Thank you both, and you, Rus, for bringing us our Military Monday Tribute.
A HUGE BUMP for our troops. God bless them all.
Posted on 05/17/2004 4:45:22 AM PDT by The Mayor
~ LadyX
Thank you both, and you, Rus, for bringing us our Military Monday Tribute.
A HUGE BUMP for our troops. God bless them all.
That is wonderful!! How I wish I could have been there!
I went to the radio station website and brought this back with me. I hope every military man, woman and family knows how many Americans passionately support them and their mission.
Have been meaning to touch base with you Mojo about the new address to the hospital in Iraq, have another package ready and waiting. Please drop me a freepmail.
040505-N-5465P-003 Southern Calif. Coast (May 5, 2004) - An E-2C Hawkeye assigned to the "Sun Kings" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron One One Six (VAW-116), top, flies in formation with an E-2C Hawkeye assigned to the "Wall Bangers" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron One One Seven (VAW-117), bottom, off the coast of Southern Calif., during a training exercise. VAW-116 and VAW-117 are stationed at Naval Air Station Pt. Mugu, Calif. The Hawkeye provides all-weather airborne early warning, airborne battle management and command and control functions for the Carrier Strike Group and Joint Force Commander. Additional missions include surface surveillance coordination, air interdiction, offensive and defensive counter air control, close air support coordination, time critical strike coordination, search and rescue airborne coordination and communications relay. U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Thomas Peterson. (RELEASED)
040512-N-4385W-002 Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash. (May 12, 2004) - A ceremonial brass bell stands ready during an official change of command ceremony. Bells are used during traditional Naval ceremonies to report the arrival and departure of visiting dignitaries and the official party during a change of command or retirement ceremony. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Michael D. Winter. (RELEASED)
031114-N-6213R-070 Pacific Ocean (Nov. 14, 2003)-- An F-14D "Tomcat" from the "Tomcatters" of Fighter Squadron Three One (VF-31) ignites its after burners following a launch from the flight deck of USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). Stennis and her embarked Carrier Air Wing Fourteen (CVW-14) are at sea conducting Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) in preparation for an upcoming deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Mark J. Rebilas. (RELEASED)
Yes, it is!
Good afternoon, (((((((Sis!))))))
....For our Troops...Thank You!!!
*Polite bow*
Hi Jen, have a snappy "Rubber Band Day"!
Dear God,
This prayer Lord, that I say today
Is for our troops who all must fight .
These are the troops that we all love
And so I pray dear Lord above
Please keep them safe while they’re away
And bring them home to us someday.
This prayer is not for ours alone
But for all military far from home.
I ask You to keep them safe and sound
On their way to where they're bound.
We love them all that are asked to fight
So keep them safe for us tonight.
Lord, 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.
In Jesus' Name
Amen
Amen Maggie.
Praise The Lord he came back safe.
He and the others did an outstanding job.
Reservists cope with a world away from home
Sgt. John Connolly has spent much of his time on the roads of Iraq, ferrying supplies to and from the camp where the Wilmington-based 120th Infantry Regiment is located.
The Leland resident and N.C. National Guardsman said in a telephone interview Thursday the convoys he's been in have not taken fire. So far, things have been fairly quiet.
"You get out there and you try to be aggressive without offending anybody and as long as you have that aggressive appearance people tend to think twice about trying to mess with you," Sgt. Connolly said.
He said he's been pleasantly surprised by the response he's seen from Iraqis, many of whom wave at passing convoys and shout in English, "I love you," and "USA."
They run convoys every two to three days.
"A majority of the population is glad to see us here," he said. "It made me feel good that we have the support here locally."
A typical trip for Sgt. Connolly, 43, lasts a few hours. He rode in a convoy last week to Kuwait, about a three-day trip along what soldiers called the Iraqi 500 from Camp Caldwell.
The camp is one of the forward operating bases of North Carolina's 30th Heavy Separate Brigade, which includes the 120th Infantry.
Camp Caldwell is in the eastern Diyala province about 12 miles from the Iranian border. The nearest town is Balad Ruz, a farming community with a population about the size of Wilmington.
Military and civilian convoys have been a target of insurgents. Numerous servicemen and women have been killed while traveling in Iraq. But there's not much time to think about all the bad things that could go wrong as soldiers prepare to head out, Sgt. Connolly said.
"You get so involved in what you're supposed to be doing that you don't really have a lot of time to think about 'what ifs,' " he said. "You go through all of that in the rehearsals. The one or two times things have happened to other convoys I'm sure those guys reacted the way they were supposed to."
