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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 9, 2009) — In October 2007, the Missouri National Guard personnel, with agricultural and business development expertise, as well as other essential skills, formed the Afghanistan Agribusiness Development Team to develop agribusiness in Afghanistan. Agriculture accounts for 45 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product and employs over 70 percent of the Afghan population. However, decades of war and neglect have devastated the country’s agricultural sector. As a result, one of the great needs in the country is to develop its agriculture potential, and I am so proud of the efforts of the Missouri National Guard, who assumed...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 24, 2009) — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) sent a letter to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to request information on the National Guard’s current state of readiness to respond to natural disasters in the United States. Skelton also strongly urged the Department of Defense to consider U.S. domestic needs when planning for the redeployment of U.S. forces and equipment from Iraq. “When floods, tornadoes, or hurricanes strike, Americans depend on their neighbors in the National Guard to keep them safe and help with disaster response. In virtually any type of national...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 20, 2009) — The 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team completed two days of internal training that focused on mission essential tasks this week at Fort Leonard Wood. The Missouri National Guard team responded to an “incident” at Abrams Theater and another at the training tunnels at the 1st Lt. Joseph Terry Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Responder Training Facility. The first exercise was coordinated by 1st Lt. Richard Sambolin, the unit’s reconnaissance section officer in charge. In this scenario, the theater was set in Anywhere, USA. A chief of a fire department requested...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Nov. 20, 2009) — Michelle Hartmann, of Jefferson City, has been named the Missouri National Guard's first-ever director of psychological health. Hartmann oversees the Missouri Guard's psychological health program. The program, which is funded through the National Guard Bureau, is designed to promote readiness through psychological fitness. Hartmann said the program's guidelines are intentionally vague, which allows each state's director to tailor it to the specific needs of each state. Hartmann said one of her goals is to make mental health a more normal part of conversation. To some extent, Hartmann said, the stigma associated with psychological...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 20, 2009) — A Missouri National Guardsman in training to become a military truck driver faces charges of making a terrorist threat in a school near Whiteman Air Force Base. According to court records, the trainee, Pfc. Michael John Frederick, 19, went into a Sedalia high school during a Saturday evening event and told the superintendent that the Army had told him to warn area schools that escaped prisoners might be trying to kidnap students. Frederick was wearing his military uniform when he made his warning about escaped inmates. However, there were no escaped inmates...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 12, 2009) — Tammy Duckworth is now a major in the Army National Guard, a former Democratic Party congressional candidate, and an assistant secretary in the Department of Veterans Affairs. But on Nov. 12, 2004, Duckworth’s life was likely saved by the quick action of other National Guardsmen when she was piloting a helicopter that insurgents shot down in Iraq. Those Missouri National Guardsmen assigned to helicopter duty at Fort Leonard Wood attended Duckworth’s fifth “Alive Day” Thursday in Washington, D.C. Staff Sgt. Christopher Fierce, a Dixon resident who was also wounded that day, has...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 9, 2009) — Even for a combat medic like Spc. Erin Raymond, knowing how to clear a room is a fundamental soldier task. “I have to be a soldier before I’m a medic,” said Raymond, who lives in Saint Robert. “It’s important because, even though I am a medic, if I’m put in a situation where one of our members is wounded and I have to help clear a building, I need to know my basic soldiering skills before being a medic. Also, if by chance I ever need to go into a building to...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger talks with Spc. Ferrell Mapp, a resident of Richmond, Calif., and a member of the California National Guard, 49th Military Police Brigade, during a breakfast event held on Camp Victory, Baghdad, Nov. 17. At right is Brig. Gen. Donald Currier, commander of the 49th, and close aide to the governor in his civilian job. Photo by Sgt. Kenneth Bince, 49the Military Police Brigade. BAGHDAD — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shared breakfast and conversation with his State’s Soldiers during a visit here to Camp Victory, Nov. 17. Schwarzenegger said he visited the Fairfield, Calif.-based 49th Military Police...

The day before he shot and killed a Las Vegas, N.M., man in an apparent road rage incident, an active duty soldier on leave from Iraq posted on his MySpace page that he was going to break in a new gun and was planning to "finish off" a stash of ammunition. Richard Baca, a National Guard specialist from Los Lunas sounded giddy in his online posts in the days leading up to the Monday shooting death of Benito Lemos in a Las Vegas intersection. "What to do today?" Baca wrote Sunday on his profile page on the social networking site...

