NoBoddie's Fool: May 2011

May 30, 2011

Memorial Day 2011

THIS is why we remember.

May 22, 2011

Fallen Hero: SSgt Jason Rogers, USMC

Staff Sergeant Jason Rogers of the United States Marine Corps was killed Thursday, April 7, 2011, during combat in Afghanistan.

He was killed by an IED in Helmland Province, reportedly while trying to save a fellow Marine.

SSgt Rogers was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. and according to his family was on his fifth combat deployment in Afghanistan.

SSGT Rogers would have been 29 on April 9th.

Requiescat in Pace, Marine

This Nation Will Remain The Land Of The Free

Only So Long As It Is The Home Of The Brave

- Elmer Davis

May 21, 2011

Armed Forces Day 2011

In Honor of those who serve.

The average age of the military man is 19 years.

He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy.

Not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country.

He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

He can field strip a rifle and reassemble it in the dark.

He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other.

He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.

He will often do twice the work of a civilian,

draw half the pay,

and still find ironic humor in it all.

He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle.

He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.

He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime.

May 17, 2011

The Difference

George W. Bush speech after capture of Saddam:

The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues, and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate 'em.

Barack Hussein Obama speech after killing of bin Laden:

And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network. Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

May 13, 2011

Fallen Hero: Pfc Jonathan Villanueva

Jonathan Villanueva, 19, of Jacksonville and a 2009 graduate of Englewood HS, died April 27 during combat operations in Afghanistan. He served with the 10th Mountain Division.

About 2,000 sailors, plus hundreds of Marines, soldiers and base civilians, were on hand to meet him at Jax NAS.

"Becoming a soldier was a dream of his when he was younger," a family statement said. "Jonathan left this world doing what he loved."

Requiescat in Pace, Soldier