Sgt. Connolly's been busy since he arrived in Iraq earlier this year.
"That's the one good thing about the way things are going. You don't really have a lot of time to mope about how long it's been and how long you have to wait," he said.
The brigade may return to North Carolina in early 2005. Until then, Sgt. Connolly said he'll miss his family, his dog, and weekends off lounging in his air-conditioned home.
Sgt. David Ruiz of Jacksonville said he and the men in he medical platoon have to find ways to stay busy.
"A lot of men are exercising," the 36-year-old said.
The medics have concentrated on preventative medicine, reminding soldiers to take their malaria pills and wash their hands frequently. Sgt. Ruiz said he's treated a few minor injuries, nothing serious.
"We alternate going on convoys," he said. "It keeps you on your toes. We realize there's a threat out there."
To date, the brigade has conducted 2,551 combat patrols, 270 joint patrols with Iraqi security forces, located 97 weapons caches and destroyed around 4,500 round of artillery, rocket-propelled grenades and grenades.
The brigade is made up of about 5,000 National Guardsmen, the majority of whom are North Carolinians. About 700 citizen soldiers are in the 120th Infantry Regiment.
The Department of Defense reported Wednesday that 168,197 Army National Guardsmen and reservists are on active duty.
Trista Talton: 343-2070
trista.talton@starnewsonline.com
Thanks, Lori. The poem adds so much to it. I love how those guys take our graphics and turn them into something so much more with the words they use to interpret them. (I think 'they' have the hard part - still it's also fun to read their poems first and then *we* put the visuals to them)
Civilians on front line of recruiting
The sight of men in suits and ties still surprises some prospective Army recruits.
"We often have to say, 'We are the recruiters,' " said recruiter Red Martin, one of six civilians working in the U.S. Army Recruiting Station on South College Road in Wilmington.
The fast-talking and energetic retired Army first sergeant works for Resource Consultants International, one of two defense contractors pegged to run 10 Army recruitment regions throughout the country. The Southeastern North Carolina region includes Wilmington, Jacksonville, New Bern, Kinston, Clinton, Whiteville and Havelock.
In 2001, Congress authorized a pilot program to test how civilians stack up to the Army's recruitment standards. The concept of the five-year program, ending in 2007, is to free up soldiers to return to other jobs, said Douglas Smith, a community recruiter with Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky.
Since the program's inception, about 380 soldiers have been released from recruitment duty, Mr. Smith said.
"That's the point of the test," he said.
The government will evaluate the cost savings and the public's response to civilian recruiters. Mr. Smith said he could not comment about the progress of the test because it's an ongoing program.
"I think it's going to be successful because the situation in the world is such that soldiers are needed in other areas," Mr. Martin said. "We can operate at less cost. We do it as efficient as regular Army soldiers."
Concerns about soldiers becoming weary as they rotate in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan has prompted the Army to ask for an additional 3,000 soldiers this year. The Army's 2004 mission is to enlist 77,000 active-duty soldiers and 21,200 reservists.
The Army's a little ahead of the pace it set for itself, with 34,593 new active-duty soldiers so far this year.
"Even though there's a lot of people worrying about the current world situation, there are those who want to serve," Mr. Martin said. "It's our job to find them."
Wearing a gray pinstriped suit, Nicholas Anderson sat in a leather chair with the word "Army" stitched in gold across the back as he waited for an appointment with a prospective recruit Wednesday.
He recruited for a stint when he was in the Marine Corps and was surprised to learn he could recruit again as a civilian.
"Selling the military, the Army, wasn't that different for me," he said. "It's the same philosophy, just a different program. I think you have to put in the same effort."
Retired and former members of the armed forces, particularly those with recruiting experience, are the top picks for the job, Mr. Martin said. Good salespeople are eligible as well.
All but two of the region's 19 recruiters have military experience. One recruiter in the Wilmington office is a Vietnam veteran. Another worked in the same office wearing the Army's uniform.
Replacing uniforms with suits and shiny nametags was a concern in the beginning, Mr. Martin said.
"We found out, though, that it doesn't matter," he said. "It's good for the country. It's good for the veterans. It's good for the community."
trista.talton@starnewsonline.com
Plan closes 3 veterans hospitals, builds 2
By Suzanne Gamboa
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs Department will close three hospitals in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Mississippi and build two new ones in Nevada and Florida as part of a much-anticipated restructuring plan, The Associated Press has learned.
The agency also will add or remove medical services at dozens of other facilities.
