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Another Yad L'Achim success: Two Jewish girls were rescued Friday afternoon from the hands of their imprisoned-for-violence Arab father. A joint operation with the participation of the Yad L'Achim anti-assimilation rescue organization, the police, social and welfare workers, and MK Yaakov Cohen (United Torah Judaism) was crowned with success due to precise timing and a refusal to give up. A Jewish mother who escaped from an Arab village and her Arab husband in the Wadi Ara area of the southern Galilee was unable to save her 4- and 5-year old daughters, and they were left behind. The Yad L'Achim organization,...

Army Sgt. Kristi J. Artigue, Connecticut Army National Guard, applied her Army training to save a drowning man’s life Nov. 10. Army Sgt. Kristi J. Artigue Soldier Saves Man from Drowning By Sgt. Jordan E. Werme 130th PAD, Connecticut National Guard WEST HAVEN, Conn. , Dec. 5, 2006 -- When Sgt. Kristi J. Artigue joined the Connecticut Army National Guard the summer before her senior year of high school, it was a chance to broaden her experiences. “I’ve always been a risk taker,” said Artigue, 23, now a medic with the 141st Medical Company. On Nov. 10, Artigue called...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan, Nov. 7, 2006 — If there was any doubt as to the resolve and capability of the Afghan National Security Forces and their determination to protect their homeland from terrorist extremists, an Afghan police officer gave his life to make a strong case to the contrary. In a display of selfless heroism, Afghan National Police Officer Abbarker died protecting the lives of the Andar District Governor, his fellow police officers and Coalition soldiers. While guarding the Miri District Center in the District of Ghazni, Abbarker noticed that a man had bypassed the security checkpoint and...

BAGHDADI, Iraq, Aug. 29, 2006 — A Marine’s quick thinking, coupled with a series of well-aimed shots, saved lives July 27, according to Marines and Iraqi soldiers serving here. Cpl. Jeff Globis’ split-second decision to verbally warn near-by Marines and Iraqi soldiers of an approaching suicide bomber while he was standing post at a military outpost here allowed others to avoid a potentially life-threatening explosion. Manning an observation point at the combat outpost, the 23-year-old infantryman saw the speeding truck break through the base’s protective barriers. Globis opened fire on the vehicle, which was loaded with hundreds of pounds of...

NEW YORK (July 18, 2006) -- Laura Landro has the Marines in her blood, literally. Landro was told by her doctors that she had developed leukemia and had little more than two years to live. The cancer specialists told her that only one thing could save her life. If she could defy the odds, find a suitable match with another person’s genetic composition, and receive a bone marrow transplant, she would live. The odds were slim and time was not on her side. "Leukemia is a formidable cancer,” said Landro from her office at the Wall Street Journal in N.Y....

  Rakkasan Armament Program Saves Lives Welders add armor to Humvees to protect troops from improvised explosive devices. By U.S. Army Sgt. Waine D. Haley 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, July 20, 2006 -- A safety innovation has hit the battlefield in the form of heavy armor added to Humvees and is now on the roads of Iraq. The 626th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, created the Rakkasan Armament Program, known as RAP, in January 2006. This program is intended to provide shielding between the soldiers and the number one killer of...

NEW YORK -- There was no saving baseball during a wild Saturday full of blowouts and walk-off wins. It marked the first time in nearly three decades a full day of major league games were played without a save recorded. There were six blown saves in the 15-game schedule, including two each in Pittsburgh's 7-6 victory over Washington, and Cincinnati's 3-2 win against Colorado. The Nationals and Reds both won with ninth-inning rallies. The last time baseball went a complete day without a save was Sept. 15, 1978, when all 26 teams were in action during a 14-game schedule --...

Medical Training Saves Lives in Iraq Combat Lifesaver Course focuses on new methods to aid those injured in the field. By U.S. Army Sgt. Waine D. Haley 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, July 12, 2006 -- Combat Lifesaver training is a bridge between first aid training and the combat medic -- and it is saving lives in Iraq. The Combat Lifesaver Course is taught primarily to the Army’s active duty, Reserve and National Guard, but at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, the class is offered to anyone who wants it. “The course is open to more people than...

7/9/2006 - MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFPN) -- A head-on collision on Washington's State Route 101 between Sequim and Port Angeles July 3 brought out the heroism in 12 strangers who stopped to help. One of those heroes was Tech. Sgt. Phillip White, a reservist with the 446th Airlift Wing here. Sergeant White was with his family when a Ford Explorer carrying a family of four crossed the center line of the road and hit a Toyota 4Runner carrying another family of four. "There was no thinking involved, it was just instantaneous -- kids, burning car, get them out,"...

U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Rick Posselt Lieutenant Risks Life to Save Another in Iraq By Sgt. Roe F. SeigleRegimental Combat Team 7 HADITHA, Iraq, June 27, 2006 — Marines here say a lieutenant who was leading Marines and Iraqi soldiers through the volatile streets of Haditha, Iraq, June 14, showed uncommon valor when he ran into a barrage of enemy gunfire to pull a wounded Marine to safety. 1st Lt. Rick Posselt, a 25-year-old from Crystal River, Fla., said he is not the Marine who deserves the recognition. Cpl. Michael Estrella, who was killed by sniper fire during...

MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, June 5, 2006) – The use of eye protection became a matter of life or death for 1st Lt. Anthony Aguilar while on a routine combat patrol last February. As his company moved through Mosul, an unusually large improvised explosive device detonated and shot a bomb fragment into Aguilar’s glasses. “The force of the blast was so powerful that it knocked me back into the Stryker vehicle,” said Aguilar, platoon leader, Company C, Task Force 2-1, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. “When I picked the glasses up and put them back on, I could feel...

WASHINGTON - The Senate rejected a California Democrat's plan to allow the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country to remain, work and eventually become Americans, preserving a fragile bipartisan coalition needed to pass the bill. Several lawmakers who voted against the proposal offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record) on Tuesday said they did so reluctantly, but out of necessity to ensure survival of the broader immigration bill. The legislation is expected to win Senate passage Wednesday or Thursday. "This legislation is on the edge of the ledge as it is," said Sen. Arlen Specter (news,...

4/13/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA -- “It’s so frustrating to come under attack, and see another one of our soldiers hurt,” said “AJ,” a Joint Terminal Attack Controller who supports the U.S. Army infantry in Iraq. “This time one of our guys lost a leg and several fingers,” said the major. “But it could have been worse if the Strike Eagles hadn’t arrived on the scene.” While hundreds of F-15E sorties fly through the Iraqi skies in any given week supporting troops on the ground, this recent mission stands out in two 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron crews’ minds as particularly memorable....

WAUKEGAN — A cat saved his disabled owner's life during a fire in his home this week. John Campbell, 37, who is disabled, sleeps in a hospital bed and walks with a cane, was awakened before dawn Wednesday by his 6-year-old cat, Pepper. "He was jumping up and down on me at 4 in the morning," Campbell said. "I tossed him off three or four times. He started walking all over my face til I got up. When I did, I could smell smoke. I saw flames in the back of my house." Campbell grabbed Pepper and some clothes and...

/10/2006 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFPN) -- A security forces noncommissioned officer lost consciousness and was saved by a fellow Airman at a Las Vegas restaurant March 5. Members of the security team for Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment '06 were at dinner when Master Sgt. Jeff Jones noticed that Staff Sgt. Dionne Bennett, an Air National Guard augmentee, looked faint and "un-alert." Sergeant Jones is the security superintendent for JEFX '06 and assigned to the 505th Command and Control Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla. "She put her hand on her head and complained about being hot," Sergeant Jones...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2006 – The military health system has revolutionized battlefield medical care in the past four years, reducing fatalities and raising the quality of care to all-time high levels, two Defense Department officials said here today. Injured servicemembers are now more quickly transported from the battlefield to medical facilities where they can receive advanced care, and more of them are surviving because of it, David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said at the State of the Military Health System 2006 Annual Conference. "You have produced the lowest loss among wounded that this country has...

BAQUBAH, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 27, 2006) – The first aid skills of a U.S. Soldier were put to the test during a mortar attack on a U.S. base Jan. 6. A Pakistani national, who works at the Forward Operating Base Warhorse Post Exchange, suffered a deep injury to his right arm from shrapnel during the attack and was bleeding profusely. “I rushed to his aid, followed by some Soldiers behind me,” said Sgt. Maj. Guadalupe Aldama, operations sergeant major for 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. “We tried to stop the bleeding by applying direct pressure...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2006 – President Bush today reiterated the need for a terrorist surveillance program to save American lives and win the war on terrorism. I gave a speech to the men and women who are dedicating their lives to serving the American people and preventing this country from being attacked again," Bush said following his closed-door session at the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md. He said the agency "is playing a crucial part in the war on terror." In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Bush authorized the agency to gather information...

IRAQ(Army News Service, Jan. 24, 2006) -- For many Soldiers, even the new Advanced Combat Helmet is a necessary evil; it can be cumbersome when in the dining facility trying to handle a tray of food and it causes headaches and tension in the neck when worn on lengthy missions. Sgt. Shawn Snyder of 3rd Infantry Division’s 2/7 Scout Platoon is one Soldier who will never complain about wearing his helmet again. With good reason … it saved his life. Snyder’s mission was to serve as a routine escort of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal detail to the forensics building in...

CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq (Jan. 9, 2006) -- Retired Marine Maj. Gene Duncan once defined Navy hospital corpsmen as, “Usually a young, long haired, bearded, Marine-hatin' Sailor with certain medical skills, who will go through the very gates of Hell to get to a wounded Marine.” Though “long haired” is open to subjective interpretation, beards have officially gone the way of bell-bottomed dungarees in the Navy and levels of disdain for their brothers in green vary from Sailor to Sailor, most Marines and corpsmen find a level of truth in Duncan’s definition. Take, for example, Petty Officer 3rd Class William...