as a sniper and his dedication to long distance shooting led him to become a major developer of the United States Marine Corps Sniper training program. He was honored by having a rifle named after him: a variant of the M21 dubbed the Springfield Armory M25 White Feather.

You Can Read More About GySgt. Hathcock Here

You can watch an interview with Gunny Hathcock
Here
Here
and Here

I have to say that it's kind of sad that the best source of info I could find on Gunny Hathcock was on Wikipedia. There should be a lot more sites honoring this man.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2010-10-22T12:12:00.000-05:00

Wednesday Hero-(Double Shot-missed last week)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wednesday Hero

SSgt. Robert J. Miller
24 years old from Wheaton, Illinois
Company A, Third Battalion, Third Special Forces Group
January 25, 2008

Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in a Pentagon ceremony on Wednesday, October 6, 2010. He died in Afghanistan saving his fellow soldiers in an act of heroism that is honored as courage above and beyond the call of duty.

You can read the rest of SSgt. Miller's story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Wednesday Hero

First Lieutenant Gregory F. Ambrosia
28 years old from Knoxville, Tennessee
2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant (Infantry) Gregory F. Ambrosia, United States Army, for gallantry in actions while serving as Executive Officer, Company A, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade Combat Team, in action in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, in Afghanistan, on 25 - 26 September 2007. First Lieutenant Ambrosia's gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army. NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY AWARD: On 25 September 2007, Able Company, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry air assaulted into the village of Qowru and conducted a search and attack through the village and surrounding caves in order to disrupt Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in the Watapor Valley. The Company Executive Officer, First Lieutenant Ambrosia air assaulted into OP REDSKINS, one of two company observation posts (OP's) overlooking Qowru, in order to establish a command radio relay station and overwatch the mounted assault element in the valley with 60-mm. indirect fire. Upon occupation, ICOM intercepts informed the OP that the enemy was mobilizing and massing for an attack on both company OP's and the mounted maneuver element in the valley. Immediately upon insertion, the 22 Soldiers of 1st Platoon which assaulted OP REDSKINS linked up and moved towards their position overlooking the valley. There were explosions and shots fired across the valley during the night, but no fires were directed at OP REDSKINS. By morning the OP observed the rest of the Company move into position and begin their search and attack through the valley. A fire team plus-sized element of Anti-Coalition Militia was maneuvering to high ground to the east of the company when they made contact with the position at OP REDSKINS. The first individual that came close to the OP was an enemy scout. The individual was engaged immediately and within minutes several of the ACM fighters engaged the observation post with an intense volume of fire. Without any hesitation, First Lieutenant Ambrosia immediately assessed the situation and reported to the Company Commander who was located down in the valley and by this time under fire as well. He gave the enemy situation and without any concern for his own safety remained in place while exposed to heavy enemy fire from ACM forces advancing on his position to within hand grenade range. He continued directing fires and making critical radio transmissions using both FM and TACSAT communication. His timely and accurate calls for 40-mm. and 81-mm. danger close fire were the only effective defense for the OP. While the rest of the element were throwing hand grenades and engaged in close combat with a flanking ACM force, First Lieutenant Ambrosia held his position under heavy direct fire during the 4 hours of the engagement without deviating from his radio transmissions. He requested fire missions, using three different indirect fire assets and close air support simultaneously. First Lieutenant Ambrosia's strong character gave him the tools he needed to repel the enemy attack. First Lieutenant Ambrosia's indirect fire was able to hold the enemy front, which allowed the rest of the OP to fight back the enemy's attempt to turn their flank. First Lieutenant Ambrosia continued providing covering fire simultaneously as he had to make corrections on the 500 pound bombs dropped all within danger close. He gave the Battalion Commander updates of the enemy and friendly situations as they developed. He continued to hold his position even though he was constantly exposed to close heavy enemy fire. First Lieutenant Ambrosia kept keeping Close Combat Air updated on the enemy's location allowing the AH-64 (Apache) to effectively engage and kill three ACM fighters. Despite constant signal intercepts suggesting advancing and flanking maneuver forces, his ability to continue setting the tactical conditions gave the Non-Commissioned Officers and all junior leaders the ability to maneuver their Paratroopers. First Lieutenant Ambrosia's actions throughout the entire engagement were of the highest degree of valor. He performed honorably while under direct enemy fire and effectively engaged the enemy under the most difficult circumstances. First Lieutenant Ambrosia was a key leader during the battle, providing true leadership to the entire element. Even when events became dire, he kept his demeanor and without hesitation took the fight to the enemy. His actions are the true embodiment of the Infantry Warrior Ethos.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

2010-10-12T17:14:00.000-05:00

Supreme Court debates protest limits

A case over privacy at military funerals could redefine activism.

By Ambreen Ali

Anti-gay activists argued before the Supreme Court today that they should be allowed to protest at military funerals.

The debate centered on whether the Westboro Baptist Church had a First Amendment right to hold signs such as "God hates you," and, "God hates dead soldiers," outside the funeral of a deceased Marine.

Albert Snyder, the soldier's father, argued that the activists invaded his privacy during the 2006 protest in Maryland and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on him and his family.

Margie Phelps, the daughter of Westboro's pastor Fred Phelps and the lawyer for the church, retorted that her group was exercising free speech on a matter of public debate—the Iraq war.

"This is a case about exploiting a private family's grief," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said during Wednesday's arguments. Justice Anthony Kennedy boiled it down to a debate over harassing conduct versus public speech.

For activists, the case could draw new lines on where protests are appropriate. Powerful groups back both positions.

The Westboro Baptist Church received support from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Liberty Counsel that are concerned about upholding free speech.

The Snyder family presented briefs from American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the state of Kansas—where the Westboro activists live—and 42 senators including the leaders of both parties.

The two sides faced sharp questions from the court Wednesday on whether activists making personal attacks near a private setting should have free-speech protections.

In the past, the Supreme Court has upheld the privacy rights of individuals who are not public figures.

Phelps tried to make the case that Snyder became a public figure when he spoke to the media about his son's death, but the justices pointed out that families regularly contact newspapers about obituaries for the deceased.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the question was "at what point and how do we accept personal attacks" as part of freedom of speech.

But the justices were equally tough on Snyder's counsel, questioning how he could claim damages considering that the protest was held 1,000 feet away from the gravesite. Snyder and his family did not see the signs until they turned on the television later that day.

Justice Elena Kagan asked whether "public speech, if directed to a private figure, should be treated differently under the law,'' asking the plaintiff to point out a case with that precedent.

Sean Summers, Snyder's attorney, said he could not cite such a Supreme Court ruling on that which involved a private figure.

"I would hope that the First Amendment wasn't enacted to harass people at private funerals," he added.

Outside the courtroom, both camps claimed victory, though the justices will probably not hand down a decision for months.

"There's no line that can be drawn here without shutting down speech," Phelps told reporters.

A dozen members of her church stood close by, holding signs that said, "God is your enemy," and, "Fags doom nations."

Students from Maryland, where Snyder was buried, held a counter protest with signs that said, "Love," and, "WBC, Thanks for making acceptance, tolerance, and love look reasonable."

Josh Santangelo, a counterprotester who is gay, called the Westboro messages hateful and hurtful but said activists should be able to express their views as long as they do not invade someone else's privacy.

Snyder, speaking softly to reporters in the background, offered a retort.

"The Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church's conduct was so extreme that it went beyond all possible boundaries of basic human decency," he said. "It could be regarded as utterly intolerable in a civilized nation."

LINK

Why dont these people go jump in a quaking volcano? (Sorry dear Mother Earth,that would be pure poison huh?)
These groups backing these rabid beasts (WBC) arent making themselves look too good either...not that I ever had a very high opinion of the ACLU anyways..but still.I guess its "jump on the make an ass of yourself" bandwagon month or something.

Does anyone else feel "funny" about calling WBC a "church"? I sure do!!

2010-10-12T16:55:00.004-05:00

Bikers drown out Westboro protest

Patriot Guard uses free speech against the funeral protesters.

By Ambreen Ali

When it comes to military funerals, the line between free speech and privacy rights can be uncomfortably thin.

To thicken it, members of the Patriot Guard Riders literally stand between grieving families and the "God hates fags" signs the Westboro Baptist Church members uses to protest soldiers' funerals.

When the Westboro activists shouted, "God hates America," to a procession outside Arlington National Cemetery Monday, the riders—many of whom are veterans—revved their motorcycles to drown the protesters out.

"There's very few things on Earth louder than a V-Twin Harley Davidson," said Dylan Waite, an Army first lieutenant and Patriot Guard volunteer who used his car alarm to contribute to the noise.

Few approve of the church's tactics, but free-speech advocates like the American Civil Liberties Union have lined up to defend them on First Amendment grounds.

When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the issue Wednesday, those groups are expect to argue in favor of the Patriot Guard's approach to the free-speech conundrum: Drown them out with more speech.

'Law doesn't prohibit insulting'

Margie Phelps, the daughter of Westboro Pastor Fred Phelps, arrived at the cemetery 15 minutes before the funeral of Lt. Brendan Looney, a 29-year-old Navy SEAL who was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last month.

She and her two nieces rushed towards a barricade the National Parks Service, which is used to working with the group, had set up for the protest.

Phelps slipped on a T-shirt that said, "God hates fags.com" as the girls pulled out signs with an array of messages: "Thank God for IEDs," "Thank God for dead soldiers," "God hates Obama," "America is doomed," "Mourn for your sins," and "Don't worship the dead."

"The law doesn't prohibit insulting," Phelps said. "It's not insulting to tell the public to avoid the wrath it faces. We're here to tell them that everything you have tried is not working. Stop sinning and the soldiers will stop dying."

The activists identified homosexuality as the sin that concerns them the most. Phelps said she does not know whether Looney was gay and said that it does not matter.

"He put on the uniform that today in the whole world stands for same-sex relationships," she said.

Phelps is the lawyer defending the Westboro Baptist Church in the Supreme Court case. Most of the church's 60 members are part of the Phelps family, and many of them are lawyers who have spent decades defending their right to protest.

"We always win the litigation. We litigate as a last resort," Phelps said.

About half of churchgoers are expected to be in D.C. this week for a series of protests outside the Capitol, White House, Supreme Court, and Arlington National Cemetery as the case begins.

On Monday, the trio stood close to the Metro stop outside the cemetery, hundreds of feet from the entrance to the sprawling grounds. Protesters are not allowed inside, and Phelps said her group always respects the rules.

"We don't do controversial picketing like the abortion protesters. It's not proper," she said.

Just before the motorcyclists roared onto the scene, a pedestrian on his way to Looney's funeral stopped to shout, "God hates people like you," at the Phelps family.

Tom Henneberg explained that he respects freedom of speech but believes such protests infringe upon the rights of the grieving families.

"[The protesters] are far enough away, but it's still offensive," he said as he walked away.

Counterprotesters make noise

A dozen members of the Patriot Guards, who attend military funerals at the request of the families, rode in front of Looney's funeral procession.

They lined up in front of the Phelps family, blocking the protest signs with motorcycles and giant American flags. Then they stood and saluted as Looney's family drove by.

Some children in the family stared out at the spectacle. Drivers rolled down their windows to give the riders a thumbs up.

"Our veteran friends are here," Phelps had said when the bikers first arrived. Later, she said to them, "Try to bring a few more people next time, ladies. That's a pretty poor showing."

The Patriot Guard turnout was indeed small compared to some of the group's previous events, where hundreds turned up to defend the deceased soldiers.

Since it began in response to Westboro five years ago, the group has enlisted volunteer coordinators in every state, and thousands of people have made it their mission to counter the church wherever it goes.

The bikers still outnumbered the Westboro activists four to one at Looney's service.

To some of the tourists who caught the spectacle, even that was not enough. They said they hoped the Supreme Court would consider curbing the Westboro demonstrations.

"I believe in freedom of speech," Ann Chandler, a Sunday School teacher from Louisiana, said. "But to me, there is nothing more sacred than a funeral."

LINK

I am all for free speech,but something needs to be done about these freaks.Why not make them keep their vile hatred at their own "church"? When they go traveling around,everyone knows why they are going and what their intentions are. I keep telling myself that someday this whole clan WILL have to answer to God Himself (before He sends them to hell..hopefully...Yes I know,I am kinda hypocritical here myself,these fleabags just irritate me til all common sense and reasoning is GONE) as to why they saw fit to take HIS job as judge.

I still stand by my previous statement that Fred Phelps himself is gay,and is so filled with self loathing that he has to turn it on to someone before it eats away at his own self.I wanted to say "eats away at his own soul",but I dont feel he has one...

Hey Freddi boi, didnt you ever learn to "hate the sin,NOT the sinner"??? Leave our soldiers and their families ALONE! (Meaning both deceased,and living,you crackpot!)

2010-10-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

Funeral protesters make their case in and outside Supreme Court

By LAURA E. DAVIS

Yahoo! News

They showed up today with their signs — signs with messages like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates You." The controversial slogans were part of what brought the infamous Phelps family to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on the day the family appeared inside the courthouse, those signs were on display in front of the building's grand steps.

More than two hours before the proceedings began, about 10 members of the Westboro Baptist Church — followers and family members of Pastor Fred Phelps — lined the sidewalk along One First Street, demonstrating in front of the highest court in the land, much as they do regularly at military funerals and other public events. They say they are expressing their belief that soldiers' deaths are part of America's punishment for its immorality, including tolerance of abortion and homosexuality.

They're often met at those funerals by counterprotesters, and Wednesday morning was no exception.

With temperatures in the 50s, a young man stood wearing only black underwear, sneakers and sunglasses, his lips shivering in the fall chill, waving his own sign: "Fred Phelps wishes he were hot like me!"

"I think it's important to exercise my First Amendment right to stand out here in my underwear," explained Sam Garrett, 18, a freshman atGeorge Washington University, who was there with his friend and boyfriend of one month.

Even with their attention-getting signs, the dueling picketers did not get out of control — no shouting, no chanting. Garrett posed for photos; demonstrators in both camps easily chatted with the press. But the outrageous activity on both sides was perhaps the perfect backdrop to a potentially groundbreaking legal decision about free speech.

Inside, the nine Supreme Court Justices heard the oral arguments for Snyder v. Phelps, a difficult and highly charged case stemming from a Phelps/Westboro protest at the March 2006 funeral of Lance Cpl.Matthew Snyder in Westminster, Md. Cpl. Snyder died in Iraq and was not gay, yet Phelps and some of his family members showed up to protest with their signs. They did not violate any local ordinances and stayed a certain distance away.

Albert Snyder, Matthew's father, sued the fundamentalist church for emotional distress, among other things, in the aftermath, raising the question of where to draw the line between free speech and harassment. A jury awarded Snyder $10.9 million in damages, which a judge later reduced to $5 million. But an appeals court overturned the verdict on First Amendment grounds, saying the Phelpses' speech was protected because it wasn't based in fact and was about issues of public concern.

A surprise spectator created a bit of a buzz before the argument began -- retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was spotted; she was there with some of the alumni from the law school named after her, perched quietly to the side of the bench where she used to sit -- but a sober atmosphere prevailed once the arguments began.

Even Margie Phelps, daughter of Fred and his lawyer in this case, was soft-spoken and tame before the justices. Behind sleek glasses with thick black rims, she spoke of a "little church" merely wanting to express its views on public issues. (She did sing a hymn with the church group outside afterward — inexplicably to the tune of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train.")

All the justices save for Clarence Thomas, who hasn't asked a question at oral argument in more than four years, piped into the discussion, often presenting hypothetical situations to the lawyers on both sides, as they tried to derive an opinion about whether or not expressions like the Phelpses' should be allowed under the law.

Justice Samuel Alito offered a scenario where a grandmother raises a boy who becomes a soldier in Iraq and dies there. The grandmother goes alone to visit her grandson's grave, and on her way home she is waiting for a bus and is harassed by someone who says he is glad her grandson died and wished he were there to see it.

"Now, is that protected by the First Amendment?" Alito asked.

Counselor Phelps tried to put that situation under a different legal umbrella, suggesting that the person harassing the grandmother could be considered to be inciting "fighting words." Alito steered her away with help from his colleague Justice Antonin Scalia.

"She's probably not in a position to punch this person in the nose," Alito clarified.

"And she's a Quaker, too," Scalia piped in, prompting laughter in the courtroom.

The lighthearted moment, though, was not reflective of how torn the justices seemed to be over this emotional case. They indicated they were concerned about how far a ruling could go in either direction, silencing too much speech on the one hand or allowing targeted harassment of private people on the other.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for example, questioned Snyder's lawyer, Sean Summers, about why his client didn't get an injunction to bar the picketers from his son's funeral, since he knew ahead of time that they planned to come, an action that could have prevented Snyder's emotional distress but not prevented the Phelpses overall from expressing their message.

When it was Margie Phelps' turn to speak to the justices, Ginsburg challenged her as well.

"This is a case about exploiting a private family's grief, and the question is: Why should the First Amendment tolerate exploiting this Marine's family?"

After debates between the justices and both lawyers about content and context, Summers explained why he believes the Phelpses' speech falls out of the bounds of First Amendment protection.

"The private, targeted nature of the speech in our judgment is what makes it unprotected," he said in response to a question from Justice Stephen Breyer, who was concerned about the fact that the Phelpses' speech reached Snyder after the funeral in the form of television a broadcast, and a poem of sorts that the Phelpses later published online that named Matthew and said he was "raised for the devil."

Afterward, Albert Snyder greeted the press, wearing a button that with a picture of his son, Matthew, below the words "My Hero." He gave a quiet statement, and Summers took questions. When asked what the hardest legal part of this tricky First Amendment case is, he answered, "The toughest question is always drawing a line in the sand."