VA Secretary Anthony Principi also has endorsed building 156 community-based outpatient clinics by 2012, with an emphasis on serving rural areas. Local VA officials had sought 270 clinics.
Mr. Principi was to release the plan today in Las Vegas. Several congressional officials who had seen it described the contents to the AP in advance.
The department undertook the restructuring two years ago to shift services to areas where veteran populations are increasing and to modernize outdated buildings and shed vacant space.
Under the plan, the VA expects to reduce costs for maintaining vacant space from $3.4 billion to $750 million by 2022 but projects spending $6 billion on construction during that time.
A draft plan last summer that recommended closing seven hospitals drew opposition from local officials and veterans in those communities. An independent commission examined that plan and narrowed the list of closures.
After reviewing the commission recommendations, Mr. Principi decided to close three hospitals, in Pittsburgh; Brecksville, Ohio; and Gulfport, Miss. The hospitals must have a plan for closure by September. It was not immediately clear when they will shut their doors.
A fourth hospital, in Livermore, Calif., will have all its services except long-term care transferred elsewhere. A new VA nursing home will be established there, however.
The VA plans to continue studying ways to cut costs. Representatives from veterans groups who met with Mr. Principi on Thursday were told the agency would not close or eliminate services at any other locations before new or replacement services are available in the area.
Congressman seeks U.S. official language
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Two North Carolina congressmen are promoting measures to establish English as the official language of the United States.
"This is a bigger issue than a lot of people realize," Rep. Walter Jones told the Winston-Salem Journal.
Mr. Jones, a Republican, and several other congressmen introduced a bill that proposes a constitutional amendment to establish English as the official language.
Rep. Richard Burr is a co-sponsor of a competing bill that does not propose amending the Constitution. Instead it would codify into federal law that all federal publications – including tax forms – must be done in English only and would recognize English as the sole official language of the United States.
"I see any effort to amend the Constitution as a last resort," said the Rep. Burr, adding that he would support Rep. Jones’ bill if it turns out to be the only way to accomplish the goal.
Most of the more than 190 countries of the world have an official language, and 27 states – including North Carolina – have made English their official language.
Mr. Jones points to problems that have arisen as a result of not having a universal language for the entire country.
"We know what so many states have had to do with driver’s license (applications). They have separate booklets to explain the law in Spanish or some other language," Mr. Jones said. "Thirty or 40 years from now I will be dead, but what will happen if we have certain states where the majority of people don’t speak English?"
Peter Siavelis, a political science professor at Wake Forest University, said the measures hurt immigrants and do more to divide the country than to unite it.
SOMETHING THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE NEWS
Maybe you'd like to hear about something other than idiot
Reservists and naked Iraqis.
Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who
honored the uniform he wears.
Meet Brian Chontosh.
Churchville-Chili Central School class of 1991. Proud
graduate of
the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father.
First
lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.
And a genuine hero.
The secretary of the Navy said so yesterday.
At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with
the
Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United
States
can bestow.
That's a big deal.
But you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you
read
in Brian's hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead,
it was
more blather about some mental defective MPs who acted like animals.
The odd fact about the American media in this war is that
it's not
covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world
is
receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are
doing.
Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans
have
fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And
we're
almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi
prisoners.
And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost
Fallujah
and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates
us.
We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.
But we don't hear about the heroes.
The incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones
our
grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue.
The ones we completely ignore.
Like Brian Chontosh.
It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh
was a
platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.
When all hell broke loose. Ambush city.
The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine
guns,
rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in
charge. It
was do or die and it was up to him.
So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to
lead
his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line
his
humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire.
It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.
And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his
driver to
floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was
firing at
them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them.
Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine
gun
and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the
humvee
directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines. Over
into the
battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed,
carrying
an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.
And he ran down the trench.
With its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and grenadiers.
And he killed them all.
He fought with the M16 until he was out of ammo. Then he
fought
with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead
man's
AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up
another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.
At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an
enemy
cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.
When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of
entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20
and
wounded at least as many more.
But that's probably not how he would tell it.
He would probably merely say that his Marines were in
trouble, and
he got them out of trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on
"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited
courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty,
1st
Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest
traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."
That's what the citation says.
And that's what nobody will hear.
That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news.
Accounts
of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet
accounts of
American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder
if
the role of the media is to inform, or to depress - to report or to
deride.
To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.
But I guess it doesn't matter.
We're going to turn out all right.
As long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.
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