Posted on 01/03/2005 4:42:35 AM PST by The Mayor
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*sigh* I cannot watch this without the tears just pouring down! God bless those sweet, brave men and women and let them come home to us safely!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY.
What a great, heart warming story.
Brave Americans, defending Freedom!
They know true Leadership when they see it!
Thanks Gabz, the rest of my day went pretty well.
Got home a short time ago and am going to have to catch up on pings.
Thanks Dubya!
I needed a good laugh.!
<---Click this
Hi Pippin!
Thank you for your kind words about me and the Mrs.
The troll seems to have disappeared..
Gabz! How exciting, I know what it's like trying to have adult time.
We have 4 and it's not very often that it happens....
OH, Thank you..
You put a big smile on my face!
AMY!
By Staff Sgt. Bradley Rhen, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service
FORWARD OPERATING BASE ORGUN-E, Afghanistan, Jan. 3, 2005 -- Before deploying
to Afghanistan in March, the soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division knew they
were in for a change of climates.
For the next year, they would have to say good-bye to the tropical paradise of
Hawaii and deal with the climate of this rugged country, including its famously
harsh winters.
Old Man Winter must have thought it funny when he dropped about a foot of snow
on this base in Paktika province that is home to several hundred Tropic
Lightning soldiers. The snow started the night of Dec. 27 and didn't stop until
early Dec. 29.
The snow was especially painful for Pfc. Noe Arce, a cannon crewmember from 3rd
Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment. The Los Angeles native said he's never
seen snow in his life. "It's the first time I've ever been in snow," he said.
"It's crazy."
Arce said he and some fellow soldiers started a snowball fight, but they got in
trouble for it, so they stopped. Instead, they decided to build a snowman.
Instead of a corncob pipe, a button nose and two eyes made out of coal, this
snowman was toting an M-16 and had buttons made out of cookies pilfered from
the chow hall.
Arce said he isn't looking forward to any more snow this winter. "It'll just be
tempting to throw snowballs, and we're not allowed to throw them any more," he
said.
Spc. Andrew Whittenberg, a medic for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd
Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, said he saw snow only twice when he was a kid
in Texas before joining the Army and being stationed at Fort Carson, Colo. And
with an assignment to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, he had again been able to
dodge snow for the past two years.
"I don't really mind the snow that much. It's just another day out here,"
Whittenberg said. "I wish it could have snowed on Christmas, though."
The snow not only brought a little holiday cheer to the base, it also
introduced a new threat to personnel here: snowball snipers.
No one was safe from these bandits, who roamed the base in packs of up to five
and launched barrages of snowballs at unsuspecting pedestrians and then fled
the scene.
Even journalists felt the wrath of these "evildoers," who were known to knock
on hooch doors and wait for the occupants to open them before launching their
stockpile of snowballs inside.
Whittenburg said the snipers hadn't ambushed him yet, but he knows it's just a
matter of time. "Fortunately, they haven't got me yet, but I have a feeling
that my time is coming," he said.
(Army Staff Sgt. Bradley Rhen is assigned to Combined Task Force Thunder.)
Artificial Insemination
Stacy, a blonde city girl, marries a farmer. One morning, before he goes out to the fields, the farmer says to her, "The artificial insemination man is coming to impregnate one of our cows today. I drove a nail into the two-by-four above the cow's stall. You show him where it is, okay?"
So the farmer leaves for the fields, and a while later, the artificial insemination man arrives. Stacey takes him down the long row of cows, until she sees the nail, and tells him, "This is the one. This one, right here!"
Terribly impressed, the man asks, How did you know this is the cow to be bred?"
"By the nail over it's stall," Stacey explains. Then the man asks, "What's the nail for?"
As she walks away she tells him, "I guess it's to hang your pants on."
I should hope so!...This is not a good place for her ilk to be...VKs know her name ;)
LOL. I guess you will. You do know that I don't cook don't you? You don't EVEN want to eat a cake I would bake. BTW, are you still holding at 39?
I sent you an e-mail Rus.
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