LINK

So it begins.I seriously hope the inbred Phelps clan gets their collective asses handed to them.I also hope and believe they should have to pay every dime of Mr Snyder's original judgement.Hit em in the ol bank account.

Its also my personal opinion and belief that Fred Phelps is gay,and cant come to terms with that fact.So to "hide" his "shame",he occupies himself with tormenting soldiers and their kin.Its people like Phelps and their 'tudes that drive people like poor Tyler Clementi to suicide.Phelps,you are gay.DEAL WITH IT! Stop making others miserable with your misery.I dont advocate suicide in any way, shape, or form,but in Phelps' (and the family's) case,I think them jumping off the GW Bridge might not be such a bad idea.I know,not very Christian-like,but I have to sound off somehow!

2010-10-06T21:58:00.000-05:00

Wednesday Hero

Sgt. 1st Class Brandon McGuire

The early morning April sky dawned clear over Forward Operating Base Iskandaryia, Iraq. Sgt. 1st Class Brandon McGuire, a platoon sergeant with 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, whose home base was Fort Richardson, Alaska, and his spotter settled in for their third day of looking for insurgents.

"We were observing a stretch of road that had recently been cleared of IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," said McGuire, now first sergeant of Fort Polk's Alpha Troop, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment.

"The area had also seen a lot of mortar activity. We had several Soldiers killed and severely wounded along that stretch of road by IEDs and mortars."

As the two Soldiers gazed across the expanse between their hiding place - an abandoned shed - and their target area, they noticed a man in local garb sauntering up and down through a series of canals. When he dug into a canal bank and uncovered a mortar tube, McGuire said he knew this was a target.

You can read the rest of Sgt. 1st Class Brandon McGuire's story here.

Photo Courtesy Army.mil

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2010-09-29T15:48:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wednesday Hero

Posted by Christopher Lee on 9/29/2010 07:00:00 AM

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Lt. Schneider

Cpl. Brian Downard

Brian Downard was 23 years old, a father, a country music fan, and a corporal of Marines. He joined the Marine Corps in July of 2005, and would do two deployments to two different scenic locales. The first was to Iraq, where he served from November of ’06 to April of the following year. While in Iraq, Brian suffered a concussion from an IED strike while patrolling. Undeterred, Brian stayed in the Marines and deployed to Burma in 2008 when Marines and sailors with the Essex Amphibious Readiness Group provided humanitarian assistance operations to aid the cyclone-stricken country. He would eventually leave the service just last July, after four honorable years of service.

One month after separation, he discovered that he had testicular cancer, and a very aggressive strain at that. The cancer spread quickly to his muscles and fatty tissues, and Brian suffered so greatly with the pain that they put him on morphine. He was released from the VA to enjoy his last days with the love from his mom and his 7-year-old son Jesse.

You can read the rest of Cpl. Downard's story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2010-09-29T14:35:00.000-05:00

Dad of a fallen Marine perseveres against protests at military funerals

Albert Snyder says he won't pay court-ordered legal fees of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church, which organizes protests at military funerals. He sued the group after it picketed at his son's funeral in 2006, and the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear his appeal

By Gordon Lubold, Staff writer / March 30, 2010
Washington

A father of a Marine killed in Iraq says he won't pay the legal fees of a protest group who picketed at his son's funeral in 2006 at least not until he hears from the US Supreme Court on the matter.

Albert Snyder, whose son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq, learned Friday that a federal appeals court is requiring him to pay more than $16,000 in legal fees to the Westboro Baptist Church, a Christian fundamentalist group that demonstrates during military funerals to gain attention for its antigovernment, antihomosexual message. The group rallied at Matthew Snyder’s funeral in March 2006 in Westminster, Md., chanting antigay slogans and carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers," says Albert Snyder’s attorney, Sean Summers.

The group was protesting about 30 feet from the church’s main entrance, and Mr. Snyder had to enter through a separate entrance, Mr. Summers says.

Snyder subsequently sued the Westboro group for emotional distress and won a $5 million judgment. But on appeal, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding in favor of protecting the protesters' free-speech rights. About three weeks ago, the Supreme Court agreed to take the case and is expected to hear it in the fall. (Last year, the high court had declined to take up the issue.) Meanwhile, the circuit court has ordered Snyder, a salesman, to pay the church’s court expenses.

Snyder, of York, Pa., told Fox News on Tuesday that he would not pay the Westboro Baptist Church "until I hear from the Supreme Court."

"It’s fair to say that they are not getting any Christmas cards from Mr. Snyder,"adds Summers, in a phone interview. "He obviously thinks they are despicable and doesn’t understand why they would target him."

The Westboro group has been protesting at military members’ funerals for years. The church leader, Fred Phelps, preaches that American deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality. (He was among those banned from Britain last year for fostering hatred or extremism.) The protests have nothing to do with the fallen service members' sexual orientation, and the church says its protests are held within a "lawful distance" of the funerals.

Ultimately, say some, the church protests are a matter of constitutionally protected free speech.

"I really don’t see that [the protest] was a violation of the First Amendment [principles]. It was a violation of decorum and good taste and all sorts of other things, but not a violation of the First Amendment," says Charles Gittins, a civilian lawyer in Virginia.

But Summers argues that his client’s right to peaceful assembly and freedom of religion were infringed by the protests and that, unlike at a public park where people are free to express themselves, a funeral setting draws a "captive audience" that requires attendees to be in a particular location, they can’t simply walk away.

Westboro Baptist Church, which is based in Kansas, plans to protest in Florida on Wednesday, outside a funeral for a Marine killed in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan on March 22.

"Military funerals have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy, where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom and play taps to a fallen fool," states a press release posted on the church’s website, announcing the rally at a memorial service for Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson. At the bottom of the press release are printed the words "Thank God for IEDs,"referring to the roadside bombs that have killed thousands of troops in both wars

LINK

This is a story I have been keeping an eye on since it first hit the headlines.I knew Westboro was full of tactless half wits,but this just takes the cake.Proves them to be total hypocrits.Protest the funerals of the very people who defend their right to spew BS?? Makes no sense to me.I truly believe there is a nice hot place in hell for the Phelps inbred clan.

I truly hope the court finds in favor of Mr Snyder,and he can get some peace.I thank he and his son for the sacrifices they have both made to keep us free.God Bless the Snyder family.

2009-11-18T23:17:00.000-06:00

Staff Sgt. Dennisur Thompson

Staff Sgt. Dennisur Thompson, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, overcompensates a left turn while on a driving simulator as a part of the Save a Life Tour in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2009-11-15T00:05:00.003-06:00

MIA dog found in Afghanistan after 14 months

Thu Nov 12, 2:52 am ET

SYDNEY – A bomb-sniffing dog that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year.

And Sabi the black labrador is getting a celebrity welcome home.

Sabi was with a joint Australian-Afghan army patrol ambushed in restive Uruzgan province in September 2008, triggering a gunfight that wounded nine troops and earned one Australian soldier the country's highest bravery medal.

But there was no sign of Sabi after the battle, and months of searching failed to find any sign of the retriever — until now.

Defense officials said Thursday that a U.S. soldier recovered Sabi at an isolated patrol base elsewhere in Uruzgan. Further details about the base were not given.

The dog was returned to the Australians' base in the province just in time for a visit by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was photographed Wednesday along with the U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal petting Sabi.

"Sabi is back home in one piece and is a genuinely nice pooch as well," Rudd told reporters.

Exactly where Sabi has been or what happened to her during the past 14 months will probably never be known, though that she was in good condition when she was found indicated somebody had been looking after her, military spokesman Brig. Brian Dawson told reporters in Canberra.

The dog was being tested for diseases before a decision was made on whether she can return to Australia.

More than 1,500 Australian troops are in Afghanistan and most of them are involved in training Afghan security forces. Among them are units that use dogs to sniff out roadside bombs and other explosive booby traps.

Isnt this incredible?? If only this beautiful girl could talk! I would LOVE to hear her story.Here's to remembering our furry heroes! =)

2009-07-03T20:32:00.002-05:00

I have made it a point to not mention the death of Michael Jackson in my blogs simply cos I think he's getting enough exposure from other sources.And,I am not a fan,so,while surprising as his premature death came,its not effecting me personally,and I have nothing nice to say.I am following the old adage of "If you cant say something nice,then dont say anything at all".

Which brings me to my post.I got this from a MS bulletin,and I totally agree with what this soldier says.Enough about Michael Jackson already!!! He's dead,now move on!I'd also like to wonder aloud where was all this support in the last few years...things that make ya go hmmm.

Whatever he did or didnt do,I hope he gets some peace now.One thing is for certain,he obviously wasnt happy with the race and body he was given at conception.And,I am on the fence about stuff he was accused of,some days I think he's guilty,others,well,maybe there is a shred of doubt.However,I really dont devote much time to MJ.He wasnt anything to me but a singer I listened to before I discovered "hair bands".Anyhoos,I've rambled 'nuff..have a read...

A SOLDIER'S VIEW OF MJ'S DEATH........

This is written by a young man serving his third tour of duty in Iraq.
Thought you might find his take on the Michael Jackson news interesting.
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Okay, I need to rant.

I was just watching the news, and I caught part of a report on Michael
Jackson. As we all know, Jackson died the other day. He was an
entertainer who performed for decades. He made millions, he spent
millions, and he did a lot of things that make him a villian to many
people. I understand that his death would affect a lot of people, and
I respect those people who mourn his death, but that isn't the point
of my rant.

Why is it that when ONE man dies, the whole of America loses their
minds with grief. When a man dies whose only contribution to the
country was to ENTERTAIN people, the Amercian people find the need to
flock to a memorial in Hollywood, and even Congress sees the need to
hold a "moment of silence" for his passing?

Am I missing something here? ONE man dies, and all of a sudden he's a
freaking martyr because he entertained us for a few decades? What
about all those SOLDIERS who have died to give us freedom? All those
Soldiers who, knowing that they would be asked to fight in a war,
still raised their hands and swore to defend the Constitution and the
United States of America. Where is their moment of silence? Where
are the people flocking to their graves or memorials and mourning over
them because they made the ultimate sacrifice? Why is it when a
Soldier dies, there are more people saying "good riddence," and "thank
God for IEDs?" When did this country become so calloused to the
sacrifice of GOOD MEN and WOMEN, that they can arbitrarily blow off
their deaths, and instead, throw themselves into mourning for a "Pop
Icon?"

I think that if they are going to hold a moment of silence IN CONGRESS
for Michael Jackson, they need to hold a moment of silence for every
service member killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They need to PUBLICLY
recognize every life that has been lost so that the American people
can live their callous little lives in the luxury and freedom that WE,
those that are living and those that have gone on, have provided for
them. But, wait, that would take too much time, because there have
been so many willing to make that sacrifice. After all, we will never
make millions of dollars. We will never star in movies, or write hit
songs that the world will listen too. We only shed our blood, sweat
and tears so that people can enjoy what they have.

Sorry if I have offended, but I needed to say it.
Remember these five words the next time you think of someone
who is serving in the military;

"So that others may live..."

Isaac

2009-01-27T15:05:00.001-06:00

American Legion Acknowledges That Obama Failed to Attend the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball

http://www. clevelandleader. com/node/8666

Obama Snubs Nation's Heroes, Becomes the First President to Skip Ball Honoring Medal of Honor Recipients in Over 50 Years

Submitted by Julie on January 21, 2009 - 10:13pm. Elections Elections 2008 News Politics U.S. Government U.S.
Politics World Politics

Barack Obama may have stumbled over his words briefly during his inauguration, but he made an even bigger blunder later Tuesday evening. The newly sworn-in President opted not to appear at what should have been one of the most important Balls on his agenda that evening - The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball.

The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball was begun in 1953 for President Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration. The event recognized recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award. There were 48 Medal of Honor recipients in attendance, who were undoubtedly disappointed by the Commander-in-Chief's failure to show. Over the past 56 years and 14 inaugurations, no President has skipped this event - until now.

The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball is sponsored by the American Legion, and co-sponsored by 13 other veteran's service organizations, including those such as the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Instead of attending this ball honoring our nation's heroes, Obama was busy making stops at 10 other official balls. Obama and his wife's first stop was at the Neighborhood Ball. From there they went to the Home State Ball for Illinois and Hawaii, the Commander-in-Chief Ball, the Youth Inaugural Ball, and the Home State Ball for Delaware and Pennsylvania. They finished off the night with brief appearances at the Mid-Atlantic, Western, Midwest, Eastern, and Southern regional Balls.

Celebrities were a plenty at the balls, with Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Mary. J.
Blige, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, will. i. am, Sting, Mariah Carey, and Leonardo DiCaprio in attendance at the Neighborhood Ball. In addition, the other nine balls also featured a star-studded lineup including Kanye West and Kid Rock at the Youth Ball, Marc Anthony at the Western Ball, and Cheryl Crow at the Western Ball.

It was the party without all of the celebrities that Obama skipped. The very people who he sought to have support him during his candidacy and campaign, who have fought to protect this country, were snubbed in favor of publicity and the opportunity to rub shoulders - yet again - with the out-of-touch Hollywood elite.

I totally agree with the last paragraph.Shame on you Oblama. (No,I DID NOT type o his name,I RE-NAMED him to something more appropriate.)

2009-01-27T15:03:00.000-06:00

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy

Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike A. Monsoor
29 years old from Garden Grove, California
September 29, 2006

In April 2008, Michael Monsoor (who had already been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions in a May 9, 2006 incident, when he and another SEAL pulled a wounded team member to safety amidst gunfire) was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. His funeral, attended, in the words of President Bush, by "nearly every SEAL on the West Coast," was held on October 12, 2006 at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. During Monsoor's funeral service, as the casket was taken from the hearse to the gravesite, fellow SEALs lined up in two columns to slap and embed the gold Tridents (a pin awarded for successful completion of SEAL Qualification Training) from their uniforms onto the top of Monsoor's coffin.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike A. Monsoor's Summary Of Action.

"The procession went on nearly half an hour, and when it was all over, the simple wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten." - President George W. Bush

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2009-01-07T12:26:00.000-06:00

Airman Melissa Pyle

Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Equipment) Airman Melissa Pyle mans a jet blast deflector station on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the Gulf Of Oman. Theodore Roosevelt and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 are deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-12-31T12:45:00.001-06:00

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Kathi

2nd Lt. Christopher E. Loudon
22 years old from Brockport, Pennsylvania
1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division
October 17, 2006

2nd Lt. Christopher Loudon graduated from Slippery Rock University with a Baccalaureate Degree in Environmental Health in 2005. Upon graduation, he entered the United States Army on September 9, 2005. He received his commission as an Infantry officer and was assigned to 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, 4th Infantry Division at Ft. Hood, Texas. He deployed to Iraq in July 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

2nd Lt. Loudon’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Ranger Tab.

He was KIA in Baghdad, Iraq when an IED detonated near his vehicle. Also killed with him were; Corporal David M. Unger, 21, of Leavenworth, Kansas ;Corporal Russell G. Culbertson III, 22, of Amity, Pennsylvania and Specialist Joseph C. Dumas Jr., 25, of New Orleans, Louisiana.

He leaves behind his parents, Randy and Susan Loudon ; his wife, Jacey Loudon ; a daughter, Isabel Loudon ; two brothers, First Lieutenant Nicholas Loudon ,and Jonathan Loudon ; his paternal grandmother, Florence Loudon and his maternal grandfather, Everett William Campbell.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-12-27T22:01:00.001-06:00

WBC- Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again

Huge fine for anti-gay US church
A church whose members cheered a soldier's death as "punishment" for US tolerance of homosexuality has been told to pay $10.9m (£5.2m) in damages.

The Westboro Baptist Church was taken to court by the father of Lance Cpl Matthew Snyder, a marine who died serving in Iraq in March 2006.

The church cited its constitutional right to free speech in its defence.

But Albert Snyder's lawyer urg More..ed the jury to ensure the damages were high enough to stop the church campaigning.

Members of the church - based in Topeka, Kansas - have denounced homosexuality for years, initially targeting the funerals of Aids victims.

But they later extended their pickets to the funerals of soldiers, who they say are being punished by God because of America's tolerance of homosexuality.

Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again

Craig Trebilcock
Attorney for Albert Snyder

Louis Theroux on the most hated family in US

Last year they caused outrage when they attended the funeral of Matthew Snyder with signs reading "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "You're going to hell".

On Wednesday, the jury ordered the church and three of its leaders to pay $2.9m in compensatory damages, and an additional $8m for invasion of privacy and for causing emotional distress.

Albert Snyder's attorney, Craig Trebilcock, had urged jurors to agree an amount "that says 'Don't do this' in Maryland again. Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again".

Defence attorney Jonathan Katz's argument that the $2.9m in compensatory damages already far exceeded the defendants' net worth and would be enough to "bankrupt them and financially destroy them" was ignored.

The church, which is unaffiliated with any major denomination, is headed by Fred Phelps. Most of its 70-odd members belong to his extended family.

Appeal

Albert Snyder sobbed when he heard the verdict.

"I hope it's enough to deter them from doing this to other families. It was not about the money. It was about getting them to stop," he said, according to Reuters news agency.

Members of the church, however, reportedly greeted the verdict with tight-lipped smiles.

"It will take the 4th Circuit of Appeals a few minutes to reverse this silly thing," said Rev Phelps.

Daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper - co-defendant along with another daughter, Rebecca Phelps-Davis - called the verdict a blow against free speech and vowed to continue picketing military funerals.