It is 1945 in the Philippines. A short while earlier, American forces were made the Bataan Death March. Now the area between the shore and Zig Zag Pass were once again under U.S. Control. The 'Cyclones' looked at the area. The pass was a few pieces of ground combined to the same degree to roughness and dense jungle. The main road, Route 7 twists violently through the pass, following a line of least terrain resistance that wild pigs must originally have established. The jungle flora in the region is so thick that one can step five yards off the highway...

FORT WORTH, Texas — Dale Earnhardt Jr. loves to talk about his sponsorship ties to the military. He had a hard time finding the words Friday to discuss the massacre that left 13 people dead at Fort Hood. Texas Motor Speedway is just 170 miles north of the site of a shooting spree that also injured 30, including the suspected gunman. A U.S. Army logo with the message "God Bless Our Fort Hood Troops" was painted on the infield grass Friday. Moments of silence were planned before each event, including Sunday's Sprint Cup race. The first question of Ryan Newman's...

The National Security Agency, whose job it is to protect national security systems, will soon break ground on a data center in Utah that's budgeted to cost $1.5 billion. The NSA is building the facility to provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats, cybersecurity support to defense and civilian agency networks, and technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security, according to a transcript of remarks by Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of national intelligence for collection, who is responsible for oversight of cyber intelligence activities in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. "Our country must continue to...

Eight of the flat-screen TVs removed from a Minnesota sex offender treatment facility on Gov. Tim Pawlenty's orders will go to Minnesota National Guard facilities. The state Department of Administration said Wednesday that Camp Ripley, near Brainerd, will get six of the 50-inch plasma televisions that prompted Pawlenty's ire last week. The Guard's Minneapolis and Duluth airbases will also each get one. Pawlenty called for discipline for whoever authorized buying 26 TVs costing $1,500 each, plus $700 mounting brackets, for the Moose Lake sex offender facility. The Department of Human Services is investigating. The governor previously announced that 14 TVs...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Oct. 27, 2009) — Teamed with several military organizations, the 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team from Fort Leonard Wood participated in confined space training on Oct. 20 and 21 as part of Operation Joint Eagle in Camp Gruber, Okla. The exercise was conducted by Response International Group, an organization composed of several of the firefighters who responded to the Oklahoma City bombing. The unit worked with the Illinois National Guard’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package. “Working side by side with the CERFP helped each team understand its roles...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Oct. 16, 2009) — The Missouri National Guard’s 35th Engineer Brigade welcomed its new top non-commissioned officer, Command Sgt. Maj. Will Pierce, of Camdenton, in a recent change of responsibility ceremony. Pierce took over from Command Sgt. Maj. Ray Harding, of Saint Robert, who is retiring this month after 37 years in the Guard. “Command Sgt. Maj. Pierce has several qualities that will make him an excellent command sergeant major,” said Brig. Gen. David Irwin, brigade commander. “He has deployed multiple times with both an engineer battalion and the engineer brigade. He knows what it feels...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Oct. 16, 2009) — While training with civilian agencies in Columbia to clean up a mock terrorist lab producing chlorine gas, the Missouri National Guard’s 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team had to handle serious injuries sustained by one of its members. The injuries were only simulated but weren’t expected by those participating in the training of the Fort Leonard Wood unit with Columbia-area civilian firefighters, police, members of HAZMAT and SWAT teams, and FBI and bomb squad members. “There were a couple of hiccups, but that’s to be expected when you get that...

Members of a Tucson Army National Guard unit are shipping out late next week for a year-long tour in Afghanistan. More than 80 members of the 158th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion will help provide food, water, ammunition, fuel and other necessities to U.S. and allied troops in the war zone. The citizen soldiers will spend several weeks training at Fort Hood in Texas before heading overseas. They are due to return to Tucson in October 2010, said Maj. Paul Aguirre, a spokesman at Arizona Army National Guard headquarters in Phoenix. About half of the unit's 84 soldiers are from Southern...

