Thought for the Day:

After reading the headlines about the U.S. soldier who shot up Afghanistan civilians, I couldn’t help noticing an irony. There is all this clamor to try this guy quickly and execute him, never mind his having suffered a traumatic brain injury. 

 

Yet Major Nidal Hasan, who shot up Fort Hood while screaming Allah akbar, still hasn’t stood trial, and they are still debating whether he was insane, even with the clear evidence regarding his motive: slay as many infidels as possible. 

 

So we have a guy in a war zone who cracks, and he must be executed immediately. But this Muslim psychiatrist who was stateside in a nice safe office all day murders 13, wounds 29 of our own guys, and they try to argue the poor guy suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome, from listening to real soldiers who had actual battle experience. 

 

Two and a half years later, they still haven’t tried the murderous bastard.

 

(Forwarded, author unknown)

Today, June 14th

Happy Birthday #236,  U.S. Army !

Since 1775

 

 

Happy Birthday,  Montgomery Edward Scott

Star Date 2160*

* as Given here ,

Although the Star Trek Data Base lists it as 2222

Fort Hood Massacre, One Year Later

One year ago today, 13 patriotic Americans were murdered at Fort Hood, TX.

The shooter was identified by witnesses as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim fundamentalist wearing an Army combat uniform and shouting "Allahu Akabar", while firing and reloading.   

The 13:


Chief Warrant Officer Michael Grant Cahill (Ret.)(62), Cameron, TX

Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo (52), Woodbridge, VA

Army Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow (32), Plymouth, IN


Capt. John Gaffaney (56), San Diego, CA

Spc. Frederick Greene (29), Mountain City, TN

Spc. Jason Dean Hunt (22), Tipton, OK

Sgt. Amy Krueger (29), Kiel, WI

Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka (19), West Jordan, UT

Pfc. Michael Pearson (22), Bolingbrook, IL

Capt. Russell Seager (51), Racine, WI

Pvt. Francheska Velez (21), Chicago, IL

Lt. Col. Juanita L. Warman (55), Havre De Grace, MD

Spc. Kham Xiong (23), St. Paul, MN

Slideshow of the Victims

 Requietum en Pace, Soldiers

Fallen Heroes: Spcs Gary Gooch and Aaron Aamot

 
Army Spc. Gary L. Gooch Jr., 22, of Ocala, FL and Spc. Aaron S. Aamot, 22, of Custer, WA, died Nov. 5 in Jelewar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device. 

The soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, WA.

Requietum en Pacem, Soldiers

Fallen Hero: Cpl Benjamin Kopp

This is not just another Fallen Hero story:

MPR:

Rosemount, Minn. (AP) — Army Ranger Benjamin Kopp died last month after being wounded in Afghanistan, but a part of the Minnesota soldier lives on...

Judy Meikle (57 yr old Chicagoan) says she got a call about Kopp's death two weeks ago from the soldier's cousin, who's her close friend. His heart was a perfect match for Meikle.

She says she now has the heart of an Army Ranger who's a bona fide hero.

Corporal Benjan Stephen Kopp,

21, was seriously wounded during a combat operation in southern Afghanistan July 10. Kopp was medically evacuated through Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany to Walter Reed Medical Center, Washington, D.C., where he later died as a result of his wounds July 18.

His unit had attacked a Taliban safe haven where they fought a determined enemy from multiple directions for several hours, resulting in the killing of more than 10 Taliban fighters, according to official military reports.

Cpl Kopp's Bio

Hat/tip: The JAWA Report

Requiescat In Pace, Soldier

Fallen Heroes

While the MainStreamMedia and its moronic minions mourn the deaths of two entertainers, whose only contribution to the world was entertainment, the deaths of American soldiers go pretty much un-noted.

Spec. Rodrigo Rivas and Sgt. Ricky Jones , US Army, were KIA on June 21st in Bagram, Afghanistan.

1st Sgt. John Blair , US Army, was KIA on June 29th in Mado Yazi, Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Joshua Melton and Sgt. Paul Smith, US Army, were KIA on June 19th in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Sgt. Joshua Soto , US Army, was KIA in Iraq, June 16th.

Requietum En Pacem, Soldiers

Happy Birthday, U.S. Army!

Thank you for
234 years
of service!

What Do Real Men Wear?

Whatever they want!

Zachary Boyd, 19, of Fort Worth, Texas, was sleeping when the Taliban attacked his unit (Army 1st Bn 26th Infantry) at a base in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

Spc. Boyd grabbed his weapon, put on his helmet and vest and took his position.

A news photographer recorded the image of Boyd in helmet, body armor, red T-shirt, pink boxers and flip-flops.

Spc Boyd was concerned about losing his job when the photo wound up on the front page of the New York Times.

"I can assure you that Specialist Boyd's job is very safe indeed," Sec Def Robert Gates said.

"Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage. I can only wonder about the (psychological) impact on the Taliban."

The soldiers alongside Boyd are Spcs. Cecil Montgomery of LA and Jordan Custer of Spokane, WA. They are both wearing pants, but Spc. Custer has no socks and is wearing silver running shoes.

photograph by David Guttenfelder

Fallen Hero: Major Steven Hutchison

The Oldest Army Soldier Killed In Iraq

 

Maj. Steven Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., served in Vietnam (he enlisted at age 19) and wanted to re-enlist immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks, but his wife was against it, his brother said.

Richard Hutchison told The AP on Thursday that when she died (in 2006), "a part of him died" so he signed up in July 2007 at age 59.

"He was very devoted to the service and to his country," Richard Hutchison said.

Requiescat In Pace, Major.

A Personal Thank You

... to the two Army helicopter pilots making an unscheduled stop at my son's base in Iraq.