Why dont these jackasses move to Iraq er Afghanistan?? I'm sure collections could be taken to pay their air fares!!
Westboro Baptist Cult= 1 way ticket to hell.

2008-12-27T21:59:00.000-06:00

To the Men and Women of the United States military, and all the armed forces around the world, thank you for everything that you do. And to those who are laying their heads down tonight in a foreign land, away from your loved ones, thank you so very much. Stay safe, you're in our thoughts and our hearts. Merry Christmas.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-12-17T01:09:00.000-06:00

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Melinda

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Christian P. Humphreys
28 years old from Fallon, Nevada
6th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, Task Force 49
November 15, 2008

A funny, nice guy who loved to fly. That's how Christian P. Humphreys is remembered by his friends. "He was a great guy, always happy and had a joke," said Sean Whitney, a flight medic. "We used to play with our paintball guns in the cornfields behind his house."

Humphreys flew with the Fallon Naval Air Station Search and Rescue Longhorns from June 6, 2004, to May 5, 2006. He left the Navy and joined the Army as part of the "Blue to Green" program to become a helicopter pilot.

Humphreys, along with Chief Warrant Officer 3 Donald V. Clark, 37 years old from Tennessee, was killed when their OH-58 Kiowa helicopter crashed while on a mission over Mosul, Iraq. As a rescue crew chief, Humphreys was in charge of the operation behind the pilots. He made the decisions when to deploy rescue crews out of the helicopter to assist injured people, and he also took care of the equipment.

"He was a funny guy, a nice guy, a lot of character," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Schmidt. "The guy was always entertaining, always had something to say, but like everyone here, he displayed the professionalism in saving lives."

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Christian P. Humphreys leaves behind a wife and parents.

All Information Was Found On And Copied From MilitaryCity.com

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-12-10T17:18:00.001-06:00

Spc. Jonnie L Stiles
38 years old from Highlands Ranch, Colorado
769th Engineer Battalion, Louisiana Army National Guard
November 13, 2008

Louisiana National Guard spokesman Maj. Michael Kazmierzak said Spc. Jonnie L. Stiles had been serving as a gunner on a Humvee doing route clearance when and IED detonated near his vehicle in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He said the job typically involves checking roads for bombs and insurgents.

Stiles' wife, Launa, said that he was nearly killed last month when a suicide bomber blew up a military vehicle in front of his. She said he was still able to rescue three other soldiers and returned to duty before his 30-day recovery period was finished.

"He was strong and really cared for his men," she said.

Stiles was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and graduated from Littleton High School in Colorado. He served in the military for 17 years, first joining the Marines and then switching to the Army in 1999. He served three years at Fort Carson, left the Army and then returned as a member of the Colorado Air National Guard in the Summer of 2007.

All Information Was Found On And Copied From MilitaryCity.com

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-12-09T16:03:00.002-06:00

$1,500 in gifts stolen from Toys for Tots

The Corps’ most high-profile charity has lost $1,500 in donated gifts.

A city spokeswoman in Suffolk, Va.
, said there is “understandable outrage” following the theft from a local Toys for Tots facility (http://www.toysfortots.org/)

“The community is reaching out accordingly,” Suffolk spokeswoman Debbie George said.

George said the suspect or suspects made off with six bicycles, 20 MP3 players, 20 digital cameras, 20 watch and wallet sets, and a heart necklace set.

The theft occurred at a storage facility in a rural part of Suffolk between Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, George said. There was no sign of forced entry, but police did find a defective lock on one of the doors.

George was unsure whether the building was identified as a Toys for Tots storage facility, but she said the crooks most likely knew who their victim was.

Toys for Tots was founded by Marine Corps Reservist Maj. Bill Hendricks in Los Angeles in 1947 with a campaign that collected 5,000 toys, the first being a Raggedy Ann doll.

In 2006, Marines and volunteers distributed more than 19.2 million toys to 7.6 million needy children, according to the organization’s Web site.

This is getting absolutely RIDICULOUS! Do people have no shame anymore?!?! How can anyone steal from kids?? I just dont get it.I know deep down it was drug users,anything to support their habit..sheesh. One of these days they will get whats coming to them.

2008-12-07T11:08:00.002-06:00

Slain Soldier's Mother Robbed

Daily Breeze|by Denise Nix

After her son died fighting for his country, Linda Ferrara wanted to do something for soldiers like him who sacrifice their safety for others.

So in the year since U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Ferrara was killed in Afghanistan, his mother has dedicated hours collecting clothes and crafting handmade blankets for wounded soldiers overseas.

The Torrance resident had planned to ship the goods today to a U.S. Army hospital in Germany. Instead, she's despondent over the weekend theft of hundreds of socks, sweat shirts, pajama pants, boxers, blankets and other items.

"I don't want to let them down," Ferrara said. "This wasn't just stuff, this was going to wounded soldiers."

The items were being stored in the Ferrara family's RV, which was parked outside their Bay Cities Italian Bakery on a dead-end street among industrial buildings near California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Ferrara and her family suspects someone was watching as they stockpiled the goods, and expect the thieves will try to sell the items. She estimates that at least $6,000 worth of clothes were stolen, along with the priceless patriotic fleece blankets she and other volunteers spent hours sewing.

At one point, they auctioned three of the blankets for $410, which they were able to use to buy fabric for 30 more blankets, she said.

Matthew Ferrara, 24, graduated from West Point Military Academy before he was shipped to Afghanistan. He was killed, along with five others, on Nov. 10, 2007, when insurgents ambushed their NATO-led patrol.

Two of his brothers also graduated from the prestigious academy, while another brother is in the ROTC program at USC. The Ferrara family's deep roots in the military were only strengthened after Matthew's death, his mother said.

People from around the world have contacted them to share stories about her son's life, and the circumstances of his death.

"It brings you closer to the whole rest of the world," Ferrara said.

That was how she came to meet MaryAnn Phillips of Soldiers' Angels Germany. Soldiers' Angels is an organization through which people can send care packages to soldiers overseas. In Germany, Phillips supports wounded and sick troops undergoing treatment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

Many of them are transferred there directly from the front lines, and have nothing more than the clothes on their backs, Ferrara said.

Already involved with the West Point Parents Club of Orange County, Ferrara recruited support from other parents and volunteers to collect items for the wounded soldiers.

Her RV was packed with boxes, and the Parents Club had printed thank-you letters to the "wounded warriors" to be distributed with the clothes. On Sunday morning, Ferrara first realized something was amiss when she found empty boxes outside the RV and her inventory lists on the ground.

Inside, she discovered almost all the collected items missing. Also, some of the letters were torn to shreds. Compton sheriff's deputies took a report and fingerprints, she said.

Meanwhile, her insurance company has told her not to expect help. Because she planned to give the items away, they technically didn't belong to her.

Anyone with information about the theft should call the Compton sheriff's station at 310-605-6500.

Anyone who would like to donate items for the wounded soldiers should e-mail Ferrara at lindaferrara@aol.com

How sick and sad! What the hell is wrong with people?!? I dont care if the economy is chit,and yes,I know it IS,thats still no reason to go stealing! I have my own opinion on likely suspects,but I prefer to keep that to myself,since I'd rather not be accused of stereotyping etc.I hope when these jackasses try to pawn these things that someone recognizes the items and calls cops.Ugh.Karma will come back on these losers sooner or later.
I'd also like to know who the insurance company was...that way I NEVER use their "services"! The items were still in HER possession,so,imo that make them HERS.Any little loophole they can find to get out of paying a claim they have NO shame in using,how sad and greedy.

2008-12-04T22:04:00.000-06:00

Spc. Matthew T. Morris
23 years old from Cedar Park, Texas
2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
April 06, 2008

"He was a very creative kid, and when he wasn't in a challenging environment, he tried to make life interesting," Glenn Morris, father of Spc. Morris, said. "He excelled in a military school structure and in a team environment."

Before enlisting in the Army in 2005, Morris attended the Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia where he met a history teacher who inspired him to want to become an educator. "After his service, he wanted to go back to school and get a four-year degree to become a teacher," said his mother, Lisa. "He wanted to make a difference and give back to the community."

Spc. Morris was killed when his vehicle encountered an IED in Balad, Iraq. Also killed in the attack was Cpt. Ulises Burgos-Cruz.

All Information Was Found On And Copied From MilitaryCity.com

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-11-25T22:56:00.001-06:00

Lance Cpl. Samuel Joyce, from Boston, accepts a bagfull of toys during the Toys For Tots 5k Run at Fleet Activities Yokosuka. Runners donated new toys to the local Marine's Toys for Tots program.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-11-09T22:53:00.001-06:00

Cpt. Gussie M. Jones
41 years old from Raleigh, Arkansas
31st Combat Support Hospital
March 07, 2004

Cpt. Gussie Jones was born in Arkansas and was one of eight children. She began her Army career by enlisting in 1988 as a personnel clerk and climbed to the rank of a sergeant.

In 1986, Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Arkansas Central University. She was selected to attend the Army Enlisted Commissioning Program and earned her second bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University in 1998. It was in nursing.

Her career as a registered nurse and a commissioned officer began in September 1998 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. In 2002, after completing a course in critical-care nursing, she was assigned to Beaumont Army Medical Center, where she became a mentor.

"She was a very dedicated person and was always smiling, said a co-worker and friend, Capt. Susan Gilbert. If anyone asked her to do something, she would do it. And she was very kind and gentle and patient with the patients."

Cpt. Jones died of a heart attack while on duty in Baghdad, Iraq. During her 15 years of military services, Jones received a Joint Service Commendation medal, four Army Commendation medals and three Army Achievement medals.

"She was so much a part of their team, and so her death must really affect their morale," Gilbert said. "I'm very worried about the other soldiers because they've lost their battle buddy."

All Information Was Found On And Copied From MilitaryCity.com

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-09-24T23:36:00.001-05:00

Click Image For Full SizeYeoman 3rd Class Margret Ueberlauer

Yeoman 3rd Class Margret Ueberlauer hands out toys to HIV infected children during a community relations project at the Camillian Center in Pattaya, Thailand. The USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-09-17T11:43:00.000-05:00

L/Cpl. Jason Hanson
21 years old from Forks, Washington
3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
July 29, 2006

L/Cpl. Jason Hanson died when a gasoline truck near a building he was in exploded, causing the building to collapse in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Three other Marines were also killed in the blast. Lance Cpl. Anthony E. Butterfield, 19 yrs. old, of Clovis, California; Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus, 28 yrs. old, of Wolf Creek, Montana; Sgt. Christian B. Williams, 27 yrs. old, of Winter Haven, Florida.

Hanson graduated in 2003 and joined the Marines in 2005. He married his wife just before shipping out.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-09-09T23:08:00.001-05:00

SSgt. Andy Pena

Staff Sgt. Andy Pena performs in-flight calibrations on a HH-60 Pave Low while flying Sept. 3 over Ellington Field, Texas. He and members of the 55th Rescue Squadron deployed from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., to Ellington Field in response to Hurricane Gustav with less than 24 hours after notification. Sergeant Pena is an aerial gunner.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-09-09T23:01:00.002-05:00

Update on UK Soldier refused hotel service-I am glad to see them own up to their screw up.Original link included.Contact info also listed.NOTE-This company is NOT American owned,despite the name

BBC News Link

OWNER INFO-
American Amusements Ltd
American Amusements Ltd, 1 Crown Square, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6HR.
Amusement arcades, bowling, pool and more all under one roof.
Contact Information:
Telephone 01483 727100

Hotel apology for soldier refusal

A hotel has apologised after a soldier was refused a room while he was on leave visiting an injured colleague.

Corporal Tomos Stringer, 23, from Gwynedd, was visiting a wounded friend in Woking, Surrey when he was turned away. He spent the night in his car.

Cpl Stringer, who himself has a broken wrist, was on leave from Afghanistan.

The Metro had experienced problems with soldiers staying there and staff had been asked to be "cautious". But it admitted a "mistake" in this case.

The Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth has written a letter, calling for an explanation.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We are very surprised that any company would adopt a policy to exclude members of the armed forces who generally enjoy great respect and gratitude for their professionalism, courage and bravery.

"Our service men and women make great sacrifices on behalf of us all, and they deserve our wholehearted support."

Military ID

Corp Stringer, of 13 Air Assault Regiment RLC, was refused a room at the hotel under its "no military personnel" policy.

He was visiting a wounded colleague in the area in June and was home from Afghanistan on recovery leave after breaking his wrist jumping out of a wagon.

He has since returned to Afghanistan but his mother, Gaynor Stringer, said he was still angry at his treatment.

The hotel receptionist asked to see his identification and when he showed his military ID card, she told him military personnel were not welcome.

Mrs Stringer, who lives at Pentrefelin, near Criccieth, said: "That was at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night. He slept in the car that night. He just couldn't believe what had happened.

She added: "I can't believe this has happened to one of our soldiers in his own country. He just didn't know how to react.

"We've been to America and their military get treated like heroes over there.

"I think it's terrible they [UK service personnel] can't even wear their uniform with pride."

Defence Minister Derek Twigg said: "This case is especially egregious given that the individual concerned was on injury leave from Afghanistan and visiting an injured colleague.

Corporal Tomos Stringer
The 23-year-old had broken his wrist jumping from his army wagon

"The government and, it is fair to say, the vast majority of people in this country, hold the professionalism, courage and contribution made by all those who serve, and have served in the armed forces in very high regard.

"I am delighted that the armed forces generally enjoy immense respect and gratitude on the part of the nation and that contrary sentiments are rare, though evidently they exist."

Caernarfon MP Hywel Williams said he also wanted to take the matter further.

He said: "I was astonished when I heard the story from Mrs Stringer. I can't see why any hotel would want to refuse accommodation to a serving member of the armed forces anyway.

"Tomos was not in his uniform, he was a traveller like anyone else."

The Metro Hotel said it "sincerely apologises for any upset caused towards Cpl Stringer and his family following the incident at the hotel.

A spokesman said: "The hotel management has always had an open door policy to all its visitors and guests, including members of the military and armed forces, and will continue to do so."

He added: "On this particular occasion there was a mistake made by a duty receptionist and the hotel management sincerely apologises for that mistake."

The matter had been raised by Plaid Cymru MP Mr Williams, who received a letter back from the hotel complex manager last week saying it regretted the way the matter was dealt with.

A manager in the letter said the hotel had in recent months "experienced some rather serious incidents" resulting from the stay of personnel from a local barracks and staff had been requested to be "cautious" in taking future bookings from the armed forces.

Managers were asked to assess cases.

"In almost every case the booking is accepted. This process does not appear to have happened in this case, for which I sincerely apologise. We also fully recognise and appreciate the tremendous courage and sacrifices made by member of our armed services".

Meanwhile, police were called to the hotel on Thursday lunchtime after the hotel claimed it had been threatened by "abusive" phone calls.

A spokesman for Surrey police said: "Officers were called to the scene because of claims of abusive, offensive and threatening phone calls towards the Metro Hotel.

"The calls were in relation to the soldier being refused entry."

The spokesman added: "We will monitor the calls to see if an offence has occurred, if it has then we can trace the calls and further action will be taken."

2008-09-04T17:48:00.002-05:00

What I am about to post comes out of the UK.It really sickens me to see any honorable soldier treated this way,whether he's American,Brit or Aussie,or any of our allies actually.I've also included the original link,and some comments,no names of course,from a forum I found this on.Others said it,and I wonder too,if it wasnt a muslim run hotel.
EDIT-Some generous soul from above said forum found out the owners of the hotel,will add that link too once its confirmed they are indeed the owners.

Refused hotel room because he was a soldier
Sep 4 2008 by Sam Lister, Daily Post

DEFENCE Minister Derek Twigg yesterday branded as “deplorable” the treatment of an injured North Wales soldier who was refused entry to a hotel.

Corporal Tomos Stringer from Criccieth had to sleep in his car overnight after staff in Surrey refused to rent him a room – because their hotel does not accept military personnel as guests.

Cpl Stringer, 24, injured his wrist falling out if a truck while under fire in Afghanistan.

While home on sick leave he travelled to Woking to help out with preparations for the funeral of a friend killed in action.

He tried to rent a room at the Metro Hotel, in Chertsey Road, after spending longer than expected in the town. He was asked for ID and showed them his military pass.

But staff told him it was company policy to turn away members of the Armed Forces.

It was so late that Corporal Stringer, who joined up when he was just 16 and now serves with the 1st Air Assault, was forced to spend the night in his car.

The soldier’s mother, Gaynor Stringer, was so upset over the way he was treated by the hotel she wrote to MP Hywel Williams.

Yesterday she told the Daily Post: “It’s a disgrace. He is in Afghanistan for the third time and has been in Iraq twice and this is the way he is treated.

“All he has ever wanted to do is be in the Army. He was in the cadets and then signed up when he was 16. He told me he would die for his Queen and country and he just wants to make a difference.

“He was back from Afghanistan after breaking his wrist when he fell out of his truck when they were under fire.

“Just before he went back he wanted to go down to Surrey to help with the preparations for a friend's funeral.

“When he went to check in everything was fine until they asked him for ID and he produced his military pass. That’s when they refused to give him a room.

“Soldiers don’t get treated like this in America. There they are treated like heroes but here they are being treated like scum. It is heartbreaking.”

Mr Williams wrote to the government about the case and Defence Minister Derek Twigg responded branding it “deplorable”.

Mr Twigg’s letter states: “Although I do not know the precise circumstances, I think it is deplorable for the management of a hotel to have a policy not to accept military personnel and that this case is especially egregious given that the individual concerned was on injury leave from Afghanistan”

Mr Williams, Plaid MP for Caernarfon, said: “It is unacceptable and outrageous that anyone is discriminated against in this way. What aggravates this situation and makes it much worse is that he was back on injury leave.