JOINT FORCES HEADQUARTERS, LATHAM, N.Y. (10/07/09) - Members of the New York National Guard welcomed a new "recruit" to the Army National Guard Oct. 6 when the National Guard helped fulfill the dream of a local area boy battling Leukemia. Nine-year old Jacob Kaminski was surprised by his family with a day-long visit with the New York National Guard as the state's "Soldier for a Day." The event was arranged, in part, by New York Army National Guard Sgt. Mathew Starr, assigned to the Joint Forces Headquarters staff and a long-time fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Starr, a...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Oct. 8, 2009) — Most people probably don’t know Gregory Rhodes, but his story, which can be considered inspirational, is worth a look. It starts with humble beginnings, continues with a long battle through adversity, and culminates where it is today — with Rhodes as a happily married family man and a graduate of the Missouri National Guard’s officer candidate school. “I understand that everything I have overcome has led me to where I am today. I am a survivor,” Rhodes said. “Even before joining the Missouri Army National Guard, without realizing it, I have been...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Oct. 1, 2009) — Four Missouri National Guardsmen in the 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team based at Fort Leonard Wood recently participated in clandestine lab training at the Missouri Highway Patrol headquarters. The four men, 1st Lt. Nathan Looper of Lynchburg, 1st Lt. Matthew Marks and 1st Lt. Richard Sambolin of Waynesville, and Staff Sgt. Jason Allabaugh of Chadwick, took the course as part of their training, along with law enforcement officials from across the state. The class was primarily geared toward the detection and cleanup of methamphetamine labs. “Now we can look...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Sept. 28, 2009) — When the Missouri National Guard delved into the world of social media in February by launching Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace pages all within a single month, no one could predict the impact the sites would have on the way the Guard did business as usual. The one thing everyone was certain of, however, was that the online media movement was much too big to ignore. “Utilizing new media is a great way to spread our messages,” said adjutant general Brig. Gen. Stephen Danner. “It is important that the Missouri National Guard has...

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Sept. 25, 2009) — More than 200 National Guard officials and representatives of civilian agencies from eight states attended the New Madrid Seismic Zone Workshop sponsored by the Missouri National Guard. The event’s purpose was to coordinate the National Guard response to a catastrophic earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Missouri adjutant general, Brig. Gen. Steven L. Danner, said the reason for the workshop — which drew participants from Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Indiana, and Arkansas — was preparedness. “We want the citizens to have the knowledge that the National Guards of each of...

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Sept. 22, 2009) — The Missouri National Guard will host two events near the Lake of the Ozarks that are designed to assist and recognize soldiers who recently returned from supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. About 100 soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 106th Assault Helicopter Battalion, of Fort Leonard Wood, and Detachment 3, 1st Battalion, 185th Theater Aviation Company, of Springfield, are expected to attend the Yellow Ribbon and Freedom Salute programs on Oct. 3 and 4 at Tan-Tar-A Resort. Yellow Ribbon is a reintegration program for soldiers returning from a long deployment. As part of the...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Sept. 14, 2009) — The Missouri National Guard now has the capability and training to provide hoist extractions with some of its UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 106th Assault Helicopter Battalion of Fort Leonard Wood and the Springfield-based 1107th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group trained using hoists from Aug. 28 to 30 in Springfield. The hoists can be used to extract up to 600 pounds of personnel or cargo per lift into a Black Hawk during appropriate state or national emergencies. Possible uses are lifting stranded people off cars and rooftops...

Members of the Missouri Veterans Commissionare asking all veterans for their help this fall in “listening posts” that will be held at locations across the state, including one on Monday, Sept. 28 in St. Robert. The St. Robert listening post will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the St. Robert Community Center located at 114 J.H. Williamson Drive, which is off Old Route 66. While numerous other listening posts are scheduled around Missouri, none of the others are in the Fort Leonard Wood area. The events will provide opportunities for veterans to address their needs and wants...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Aug. 11, 2009) — In the event of a terrorist attack at Kansas Motor Speedway, the Missouri National Guard’s 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team would likely be called to assist first responders. The unit spent a week recently training at the speedway alongside civil support teams from Kansas and Nebraska for Operation Rolling Thunder. “It was three days of very valuable joint training,” said Lt. Col. Raymond White, unit commander. “We worked in concert with the other teams and learned a lot.” After the field training began on the second day, the Missouri...

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Sept. 8, 2009) — With the possibility of a terrorist attack on one of the state’s waterways, the 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team from Fort Leonard Wood spent two days earlier this month training on the Lake of the Ozarks to respond to waterborne threats. The Missouri Army and Air National Guard unit teamed with the Missouri Water Patrol and its SWAT team for a joint exercise put on by the Center for National Response. It was the team’s first exercise that involved a body of water. “There were lots of challenges,” said Maj....

WASHINGTON – Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX 10) pressed the head of the U.S. Border Patrol for a more rapid response to security concerns along the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly in Texas. The Department of Homeland Security’s SBInet includes technology for a virtual fence to secure America’s borders. However, the technology will not be online in Texas until at least 2014. Meanwhile, the state’s request for 1,000 National Guard troops to help patrol the border has gone unanswered by the Obama administration. “My constituents and the American people want this done and they don’t want to wait five years to see this...

My name is Christopher Davis I'm a former Arizona Army National Guardsman. I never served in combat and felt badly about that for a long time. But now I look at the Big Picture of global politics and feel more strongly then ever that I am lucky. What the duties of a soldier in combat are have never been blurrier. I feel our men are being exploited and no one is doing anything about it. I grew up a few hours from Kent State University in Ohio, and we all know what happened there. I feel our leaders know...

