Hey, Lauren, what's this, you are posting tunes??
WOO HOO!
Posted on 11/07/2004 7:56:22 PM PST by StarCMC
Oh boy, my Rubies!! Thank You Auntie Fawnn!!
I think so - I have to download to listen and I'm doing that right now! :o)
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. David Geisleman gives hand signals to Spc. Arcelay Martinez while he prepares to pick up a pallet with a forklift. Geisleman is assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachut Infantry Regiment, and Martinez is assigned to the 268th Transportation Company. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Cheryl Ransford
Safety on the Construction Site is Job One
With lives literally at stake, engineers working on construction projects all over Afghanistan make sure that safety remains a top priority.
By U.S. Army Spc. Cheryl Ransford
17th Public Affairs Detachment
AFGHANISTAN, Nov. 8, 2004 — With so many simultaneous construction and refurbishing projects being conducted around the country, there is an increased risk to personnel safety when heavy equipment is in use Sgt. 1st Class Stanley Griffin, 528th Engineer Battalion horizontal platoon leader, Louisiana National Guard.
While most of the projects are often managed by junior enlisted service members, leaders are always present to ensure the standards of safety are adhered to, Griffin said.
Every morning there is a safety brief to remind the Soldiers of the standards, and to ensure everyone has them fresh in their minds, said Griffin.
Safety standards and focus are two of the most important factors involved in operating heavy equipment.
As an operator, Spc. Michael Henry, 528th Eng. Bn. heavy equipment operator, knows the dangers of just what could happen if he loses focus for even a minute.
“It’s big equipment, and it’s easy to lose track of your ground guide,” he said. “There are a lot of blind spots. You have to stay focused at all times and be aware of your surroundings.”
Being aware of your surroundings with heavy equipment includes knowing what the safety precautions are for each piece of equipment, said Griffin.
Oh my goodness, Linda.....square pegs in round holes. LOL!! Thanks.
I'm gonna head out - I'll be back later on. Gotta feed a cute little baby and then make dinner to feed the rest. (They're kinda cute, too! LOL!!)
laurenmarlowe: I love the gospel song!
bentfeather re "Do Your Ears Hang Low?": I'd never heard the second verse before -- the one about that losing candidate's ears! LOL
I'm trying! Very cute bunny, thank you!!
Enjoy your cute family! LOL
I'm glad you liked it! I like your handiwork too, re post # 238!
Thank you Kathy, for the awesome pictures and stories of our soldiers. God Bless, and prayers for our Troops!
Beautiful. I'll pray that you can use it for many elections.
Marines march to melody of bagpipes Submitted by: I Marine Expeditionary Force Story Identification #: 200411674736 Story by Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Nov. 06, 2004) -- Amid the thunder of artillery and weapons fire, pipers are heard around Camp Fallujah blaring melodies from their age-old Celtic instruments.
Every day Lt. Col. Paul Sweeney, judge advocate lawyer, and Sgt. Steven Ammer, motor transportation specialist, hone their piping skills, unknowingly raising spirits as their tunes float on the wind to fellow Marines throughout the base.
“For me playing the bagpipes is just relaxing,” said Ammer. “Since I’ll be out here for seven months I figured I’d get some practice, so I had my wife mail my bagpipes to me. I feel renewed when I head back to work after each session.”
While Ammer and Sweeney perform songs like the Marines’ Hymn, service members who pass by stop in their tracks, pausing to listen to the notes that have played for almost 200 years.
“I’m Scottish so when I heard them playing, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up,” said Staff Sgt. Grant Smillie.
During the middle ages in Scotland and Ireland, the bagpipes were used to rally the troops into battle. The English outlawed the bagpipes in 1366 and declared them an instrument of war. Anyone caught playing the bagpipes were put to death.
“I’ve been playing close to three years,” said Sweeney. “I play with a pipe band back in the rear in Binghamton, New York. I carried mine on the plane all the way from Camp Pendleton.”
But Ammer and Sweeney aren’t the first Marines to pick up the bagpipes to play in a war zone. Several Marine pipers played during the bloody Battle of Peleliu. A Marine lieutenant was observed piping his amphibian tractor ashore on Iwo Jima. In Korea, Sgt. F.H. "Timmy" Killeen piped for his company of the 7th Marines during the numerous Inchon-Seoul night firefights.
“The bagpipes have been used in every major conflict with the Marines,” said Ammer.
Known as war or highland pipes, these instruments were also used during funeral ceremonies when burying fallen comrades. In the early days when a police officer or firefighter was killed in the line of duty, the Irish or Scottish forefathers within these departments ensured that their fallen brothers were buried with full honors. Today, that tradition transcends ethnic, racial and religious lines and the bagpipes are played at police, fire and military funerals regardless of race, color or creed.
“It’s pretty motivating to be here playing my bagpipes,” said Sweeney. “Aside from with my family and friends, I can’t think of a better place to be.”
Thanks, your post means a lot to me.
Sharon Potter, of Hilton Head, S.C., listens as 1st Lt. Adrian Haskamp, executive officer, India Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, explains the functions inside a High Mobility Multi Wheeled Vehicle at Camp Wilson, aboard the the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Oct. 31. Potter made the trip to Twentynine Palms to meet Haskamp, whom she'd been corresponding with since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom 1. Photo by: Sgt. Jennie E. Haskamp
Sense of duty leads to letter writing, friendships
Submitted by: MCAGCC
Story Identification #: 2004115141549
Story by Sgt. Jennie E. Haskamp
MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (Nov. 5, 2004) -- “I don’t even like to write,” Sharon Potter explained with a smile. “I decided to send the cards because I felt it was my duty.”
At Community Bible Study in Bluffton, S.C., a group leader asked if anyone wanted to send letters of thanks and encouragement to three Marines who were currently deployed to Iraq.
Two of the cards went unanswered last spring, but the reply to the third gave her life a whole new perspective.
Potter, a Grand Rapids Mich., native who, along with her husband, Stan, has lived in Hilton Head, S.C., for eight years, didn’t expect a reply from any of the Marines to whom she’d sent a quick note.
The recipient of the third card, then 2nd Lt Adrian Haskamp, a platoon commander with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, was several weeks into his first deployment to Iraq when he received her card.
“I remember thinking, wow, we’re doing something really special here,” said Haskamp, an Albuquerque, N.M., native. “Strangers across America started writing letters to say they supported what we were doing, saying thank you.”
Letters from well-wishers like Potter provided the much needed encouragement Marines like Haskamp weren’t getting from mainstream American media.
“The media was showing people protesting, saying people weren’t supporting our efforts in Iraq,” he explained. “The letters I received from strangers showed a completely different side of America, and my Marines and I appreciated that support.”
He doesn’t remember the content of his first letter to Potter, but Haskamp said he tried to respond to each letter he received, to thank the sender for their support.
“I’d sent a simple note, and one day, I received a beautiful letter from a Marine I’d never met,” said Potter, smiling at the memory. “That letter changed my life forever.”
Potter said she’d been praying to God for a purpose in life, and having contact with a Marine on the front lines gave her just that.
Evening, darkwing!!! How goes it??
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