“I have written to the hotel but have heard nothing from them.”

Staff at the Metro Hotel declined to comment last night.

Daily Post Article

"Apparently the hotel staff had to call in the police this afternoon as they've been inundated with abusive phone calls. Lucky people haven't turned up and done it in person, I guess. Police said if the recorded calls are bad enough, they'll trace and take action. Couldn't believe the guy had to spend the night in his car instead - did I hear that correctly? Wonder why he didn't find somewhere else and NOT flash his ID card?"-Glad to see people standing up for this soldier!

"Anyway, somebodys got some gay bestial porn in their inbox."-Gross,but what they did deserved no less.I dunno if I woulda went quite that far though..hehe.

2008-09-03T23:42:00.000-05:00

2008-09-03T23:40:00.000-05:00

Lance Cpl. Ryan T. McCaughn
19 years old from Manchester, New Hampshire
1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force
November 7, 2006

"I just can't believe it," said Nicole Cote, mother of L/Cpl. McCoughn. "It's not supposed to happen this way. Your kids aren't supposed to leave you." McCoughn joined the USMC during his Senior year of High School. "He said he needed to do this. He said if he could keep one dad from going to Iraq and he could take his place instead, then he'll feel like he's accomplished something."

Lance Cpl. Ryan T. McCaughn was killed on November 7, 2006 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq. He leaves behind his mother, father, step-father and two brothers.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-08-27T20:38:00.000-05:00

Lt. Col. Nathan Blood

Lt. Col. Nathan Blood, brigade effects coordinator for 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light), Multi-National Division - Baghdad, says "Hello" to his 16-month-old daughter, Mackenzie, during a web camera communication.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-08-16T20:46:00.001-05:00

This comes from one of my MS friends,and I am sorry to have to repost it,but its important for people to know this is unacceptable.The guy in question has set his prof to private,but hopefully he will delete said prof soon! I'll add updates as I receive them.

FAKE MARINE HERO - HELP GET THE WORD OUT!!!
Current mood: pissed off
Category: News and Politics

With the war on terror going on for 5+ years and veterans from all conflicts from WWII to the present still alive, we are in no shortage of heroes in this country!

So, I need everyones help. There is a man claiming to be a Marine hero with a Bronze Star, 3 Purple Hearts and 29 other medals. And there are many who support him blindly. I received a message from a Marine who did some research on this guy (because of the awards he claims to have) and he found that the guy is lying. Also, I saw his DD214. Most all of you on my page are either military, family of someone in the military, or support our soldiers whole-heartedly. Therefore, this should piss you off as much as it does me!

Here is the bulletin he posted not too long ago - Also you will find a message I received from the Marine who asked me to help get the word out. Also, some have done their own research and posted comments about him on his profile - please go look (if he hasn't deleted them). As a group of 19,000+ we should be able to make sure people like him do not take credit for what our real hero's have done.

Thanks for the support - as you can see, this really pisses me off!!!

His bulletin:

This is the msg that he sent to me and everyone else:

============
Hello,
Let me start by telling you I am a Gunny from the US Marine Corp. I have served in every conflict since 1983 and Have earned a Bronze Star, 3 Purple Hearts and 29 other medals.

I have a bet with a Navy Captain about who can get 5000 friends on my space first. The LOSER has to get the others service tattoo on his butt.
I am a very proud MARINE and don't want anything Navy on this butt.

Second thing about a week into bet he up the anti for a second tattoo on the other cheek for most signed pictures from frinds on myspace.
If i would pay the shipping would you send me a signed picture of yourself and send all your friends to my myspace. If you have any other friends please pass me on and I will take them as friends and hang their picture also.

I Thank you for aLL YOUR SUPPORT FROMTHE BOTTOM OF MY HEART AND MY BUTT TOOO.

Gunny USMC
Save GUNNY ASS!

===============

This is the message I received from the Marine Recruiter asking for my help:

From: THE MARINES
Date: Aug 8, 2008 6:12 AM

I know many of you support the troops in any way you can, and you show your support here on MySpace. For those of us in the military - we appreciate it very much!!! Please keep it up!

However, as I have recently pointed out, there are a lot of people on MySpace who claim to be Marines, when they definitely are NOT! Many of you who support the troops show these FAKE Marines support because you don't know any better and think they are legit, when in actuality, they are making fools out of everyone.

Here is the latest example:
http://www.myspace.com/gunnyusmc7
He is on a mission to get as many friends as possible on MySpace.

Not only does this person claim to be a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine Corps, but he also claims that he has a Bronze Star and 3 Purple Hearts! This is a Federal Offense punishable by 1 year in prison and/or a fine under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005.

Get the word out and have everyone delete this guy from your friends list!

-Gunny Kuss

--------------

As he pointed out above, this is a Federal Offense punishable by 1 year in prison and/or a fine under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005.

Like I said, I've seen his DD214: It says he has 2 Sea Service Ribbons and he was a LCPL. I sent him a message asking him to verify what he wrote in his bulletin and that I was posting this blog and sending out a bulletin - he read it, but no reply.

We would appreciate you helping us get the word out - thousands of men and women have fought & died and were decorated with those medals for their sacrafice and bravery.

Thanks for reading and thanks for getting the word out!

Jerry

2008-06-09T19:41:00.000-05:00

Ack I am late. D=

Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam F. Kenney

Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam F. Kinney, a Navy Corpsman with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, gives an Iraqi Child a shot during a routine patrol. Kinney is assigned to Echo Co. for their seven-month deployment and will return to his parent command, 4th Tank Battalion in Fort Knox, Ky., upon his arrival.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-05-28T22:48:00.000-05:00

2008-05-28T22:47:00.000-05:00

Gen. Benjamin S. Griffin

General Benjamin S. Griffin, commanding general, U.S. Army Materiel Command, talks with Brig. Gen. Shallal Abdul Rasool Habeeb

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-05-22T22:01:00.001-05:00

Sgt. John F. Thomas(Right) & Sgt. Ronnie L. Shelley, Sr.(Left)
33 & 34 years old from Valdosta, Georgia
2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade, Georgia Army National Guard
July 24, 2005 & July 30, 2005

Sgt. Ronnie "Rod" Shelley and Sgt. John F. Thomas became best friends in the Georgia Army National Guard.

They both were ex-Marines, both about the same age, and both enjoyed searching for arrowheads and fishing together. As their friendship grew, Thomas often came over to Shelley’s house for steaks and ribs barbecued by his friend. And when their infantry unit was sent to Iraq in May of 2005, they went to war together.

When their unit was mobilized for combat duty in Iraq, Shelley promised to watch out for Thomas. "Ronnie said, 'Don't you worry, I'll bring him back safely,"' said Thomas' grandfather. But neither Sgt. Thomas or Sgt. Shelley made it back safely. Sgt. Thomas was killed July 24, 2005 by a roadside bomb near Baghdad. And Sgt. Shelley was killed six days later on July 30 by another roadside bomb, also near Baghdad.

Shelley was a family man, married with three children, who was obsessed with having a neat yard, his wife said. "The grass had to be two inches," she said. "If the neighbor mowed the grass, Rod had to mow. He also wanted the biggest, baddest lawn mower."

She said she fell in love with his "gorgeous blue ... eyes," and "he had a laid back attitude. I could not make him mad."

Thomas was married but had no children. His grandparents said he dreamed of becoming a forest ranger. "John wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. Now the only trail he can walk is the trail in heaven," the grandfather said.

Mrs. Thomas, wiping back tears, said the soldier felt responsible for the others in his unit. "He cared for people," she said. "That's why he had so many friends. People cared for him."

Killed alongside Sgt. Shelley were Staff Sgt. David R. Jones Sr., Sgt. 1st Class Victor A. Anderson and Sgt. Jonathon C. Haggin and killed alongside Sgt. Thomas were Army Spc. Jacques E. Brunson, Army Staff Sgt. Carl R. Fuller and Army Sgt. James O. Kinlow.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-05-14T22:19:00.001-05:00

This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Cindy

Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Davila
From Sierra Vista, Arizona

On the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States, Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Davila raised an American flag over Camp Korean Village, Iraq, he brought with him from Arizona.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008, Sierra Vista firefighter and emergency medical technician Chris Davila presented that flag to Fire Chief Randy Redmond as fellow firefighters looked on. Monday, May 5, 2008, was Davila’s first day back on the job with the department after being gone for nearly nine months, with seven of those months deployed as a Navy Reserve corpsman serving with a Marine unit near the Jordanian and Syrian border area in Iraq.

And, as luck would have it, on his first shift saw him responding to a blaze in Sierra Vista. "Right back to work," he said with a laugh.

You can read the rest of PO 2nd Class Davila's story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-05-07T20:48:00.000-05:00

CSM Robert Prosser and LTC Erik Kurilla
1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Deuce Four)

LTC. Erik Kurilla and CSM. Robert Prosser's story is an amazing one. One that Michael Yon has told far better than I ever could. Warning. The site contains very graphic images. Some may want to turn off images before viewing.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-04-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Mary Ann

Wednesday Hero was started to put a face to the men and women of the American Armed Forces and what they do for us. Vary rarely has there been a member of a foreign military profiled. In fact, in the two years Wednesday Hero's been going on it's only been done once before. Here's the second.

Lance Corporal Matt Croucher
24 years old from Birmingham, England
40 Commando Royal Marines

L/Cpl Matt Croucher is not only one of the bravest men alive, he's also one of the luckiest men alive. On the morning of February 9, 2008 L/Cpl. and his unit were searching a compound near Sangin in Afghanistan that was suspected of being used to make bombs to be used in attacks on British and Afghan troops. Walking in the darkness among a group of four men, Croucher stepped into a tripwire that pulled the pin from a boobytrap grenade. His patrol commander, Corporal Adam Lesley, remembered Croucher shouting "Grenade!"

As others dived for cover, Croucher did something nobody expected. He lay down on the grenade to smother the blast. Lesley got on the ground, another man got behind a wall, but the last member of the patrol was still standing in the open when the grenade went off.

"My reaction was, 'My God this can't be real'," said Lesley. "Croucher had simply lain back and used his day sack to blunt the force of the explosion. You would expect nine out of 10 people to die in that situation." L/Cpl. Croucher was that 1/10. Not only did he survive, amazingly he only suffered shock from the blast and a bloody nose. He was saved by the special plating inside his Osprey body armor. The backpack he was wearing was thrown more than 30ft by the blast.

"I felt one of the lads giving me a top to toe check. My head was ringing. Blood was streaming from my nose. It took 30 seconds before I realized I was definitely not dead," said L/Cpl. Croucher.

For his actions that day, L/Cpl. Croucher was in line for the Victoria Cross, the highest award for a British Serviceman, but it has yet to be awarded.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-04-23T11:46:00.001-05:00



Click To Enlarge





Cpl. Markbradley Vincze gives students from al-Raqhaa School backpacks in the Monsouri area of Iraq. Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1-76th FA, 4th BCT, 3rd Inf. Div., delivered backpacks, soccer balls and notebooks.



These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday.  For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived



This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll.  For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-04-18T20:30:00.002-05:00

A Prayer For Our Troops

God, hold our troops in your loving hands.

Protect them as they protect us.

Bless them and their families for the selfless acts

they perform for us in our time of need.

Amen

When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say

a prayer for our troops in Iraq, and around the world.

2008-04-16T22:53:00.000-05:00

Maj. Mark E. Rosenberg
32 years old from Miami Lakes, Florida
3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
April 8, 2008

Mark Rosenberg grew up in South Florida. "All boy," his aunt, Madelyn Rosenberg, remembers. "Very active, but very lovable." As long as she can recall, Maj. Rosenberg wanted a military career like his father, Burton Rosenberg, had.

He attended New Mexico Military Institute and entered the Army in 1996. Later, he met a woman, Julie, and they married one day after his sister's wedding. He and Julie had two boys, now 3 and 22 months. They settled in Colorado near Fort Carson, where he was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division.

Maj. Rosenberg was on his second tour of duty when the Humvee he was riding in was struck by an IED in Baghdad.

"He would say he's over there to do a job," Madelyn Rosenberg remembered. "He loved what he was doing."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-04-10T20:49:00.000-05:00

Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael T. Williams
(Click Image For Full Size)

Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael T. Williams, a kennel master with Task Force Military Police, 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, and his dog "Kitt", search for ordnance and firearms during a route reconnaissance operation through the western Anbar province of Iraq April 1. The dog handlers conduct operations in support of 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion to bring peace and stability to Iraq and its people.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-04-04T12:26:00.001-05:00

John McCain's remarks about the Pledge of Allegiance!

In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California , with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate:

'The Pledge of Allegiance' - by Senator John McCain

As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.
In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement
or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.
This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.
One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.
Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.
As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.
Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed it on the inside of his shirt.
Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.
One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.
That evening they returned, opened the door
of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.
The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.
As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.
So the next time you say the Pledge of
Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.
You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

2008-04-04T12:18:00.001-05:00

Lil late this week thanks to a nasty tummy bug. @.@

This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Mary Ann

Spc. Jeffrey Jamaleldine
Company C, 1st Battalion, 77th Armor

"How can I say to my sons, stand up for something, fight for what you think is right, if I don't do anything myself?"

The Jeffrey Jamaleldine that you speak to today is a complete 180 from the Jeffrey Jamaleldine that you would have spoke to in the past. In 1991, Jamaleldin was living in Germany when joined in anti-American protests on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm boulevard during Operation Desert Storm. "That was the way it was back then," he says. He was 15 and "America was simply the enemy." And today, Jeffery Jamaleldine is a wounded veteran of the U.S. Army. On June 6, 2005, after the terror bombing in Madrid, Spain, in the middle of the Iraq war, he showed up at the U.S. Army recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, to enlist. His father, Bashir, told him at the time: "Son, this won't be a picnic."

On June 30, Jamaleldine was on patrol in Ramadi, Iraq. The patrol ahead of him had been ambushed by at least 70 combatants and were now under fire. During the fight, Spc. Jeffrey Jamaleldine was hit in the face by a bullet. In the end, the battle lasted into the next morning and the soldiers were able to stop the enemy from returning to Ramadi.

The article on Spc. Jeffrey Jamaleldine is five pages long, and I simply can not condense it down to only a few paragraphs. You can read the entire story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-03-26T11:36:00.000-05:00

From a MS bulletin

I Miss Iraq. I Miss My Gun. I Miss My War.

A year after coming home from a tour in Iraq, a soldier returns home to find out he left something behind.

By Brian M
A few months ago, I found a Web site loaded with pictures and videos from Iraq, the sort that usually aren't seen on the news. I watched insurgent snipers shoot American soldiers and car bombs disintegrate markets, accompanied by tinny music and loud, rhythmic chanting, the soundtrack of the propaganda campaigns. Video cameras focused on empty stretches of road, building anticipation. Humvees rolled into view and the explosions brought mushroom clouds of dirt and smoke and chunks of metal spinning through the air. Other videos and pictures showed insurgents shot dead while planting roadside bombs or killed in firefights and the remains of suicide bombers, people how they're not meant to be seen, no longer whole. The images sickened me, but their familiarity pulled me in, giving comfort, and I couldn't stop. I clicked through more frames, hungry for it. This must be what a shot of dope feels like after a long stretch of sobriety. Soothing and nauseating and colored by everything that has come before. My body tingled and my stomach ached, hollow. I stood on weak legs and walked into the kitchen to make dinner. I sliced half an onion before putting the knife down and watching slight tremors run through my hand. The shakiness lingered. I drank a beer. And as I leaned against this kitchen counter, in this house, in America, my life felt very foreign.

I've been home from Iraq for more than a year, long enough for my time there to become a memory best forgotten for those who worried every day that I was gone. I could see their relief when I returned. Life could continue, with futures not so uncertain. But in quiet moments, their relief brought me guilt. Maybe they assume I was as overjoyed to be home as they were to have me home. Maybe they assume if I could do it over, I never would have gone. And maybe I wouldn't have. But I miss Iraq. I miss the war. I miss war. And I have a very hard time understanding why.

I'm glad to be home, to have put away my uniforms, to wake up next to my wife each morning. I worry about my friends who are in Iraq now, and I wish they weren't. Often I hated being there, when the frustrations and lack of control over my life were complete and mind-bending. I questioned my role in the occupation and whether good could come of it. I wondered if it was worth dying or killing for. The suffering and ugliness I saw disgusted me. But war twists and shifts the landmarks by which we navigate our lives, casting light on darkened areas that for many people remain forever unexplored. And once those darkened spaces are lit, they become part of us. At a party several years ago, long before the Army, I listened to a friend who had served several years in the Marines tell a woman that if she carried a pistol for a day, just tucked in her waistband and out of sight, she would feel different. She would see the world differently, for better or worse. Guns empower. She disagreed and he shrugged. No use arguing the point; he was just offering a little piece of truth. He was right, of course. And that's just the beginning.

I've spent hours taking in the world through a rifle scope, watching life unfold. Women hanging laundry on a rooftop. Men haggling over a hindquarter of lamb in the market. Children walking to school. I've watched this and hoped that someday I would see that my presence had made their lives better, redemption of sorts. But I also peered through the scope waiting for someone to do something wrong, so I could shoot him. When you pick up a weapon with the intent of killing, you step onto a very strange and serious playing field. Every morning someone wakes wanting to kill you. When you walk down the street, they are waiting, and you want to kill them, too. That's not bloodthirsty; that's just the trade you've learned. And as an American soldier, you have a very impressive toolbox. You can fire your rifle or lob a grenade, and if that's not enough, call in the tanks, or helicopters, or jets. The insurgents have their skill sets, too, turning mornings at the market into chaos, crowds into scattered flesh, Humvees into charred scrap. You're all part of the terrible magic show, both powerful and helpless.

