Veterans' Day 2020

 

 

 

Happy 244, Marines !!

Now drop and give me 244!

Memorial Day 2019

Veterans' Day 2018

Today is the 100th anniversary of Veteran's Day

Veterans' Day was formally known as Armistice Day, referring to the signing of the armistice (Treaty of Versailles) on November 11, 1918,  ending World War I.

For those of you who have never heard of WW I: 

 

      https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I
      https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I
      https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7700333/ww1-world-war-one-armistice-day/

Pix from: 
 https://izismile.com/2018/11/08/how_does_world_war_i_look_in_color_100_years_later_87_pics.html

Happy 243 Marines!!

Now Drop and give me 243 !!

Memorial Day 2017

The Difference Between ...

Forwarded to me, author unknown:

 

If this does not speak to the character of the individual, then nothing does

 

President George W. Bush's speech after the capture of Saddam Hussein:

 

  "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 them!"

 

Barrack Hussein Obama's speech after the killing of Osama 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, 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 I 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."

Obama did not once acknowledge our brave men and women who fight for our country. . . .and that, my friends, is chicken shit!!

Obama 'Latte Salute'

 

Armed Forces Day 2014

Thank you to the men and women who have served, who are serving and who will serve their country in uniform.

 

My father: US Army Air Corps, 1941-1945

 

My father-in-law: US Navy, 1945-1969

 

My husband: US Marine Corps, 1969-1972

 

My daughter: US Army, 1992-1995

 

My son: US Marine Corps, 2005-2010

Disparity

 = lack of equality between people or things. 

Example:

In the Barack Hussein Obummer administration there is...

No money for our military:

    Military budget cuts

   Military budget cut disaster

 

  National Guard Soldiers, Airmen to be Furloughed

even on a smaller scale:

 

  Military-closes-cuts-hours-some-swimming-pools

But there is money, and lots of it, for:

  Obama's Africa trip

 

 First family trip to Africa cost up to $100M

and on a larger scale:

Obama's plan to boost power in sub-Saharan Africa

 to the tune of 7 Billion American-tax-payer dollars.

 

But why not, when you're 

 

Living Large in the Obama White House

   Some of those 7 Billion American-tax-payer dollars could should be used for AMERICAN issues, like the crumbling  infrastructure ... 

   which Obummer constantly reminds us that he needs to spend lots'n'lots of money on, but hasn't.

How Low Can You Go

For some low-life @ssh*les, pretty damn low:

Grinch steals Packages For Troops

A Sacramento group that sends out hundreds of Christmas care packages to America's troops serving abroad has fallen victim to a Grinch.

Dec. 17 was the cut-off day for Move America Forward to get 350 care packages to the post office with the guarantee they'd be there by Christmas. As the boxes sat in a trailer Dec. 16, waiting to be shipped the next day, some Christmas ne'er do well broke the trailer's lock and stole 25 of the packages, all of them intended for soldiers in Afghanistan.

Scott Raab, outreach coordinator for Move America Forward, said the contents of the boxes were probably worth around $5,000, but the cost isn't the issue. The care packages were intended to give soldiers a reminder of the comforts of home, he said. And, since the boxes were all individually addressed, there will be 25 soldiers going without this year.

"We pack pretty much everything in there," Raab told ABCnews.com, "deodorant, coffee, candy. But also notes from school kids here at home thanking them for their service, Christmas cards, everything we can."

Raab, who is himself a veteran of the U.S. Navy, said the packages really mean a lot to soldiers serving overseas who miss the creature comforts we take for granted at home.

"This can mean the whole world to these troops. We send packages year-round, but during the holidays it's even more special. And we get some of the packages out to specific soldiers whose family is not able, for whatever reason, to send them anything."

The packages were all clearly marked for military personnel and contain literature about Move America Forward, Raab said, so whoever the culprit is knows precisely who they've stolen from.

Raab is working with various organizations and accepting donations through MoveAmericaForward.org to replace the stolen items and help ensure the soldiers whose packages were stolen get their Christmas gifts, even if they are a few days late.

Though disappointed, Raab said he remains confident his organization will get all the losses covered.

"These people are the definition of a Grinch," he said, "it is disheartening for those of us who worked so hard to get all these Christmas packages together. But we've had an overwhelming response from people wanting to help out and it just shows how much support there is out there for our troops."

  Alex comments:  If you find the thieves send them to Afghanistan for a tour.

Right on.

 

This is Unacceptable

More than anyone else, the men and women who serve their country in uniform deserve the chance to vote for the person whose orders they follow; 

whose orders take them away from their families; 

whose orders often put them in harm's way. 

 Thousands of ballots unlikely to reach military voters

A group of Republican senators said Monday that thousands of voter ballots are unlikely to reach military service members until after Nov. 6.

One day ahead of the election, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to express their concern over delays in ballots reaching military voters overseas.

“We write to express  concerns over another serious failure by the Department of Defense (DoD) to safeguard the voting rights of our overseas military service members, which we believe could result in the imminent disenfranchisement of thousands,” the letter stated.