Media Bias: Veteran reporter, author and commentator Bernard Goldberg reports that when CBS News did its fake National Guard story on George W. Bush avoiding service in Vietnam, it knew it was a lie.It's a liberal urban legend that Bush used the influence of his father and his father's friends to land a cushy position in the Texas National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam. The Democrats would run John Kerry as a hero in the war, and CBS News was all too eager to help with Mary Mapes producing a "60 Minutes II" segment in September 2004 charging exactly...

The state’s adjutant general of the South Dakota National Guard and Gov. Mike Rounds are among state leaders opposed to a Pentagon proposal involving control of how part-time military troops are used in any state. At the heart of the disagreement is who will command troops when they are sent to a particular state to deal with a hurricane, wildfire or other disaster. The military justifies a change in law as a natural extension of its use of federal forces. The governors see the Pentagon move as a strike at state sovereignty. Rounds agrees with the National Governors Association’s opposition...

EL PASO -- Governor Rick Perry said he was deeply troubled by drug cartel violence in Mexico, and Juarez in particular, and has asked President Barack Obama to authorize 1,000 National Guard troops for use in support of civilian law enforcement agencies along the border. "As violence in northern Mexico continues, it is paramount that our international borders be secured to ensure the safety of our citizens and the security of our Homeland," Perry said in his letter to the President. Perry said drug cartels have recruited Texas teenagers for operations on both sides of the border. He also stressed...

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 20, 2009 – Soldiers from the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are playing a supporting role in today’s elections in Afghanistan, the unit commander told reporters yesterday. Pfc. Justin Bell of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team clears his M4 carbine after entering Camp Phoenix in Kabul, July 28, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Terry Wade  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “[It] is a very big day,” said Army Brig. Gen. Larry E. Dudney Jr., commander of Task Force Phoenix 9 in Kabul. “We’re excited to be...

Friends Fix Classic 1966 Chevy Malibu for National Guard Medic Returning from Iraq. Watch Video: http://www.cardealerreviews.org/?p=116412

WASHINGTON – A government plan to use National Guard troops to help stem Mexican drug violence along the southern border is stymied by disagreements over who will pay for the soldiers and how they would be used. Ordered by President Barack Obama in June to help secure the border with Mexico, the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department drafted a $225 million plan to deploy temporarily 1,500 Guard troops to supplement Border Patrol agents. The two agencies are wrangling over how to structure the deployment, but the primary sticking point is the money, according to senior administration officials who spoke...

Soldiers recruited to be "Internment/Resettlement" specialists by a series of National Guard ads concerning "civilian resettlement" locations would have assignments overseas, not within the U.S., says a National Guard spokesman who reports members pledge to follow the U.S. Constitution and take orders from American civilian authorities. The response came several days after WND submitted questions to the National Guard about the advertisements for "Internment" soldiers who could operate in a "civilian resettlement" center. As WND reported, the ads were raising alarm because of a series of other government moves, including the recent Department of Homeland Security report describing those who...

PARIS — Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School will be the site of a National Guard riot control drill Thursday morning to prepare in the event of a panic over distribution of serum to treat the swine flu. The school on Route 26 at the Paris-Norway town line has been designated by state officials as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine. The drill is to prepare for a worst-case scenario should the serum have to be transported from Augusta and people rush to get it. On Thursday morning, four or five National Guard Humvees will travel from Augusta to...

An ad campaign featured on a U.S. Army website seeking those who would be interested in being an "Internment/Resettlement" specialist is raising alarms across the country, generating concerns that there is some truth in those theories about domestic detention camps, a roundup of dissidents and a crackdown on "threatening" conservatives. The ads, at the GoArmy.com website as well as others including Monster.com, cite the need for: "Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a...

An ad campaign featured on a U.S. Army website seeking those who would be interested in being an "Internment/Resettlement" specialist is raising alarms across the country, generating concerns that there is some truth in those theories about domestic detention camps, a roundup of dissidents and a crackdown on "threatening" conservatives. The ads, at the GoArmy.com website as well as others including Monster.com, cite the need for: "Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a...

Campaign recruiting for workers at 'civilian resettlement facility' An ad campaign featured on a U.S. Army website seeking those who would be interested in being an "Internment/Resettlement" specialist is raising alarms across the country, generating concerns that there is some truth in those theories about domestic detention camps, a roundup of dissidents and a crackdown on "threatening" conservatives. The ads, at the GoArmy.com website as well as others including Monster.com, cite the need for: "Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare,...