That men are drawn to war is no surprise. How old are boys before they turn a finger and thumb into a pistol? Long before they love girls, they love war, at least everything they imagine war to be: guns and explosions and manliness and courage. When my neighbors and I played war as kids, there was no fear or sorrow or cowardice. Death was temporary, usually as fast as you could count to sixty and jump back into the game. We didn't know yet about the darkness. And young men are just slightly older versions of those boys, still loving the unknown, perhaps pumped up on dreams of duty and heroism and the intoxicating power of weapons. In time, war dispels many such notions, and more than a few men find that being freed from society's professed revulsion to killing is really no freedom at all, but a lonely burden. Yet even at its lowest points, war is like nothing else. Our culture craves experience, and that is war's strong suit. War peels back the skin, and you live with a layer of nerves exposed, overdosing on your surroundings, when everything seems all wrong and just right, in a way that makes perfect sense. And then you almost die but don't, and are born again, stoned on life and mocking death. The explosions and gunfire fry your nerves, but you want to hear them all the same. Something's going down.

For those who know, this is the open secret: War is exciting. Sometimes I was in awe of this, and sometimes I felt low and mean for loving it, but I loved it still. Even in its quiet moments, war is brighter, louder, brasher, more fun, more tragic, and more wasteful. More. More of everything. And even then I knew I would someday miss it, this life so strange. Today the war has distilled to moments and feelings, and somewhere in these memories is the reason for the wistfulness.

On one mission we slip away from our trucks and into the night. I lead the patrol through the darkness, along canals and fields and into the town, down narrow, hard-packed dirt streets. Everyone has gone to bed, or is at least inside. We peer through gates and over walls into courtyards and into homes. In a few rooms TVs flicker. A woman washes dishes in a tub. Dogs bark several streets away. No one knows we are in the street, creeping. We stop at intersections, peek around corners, training guns on parked cars, balconies, and storefronts. All empty. We move on. From a small shop up ahead, we hear men's voices and laughter. Maybe they used to sit outside at night, but now they are indoors, where it's safe. Safer. The sheet-metal door opens and a man steps out, cigarette and lighter in hand. He still wears a smile, takes in the cool night air, and then nearly falls backward through the doorway in a panic. I'm a few feet from him now and his eyes are wide. I mutter a greeting and we walk on, back into the darkness.

Another night we're lost in a dust storm. I'm in the passenger seat, trying to guide my driver and the three trucks behind us through this brown maelstrom. The headlights show nothing but swirling dirt. We've driven these roads for months, we know them well, but we see nothing. So we drive slow, trying to stay out of canals and people's kitchens. We curse and we laugh. This is bizarre but a great deal of fun.

Another night my platoon sergeant's truck is swallowed in flames, a terrible, beautiful, boiling bloom of red and orange and yellow, lighting the darkness for a moment. Somehow we don't die, one more time.

Another night, there's McCarthy bxxx, the cherry of his cigarette bobbing in the dark, bxxx that he won't be on the assault team, that he's stuck as a turret gunner for the night. We'd been out since early that morning, came back for dinner, and are preparing to raid a weapons dealer. Our first real raid. I heave my body armor onto my shoulders, settling its too-familiar weight. Then the helmet and first-aid kit and maps and radio and ammunition and rifle and all the rest. Now I look like everyone else, an arm of this strange and destructive organism, covered in armor and guns. We crowd around a satellite map spread across a Humvees hood and trace our route. Wells, my squad leader, rehearses our movements. Get in quick. Watch the danger zones. If he has a gun, kill him. I look around the group, at these faces I know so well, and feel the collective strength, this ridiculous power. The camaraderie of men in arms plays a part, for sure. The shared misery and euphoria and threat of death. But there is something more: the surrender of self, voluntary or not, to the machine. Do I believe in the war? Not important. Put that away and live in the moment, where little is knowable and even less is controllable, when my world narrows to one street, one house, one room, one door.

We pack into the trucks after midnight, and the convoy snakes out of camp and speeds toward the target house. I sit in a backseat and the fear settles in, a sharp burning in my stomach, same as the knot from hard liquor gulped too fast. I think about the knot. I'll be the first through the door. What if he starts shooting, hits me right in the face before I'm even through the doorway? What if there's two, or three? What if he pitches a grenade at us? And I think about it more and run through the scenarios, planning my movements, imagining myself clearing through the rooms, firing two rounds into the chest, and the knot fades.

The trucks drop us off several blocks from the target house and we slip into the night. As always, the dogs bark. We gather against the high wall outside the house and call in the trucks to block the streets. The action will pass in a flash. But here, before the chaos starts, when we're stacked against the wall, my friends' bodies pressed against me, hearing their quick breaths and my own, there's a moment to appreciate the gravity, the absurdity, the novelty, the joy of the moment. Is this real? Hearts beat strong. Hands grip tight on weapons. Reassurance. The rest of the world falls away.

Who knows what's on the other side?
One, two, three, go. We push past the gate and across the courtyard and toward the house, barrels locked on the windows and roof. Wells runs up with the battering ram, a short, heavy pipe with handles, and launches it toward the massive wood door. The lock explodes, the splintered door flies open, and we rush through, just the way we've practiced hundreds of times. No one shoots me in the face. No grenades roll to my feet. I kick open doors. We scan darkened bedrooms with the flashlights on our rifles and move on to the next and the next.

He's gone, of course. We ransack his house, dumping drawers, flipping mattresses, punching holes in the ceiling. We find rifles and grenades and hundreds of pounds of gunpowder. And then, near dawn, we lie down on the thick carpets in his living room and sleep, exhausted and untroubled.

Many, many raids followed. We often raided houses late at night, so people awakened to soldiers bursting through their bedroom doors. Women and children wailed, terrified. Taking this in, I imagined what it would feel like if soldiers kicked down my door at midnight, if I could do nothing to protect my family. I would hate those soldiers. Yet I still reveled in the raids, their intensity and uncertainty. The emotions collided, without resolution.

My wife moved to Iraq partway through my second deployment to live in the north and train Iraqi journalists. She spent her evenings at restaurants and tea shops with her Iraqi friends. We spoke by cell phone, when the spotty network allowed, and she told me about this life I couldn't imagine, celebrating holidays with her colleagues and being invited into their homes. I didn't have any Iraqi friends, save for our few translators, and I'd rarely been invited into anyone's home. I told her of my life, the tedious days and frightful seconds, and she worried that in all of this I would lose my thoughtfulness and might stop questioning and just accept. But she didn't judge the work that I did, and I didn't tell her that I sometimes enjoyed it, that for stretches of time I didn't think about the greater implications, that it sometimes seemed like a game. I didn't tell her that death felt ever present and far away, and that either way, it didn't really seem to matter.

We both came back from Iraq, luckier than many. Two of my wife's students have been killed, among the scores of journalists to die in Iraq, and guys I served with are still dying, too. One came home from the war and shot himself on Thanksgiving. Another was blown up on Christmas in Baghdad.

Thinking of them, I felt disgusted with myself for missing the war and wondered if I was alone in this.

I don't think I am.

After watching the Internet videos, I called some of my friends who are out of the Army now, and they miss the war, too. Wells very nearly died in Iraq. A sniper shot him in the head, surgeons cut out half of his skull—a story told in this magazine last April—and he spent months in therapy, working back to his old self. Now he misses the high. "I don't want to sound like a psychopath, but you're like a god over there," he says. "It might not be the best kind of adrenaline for you, but it's a rush." Before Iraq, he didn't care for horror movies, and now he's drawn to them. He watches them for the little thrill, the rush of being startled, if just for a moment.

McCarthy misses the war just the same. He saved Wells's life, pressing a bandage over the hole in his head. Now he's delivering construction materials to big hotel projects along the beach in South Carolina, waiting for a police department to process his application. "The monotony is killing me," he told me, en route to deliver some rebar. "I want to go on a raid. I want something to blow up. I want something to change today." He wants the unknown. "Anything can happen, and it does happen. And all of the sudden your world is shattered, and everything has changed. It's living dangerously. You're living on the edge. And you're the baddest ...around.

"
Mortal danger heightens the senses. That is simple animal instinct. We're more aware of how our world smells and sounds and tastes. This distorts and enriches experiences. Now I can have everything, but it's not as good as when I could have none of it. McCarthy and I stood on a rooftop one afternoon in Iraq running through a long list of the food we wanted. We made it to homemade pizza and icy beer when someone loosed a long burst of gunfire that cracked over our heads. We ran to the other side of the rooftop, but the gunman had disappeared down a long alleyway. Today my memory of that pizza and beer is stronger than if McCarthy and I had sat down together with the real thing before us.

And today we even speak with affection of wrestling a dead man into a body bag, because that was then. The bullet had laid his thigh wide open, shattered the femur, and shredded the artery, so he'd bled out fast, pumping much of his blood onto the sidewalk. We unfolded and unzipped the nylon sack and laid it alongside him. And then we stared for a moment, none of us ready to close that distance. I grabbed his forearm and dropped it, maybe instinct, and maybe revulsion. He hovered so near this world, having just passed over, that he seemed to be sucking life from me, pulling himself back or taking me with him. He peeked at us through a half-opened eye. I stared down on him, his massive dead body, and again wrapped a hand around his wrist, thick and warm. The man was huge, taller than six feet and close to 250 pounds. We strained with the awkward weight, rolled him into the bag, and zipped him out of sight. My platoon sergeant gave two neighborhood kids five dollars to wash away the congealing puddle of blood. But the red handprint stayed on the wall, where the man had tried to brace himself before he fell. I think about him sometimes, splayed out on the sidewalk, and I think of how lucky I was never to have put a friend in one of those bags. Or be put in one myself.

But the memories, good and bad, are only part of the reason war holds its grip long after soldiers has come home. The war was urgent and intense and the biggest story going, always on the news stations and magazine covers. At home, though, relearning everyday life, the sense of mission can be hard to find. And this is not just about dim prospects and low-paying jobs in small towns. Leaving the war behind can be a letdown, regardless of opportunity or education or the luxuries waiting at home. People I'd never met sent me boxes of cookies and candy throughout my tours. When I left for two weeks of leave, I was cheered at airports and hugged by strangers. At dinner with my family one night, a man from the next table bought me a $400 bottle of wine. I was never quite comfortable with any of this, but they were heady moments nonetheless. For my friends who are going back to Iraq or are there already, there is little enthusiasm. Any fondness for war is tainted by the practicalities of operating and surviving in combat. Wells and McCarthy and I can speak of the war with nostalgia because we belong to a different world now. And yet there is little to say, because we are scattered, far from those who understand.

When I came home, people often asked me about Iraq, and mostly I told them it wasn't so bad. The first few times, my wife asked me why I had been so blithe. Why didn't I tell them what Iraq was really like? I didn't know how to explain myself to them. The war really wasn't so bad. Yes, there were bombs and shootings and nervous times, but that was just the job. In fact, going to war is rather easy. You react to situations around you and try not to die. There are no electric bills or car payments or chores around the house. Just go to work, come home alive, and do it again tomorrow. McCarthy calls it pure and serene. Indeed. Life at home can be much more trying. But I didn't imagine the people asking would understand that. I didn't care much if they did, and often it seemed they just wanted a war story, a bit of grit and gore. If they really want to know, they can always find out for themselves. But they don't, they just want a taste of the thrill. We all do. We covet life outside our bubble. That's why we love tragedy, why we love hearing about war and death on the television, drawn to it in spite of ourselves. We gawk at accident scenes and watch people humiliate themselves on reality shows and can't wait to replay the events for friends, as though in retelling the story we make it our own, if just for a moment.

We live easy third-person lives but want a bit of the darkness. War fascinates because we live so far from its realities. Maybe we'd feel differently about watching bombs blow up on TV if we saw them up close, if we knew how explosions rip the air, throttle your brain, and make your ears ring, if we knew the strain of wondering whether the car next to you at a traffic light would explode or a bomb would land on your house as you sleep. I don't expect Iraqi soldiers would ever miss war. I have that luxury. I came home to peace, to a country that hasn't seen war within its borders for nearly 150 years. Yes, some boys come home dead. But we live here without the other terrors and tragedies of war—cities flattened and riven with chaos and fear, neighbors killing one another, a people made forever weary by the violence.

And so I miss it.

Every day in Iraq, if you have a job that takes you outside the wire, you stop just before the gate and make your final preparation for war. You pull out a magazine stacked with thirty rounds of ammunition, weighing just over a pound. You slide it into the magazine well of your rifle and smack it with the heel of your hand, driving it up. You pull the rifle's charging handle, draw the bolt back, and release. The bolt slides forward with a metallic snap, catching the top round and shoving it into the barrel. Chak-chuk. If I hear that a half century from now, I will know it in an instant. Unmistakable, and pregnant with possibility. On top of a diving board, as the grade-school-science explanation goes, you are potential energy. On the way down, you are kinetic energy. So I leave the gate and step off the diving board, my energy transformed.

2008-03-24T23:10:00.002-05:00

I think I have missed a post or 2,havent felt real well so here I will play catch up.RIP Heroes!
For March 19,2008
Spc. Monica Lin Brown
19 years old from Lake Jackson, Texas
4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown has done something only a very few female soldiers in American history have ever done. She's been awarded the Silver Star.

Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province of Afghanistan in April 2007. "I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there."

"We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said.

She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out.

"I assessed the patients to see how bad they were. We tried to move them to a safer location because we were still receiving incoming fire," Brown said. "So we dragged them for 100 or 200 meters, got them away from the Humvee a little bit," she said. "I was in a kind of a robot-mode, did not think about much but getting the guys taken care of."

For Brown, who knew all five wounded soldiers, it became a race to get them all to a safer location. Eventually, they moved the wounded some 500 yards away and treated them on site before putting them on a helicopter for evacuation.

"I did not really have time to be scared," Brown said. "Running back to the vehicle, I was nervous (since) I did not know how badly the guys were injured. That was scary."

The military said Brown's "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-03-05T15:46:00.000-06:00

Pictured Left to Right
Chief Warrant Officer Mark O'Steen, 43 years old from Ozark, Alabama
Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Gibbons, 31 years old from Prince Frederick, Maryland
Staff Sgt. Daniel L. Kisling Jr., 31 years old from Neosho, Missouri
SSgt. Gregory M. Frampton, 37 years old from Fresno, California

1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regimen
January 30, 2003

"They succeeded where lesser men failed," said Chaplain Robert Glazener. "They proved themselves in ways that men out there who never served, never volunteered, never sacrificed, would never understand. They sought neither glory nor special recognition, but they gained both by their actions. They are the true American heroes today and deserve more honor than we can humbly bestow on them."

The helicopter carrying the men went down seven miles east of the Bagram Air Base while on a training mission.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-02-28T19:08:00.001-06:00

Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Michael E. Koch
29 years old from State College, Pennsylvania
East Coast-based SEAL team
February 4, 2008

"There are only approximately 2,500 SEALs in the Navy and they really are a brotherhood," said Naval Special Warfare spokesman Lt. David Luckett. "This is another unfortunate reminder of the risks and sacrifices these amazing warriors and their families make on a daily basis."

Koch leaves behind his parents and a fiancee. He enlisted in July 1998 and entered SEAL training in January 1999, according to The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk. He received the Bronze Star, Joint Service Commendation Medal and three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

Navy SEAL Michael E. Koch died Feb. 4 after being wounded by small-arms fire during combat operations in Iraq alongside fellow SEAL Nathan Hardy, who was profiled last week.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-02-20T21:53:00.001-06:00

Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Nathan H. Hardy
29 years old from Durham, New Hampshire
East Coast-based SEAL team
February 4, 2008

It was Hardy's fourth deployment in Iraq, according to his father, Stephen Hardy, a professor of kinesiology a the University of New Hampshire. His mother, Donna Hardy, is an administrative assistant in UNH's psychology department.

Nathan Hardy grew up in Durham and was a 1997 graduate of Oyster River High School. He joined the Navy after graduation.

Other family members include his wife, Mindy, and their 7-month-old son, Parker; and a brother, Ben, of Middlebury, Vt.

Another brother, Josh, died in 1993 while a senior at Oyster River High School.

"Our hearts go out to Steve and Donna Hardy, and their son, Ben, at this incredibly difficult time," UNH President Mark Huddleston said in a statement. "We know it was Nate's dream to become a U.S. Navy SEAL when he graduated from high school, and he pursued that dream and excelled at it. His death has stunned all who knew him, and all who know his parents, who both are so much a part of the UNH community."

Navy SEAL Nathan Hardy died Feb. 4 after being wounded by small-arms fire during combat operations in Iraq.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-02-17T15:28:00.000-06:00

Thank You Soldier
By Chris Woolnough

Have you stopped to thank a Veteran today?
For the price of freedom they had to pay?

Did you gaze into those distant eyes?
Did you see the ghosts he can't deny?

Did you think a soldier's heart was made of steel?
Because he was trained to kill, he couldn't feel?

Did you see the guilt written on his face,
For the loss of life he can't replace?

Did you know he mourns the lives he couldn't save,
And walks with comrades in their grave?

Did you remember the boy with innocence lost?
Do you really know war's ultimate cost?

Have you felt the blast of artillery fire?
Do you have the courage it would require?

Have you stood in trenches consumed with fear?
Felt the enemies breath so very near?

Have you walked with God on a battleground?
Seen your brothers dead or dying all around?

Have you stopped to thank a Vet today,
Or did you just turn and walk away?

From the pain he'll carry for the rest of his life,
Did you consider his family, his children, his wife?