Mail redirection in the military can take between 14 to 50 days, meaning a ballot could reach the voter possibly more than a month after ballots have to be mailed back in order to be counted. The Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA) identified problems with the system after the 2010 election, but hasn’t implemented changes.

 “DoD’s failure to fix this longstanding problem means that the blank ballots of thousands of overseas service members, as well as some who have recently returned from overseas, could be currently trapped in an archaic and inefficient mail forwarding system,” the senators wrote. “These ballots are unlikely to reach these service members until after Election Day has passed."

The senators advised Panetta to create a centralized mail redirection system and modernize military mail delivery.

“We are perplexed as to why DoD did not do everything in its power to modernize the system for redirecting blank ballots in order to eliminate this roadblock for military service members, per the top 2010 recommendations from MPSA,” the letter stated. “As we know you agree, they deserve to have a voice in choosing their elected leaders. Our men and women in uniform should be able to participate in the very same democratic system of government that they defend, not be relegated to mere spectator status because their ballot never reached them.”

The senators asked that a new mail system be in place by the next election, in 2014.

Fathers' Day

 

The Unknown Soldiers

I just came across this great milblog by Tom Sileo:

The Unknown Soldiers

Obamacare vs the U.S. Military

We're NOT hearing about this from the Mainstream Media, are we:

Obama to cut Healthcare benefits for the US Military

by Bill Gertz    

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched.

The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.

The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention.

The proposed increases in health care payments by service members, which must be approved by Congress, are part of the Pentagon’s $487 billion cut in spending. It seeks to save $1.8 billion from the Tricare medical system in the fiscal 2013 budget, and $12.9 billion by 2017.

Many in Congress are opposing the proposed changes, which would require the passage of new legislation before being put in place.

“We shouldn’t ask our military to pay our bills when we aren’t willing to impose a similar hardship on the rest of the population,” Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a Republican from California, said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon. “We can’t keep asking those who have given so much to give that much more.”

Administration officials told Congress that one goal of the increased fees is to force military retirees to reduce their involvement in Tricare and eventually opt out of the program in favor of alternatives established by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

“When they talked to us, they did mention the option of healthcare exchanges under Obamacare. So it’s in their mind,” said a congressional aide involved in the issue.

Military personnel from several of the armed services voiced their opposition to a means-tested tier system for Tricare, prompting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey to issue a statement Feb. 21.

Dempsey said the military is making tough choices in cutting defense spending. In addition to the $487 billion over 10 years, the Pentagon is facing automatic cuts that could push the total reductions to $1 trillion.

“I want those of you who serve and who have served to know that we’ve heard your concerns, in particular your concern about the tiered enrollment fee structure for Tricare in retirement,” Dempsey said. “You have our commitment that we will continue to review our health care system to make it as responsive, as affordable, and as equitable as possible.”

Under the new plan, the Pentagon would get the bulk of its savings by targeting under-65 and Medicare-eligible military retirees through a tiered increase in annual Tricare premiums that will be based on yearly retirement pay.

Significantly, the plan calls for increases between 30 percent to 78 percent in Tricare annual premiums for the first year. After that, the plan will impose five-year increases ranging from 94 percent to 345 percent—more than 3 times current levels.

According to congressional assessments, a retired Army colonel with a family currently paying $460 a year for health care will pay $2,048.

The new plan hits active duty personnel by increasing co-payments for pharmaceuticals and eliminating incentives for using generic drugs.

The changes are worrying some in the Pentagon who fear it will severely impact efforts to recruit and maintain a high-quality all-volunteer military force. Such benefits have been a key tool for recruiting qualified people and keeping them in uniform.

“Would you stay with a car insurance company that raised your premiums by 345 percent in five years? Probably not,” said the congressional aide. “Would anybody accept their taxes being raised 345 percent in five years? Probably not.”

A second congressional aide said the administration’s approach to the cuts shows a double standard that hurts the military.

“We all recognize that we are in a time of austerity,” this aide said. “But defense has made up to this point 50 percent of deficit reduction cuts that we agreed to, but is only 20 percent of the budget.”

The administration is asking troops to get by without the equipment and force levels needed for global missions. “And now they are going to them again and asking them to pay more for their health care when you’ve held the civilian workforce at DoD and across the federal government virtually harmless in all of these cuts. And it just doesn’t seem fair,” the second aide said.

Spokesmen for the Defense Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff did not respond to requests for comment on the Tricare increases.

The massive increases beginning next year appear timed to avoid upsetting military voters in a presidential election year, critics of the plan say.

Additionally, the critics said leaving civilian workers’ benefits unchanged while hitting the military reflect the administration’s effort to court labor unions, as government unions are the only segment of organized labor that has increased in recent years.

As part of the increased healthcare costs, the Pentagon also will impose an annual fee for a program called Tricare for Life, a new program that all military retirees automatically must join at age 65. Currently, to enroll in Tricare for Life, retirees pay the equivalent of a monthly Medicare premium.

Under the proposed Pentagon plan, retirees will be hit with an additional annual enrollment fee on top of the monthly premium.