Why was "Army National Guard Recruiting FEMA Camp Or 'Internment/Resettlement' Specialists" moved from "Extended News" to "Bloggers & Personal" Canada Free Press is certainly not a "blog" or a "personal" website. And as Canada Free Press states, "Canada Free Press (CFP) is a proudly independent, 24-7 electronic newspaper, updating several times--and sometimes several hours-- a day. More than 100 writers and columnists file regularly to CFP from all corners of the globe. Although we have been posting to the Internet for more than 12 years, on May 15, 2009 CFP celebrated its fifth anniversary as a daily."

Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a confinement or correctional facility; conduct inspections; prepare written reports; and coordinate activities of prisoners/internees and staff personnel. Some of your duties as an Internment/Resettlement Specialist may include: Assist with the supervision and management of confinement and detention operations Provide external security to confinement/corrections facilities or detention/internment facilities Provide counseling and guidance to individual prisoners within a rehabilitative program Prepare or review reports and records of prisoners/internees...

The Army National Guard is now recruiting individuals to fill job positions described as an internment/resettlement specialist according to job postings on Monster.Com and other employment based Internet sites such as one listed here. In other words, they are recruiting individuals to man facilities that could be used to house political dissidents, so-called terrorists and other individuals that the government doesn’t like. The term “resettlement” indicates that individuals holding this job position could also be responsible for moving people to other locations against their will. It is a documented fact that the U.S. government has numerous facilities at their disposal...

An ad campaign featured on a U.S. Army website seeking those who would be interested in being an "Internment/Resettlement" specialist is raising alarms across the country, generating concerns that there is some truth in those theories about domestic detention camps, a roundup of dissidents and a crackdown on "threatening" conservatives. The ads, at the GoArmy.com website as well as others including Monster.com, cite the need for: "Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The sheriff in Alabama's most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, after a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff's budget and hopes dimmed for a quick end to a budget crisis. Circuit Judge Joseph L. Boohaker ruled that leaders in Jefferson County — now trying to head off a municipal bankruptcy filing of historic proportions — could go ahead with plans to slash $4.1 million from the budget of Sheriff Mike Hale, who had filed a lawsuit that temporarily blocked spending cuts for his...

(excerpt): As an Internment/Resettlement Specialist for the Army National Guard, you will ensure the smooth running of military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility, similar to those duties conducted by civilian Corrections Officers. This will require you to know proper procedures and military law; and have the ability to think quickly in high-stress situations. Specific duties may include assisting with supervision and management operations; providing facility security; providing custody, control, supervision, and escort; and counseling individual prisoners in rehabilitative programs. By joining this specialty, you will develop the skills that will prepare you for a rewarding career with law enforcement agencies...

(excerpt): As an Internment/Resettlement Specialist for the Army National Guard, you will ensure the smooth running of military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility, similar to those duties conducted by civilian Corrections Officers. This will require you to know proper procedures and military law; and have the ability to think quickly in high-stress situations. Specific duties may include assisting with supervision and management operations; providing facility security; providing custody, control, supervision, and escort; and counseling individual prisoners in rehabilitative programs. By joining this specialty, you will develop the skills that will prepare you for a rewarding career with law enforcement agencies...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (July 31, 2009) — Sgt. 1st Class Darwin Johnson, of Stanberry, is a Missouri National Guardsman who is among the first in the nation to work with a new maintenance diagnostic system for military vehicles. “We’re kind of the guinea pigs,” said Johnson, of the 35th Special Troops Battalion in St. Joseph. “We’ve got to find any flaws and report them.” Johnson was one of 32 soldiers from across the state who recently trained with the Maintenance Support Device-Version 2 for two days at the Combined Surface Maintenance Shops in Jefferson City.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (July 30, 2009) — Assisting others is a way of life for 1st Lt. Nathan Looper. As a member of the Missouri Air National Guard, Looper, 31, has served on the 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team on post for more than seven years. In that same span, he has spent his spare time volunteering as a reserve deputy/K-9 officer with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department. “I enjoy helping other people and that’s the biggest reason that I’m in the military doing this job or my civilian law-enforcement life,” said Looper, a Lynchburg resident....

Jeremy Clawson was so ambitious and accomplished in every aspect of his life that his recent death left his former commander “shell-shocked.” “I was really in disbelief because he was just so full of life,” Rick Peat, commander of the 105th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in Topeka, said Monday. “That’s just the way he was – he wanted to squeeze every bit of juice out of life, whether in his career or with his family.” Clawson, 36, a decorated soldier and member of the Kansas Army National Guard, was found dead last Tuesday along a road at his post in...