That watch him suffer in silence each and every day,
As he's haunted by memories that don't go away?

Did you care that the soldier is still pulling guard?
That his heart, mind, and soul will forever be scarred?

Do you know how he suffers from ptsd?
Or that our precious freedom is never free?

Do you care that he still hears the blood curdling screams?
Or that he returns to the war each night in his dreams?

Have you felt the sorrow of a combat Vet?
Or would you rather just forget?

That war has pierced his hardened heart,
And torn this soldier all apart?

Would you rather our heroes just fade away?
Or will you stop to thank a Vet today?

2008-02-13T16:01:00.000-06:00

Cpl. Ryan J. Buckley
21 years old from Nokomis, Illinois
2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne (Air Assault)
June 26, 2006

"His platoon leaders described him as the type of soldier every leader wants: A very talented, dedicated soldier, who did everything that was asked of him." That's what Lt. Col. Greg Butts, commander of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, said about Cpl. Ryan J. Buckley at his memorial service. "I'm glad I could come here. It was an opportunity to recognize one of my great soldiers."

Cpl. Buckley lost his life on June 26, 2006 when an IED detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Baghdad. "I held him while he died," Spc. Richard Morris, a fellow soldier who was wounded in the attack, said after the service. "He was my best friend. This nation has lost a hell of a soldier."

Ryan Buckley, a 2003 graduate of Hillsboro High School, was attending Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield in March 2004 when he left school to join the Army. He had told his mother on 9/11 that he planned to join the military to defend his country. Jennings Carter, who recently retired from the Army, was the commander of the Litchfield Army Recruiting Station when Buckley signed up. Carter said Buckley was an unusually cheerful young man. "Every time we saw him, he was always smiling," Carter said. "Before he went to Iraq, we saw him a few times. He was always happy. He would come by and tell us what he was doing."

Jean Buckley, Buckley's aunt, said he was always a responsible young man, who took his school work seriously, as well as his role in the school bands. The talented French horn player was awarded the John Philip Sousa award his senior year as the outstanding band member.

"He was always a protector," Jean Buckley said. "It's such a sad time. We're so thankful for the Ryans of the world. I appreciate all the veterans and all they've done for this country."

Cpl. Buckley was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq from Nov. 30 to June 23. Bronze Stars were presented to his wife of one year, Tina Buckley, his mother, Sally Nation, and father, Dennis Buckley.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-02-06T21:45:00.001-06:00

This week's hero is a good one. Robert Cone is the second Cousin of Wednesday Hero's partner in crime, Greta.

Robert S. Cone
85 years old from Delray Beach, Florida
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

Surrounded by family, feted by a U.S. congressman and a Veterans of Foreign Wars color guard, one of the few surviving members of the "Filthy Thirteen" was honored on October 8, 2006 in a backyard on Massapoag Avenue.

Robert S. Cone, 85, now of Delray Beach, Fla., finally received the 13 military medals he was due for his service on D-Day during World War II, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, POW medal and Presidential Unit Citation.

"To tell you the truth, I never expected it. I'm very honored to get it and really feel good about it," Cone said.

"He's finding it an honor, and he's a little embarrassed, to be honest," said Cone's son, Edward R. Cone, 45, who hosted the family barbecue that included a visit from U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch.

Only a few members remain of the 101st Airborne Division's famed "Filthy Thirteen," an elite parachute and demolition unit that volunteered for a suicide mission on June 5, 1944, the eve of the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

The Filthy Thirteen, who shared a Quonset Hut in England, were a group of "pretty bad boys," Edward Cone said, renowned for hard-living and fierce fighting. They are believed to be the inspiration for the 1967 movie "The Dirty Dozen," although none of the Filthy Thirteen was a convict.

The unit's mission was to parachute behind enemy lines on the night before D-Day to blow up bridges and impede the Nazis.

Many were killed on the drop. The survivors found it difficult to reunite on the ground because the pilots had panicked when the Germans opened fire.

Cone said he spent two days in a hedgerow battle and was shot in the right arm. When he escaped to a French farmhouse, the owner turned him over to the Nazis and he became a prisoner of war.

His unit and his family thought he was dead. His mother, in Roxbury, received a telegram from the War Department saying he had been killed in action.

Cone spent 11 months in three POW camps in Germany before being liberated by the Russians near the Polish border. He fought alongside the Russians as they made their escape, his son said.

Cone walked to freedom through Poland, Russia and Romania, journeyed by ship to Egypt and was eventually flow to Italy, finally making his way home.

All the medal ceremonies had taken place without him.

Cone married Ida, now his wife of 61 years; became a postal worker and plumber; raised three children in Hull; and spoke very little about the war, Edward Cone said.

About four years ago, Edward Cone decided to find out whether any of his father's Army colleagues were still alive.

He found the Filthy Thirteen's leader, Jake McNiece, in Oklahoma, and put his father in touch by telephone. Their conversation was recorded by the BBC and played on the anniversary of D-Day.

Later, the History Channel filmed its own segment on the pair, which still airs, Edward Cone said.

The group reunited in Taccoa, Ga., the home of their jump school.

"My Dad and I drove from here to Georgia. I heard everything on that trip," Edward Cone said. "Three were alive from the unit. They talked and drank and told stories for days."

Three years ago, McNiece published a book, "The Filthy Thirteen: From the Dustbowl to Hitler's Eagle's Nest: The 101st Airborne's Most Legendary Squad of Combat Paratroopers."

It was McNiece who mentioned that Cone was due a few medals. Edward Cone and his fiance, Kate Guthrie of Leominster, who works at the Statehouse, gathered documentation and contacted Lynch.

The result was the Sunday party, also attended by Cone's daughters, Ronna Townsend of Monroe Township, N.J., and Natalie Gaudet of Hampton, N.H., and most of his seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Cone admits he never talked much about the war before.

"I really didn't," Cone said. "But they insisted I tell the grandchildren and the great grandchildren. So I talk to them. I tell them stories. I tell them true stories. They all enjoy it."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2008-02-05T13:29:00.000-06:00

President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not.

Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.

Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not.

And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people s tuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty as Americans to put aside their differences in WWII and work together to win that war.

Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort.

Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition, trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap and butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.

And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance and with prayers for our country and our troops!

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about we were doing to catch spies.

A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, being subjected to interrogation by a woman, being scared by a dog or that they did not have air conditioning.

There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio.

We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers.

He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve. It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz.

We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam.

It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims that are sympathetic to the terrorists cause... Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.

So... We either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.

America is not at war.

The military is at war.

America is at the mall buying Chinese products and running our trade deficit to the moon. Don't you think the National deficit is enough without adding to the trade deficit and making the Chinese Rich?

Author unknown.

WELL STATED.

2008-02-04T10:27:00.000-06:00

2008-02-02T17:48:00.001-06:00

So today I did my 1st deployment.It was very bittersweet.But I came thru it unscathed,a few tears short,and ready for the next one! But I have to say,I'd rather do HOMECOMINGS! Everything went really well,it was me n G from Soldiers Angels,and me mum helped out too.We got to spoil 216 guys n gals with sweets.Apparently they was unexpected too.Wheeeee! It was great to surprise our brave warriors off to the...well. You know.So many was sooo terribly young,barely outta high school.But they was in good spirits,cos they are gonna come home next year to us awaitin! =D

As a lot of you know,I had several calls to make to various places,asking for help in giving our guys n gals a sweet send off.And here is where I give kudos,AND mention the places who for lack of a better phrase,dicked me around.Many rounds of applause and lotsa cheers go to Pepsi who donated 10 cases of soda/water.YaY!! I knew Pepsi was GOOD to be addicted to! hehe And also kudos goes to Sam's Club,who generously donated 'nuff to where I could get our young'ins some cookies.Good schtuffs maynard!As I said,with good,there unfortunately is BAD.So I am letting you all know what my personal experience was.First off,there was Walmart.Who I called 4x,AND made a trip out there with the requested info to prove that our deployment wasnt a scam.Let me point out I called them on TUESDAY,after the 3rd call,after being on hold for 30+ min BOTH times,was told to take the info out on Friday,which I did.The desk peson told me she had to take it and put on the desk of their.."coordinator".I was like WTF.Ok,so I went on with my business,basically writing them off cos they kept bullshitting me.My mum says,call em.I said no,so she took it upon herself to call em.She got a manager on the line,and I explained yet again what was going on.And got this-"Oh Melody is out of the office til Monday".I said thats not going to do me any good,our deployment is TOMORROW.So I get another round of bullshit with well I'll call her and see if I can get ahold of her,then call you back.Needless to say,NO CALL.I didnt expect one.

Next lousy experience comes from Cub Foods.Tuesday,I went and filled out their donation application.I also left info with them on what it was for.Big waste of time.The manager NEVER got back with me after 3 more calls.Again,I waited 30+ min each time for a YES or NO.

I cant really say one way or another about Country Market,cos I tried several times to call their store and never got an answer,so I'm neutral at this point on them.

What really pisses me the fk off is the fact it took several hours for NOTHING.I could have been calling other places! All I ask is one way or the other,give me a straight answer.Dont bullshit me and waste my time when I could be making other contacts.If you are gonna say no then do it and let me MOVE ON.Dont make me keep calling back just to dick me around.That aint cool.

G had a shit experience of her own too.Was out of Shelbyville,trying to place the name now,I'll have to ask her and then I will edit and add the name.Anyways.She spoke w a manager there,and told her that it our location was too far away for him to do anything!!! WTF.I wonder what he'd say if our troops told him IRAQ was more then an hour away,and therefore too far for them to go to protect his dumbass?!?!

I guess I just dont understand these places who get a tax write off for doing stuff like this at all.To me thats GREAT publicity.Not to mention it being a good thing and a HONOR.And its not like the peeps we actually talk to are writing personal checks to us.Sheesh.

Yeah,I get really fired up about our troops and how they are treated.And by God,I will make sure everyone knows the people who are good to our soldiers.So yup,I let ya'all have a good read here..hehe.I honestly feel good about taking the day off and helping out.I have a few pics I may post,depends on my mood..LoL.Imma cross post this to my yahoo360 and other blog too.Been neglecting 360 a LOT lately..LoL.

2008-02-02T17:39:00.001-06:00

THANK YOU MONTEL!!!

2008-02-02T17:37:00.000-06:00

2008-02-01T09:50:00.000-06:00

I am a few days late,work n all.But thanks to a friend on my MS,I found this really cool weekly post honoring our troops.So when he posts,I'll post. ^_^

Wednesday Hero

SSgt. Justing R. Whiting
27 years old from Hancock, New York
3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne)
January 19, 2008

Staff Sgt. Justin R. Whiting, a Special Forces medical sergeant sustained fatal wounds when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive devise 16 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq.

He is survived by his mother, Estelline, of Colorado Springs, Colo., father, Randall, of Hancock, N.Y., sister, Amanda, of DuPont, Wash., and brother Nathan of Dover, Tenn.

For more information on SSgt. Justin Whiting, you can download this PDF file.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Lilo in her cammy coat

2008-01-07T00:58:00.001-06:00

Bundled up Lilo, originally uploaded by LadyWolf1.

Lilo all warm and toasty,dressed like a lil soldier as best as I could get her! ^_^

2007-12-12T23:22:00.000-06:00

Family to adopt slain Marine's dog

By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Marine Cpl. Dustin Jerome Lee and his German shepherd, Lex, scoured Iraq for roadside bombs together, slept next to each other and even posed in Santa hats for a holiday photo.

When a mortar attack killed the 20-year-old Marine in Fallujah a few months later, Lex, whimpering from his own injuries, had to be pulled away, Lee's father was told.

That strong bond compelled the slain Marine's family to adopt 8-year-old Lex even though the military said he still had two years of service.

The family lobbied the military for months, launched an Internet petition and enlisted the aid of a North Carolina congressman who took their case straight to the Marine Corps' top general.

On Wednesday, the Marine Corps finally announced Lex could go home to Lee's family. It is the first time the military has granted a dog early retirement to be adopted by someone other than a former handler.

"We knew that's what Dustin would have wanted out of this," said Jerome Lee, the slain Marine's father. "He knew that we would take care of Lex and love him, just like our own."

Lee's family from Quitman, Miss., is scheduled to pick up Lex from the Albany base Dec. 21, exactly nine months after the fatal attack.

Though some shrapnel remains lodged in his back, Lex has otherwise recovered from his wounds and has been serving alongside military policemen at the Albany base since July.

"It is extraordinary," said Col. Christian Haliday, commander of the Marine Logistics Base in Albany, Ga., where the dog is based. "As far as we know, it's the first time that a waiver of policy of this nature has been granted."

Officials at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, which trains dogs for all service branches, confirmed it is the first case of its kind.

Lee joined the Marines after graduating from high school in 2004. His father said his drive to become a dog handler came from Lee's mother, who worked with search-and-rescue dogs for their local emergency management agency when Lee was a boy.

After finishing his military police and dog handler training, the young Marine headed to Albany. Lee adopted his first canine partner, Doenja, from the military and sent him home to Mississippi last year when the 11-year-old dog began losing his sight and had to retire.

Lee formed an equally strong bond with his new partner, Lex.

The military has more than 1,700 dogs that work alongside American troops, including about 260 in the Marines. Their bomb-sniffing skills have been in high demand in Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., said he discussed the Lees' case with Gen. James T. Conway, the Marine Corps commandant.

"The way I look at this, dogs are being trained every day to be a part of the armed forces," Jones said. "This family gave their son for their country. This is a small gift back to them."

I am so pleased the family gets to bring Lex home.RIP Dustin,and THANK YOU for your sacrifice...

2007-12-11T22:25:00.000-06:00

Minorities
We need to show more sympathy for these people.

* They travel miles in the heat.
* They risk their lives crossing a border.
* They don't get paid enough wages.
* They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do.
* They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak a different
language.
* They rarely see their families, and they face adversity all day every day.

I'm not talking about illegal Mexicans;
I'm talking about our TROOPS!
Doesn't it seem strange that many Democrats and Republicans are willing to
lavish all kinds of social benefits on illegals,

But don't support our troops and are now threatening to defund them?

Please pass this on; this is worth more than the short time it takes to read

2007-12-11T22:13:00.000-06:00

This article sure explains everything.I know I did this earlier this year and got my card back.Needless to say I was a lil upset about it,but now I and everyone else knows...

U.S. refuses `Any Wounded Soldier' mail

By JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 11, 2:22 PM ET

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Hundreds of thousands of holiday cards and letters thanking wounded American troops for their sacrifice and wishing them well never reach their destination. They are returned to sender or thrown away unopened.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax scare, the Pentagon and the Postal Service have refused to deliver mail addressed simply to "Any Wounded Soldier" for fear terrorists or opponents of the war might send toxic substances or demoralizing messages.

Mail must be addressed to a specific member of the armed forces — a rule that pains some well-meaning Americans this Christmas season.

"Are we going to forget our soldiers because we are running in fear?" Fena D'Ottavio asked. The suburban Chicago woman was using her blog to encourage friends to send mail to unspecified soldiers until she learned of the ban, which she called a sad commentary on society.

Last season, despite the rule, officials say as many as 450,000 pieces of mail not addressed to anyone in particular managed to reach Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. But they were returned or, if they had no return address, were thrown out altogether, because the hospital lacked the manpower to open and screen all the mail, spokesman Terry Goodman said.

"A lot of this is because of security concerns because it's unsolicited mail that someone is going to have to go through," Goodman said. "Also, being a democratic society, there could be inappropriate mail from someone who, say, doesn't support the war, and then you've got a wounded soldier getting it."

Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, a spokesman with the Army Human Resources Command, said no one tracks the amount of unnamed-soldier mail being returned, so it is impossible to judge the size of the problem.

The busiest part of the holiday season has yet to arrive, but officials said they are receiving far less mail this year addressed simply to "A Recovering American Soldier" or "Any Wounded Soldier."

Candy Roquemore of Austin, Texas, was also promoting the idea of sending cards to wounded soldiers until she found out about the rule. She suggested the ban is an overreaction.

"I think there are some wackos who might do something, so I can understand that. But I think with a Christmas postcard it would be pretty easy to see it doesn't have anthrax in it," Roquemore said.

She added: "I just wanted to say, `Thank you, sorry you're hurt, and happy holidays.'"

USO spokesman John Hanson said that like the military, the nonprofit service organization does not deliver unopened mail to unspecified recipients. He said the USO worries about security as well as hateful messages from war critics.

"We just want to make sure it's not, `Die, baby killer,'" he said. "There are people out there who act irrationally, and we don't want anyone to get a message that would be discouraging."

The USO is one of the organizations the military is encouraging people to support with donations as an alternative to sending cards to unspecified soldiers. The military is also referring people to the American Red Cross and a Defense Department Web site where supporters have posted thousands of messages to troops.

Some groups are offering to forward mail to the troops. Aides to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., are offering to accept letters, screen them through the U.S. Capitol mail operation, and get them to members of the armed forces.

"We've had about a dozen complaints from constituents about returned mail that they sent to troops," said Steven Boyd, a Sessions spokesman.

2007-11-29T12:42:00.000-06:00

This was from awhile back,but its still newsworthy to me! ^_^

Funeral Picketers Sued By Marine's Dad
Lawsuit Claims Anti-Gay Church Furthers Grief For Families Of Dead

(CBS) On March 3, 2006, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder was killed in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. His father, Albert Snyder, buried him on March 20 at St. John's Catholic Church in Westminster, Md.. It was supposed to be a peaceful, private ceremony.

But the funeral was interrupted by members of the church. "The protesters — Westboro Baptist Church — showed up with their signs, their hatred," Snyder said.