His team was due to leave their FOB, the first step in returning home, but were told that air ops were being halted due to an approaching storm. They could expect a 3-day delay.

My USMC son heard the choppers, checked the board, asked a few questions, and long story short - they got a ride out just ahead of the storm.

The Army pilots dropped them and all their gear off where they needed to be in Baghdad before taking off for their own base.

Thanks to you good guys, my son and his team should make all their scheduled connections and we will see him soon!

Ooo Rah!

Fallen Hero: Major John Pryor, M.D.

I found this post on BlackFive which I have copied in part here.

The story of Major Pryor deserves telling as often as possible.

Major John P. Pryor was killed by enemy fire on Christmas.

Major Pryor was a surgeon, and not just any surgeon.
He was the leader of the University of Pennsylvania's trauma team, arguably one of the best in the nation, and was a combat surgeon who operated with frontline units. On September 11, 2001 he raced to Ground Zero to volunteer his services.

From the Washington Post:
Despite what he acknowledged in an undated document left with family was the high personal cost of going to serve, for he felt that family and others did not fully support his decision, he went anyway as he felt it was the right thing to do. This time, he was with the 1st Medical Detachment, Forward Surgical Team in Mosul, Iraq when killed by shrapnel from a mortar round.

In an August 2007 article published in The Washington Post, Pryor wrote:

"In Iraq, soldiers die for freedom, for honor, for their country and for their buddies. Here in Philadelphia, they die without honor, without purpose, for no country, for no one."

Requiescat In Pace, Major

Fallen Hero: Spec. Stephen Fortunado

H/T to Wake Up America

This was a blog entry on Army Specialist Stephen Fortunato's blog, dated Aug. 30, 2008, and was sent to the Boston Globe by his mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Crawford.

From Boston Globe:

If I may … I'd like to say something....Just to get it out there so it is clear. To all the pampered and protected Americans who feel it is their duty to inform me that I am not fighting for their freedom, and that i am a pawn in Bush's agenda of greed and oil acquisition: Noted, and [expletive deleted] You.

I am not a robot. i am not blind or ignorant to the state of the world or the implications of the "war on terrorism." i know that our leaders have made mistakes in the handling of a very sensitive situation, but do not for one second think that you can make me lose faith in what we, meaning America's sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers in uniform are doing. I am doing my part in fighting a very real enemy of the United States, i.e. Taliban, Al Qaida, and various other radical sects of Islam that have declared war on our way of life. Unless you believe the events of 9/11 were the result of a government conspiracy, which by the way would make you a MORON, there is no reasonable argument you can make against there being a true and dangerous threat that needs to be dealt with. i don't care if there are corporations leaching off the war effort to make money, and i don't care if you don't think our freedom within America's borders is actually at stake. i just want to kill those who would harm my family and friends. it is that simple. Even if this is just a war for profit or to assert America's power, so what? Someone has to be on top and I want it to be us. There's nothing wrong with wishing prosperity for your side.

I am a proud American. i believe that my country allows me to live my life more or less however i want to, and believe me, i have seen what the alternative of that looks like. i also believe that our big scary government does way more than it has to to help complete [expletive deleted]-ups get back on their feet, a stark comparison to places where leaders just line their own pockets with gold while allowing the people who gave them their power and privilege to starve.

I have chosen my corner. I back my country, and am proud to defend it against aggressors. Also, if you dare accuse us of being inhumane, or overly aggressive because we have rolled into someone else's country and blown some [expletive deleted] up and shot some people, let me remind you of just how inhumane we COULD be in defending ourselves. Let me remind you that we have a warhead that drops multiple bomblets from the stratosphere which upon impact, would turn all the sand in Iraq to glass, and reduce every living thing there to dust. Do we use it? No. Instead we use the most humane weapon ever devised: the American soldier. We send our bravest (and perhaps admitably craziest) men and women into enemy territory, into harms way, to root out those whom we are after and do our best to leave innocent lives unscathed.

... One last thing...a proposal. i know it has been stated time and time again but i just think it is worthy of reiteration. If you find yourself completely disgusted with the way America is being ran, and how we handle things on the global stage, you can leave. Isn't that amazing? No one will stop you! If you are an anarchist, there are places you can go where there is no government to tell you anything. That's right...you are left solely to your own devices and you can handle the men who show up at your door with AKs in any way that you see fit. Just don't try good old American debate tactics on them because you will most likely end up bound and blind-folded, to have your head chopped off on the internet so your parents can see it. However if you insist on staying here and taking advantage of privilages such as free speach and WIC, keep the counter-productive [expletive deleted] to a minimum while the grown ups figure out how to handle this god-awful mess in the middle east.

Spec. Fortunado was killed October 14th with two other soldiers when their vehicle struck an IED in Afghanistan.

He was 25 years old.

Requiescat In Pace, Soldier

Shine On, Sarge

Sgt Eddie Jeffers, died September 19, 2007 while serving in Ramadi, Iraq. He was 23 years old.

Hope Rides Alone
Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, USA (Iraq)
February 1, 2007

I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.

I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again…and yet, I too, am just a boy….my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid…because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there.

There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own… but that are necessary for survival. I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets… who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not.

And to think, I volunteered for this…

And I am ignorant to the rest of the world…or so I thought.

But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.

I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the word boys and girls, because that's what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.

People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward's war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes…only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society…and they are becoming our enemy.

Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.

Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet…and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed…for doing their job.

It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.

America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It's not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual…the war doesn't affect you.

But it affects us. And when it is over and the troops come home and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service…where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.

We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor…we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause.

Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn't.

Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering, let's stop all the bad news and let's stand and fight!

Isn't that what America is about anyway?

Requiescat In Pace, Soldier

Eddie Jeffers Farewell