The more it's showing what the cheney and his puppet bush were telling us, after They established the Homeland Security Agency and Swore that the Intelligence Agencies would share information and work together for Homeland Security etc. etc. etc., that They Didn't Do Much Of Anything As To Security Against Any Criminal Terrorist Attacks!!
UpDate: It was announced yesterday that they've received the needed funding, $35,000 in donations, to get these soldiers back home, so they'll have a ten day leave and shortly after be in Theater Afghanistan!
These soldiers are coming from pretty high unemployment number counties in South Carolina. Why they're training in Wisconsin only the military can give that answer, what with all the bases in North Carolina and South Carolina you'd think they's have had regional training spots closer to home. This is also probably hitting other units in other parts of the country as well.
I read nameless soldier's diary "The new year quickly comes" and was struck by him stating that Christmas doesn't give him the same joy it used to before he was deployed. I feel the same. So forgive me for the following diary, it is totally self-indulgent and devoid of a political message.
I wrote this on Christmas, but I didn't want to post this on Christmas, so I waited, but my Xmas started in tears. I didn't go home for Xmas this year, for various reasons, and instead stayed in town, but that's not why I was in tears. No, I woke up, and because I was alone there was no gifts to open or anything like that, so I started my day as I usually do, I read the news. The headlines all had to do with some sort of holiday merriment, except for one that stood out moreso than usual "suicide bomber." As soon as I read that a suicide bomber had killed 20-something people "north of Baghdad" which stands for every town between Baghdad and Turkey, I knew in my gut it was "my" town, the town I had lived a year in . . . Bayji Iraq. For some reason I always know when something has happened in my town. Well, I was right, the third massive suicide car bomb hit Bayji since June, which I know is not "bad" in Iraqi standards, but it certainly isn't good and is worse than a year ago. This suicide bomber hit the housing complex of the oil workers, so many of which I have met and talked to, I could not even begin to count. I remember the area well, it is the only place in Bayji with apartment buildings, great places for snipers to hide. A point I never forgot when I stood in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by every Iraqi willing to talk to me or just wanting to hear what I had to say, as I counted on that the 11B's were doing their job in the gun-trucks and watching those windows and rooftops. So, I remember minute details of this place and now I wonder which details no longer exist, which children I gave toys, food and stickers to that no longer exist. Which men that were willing to give me their opinion in public that no longer exist. So, I cried, not understanding the frustration I felt for never being able to help those people and struggling against my desire to go try and help them again, somehow, someway, but knowing none of it matters.
This isn't about the following song most know, some understand.
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
A song I kept hearing, over and over each day almost hourly, as my coworkers wanted to listen to Christmas music at the jobsite, so we switched channels, and the canned programming played this a number of times. I kept wondering if there was a message there or if whoever made up the program list really knew what the song was about, or if it was just about Lennon singing about Christmas, much like the Reagan campaign took to 'Born in the USA' as their own, remember that, nobody apparently knowing the words to!
OK, no joke that this is being sold, but it is a quasi-joke in that the site selling it, run by a self-described Born Again, offers up a ton of tongue-in-cheek gifts that point out what she sees as hypocrisy from many on the right.
Protect our troops - from the womb to the war. What if the fetus you were going to abort would grow up to be a soldier bringing democracy to a godless dictatorship?
Plastic replica of an 11-12 week old fetus, 3" long, holding a firearm in its precious little hand, with an assortment of other military paraphernalia, encased in a translucent plastic ornament, with a patriotic yellow ribbon on top. Includes a metal ornament hanger. If only a womb were this safe, attractive and reasonably priced!
Show that you support the "culture of life" by buying and proudly displaying one of these patriotic unborn Americans.
Our son, who is currently doing figure 8's in the Persian Gulf on a Carrier that was deployed last spring tells us they will for sure be home by Christmas.
Sure, that has been the plan all along, but we as parents and he as a Navy Airman have all rather ignored this common knowledge in favor of hoping he would be home at his appointed time instead of what might happen.
You may have received a message to your inbox recently that reads something like this.
"When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following"
That message is followed by the address for Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The email asks folks to address cards to "A Recovering American Soldier" or "Any Wounded Soldier". Walter Reed has a memo on their website specifically addressing the issue. Unfortunately, as nice as the gesture is, mail that is not addressed to a specific individual will not be delivered. I would hate for good intentions to be wasted. I can't even imagine how many cards will be sent to the hospital and go undelivered. It is so sad to think that people think they are doing something good and they may never find out that their card (or cards) didn't make it to anyone; let alone a wounded member of the military. I so wish that people who start these kinds of messages would do some research first. To some it might seem small but to me this is the sort of thing that deals with people's hearts.
Walter Reed does give ideas for other options. I have pasted the memo below. Please read and pass along to anyone who might forward the email to you. You can also find this message at Walter Reed's website.
Support A Recovering American Soldier Walter Reed Army Medical Center
officials want to remind those individuals who want to show their appreciation through mail to include packages, letters, and holiday cards addressed to "Any Wounded Soldier" or "A Recovering American Soldier" that Walter Reed cannot accept these packages in support of the decision by then Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Transportation Policy in 2001. This decision was made to ensure the safety and well being of patients and staff at medical centers throughout the Department of Defense.
In addition, the U.S. Postal Service is no longer accepting "Any Service Member" or "A Recovering American Soldier" letters or packages. Mail to "Any Service Member" that is deposited into a collection box will not be delivered.
Instead of sending an "Any Wounded Soldier" letter or package to Walter Reed, please consider making a donation to one of the more than 300 nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping our troops and their families listed on the "America Supports You" website,
www.americasupportsyou.mil
Other organizations that offer means of showing your support for our troops or assist wounded servicemembers and their families include:
For individuals without computer access, your local military installation, the local National Guard or military reserve unit in your area may offer the best alternative to show your support to our returning troops and their families.
Walter Reed Army Medical Center will continue to receive process and deliver all mail that is addressed to a specific individual.
As Walter Reed continues to enhance the medical care and processes for our returning service members, it must also must keep our patients and staff members safe while following Department of Defense policy. The outpouring of encouragement from the general public, corporate America and civic groups throughout the past year has been incredible. Our Warriors in Transition are amazed at the thanks and support they receive from their countrymen.
"The welcome mat for memoirs by veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom might never wear out so long as they write with the savvy of Brandon Friedman . . . Friedman's take is vivid, frank, precise and dramatic."--Military Times
"Add Brandon Friedman's The War I Always Wanted to the ranks of outstanding non-fiction produced by officers from elite combat units in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Always truthful, often excruciatingly so, The War I Always Wanted rises at numerous points to the level of literature."--Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire
"A Time To Lead confirms the rewarding benefits of military service at a time when such service is experiencing considerable strain. It also includes a comprehensive description of America's current national imperatives, which deserve serious consideration."--General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., former Secretary of State
"This is a primer on leadership forged in battle and by decades of experience. . .This isn't just a book; it's a manual for leading people and living a good life."--Barry McCaffrey, General, USA (ret.)
"Whip smart, sassy, with a mouth as foul as a sailor's, 28-year-old Sergeant Kayla Williams. . .tells what it's like to be a female soldier in Iraq."--Booklist
". . .echoes military memoirists from Julius Caesar to Ernie Pyle."--Publishers Weekly
". . .a shocking, on-the-ground view of one military woman's experience in Iraq."--Bookmarks Magazine
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