According to Snyder's attorney Sean Summers, the demonstrators bore their infamous "God Hates Fags" signs, as well as a lesser used "Semper Fi Fags" sign, particularly offensive to the dead Marine's family.

Though Phelps-Roper maintains that the protesters "were hundreds — hundreds — of yards from where the funeral was," Snyder was forced to travel past them to enter.

"To be honest with you, I tried not to focus on (the protest), and more on my son," he said.

But according to the lawsuit, the church's presence was emotionally damaging to the already grieving father. Postings by Phelps-Roper on the church's Web site following the protest that claimed Snyder "taught Matthew to defy his Creator, to divorce, and to commit adultery," and "raised him for the devil," further added to the father's pain.

The lawsuit says Westboro knowingly violated Snyder's privacy, defamed him and was an intentional infliction of emotional distress against the bereaved father.

In addition to general damages, the lawsuit is seeking punitive damages against the church to act as a deterrent against future protests,

Phelps-Roper feels this is a misuse of the judicial system. "Their stated purpose is to tie this little group — the servants of the living God — up in litigation," she said, "not caring what the merits are … or if they could possibly prevail."

Snyder says that he wants to spare other grieving families from Westboro's activities. "My hope is that they'll stop doing what they're doing."

'God Loves Everyone'

At Arlington, Pastor David Foote of Franklin, Penn., saw the protest and attempted to engage the demonstrators. He told them that "God loves everyone," prompting church members to descend upon him in a hail of insults.

"A lying, false prophet — that's what this is," Phelps-Roper told CBSNews.com, and dismissed him as a "dumb-ass" and a liar.

Foote was in Arlington to pay his respects to Army Spc. Jonathan Kephart, killed near Baghdad on April 9, 2004. Seeing the contempt demonstrated by the church for both the dead and the living was troubling to the Baptist preacher.

"Christians don't talk the way they talked to me," he said. "We show respect to each other."

I seriously HOPE this lawsuit hits them in their wallets HARD!!!

2007-08-16T14:17:00.000-05:00

Sentence of Reid

Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?
Did you know his trial is over?
Did you know he was sentenced?
Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio?
Didn't think so.
Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.

Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.

Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say.
His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah," defiantly stating, "I think I will not apologize for my actions," and told the court "I am at war with your country."

Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:
January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid. Judge Young:
"Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That's 80 years.)

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that's an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.

The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier. You are not----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: "You're no big deal."
You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today?
I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom.

So that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.
We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms.
Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.

Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America , the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done.

The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.

Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.

So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV sets? We need more judges like Judge Young, but that's another subject. Pass this around. Everyone should and needs to hear what this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike home. God bless America
Please forward this----------so that every American has a chance to read it.

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Reid My Lips - this is a true statement

All I can say is...HELL YEAH!!!!

2007-08-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292236,00.html

Artist Mows 850,000-Square-Foot Purple Heart Into N.Y. Field

Monday, August 06, 2007

HAMPTONBURGH, N.Y. — An artist has mowed an 850,000-square-foot rendering of a Purple Heart medal into a park field to honor the 75th anniversary of the medal that commends servicemembers killed or wounded in action.

The rendering, which was unveiled Sunday in Thomas Bull Memorial Park in this city 55 miles northwest of New York City, was done by field artist and painter Roger Baker, whose past works include the Statue of Liberty and Elvis Presley.

According to Baker, the project followed a chance meeting with Bill Bacon, membership director of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. After meeting with officials from The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor and Orange County parks, the plan was on.

The New Windsor Cantonment, in what is now Orange County, was the final encampment of the Revolutionary Army. To honor the service of select troops, Gen. George Washington presented a small purple cloth Badge of Merit — the precursor to the Purple Heart medal.

In 1932, the Purple Heart was awarded to 150 veterans of World War I. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor opened in New Windsor in 2006.

Baker's design was based on a photograph of the medal awarded to Art Livesey, a Middletown, N.Y., Marine Corps veteran who was wounded at Iwo Jima.

2007-07-23T23:08:00.000-05:00

Will she ever shut the hell up and go home??? I hope to God everyone votes AGAINST Sheehan.I really shoulda figured she wouldnt be able to stay out of the limelight long...attention whore! >:\

Sheehan arrested in impeachment protest
By NATASHA T. METZLER, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 23, 7:09 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Monday at the Capitol for disorderly conduct, shortly after saying she would run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the California Democrat's refusal to try to impeach President Bush.

Sheehan was taken into custody inside Rep. John Conyers' office, where she had spent an hour imploring him to launch impeachment proceedings against Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Conyers, D-Mich., chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would have to begin.

"The Democrats will not hold this administration accountable, so we have to hold the Democrats accountable," Sheehan said outside of Conyers' office after the meeting. "And I for one am going to step up to the plate and run against Nancy Pelosi."

Sheehan and about 200 other protesters had walked to Conyers' office from Arlington National Cemetery. She said Conyers told her there weren't enough votes for impeachment to move forward on the issue.

Forty-five of Sheehan's fellow protesters also were arrested. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said that after they are processed, the arrested activists could each pay a $50 fine to be released.

"Impeachment is not a fringe movement, it is mandated in our Constitution. Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table," Sheehan told her group of orange-clad activists before they began their march from the national cemetery.

Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq, has been saying for two weeks that she would seek to oust Pelosi from office by running against her as an independent in her San Francisco district if Pelosi didn't change her mind by July 23 on trying to impeach Bush.

Conyers introduced a bill last term calling on Congress to determine whether there are grounds for impeaching Bush. Pelosi has steadfastly dismissed any talk of impeachment, saying Democrats should focus their efforts on ending the war in Iraq.

2007-07-17T22:38:00.001-05:00

When the security of our land is threatened,
We call on our soldier's might,
To go wherever they're needed,
To defend us day and night.

They leave their loves ones behind,
A great price our soldiers must pay.
Let us salute their courage and bravery,
May we remember them each time we pray.

Each time we spot "Old Glory"
Waving for all to see,
Let's think of all the soldiers that have
Kept it flying proud and free.

This great country is tolerant
Of cultures from other lands,
But, when they attack our precious freedom
We will punish with a heavy hand.

Our soldiers are tried and true,
Tempered like carbon steel,
Born of American Spirit;
Raised with American will.

Remember our fallen heroes that died,
So freedom may grow,
To nations around the world,
Wherever our warriors may go.

2007-07-17T22:29:00.000-05:00

Interesting link here.Its updated every 30 seconds...Terrorist Map.Pretty scary stuff.

2007-07-10T10:02:00.000-05:00

Military ABC'S

A is for attacking the phone everytime it rings. Even if it means sleeping
with the handset or nearly careening off the highway trying to reach your
phone in your purse on the floor...in case it is your soldier calling.

B is for boxes. Packing them, unpacking them, shipping them, receiving them,
using them to store precious letters... A Military Wife handles a lot of
boxes.

C is for cheering your head off when your soldier finally comes home from
that LOOONNNGGG deployment!! !

D is for deployments, and the deployments that extend.

E is for the Excitement you feel when you know he is coming very soon after
being away for a LONGGGGG time!!

F is for the friendships that come and go due to moving every three years,
and for those that last a lifetime no matter what the distance.

G is for the Good friends you will meet despite knowing them for a short
span of time.

H is for the helpful hands that come when they are needed.

I is for IRAQ, the nastiest 4 letter word we know!

J is for how you JUMP for JOY when homecoming comes.

K is for Kitchen where you prepare gourmet snacks and scrub and scrub, just
to keep your mind occupied.

L is the love you have for your soldier.

M is for the marriage that survive the struggles that come with being a
Military wife.

N is for Naughty time when "daddy" gets home!

O is for OPSEC- learn it- know it- live by it.......

P is patience! God knows you need it....

Q Is for the Questions you have to deal with every day. "When is he coming
home?" "Will he get to come home for Christmas?" "Does he plan on getting
out after he comes back?" "Why did he re-enlist?" and....

R is for RnR of course! With all these dang deployments, families LIVE for
RnR!

T is for the time you have with him while he is home.

U is for the UGLY brown briefs we have to see our husbands wear!

V is for the variety of different places you will go!

W IS FOR THE WORRIES..... ..WHERE IS HE......WHEN IS IT GONNA BE
OVER........ ...

X is for the eXtra hugs and kisses you try to squeeze in right before they
get on the plane...

Y is for the yawns caused by all of the late night phone calls or IM
sessions, the long days, the sleepless nights and the hot nights spent with
your man when neither of you gets any sleep.

Z is for the time ZONES that we have to count to figure out what time is it
where ever they are deployed or stationed at while they are away

2007-06-23T14:01:00.001-05:00

This is just awful.I cant believe the Las Vegas Metro police can get away with this travesty!How dare they abuse OUR soldier?!?!? This is a sad reminder that not all cops are good and trustworthy...Check this out...

Part 1

Part 2

2007-06-21T01:37:00.001-05:00

2007-06-21T01:13:00.000-05:00

It is time to change from REDNECK humor to TRUE AMERICAN Humor!

Only it isn't seen as HUMOR, but the correct way to LIVE YOUR LIFE! If you feel the same, pass this on to your True American friends. Y'all know who they are...

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, "One nation, under God."

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You still say "Christmas" instead of "Winter Festival."

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You treat Vietnam vets with great respect, and always have.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You've never burned an American flag.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You respect your elders and expect your kids to do the same.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

If you got this email from me, it is because I believe that you, like me, have just enough TRUE AMERICAN in you to have the same beliefs as those talked about in this email.

God Bless the U S A ! Amen

2007-06-20T14:04:00.000-05:00

OMG this is HILARIOUS!!!

2007-06-19T21:02:00.000-05:00

GOD BLESS, PROTECT AND COMFORT OUR TROOPS I PRAY
Every soldier that heads across the sea
Carries a bit of the heart of me
Leaving their joys, accepting the stress
Doing it not for personal gain, just doing their best
Taking whatever that Fate may give
God, it is an honorable and noble life they live
Fate, grant me this, that I might always see
The freedoms that these heroes have given me.
©Elaine Greene

2007-06-18T00:46:00.000-05:00

USMC LETTER FROM IRAQ
This is from a Marine First Sergeant serving in Iraq and about to come home:

I guess I kinda had an epiphany two days ago when I walked outside and saw some Marines gathered around a convoy of 4 vehicles. I recognized that these were my Marines from another "Battle Position" so I thought I would go see what they were up to. Because of the fact that they are 40 miles away, I dont get to see them often enough, so I always welcome "face time" with this platoon.

As I walk over, all I see are young Marines and a single Corporal. "Who is the convoy commander?" I asked, expecting to see a Senior Sergeant or Staff Sergeant appear from nowhere. "I am, First Sergeant", said Cpl Jansen. All of the Marines started to close in on me as if to see what they had done wrong that caused me to be looking for the convoy commander. So I asked Cpl Jansen how old he was and he replied "19, First Sergeant".

This just really hit home with me, so I decided to point out to all of them the significance. "Wow, 19 years old and you take 17 Marines and head out accross hostile foreign land. I bet that if you asked someone back home who was in charge of a convoy in Iraq, they would think it was a Lieutenant or Captain or Sgt. But here you are a 19 year old Corporal leading Marines into combat." (Keep in mind that 45 days ago Cpl Jansen was a Lance
Corporal-before he was promoted to his present rank Meritoriously for his actions in combat.) So, as I walked away, I just kept thinking what other kids his age are doing in America. The level of responsibility he has is truly Awe-inspiring. Thirty minutes later, Cpl Jansen mounted up his troops and headed right back out the gate and into harms way on his 90 minute
convoy back to his base. What a difference eight months makes! This is just one example of how this deployment has changed lives and turned boys into men.

You know, a lot of people look down on our current generation. People are quick to point out that they play too much video games, question authority, talk back to their parents, whatever.(I myself am guilty of saying these things). But I can assure you, that if you could see what I have seen here, you would stiffle yourself. They represent everything America stands for and they are perfect ambassadors of our country. My company is about 75% under 21 years old. These young men have a perfect understanding of patriotism and sacrifice.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 11:41 pm

Being a Marine isn't everything...it's the ONLY thing.
Semper Fidelis,
Gerald T. Pothier
Capt. USMC (Ret)
1951-1988

"Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have made a difference in the world. Marines don't have that problem."
President Ronald Reagan , 1985

"There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion."
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army

"Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share." -- Ned Dolan

"America is not at war, The Marine Corps is at war; America is at the mall."

I love this.What more can I say?

Gift from Becky

2007-06-15T14:02:00.001-05:00

Gift from Becky-view 1, originally uploaded by LadyWolf1.

My dear friend Becky ordered this for me,knowing I am totally into our troops and support for em. =D Isnt it just gorgeous?!?! Thank you Becky!

2007-06-12T00:52:00.000-05:00

Dear American Soldier in Iraq:

There are a few things you should know about how tens of millions of us back home feel about you and the fight you are waging. These things need to be said, especially now, given the fact that the head of one of America's two major political parties has announced that the war in Iraq is lost.

U.S. marines and Iraqi troops move between ruined buildings in Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 27, 2007. U.S. forces have tried just about everything to quell the Sunni insurgency in the capital of blood-soaked Anbar province, and after years of some of the fiercest street fighting of the war, something finally appears to have worked: Ramadi, at least by Ramadi standards, is calm.

This war has not been lost. What has happened is that many Americans, for all sorts of reasons -- some out of simple fatigue, some because they do not believe that war solves anything, some out of deep loathing for the present administration -- do not believe that what you are doing is worth doing.

You know that what you are doing is worth continuing. You see on an almost daily basis the faces of people who count on you to help them make a freer society than they have ever known. You know that your presence in Iraq is all that stands between numberless men, women and children and a horrible death. But, for whatever reasons, the fate of these people and their country do not matter to those who feel you are wasting your time and our nation's resources in Iraq.

You know that the fight you wage is worth waging. You know that you are not, by and large, fighting Iraqis who do not want you there but fighting people from other countries who come into Iraq in order to blow up and maim as many innocent Iraqis as possible.

You know that you are fighting the most vicious and primitive ideology in the world today. It is the belief that one's God wants his followers to maim, torture and murder in order to spread a system of laws that sends societies back to a moral and intellectual state that is pre-civilization.

You know that the war you wage against these people and their totalitarian ideology is also necessary because a society unwilling to fight for its values does not have values worth sustaining. And for that reason, you in Iraq and many of us back home are worried about America.

You know that there is real good and real evil in the world. You have seen both more than any of us at home will probably see in a lifetime. Why so many in America and the West generally no longer believe that there is good and evil, let alone in the importance of having good vanquish evil, is a subject for a book. But that is the problem here. So when, God willing, you return healthy and victorious, you will have another battle to wage -- on behalf of moral clarity. In that regard we are losing our way. Millions of our fellow Americans -- often the best educated -- do not understand that those who send young people to blow up weddings, kindergartens, market places and college libraries in the promise of a paradise filled with young women are the Nazis of our time.

You know all these things. And tens of millions of us back home also know these things.

We see you as the best and brightest of our society. Even The New York Times, one of the mainstream media publications that do not understand the epic battle you are waging, acknowledged in an article by one of its embedded correspondents that few Americans of your age can come close to you in maturity, wisdom or leadership abilities.

It is unfortunate that the battle for moral clarity and moral courage in America is as divisive as the battle for freedom is in Iraq. But that is the nature of the world we live in. And it has ever been so. "Woe unto those who call evil good and good evil," wrote the Prophet Isaiah about 2,500 years ago. Not much has changed in two and a half millennia.

So Isaiah would be proud of you. Indeed, as a religious person, I believe with all my heart and soul that your work to uproot the greatest evil of our time and enable a people to build the first free Arab Muslim country is as holy, if not holier, as almost anything a minister, priest or rabbi does back home.

You probably knew all this. But you need to hear it anyway.

That, and thank you. Thank you very much.

Here is where this originally came from.Now while I am not the most religious peep,I think this is a wonderful letter.Of course there was negative comments left,which is really sad.Our troops dont need that chit,they need to hear we ARE behind them 100%!!!!!!

2007-06-06T23:17:00.000-05:00

Soldier funeral protester arrested

By ERIC OLSON, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 6, 6:33 PM ET

OMAHA, Neb. - A member of the Kansas group that has drawn criticism for protesting at soldiers' funerals has been arrested for letting her 10-year-old son stomp on a U.S. flag during a demonstration. She promised Wednesday to challenge the state's flag desecration law in court.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, will be charged with flag mutilation, disturbing the peace and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said Wednesday.

Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, acknowledged that she allowed her son Jonah to stand on the flag Tuesday — something she says is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

"It's utter nonsense," said Phelps-Roper, a lawyer. "I don't know what else to tell you other than that we'll see them in federal court."

Phelps-Roper is a daughter of Westboro's founder, the Rev. Fred Phelps. Members have protested at more than 280 military funerals in 43 states since June 2005, she said.

The group says the deaths of U.S. soldiers are God's punishment for a nation that harbors gays and lesbians. Nebraska and 37 other states have laws restricting how close protesters can get to funerals, inspired at least in part by the Westboro protests.

Tuesday's funeral in suburban Bellevue was for Nebraska Army National Guard Spc. William "Bill" Bailey, who was killed May 25 when an explosive device struck his vehicle in Iraq.

Phelps-Roper was arrested because she was involved in a potentially volatile situation in the presence of Bailey's friends, relatives and fellow soldiers, Polikov said. Bellevue has a strong military presence, with Offutt Air Force Base located at the south edge of town.

"To come into that environment and communicate what I would call fighting words — provocative language and acts — you can't do that," Polikov said. "You might illicit a violent response. That's against community peace and community law."