Congressional aides said that despite unanimous support among the military chiefs for the current healthcare changes, some senior officials in the Pentagon are opposing the reforms, in particular the tiered system of healthcare.

“It doesn’t matter what the benefit is, whether it’s commissary, PX, or healthcare, or whatever … under the rationale that if you raise your hand and sign up to serve, you earn a base set of benefits, and it should have nothing to do with your rank when you served, and how much you’re making when you retire,” the first aide said.

Military service organizations are opposing the healthcare changes and say the Pentagon is “means-testing” benefits for service personnel as if they were a social program, and not something earned with 20 or more years of military service.

Retired Navy Capt. Kathryn M. Beasley, of the Military Officers Association of America, said the Military Coalition, 32 military service and veterans groups with an estimated 5 million members, is fighting the proposed healthcare increases, specifically the use of mean-testing for cost increases.

“We think it’s absolutely wrong,” Beasley told the Free Beacon. “This is a breach of faith” for both the active duty and retiree communities.

Congressional hearings are set for next month.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars on Feb. 23 called on all military personnel and the veterans’ community to block the healthcare increases.

“There is no military personnel issue more sacrosanct than pay and benefits,” said Richard L. DeNoyer, head of the 2 million-member VFW. “Any proposal that negatively impacts any quality of life program must be defeated, and that’s why the VFW is asking everyone to join the fight and send a united voice to Congress.”

Senior Air Force leaders are expected to be asked about the health care cost increases during a House Armed Services Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Congress must pass all the proposed changes into law, as last year’s defense authorization bill preemptively limited how much the Pentagon could increase some Tricare fees, while other fees already were limited in law.

Tricare for Life, Tricare Prime, and Tricare Standard increases must be approved, as well as some of the pharmacy fee increases, congressional aides said.

        Current law limits Tricare fee increases to cost of living increases in retirement pay.

Holidaze

The other day one of our local news readers remarked that our local pro basketball players will be playing out of town on Christmas Day and thus won't be spending the Holiday with their families.

And he sounded as if I should be sad about this.

 

Really,  George ?  

I'm just so upset that millionaire sports players may have to spend Xmas eve in a luxury hotel away from their multi-million dollar mansions, that I don't know what to do.  < sarcasm

Oh, wait.

I could send Xmas packages and cards to the thousands of U.S. Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen who are serving their country overseas.  

 

They aren't staying in luxury hotels nor cashing paychecks with lots of zeros.

 

Their families aren't with them either.

Lest We Forget

A few more dates to remember:

November 5, 2009

Nidal Malik Hasan, U.S. Army Major and a Muslim, killed 13 people and wounded 29 more at Fort Hood, Texas.

October 12, 2000

 The U.S.S. Cole  was the target of a suicide attack carried out by Al-Qaeda terrorists in the Yemeni port of Aden.  17 U.S. sailors were killed, 39 were injured, and the ship was almost sunk.

 

April 19, 1995

 The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred Murrah Building. The blast claimed 168 lives, including 19 children under the age of 6; more than 680 people were injured.

October 23, 1983

241 U.S. Marines and Naval personnel were killed when the U.S. headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon was struck by a truck bomb.  A French unit was also targeted. In all, 299 American and French servicemen were killed. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

"One More Thing"

In a speech about the economy yesterday, Barack Hussein Obama attempted to reassure Americans by stating that he and Warren Buffett think we should have an impeccable credit rating.

Well, that just makes all the difference, eh?

The Dow was being shown at the same time. The more Obummer talked, the lower it went.

And then, as if it were an afterthought, Obummer says, "One more thing..."

   ... and mentions the courage and sacrifice of the 30 American
military personnel killed in the deadliest day for Americans in Afghanistan.

As Commander-in-Chief THAT should have been the first and only thing to come out of his mouth.

 

Obama's 1st Dover Photo Op

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.

The 69th Anniversary of the "Day of Infamy"

Just in case your social progressive educator (aka teacher) skipped the lesson on this date in American History:

Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

Pearl Harbor is a large U.S. Naval installation located on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 

 

On Sunday, December 7th, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed here.

 

This precipitated The United States’ entry into WW II.

Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo hoped to catch the entire US fleet in port, but the aircraft carriers and one of the battleships were not there.

When the attack was over: 2,403 killed
                        (over 1,000 from the USS Arizona, alone) including 68 civilians

Of the 8 Battleships in port, 5 were Sunk:

 
     USS Arizona: Total loss when a bomb hit her magazine; 1,144 lost

 
     USS Oklahoma: Total loss when she capsized and sank; 429 lost

 
     USS California: Sunk at her berth

 
     USS West Virginia: sunk at her berth

 
     USS Utah: sunk

 

     USS Pennsylvania: light damage

 

     USS Maryland: light damage

 

     USS Tennessee: light damage

 

     USS Nevada: beached to prevent sinking

 

 The U.S.S. Arizona, then

   The U.S.S. Arizona , Now

The U.S.S. Arizona's 'Tears'