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...Was watching the CBS Evening News tonight (which I'm not usually in the habit of doing) and heard some sad news. ...Not sure if anyone recalls this story from back in November (see below) but apparently Capt. Smathers died last week, after collapsing during Reserve training. Capt. Smathers was an attorney in Maryland. During his year in Iraq, he earned four Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and an Army Commendation medal during his year in Iraq. Might be nice if we shared our expressions of sympathy, as well as our gratitude for his service to our country. If you'd like...

Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico made a claim that he was almost drafted for pro-baseball back when he was younger. After much hubaloo from the press that pressured the governor to change his mind saying he wasn't sure. Numerous media press captured his moment of trite humility in confessing that he wasn't drafted by the A's: "After being notified of the situation and after researching the matter ... I came to the conclusion that I was not drafted by the A's," he said. Now, Bill Richard was a young man back then where his father probably had to deal...

FORT HUACHUCA — At 14, Daniel Rich is one part site supervisor and another part worker. The Buena High School ninth-grader needs to be both, as he leads and does labor that hopefully will earn him the rank of Eagle Scout, as a member of Boy Scout Troop 431. Sunday, Daniel had the support of others from his Fort Huachuca troop, a couple of scouts from Troop 444 in Sierra Vista, family members, friends and soldiers from Company B, 305th Military Intelligence Battalion and Headquarters Company of the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade in renovating trails on the post’s Heritage Park....

MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (Nov. 25, 2005) -- From a young Eagle Scout to hardened Marine, he chose to take “the road less traveled” to become one of the “few and the proud.” “College wasn’t really an option for me, once I got out of high school,” said Josh S. Wartchow, squad leader, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. “I wanted to do something for my country that would make people proud. I also wanted to build upon the leadership skills that I learned when I was an Eagle Scout, so I knew the military was...

Man Thought He Was Communicating With 12-Year-Old BENSALEM, Pa. -- A local scoutmaster is in jail after undercover agents arrested him Friday in an Internet child sex sting. Prosecutors said that David Mayberry is a dangerous man. State agents arrested the 50-year-old Montgomery County man, accusing him of trying to engage in sex acts with a gay 12-year-old he met on the Internet. However, prosecutors said that Mayberry was not messaging a 12-year-old -- it was an agent with the attorney general's office. "I can't describe the specific acts he wanted to engage in. You won't hear me repeat them...

U.S. Army Spc. Larry Underwood Cavalry Scout Honored by USO By Mark Heeter USAG Schweinfurt Public Affairs SCHWEINFURT, Germany, Nov. 4, 2005 — The quicker the new guys learn that they’re part of a family, the better off they’ll be. Lesson number one from Spc. Larry Underwood to Soldiers new to his unit, the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment. "Nobody out there does it alone. That goes for soldiers and units," said "Wood," as his comrades call him, reflecting on what makes a great soldier. He should know. A Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient, Underwood, 30, was honored...

The 173rd Long-Range Surveillance Detachment has had to modify its mission to short-range reconnaissance in the hunt for insurgents in Iraq. By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Raymond Drumsta 42nd Infantry Division Public Affairs FORWARD OPERATING BASE SUMMERALL, BAYJI, Iraq, Oct. 24, 2005 — U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Timothy Halloran and his team arrive at their departure point here about sundown. They watch the Iraqi highway that lies just outside the wire and wait for darkness. They seem almost casual as they talk among themselves, noting traffic and other activity. However, their ease is actually a professional detachment, a cool...

Four Boy Scout leaders were killed in Virginia on Monday, the opening day of the organization's national Jamboree, when a metal tent pole they were holding hit a power line and apparently ignited the canvas tent above them, according to Scout officials and witnesses. Officials late Monday confirmed the leaders who died are Ron Bitzer, Michael Lacroix and Michael Shibe of Anchorage and Scott Powell, who moved to Ohio last year. A fifth Alaska Scout leader, Larry Call, and an unidentified contractor were hospitalized with injuries, according to Boy Scout officials. Call is being treated at a Virginia hospital burn...

Grizzly mauls boy in Alaska Sunday, July 24, 2005 Associated Press Anchorage, Alaska — A 15-year-old boy from Texas who was attacked by a grizzly bear was recovering at an Anchorage hospital from bites to his legs and arms. The attack occurred Friday while Alex Benson and his Boy Scout troop were wrapping up a 42-kilometre hike. Alex apparently startled the bear on the trail, just half an hour from the end of the hike. He was bitten at least twice before the bear ran off. The boy was left with a shredded arm and puncture wounds in his leg....