Phelps-Roper was arrested about an hour before Bailey's funeral when an officer observed the boy stomping on the flag, Bellevue Police Capt. Herb Evers said. She was booked and released after posting $150 bail.

Nebraska's flag law says: "A person commits the offense of mutilating a flag if such person intentionally casts contempt or ridicule upon a flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling upon such flag."

Flag mutilation and disturbing the peace are each punishable by 90 days in jail, a $500 fine or both. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor is punishable by a year in jail, a $1,000 fine or both. All three are misdemeanors.

Polikov said he was considering filing a negligent child abuse charge because Phelps-Roper put her son in a dangerous situation.

I've asked time and time again...wtf is WRONG with the Phelps clan/occult??? I honestly believe they have serious inbreeding going on in that clan,therefore destroying any and all common sense!I only hope they can find more charges to stick her with!! She shouldnt be allowed to parent so much as a dog,let alone a human being. Child protective services,ya'all need to step into their situation!!! Phelps Clan-Back off and show some respect!

2007-06-05T13:45:00.000-05:00

From a MS bulletin...this is very painful to listen to.I just wanted to grab the Ranger thats talking and squeeze him to bits!! And say THANK YOU for all you do!

PLEASE WATCH THIS ENTIRE VIDEO. IT IS VERY EMOTIONAL AND SOME PARTS ARE VERY HARD FOR A MILITARY PARENT TO WATCH, BUT OUR TROOPS NEED US ALL TO BACK THEM AND NOT TAKE THEIR SERVICE AND SACRIFIC LIGHTLY. AND WE SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT ALLOW THE MEDIA AND POLITICS TO DEMEAN THEM AS PARTS OF THIS VIDEO CLEARLY PROVES THAT THEY ARE DOING. I'M SURE THIS RANGER IS BUT ONE OF THE MANY OF OUR MILITARY THAT ARE FRUSTRATED WITH OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AND THE MEDIA RIGHT NOW. MY SON IS CURRENTLY ON HIS SECOND DEPLOYMENT OVER THERE AND THEY HAVE ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH JUST DOING THEIR JOBS. THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE TO COME HOME TO ALL THIS BICKERING AND POLITICAL POSTURING. THEY DESERVE SO MUCH MORE. RANTING IS OVER NOW...PLEASE WATCH.......MARINE MOM!

2007-06-03T13:24:00.000-05:00

A tired and disgusted Iowa soldier fired off an e-mail a few days
ago, telling family and friends how things are going in Iraq.

A Blackhawk helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Jim Funk has
flown more than 80 combat missions since he arrived there in October.

He described his Boone-based unit's successes after 5,000 hours of
flying out of LSA Anaconda, a huge American base north of Baghdad.
He talked about the tragedies he and his fellow Iowans have
witnessed and his worries of becoming complacent as he goes on
mission after mission.

Morale?

"We're treading water," the Ames man told the people closest to
him. "We continue to kick butt on missions and take care of each
other, even though we know the American public and government DOES
NOT stand behind us.

Ohhhh, they all say they support us, but how can you support me (the
soldier) if you don't support my mission or my objectives. We watch
the news over here. Every time we turn it on we see the American
public and Hollywood conducting protests and rallies against
our 'illegal occupation' of Iraq."

His greatest frustration? The performance of the people who deliver
the news to the American people.

I'll let him say it, in his own words, in the letter, which found
its way to me:

"Hello media, do you know you indirectly kill American soldiers
every day? You inspire and report the enemy's objective every day.
You are the enemy's greatest weapon. The enemy cannot beat us on the
battlefield so all he does is try to wreak enough havoc and have you
report it every day. With you and the enemy using each other, you
continually break the will of the American public and American
government.

"We go out daily and bust and kill the enemy, uncover and destroy
huge weapons caches and continue to establish infrastructure. So
daily we put a whoopin on the enemy, but all the enemy has to do is
turn on the TV and get re-inspired. He gets to see his daily
roadside bomb, truck bomb, suicide bomber or mortar attack. He
doesn't see any accomplishments of the U.S. military (FOX, you're
not exempt, you suck also).

"Let's give you an example. A couple of days ago we conducted an air
assault. We lifted troops into an area for an operation. The
operation went well and our ground troops killed (insurgents) and
took several prisoners, freed a few hostages and uncovered a weapons
cache containing munitions and chemicals that were going to be used
in improvised bombs.

"The next morning I woke up and turned on AFN (Armed Forces Network)
and watched the nightly news (NBC). Nothing, none of that reported.
But the daily car bomb report was reported, and the file footage was
not even from the event. There was a car bomb in the Sadr City area
and your news report showed old car bomb footage from another part
of town from some other time.

"So we really set the enemy back that night but all the enemy had to
do was turn on the news and be reassured that the enemy's agenda
(objective) was still going to be fed to the American public.

"We, the soldiers, keep breaking the back of the enemy. You, the
media, keep rejuvenating the enemy.

"How hard would it be to contact the PAO (public affairs officer) of
the 1st CAV, 36th CAB, 25th ID or the Marines and ask what did you
guys accomplish today - good and bad? How about some insurgent
blooper videos? Now that would be something to show on the evening
news.

"Media, we know you hate the George Bush administration, but report
both sides, not just your one-sided agenda. You have got to realize
how you are continually motivating every extremist, jihadist and
terrorist to continue their resolve to kill American soldiers."

It's a punch in the nose to the news media from Funk, 39, a full-
time employee of the Iowa National Guard.

Why did he write it?

"I am just tired of busting my butt over here and coming home every
night and turning on the TV (Armed Forces Network) and hearing how
we are failing miserably," he told me in an e-mail.

You may agree with what Funk has to say. You may not.

Many in my business certainly won't. But Funk is a soldier, fighting
a war, who has earned the right to be heard.

Columnist John Carlson can be reached at (515) 284-8204 or
jcarlson@dmreg.com

***Thank the above columnist for putting this out there and pass it
along!

2007-05-29T21:35:00.000-05:00

Le Sighs.I lost my linkies since I changed my template.My own fault.Dummy me shoulda saved em on a notepad.I was just sooo happy I found a template that suited my nick and title I literally didnt think.So I am having to try to remember everything I had.And my lil brain just doesnt have much of a memory anymore,dang it.I reckon that will teach me...tho after all these years of bein on the net,and what have ya,one would think backing up chit would be 2nd nature.Ha.Kicking my own self again.

2007-05-29T13:02:00.000-05:00

'It's up to you now': Sheehan quits

By ANGELA K. BROWN

FORT WORTH, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside
President Bush's ranch, said Tuesday she's done being the public face of the movement.

"I've been wondering why I'm killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to
George Bush," Sheehan told The Associated Press while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California.

"I'm going home for awhile to try and be normal," she said.

In what she described as a "resignation letter," Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the Daily Kos blog: "Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.

"It's up to you now."

Sheehan began a grass roots peace movement in August 2005 when she camped outside Bush's Crawford ranch for 26 days, demanding to talk with the president about her son's death. Army Spc. Casey Sheehan was 24 when he was killed in an ambush in Baghdad in 2004.

Cindy Sheehan's protest started small but swelled to thousands and quickly drew national attention. Over the next two years, she drew huge crowds as she spoke at protest events. But she also drew criticism for some actions, such as meeting with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president.

"I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement," Sheehan wrote in the diary.

Kristinn Taylor, spokesman for FreeRepublic.com, which has held pro-troop rallies and counter-protests of anti-war demonstrations, said dwindling crowds at Sheehan's Crawford protests since her initial vigil may have led to her decision. But he also said he hopes she will now be able to heal.

"Her politics have hurt a lot of people, including the troops and their families, but most of us who support the war on terror understand she is hurt very deeply," Taylor said Tuesday. "Those she got involved with in the anti-war movement realize it was to their benefit to keep her in that stage of anger."

When Sheehan first took on Bush, she was a darling of the liberal left. "However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the 'left' started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used," she wrote in the diary.

She said she sacrificed a 29-year marriage and endured threats to put all her energy into stopping the war. What she found, she wrote, was a movement "that often puts personal egos above peace and human life."

She said the most devastating conclusion she had reached "was that Casey did indeed die for nothing ... killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think."

Sheehan told the AP that she had considered leaving the peace movement since last summer while recovering from surgery.

She decided on Memorial Day to step down and spend more time with her three other children. She said she was returning to California on Tuesday because it was Casey's birthday. He would have been 28.

"We've accomplished as much here as we're going to," Sheehan said, saying she was leaving to change course. "When we come back, it definitely won't be with the peace movement with marches, with rallies and with protests. It will be more humanitarian efforts."

Last year, with $52,500 in insurance money she received after her son's death, Sheehan bought 5 acres near downtown Crawford as a permanent site for protests.

"Camp Casey has served its purpose," she wrote in the diary. "It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas?"

I honestly hope she gets her head on right and gets her priorities in order.She's made a real muck of her life,and has a long road ahead of her to repair her damages.

2007-05-28T17:25:00.000-05:00

2007-05-21T09:56:00.000-05:00

Flags Of Our Bothers
(Lake Carolina)- Shortly after the Cerney family moved to their new home on 5 Burgee Court, Mark decided to put in a flag pole.

He contacted Lake Carolina's Architectural Review Board to begin the process.

"Once we were approved,"said Cerney,"we put in the flag pole, then a couple days later when the neighbors complained they wanted us to remove it."

Cerney placed a 30-foot pole in front of his house that showcased an American and Marine Corps flag.

But, the Review Board claims Cerney never got their approval and now they want the pole relocated because it doesn't fit regulations.

"They need to tell us what size flag," explained Chuck Munn, Lake Carolina Developer. Homeowners must also get the location of the pole approved.

The board set a 25 foot maximum for flag poles, so they have asked Cerney to cut his pole down to the proper size and move it closer to the house.

"It's also much larger in diameter then a typical residential flag pole," said Munn. But, because he already purchased the pole they are willing to accept it's diameter.

Meanwhile, Cerney told us he will not move the pole.

"When you put a flag pole in the ground and an
American flag on it, that's hallowed ground, you don't move it," said Cerney.

Cerney is asking anyone who's patriotic,"feel free to drive by, salute and say hello."

Click here to visit Mark Cerney's website.

This is UNREAL.Even worse is some of the comments from the general public on this article.How dare anyone try to make Mark change his pole position and size!I say KEEP EM FLYIN' HIGH AND PROUD!! If I lived closer you can be damn sure I would drive by and give em a supportive holla!! People need to forget about pissin off muzzies, or anyone else for that matter,and political correctness.Get back to good ol COMMON SENSE AND COURTESY!!

2007-05-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

ROSIE O'DONNELL (ACTRESS, AND SHOW HOST), MADE A STATEMENT ON "THE VIEW", A NATIONAL TV SHOW, A FEW DAYS AGO DISRESPECTING OUR MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE FIGHTING IN IRAQ!
(HERE'S THE LINK TO SHOW CLIP, PLEASSSE WATCH!!)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789

IF YOU ARE AS SHOCKED AND DISGUSTED AS I AM BY THIS IGNORANCE AND DISRESPECT, PLEASE GO TO THIS LINK ON ABC'S WEBSITE:
http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html
TO MAKE A COMPLAINT ABOUT ROSIE & THE SHOW'S IRRESPONSIBILITY! OUR BOYFRIENDS, FIANCES, HUSBANDS,Cousins,aunts,uncles,sisters,brothers..ETC & ALL OF OUR TROOPS WERE DISRESPECTED AND I FEEL AS THOUGH IT IS PART OF OUR JOB TO MAKE SURE THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN AGAIN!

PLEASE HELP GET THE WORD OUT THERE!!

I watched that disturbing clip,and I voiced my 2 cents to ABC! That cow insulted MY PD,Paul,Grunty,and all our soldiers! GRRRR! She needs MUZZLED!

2007-05-14T20:13:00.000-05:00

Update on an earlier post concerning our troops and MySpace,etc...

May 14, 8:45 PM EDT

Pentagon limits troops' Web access

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer
Technology Video
Buy AP Photo Reprints

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lt. Daniel Zimmerman, an infantry platoon leader in Iraq, puts a blog on the Internet every now and then "to basically keep my friends and family up to date" back home.

It just got tougher to do that for Zimmerman and a lot of other U.S. soldiers. No more using the military's computer system to socialize and trade videos on MySpace, YouTube and more than a dozen others Web sites, the Pentagon says.

Citing security concerns and technological limits, the Pentagon has cut off access to those sites for personnel using the Defense Department's computer network. The change limits use of the popular outlets for service members on the front lines, who regularly post videos and journals.

"I put my blog on there and my family reads it," said Zimmerman, 29, a platoon leader with B Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment.

"It scares the crap out of them sometimes," he said.

"I keep it as vague as possible," he said. "I'm pretty responsible about it. It's just basically to tell a little bit about my life over here" he said.

He's regularly at a base where he doesn't have Defense Department access to the Internet, but he has used it when he goes to bigger bases. He'll have to rely on a private account all the time now.

Memos about the change went out in February, and it took effect last week. It does not affect the Internet cafes that soldiers in Iraq use that are not connected to the Defense Department's network. The cafe sites are run by a private vendor, FUBI (For US By Iraqis).

Also, the Pentagon said that many of the military computers on the front lines in Iraq that are on the department's network had previously blocked the YouTube and MySpace sites.

The ban also does not affect other sites, such as Yahoo, and does not prevent soldiers from sending messages and photos to their families by e-mail.

Internet use has become a troublesome issue for the military as it struggles to balance security concerns with privacy rights. As blogs and video-sharing become more common, the military has voiced increasing concern about service members revealing details about military operations or other information about equipment or procedures that will aid the enemy.

At the same time, service members have used the Web sites to chronicle their time in battle, posting videos and writing journals that provide a powerful, personal glimpse into their days at war.

"These actions were taken to enhance and increase network security and protect the use of the bandwidth," said Col. Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman.

The Pentagon said that use of the video sites in particular was putting a strain on the network, and also opening it to potential viruses or penetration by so-called "phishing" attacks in which scam artists try to steal sensitive data by mimicking legitimate Web sites.

"The U.S. Army's not going to pay the bill for you to get on MySpace and YouTube," said Maj. Bruce Mumford, of Chester, Neb., who is serving as the brigade communications officer for the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, in Iraq. "Soldiers need to know what they can and cannot do, but we shouldn't be facilitating it."

After the warnings of the shutdown went out, military members were allowed to seek waivers if the sites were necessary for their jobs. Often insurgent groups post videos, including ones of attacks or - in some high profile cases - of U.S. or coalition soldiers who have been captured or killed.

"I guess it's a good general policy," Zimmerman said about the ban on MySpace and YouTube." If people could be trusted not to break operational security, then they wouldn't need to have the policy."

If the restrictions are intended to prevent soldiers from giving or receiving bad news, they could also prevent them from providing positive reports from the field, said Noah Shachtman, who runs a national security blog for Wired Magazine.

"This is as much an information war as it is bombs and bullets," he said. "And they are muzzling their best voices."

Among the sites covered by the ban are the video-sharing sites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos and FileCabi; social networking sites MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5; music sites Pandora, MTV, 1.fm and live365, and the photo-sharing site Photobucket.

---

Associated Press writers Robert Weller in Denver and Maya Alleruzzo in Baghdad contributed to this story.

A Wish for all the annoying ppl in our lives

2007-05-14T19:17:00.001-05:00

2007-05-14T11:11:00.000-05:00

Taken from the CNN site.

Military puts MySpace, other sites off limits
POSTED: 9:02 a.m. EDT, May 14, 2007

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Soldiers serving overseas will lose some of their online links to friends and loved ones back home under a Department of Defense policy that a high-ranking Army official said would take effect Monday.

The Defense Department will begin blocking access "worldwide" to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites on its computers and networks, according to a memo sent Friday by Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander.

The policy is being implemented to protect information and reduce drag on the department's networks, according to Bell.

"This recreational traffic impacts our official DoD network and bandwidth ability, while posing a significant operational security challenge," the memo said.

The armed services have long barred members of the military from sharing information that could jeopardize their missions or safety, whether electronically or by other means.

The new policy is different because it creates a blanket ban on several sites used by military personnel to exchange messages, pictures, video and audio with family and friends.

Members of the military can still access the sites on their own computers and networks, but Defense Department computers and networks are the only ones available to many soldiers and sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iraqi insurgents or their supporters have been posting videos on YouTube at least since last fall. The Army recently began posting videos on YouTube showing soldiers defeating insurgents and befriending Iraqis.

But the new rules mean many military personnel won't be able to watch those achievements -- at least not on military computers.

If the restrictions are intended to prevent soldiers from giving or receiving bad news, they could also prevent them from providing positive reports from the field, said Noah Shachtman, who runs a national security blog for Wired magazine.

"This is as much an information war as it is bombs and bullets," he said. "And they are muzzling their best voices."

The sites covered by the ban are the video-sharing sites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos, and FileCabi, the social networking sites MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5, music sites Pandora, MTV, and 1.fm, and live365, and the photo-sharing site Photobucket.

Several companies have instituted similar bans, saying recreational sites drain productivity.

This really bites.I can understand part of their concerns,safety wise n all,but come on.These guys and gals KNOW what not to say or publish!!! Before you know it,access to emails will be blocked as well! I know it can be done cos its happened at my place of employment.I am still all for blocking net access to the mid eastern peeps.All those jihadists do is spread lies and terror anyway.Prolly order their supplies as well.I'm also for blocking as many imports to em as possible too.I know,tall order right? Who says I cant dream and wish tho.

2007-05-11T21:46:00.001-05:00

This is awesome.