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- Dozens of searchers Saturday looked for a 13-year-old Boy Scout who came here with his troop and fell into the fast-moving Yellowstone River. The National Park Service said the search for the boy lost his balance and fell in the water around 6:30 p.m. Friday, and the search included park personnel, about 100 volunteers and a park helicopter. The incident came just days after 11-year-old Scout Brennan Hawkins was found in good condition after spending four days wandering the Utah wilderness. The name of the boy missing in Wyoming was not immediately released. He fell...

Parents Plead for Help in Search for Boy ScoutJun. 20, 2005 For more info on how you can volunteer, CLICK HERE. SALT LAKE CITY (AP/KSL News) -- A mother tries to keep -hope alive even as thousands of people search for her missing son Brennan Hawkins. At moment there's still no sign of the 11-year old. That, in spite of intensive searches by air, on land, and in the east fork of the Bear River. "We look out into this darkness now and somewhere my son is out there," Brennan's father, Toby Hawkins, said Monday on NBC's "Today" show....

PARK CITY, Utah — Search and rescue crews are looking for an 11-year-old boy who hasn't been seen since last night at a Summit County (search) scout camp. Few details are available. The Summit County Sheriff's office says the search is still going on this morning. The boy was last seen yesterday at the camp near the east fork of the Bear Lake River (search). The sprawling, eastern Utah county includes the rugged Uinta Mountains, where 12-year-old Boy Scout Garrett Bardsley (search) was lost last summer.

August 11, 2004 -- A Pakistani who lives in Queens is being held in Charlotte, N.C., after videotaping skyscrapers in six major U.S. cities and making mysterious money transfers totaling $120,000, prosecutors said yesterday. Kamran Shaikh, 35, a father of three who lives in Elmhurst, also videotaped mass-transit systems in four of the cities and a dam in Texas, prosecutors said. Shaikh, who has lived in the United States for 13 years and has used the alias Kamran Akhtar, is being held without bail on immigration charges. He was busted in Charlotte on July 20 after Police Officer Anthony Maglione...

When I was a boy, yep, I was a Scout, And whole time I was, no Scoutmasters came out. Nope, they stayed in the closet, if any were there, And no parents protested our Scout meeting prayer. We believed in our creed, truly honored our oath, Our duty to God in those years was not loathe. No, we pledged our young lives that we’d do our best, To honor traditions behind our Scout crest.

The Tuskegee Airman are so inspirational, these are the guys we should hold up as examples for kids. This story is totally cool. Soon after he received the medal and neckerchief that made him an official Eagle Scout yesterday, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Eugene Cheatham told a crowd it was "the most momentous event in his life." In reality, however, he didn't have to say a word. His actions said it all. Cheatham, 89, smiled, waved and pointed at familiar faces in the audience, and reverently stroked the Boy Scout hat he received before placing it proudly on his...

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Taking a short breather Friday, the 21-year-old Marine corporal explained what it was like to practice his lethal skill in the battle for this city. "It's a sniper's dream," he said. "You can go anywhere, and there are so many ways to fire at the enemy without him knowing where you are." The role of snipers has become a significant tactic for Marines in this "Sunni Triangle" city. Marine experts say Fallujah is among the most "target-rich" battlefields for snipers since the World War II battle for Stalingrad, during which German and Russian snipers dueled for months....

<p>PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — A 12-year-old boy saved his 18-month-old sister from a fire in their home, running through smoke and flames and carrying her out through a second-floor window onto a porch roof.</p> <p>"She's my sister, and I'm supposed to take care of her," said Michael Wedekamm, who suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation in the fire early Tuesday.</p>

Walter Wollmann is an 18 year old young man who earned his Eagle scout award in January of 2003. He is in the hospital and they have found cancer in multiple stomach organs. The cancer is such that they cannot opperate and the organs are starting to fail. Please add Walter and his family to any prayer groups you can think of. Please also offer any prayers you can. This is all very sudden. Walter has been very fit and active all of his life. He went to the hospital because of stomach upset a week and a half ago....

<p>MILLVILLE, N.J. (AP) — An 8-year-old boy who safely stopped his aunt's sport utility vehicle after she went into diabetic shock will be recommended for Scouting's top lifesaving award.</p> <p>Cub Scout Brandon DiMatties of Monroe will be nominated for the Honor Medal with Cross Palms by Ron Pierson, assistant executive of the Southern New Jersey Council of the Boys Scouts of America.</p>

'Scout' Had Low Profile Home in Heartland Afforded Ideal Cover The Brooklyn Bridge, above, was one of Faris's potential targets, but in a coded report, he said the "weather is too hot." (File Photo/Beth A. Keiser -- AP) By R. Jeffrey Smith and Amy DePaul Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, June 21, 2003; Page A10 Iyman Faris, the naturalized U.S. citizen unmasked yesterday as a scout for the al Qaeda terrorist network, has an unassuming profile that greatly worries authorities trying to stem the threat of new attacks within the United States, federal officials said yesterday. A resident of Columbus,...