| Username: |
jimstaro |
| PersonId: |
345 |
| Created: |
Fri Nov 23, 2007 at 05:09:24 AM EST |
jimstaro's RSS
Feed
 |
|
Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 11:44:10 AM EST
|
| A two part series, from Time magazine, of a total breakdown of a platoon and especially one soldier's descent into madness in Iraq. The leadership vacuum, moral and the chain of command not recognizing what was happening. {I added 'abeers' photo's}
I'm sure we'll be hearing much more about this book in the coming weeks! |
There's More...
:: (1
Comments, 507 words in story)
|
|
Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 17:11:25 PM EST
|
US military plans to extradite stop-lossed Iraq war vet to Iraq for court martial over protest rap song
IVAW Press Release: Please Share!
Fort Stewart, Ga. - The US military plans to extradite a stop-lossed Iraq war veteran to Iraq "within a few days" to face a court martial for allegedly threatening military officers in a protest rap song he made.
Spc. Marc Hall has been jailed in the Liberty County Jail near Fort Stewart, Ga., since Dec. 11 because he wrote a song called "Stop Loss" about the practice of involuntarily extending military members' contracts.
"It is our belief that the Army would violate its own regulations by deploying Marc and it would certainly violate his right to due process by making it far more difficult to get witnesses. It appears the Army doesn't believe it can get a conviction in a fair and public trial. We will do whatever we can to insure he remain in the United States," said Hall's civilian attorney, David Gespass. >>>>>> |
There's More...
:: (6
Comments, 120 words in story)
|
|
Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 12:46:51 PM EST
|
April 5, 2009 Dover 'Old Guard'
Dover 'Old Guard' team shoulders heavy burden |
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 3606 words in story)
|
|
Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 08:49:51 AM EST
|
Ex-POW in Iraq war recalls nightmares, depression
 Shoshana Johnson poses for a picture in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010. Johnson, the nation's first female black prisoner of war, was shot and captured in Iraq along with Jessica Lynch.
Shoshana Johnson survived gunshot wounds to both legs and 22 days as a prisoner of war in Iraq. Life wasn't so easy when she came home, either.
In a new book out this week, the 37-year-old single mother describes mental health problems related to her captivity and tells how it felt to play second fiddle in the media to fellow POW Jessica Lynch, who was captured in the same ambush.
"It was kind of hurtful," the former Army cook said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "If I'd been a petite, cutesy thing, it would've been different."
Snip
Johnson's book, I'm Still Standing", is being released in time for Black History Month. Johnson said she hopes that by telling her story, she can set the record straight and bring attention to mental health issues affecting veterans. >>>>>
I'm Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen--My Journey Home |
Discuss
:: (2
Comments)
|
|
|
|
Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 17:34:39 PM EST
|
| This was apparently posted prior to Shinseki's press conferance.
Breaking down the FY 2011 Veterans Affairs Budget
While most of the DC military press is focused down on the Pentagon today, the Department of Veterans Affairs is also unveiling its fiscal 2011 spending plans and ambitious goals for the near future.
But even though the $125 billion VA budget proposal is only a fraction of the proposed Defense Department budget, the plans could have wide-reaching ramifications for current servicemembers as well as veterans. For example: >>>>> |
There's More...
:: (7
Comments, 682 words in story)
|
|
Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 06:42:38 AM EST
|
| Taking bets on who will place a hold on this nomination. Will it be the usual suspects, especially as to the Veterans Administration and National Security, or will it be another rising star of the "Strong on National Defense" group {just say 'no'}?
Stay tuned!
White House eyes Army Reservist, surgeon for Defense top doc job |
There's More...
:: (5
Comments, 444 words in story)
|
|
Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 06:39:31 AM EST
|
| There once was a time most would be embarrassed to do or say the ridiculous and offensive to or pointed at others, or it was the wrong place and time, no matter what they might have thought personally. Most would keep whatever to themselves if they didn't they would readily get shown how wrong their actions or words were and how offensive to others and some would actually be personally embarrassed, learning a lesson because they wouldn't want same pointed or done to them, NO MORE, it's now common and celebrated to be offensive the more it seems the better!
This happened just recently, a quick change of Command in Theater Afghanistan, and is now being reported why. |
There's More...
:: (3
Comments, 456 words in story)
|
|
|
|
Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 06:57:08 AM EST
|
Former Blackwater contractors had checkered past
A pair of former Blackwater contractors charged with murdering two people in Afghanistan had checkered pasts with the military before getting hired to work overseas, according to service records disclosed in recent U.S. court hearings.
The troubled backgrounds of the two men - including instances of violence, drug use and disregard for authority - are a first sign that Xe, the company formerly known as Blackwater, was staffing its war-zone work force with contractors who might not be suited for the job....>>>>> |
There's More...
:: (9
Comments, 287 words in story)
|
|
Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 08:21:39 AM EST
|
| This is just breaking as I first heard it a short time ago on an NPR news report at top of the hour! |
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 194 words in story)
|
|
Sun Jan 24, 2010 at 10:10:58 AM EST
|
| Just one of many ways, and not only as to the VA facilities but Federal and State buildings etc. as well. And boy could I make a huge list of overlooked and ignored infrastructure needs!
I did this a number of years back, but it wasn't because of a collapsed economy. I came off some eight years on the road, mostly in the northeast some midwest and a few southern states, building and supervising the building of stores in the new enclosed Malls that had grown out of strip malls all over. I just happened to have hit a call for a carpenter to lay a couple of VCT floors at the VA facility in Syracuse and was one of two hired. After we finished that we were asked to stay on and work out of their maintenance office and shop doing repairs and preventive maintenance. We ended up working there for a year plus. The other carpenter, older then myself, stayed on, I left to go back into commercial Rebuilds and continued in Commercial and Residential for the years since, up to the collapse of it all and the to little going on now. |
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 439 words in story)
|
|
Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 14:52:24 PM EST
|
| I just caught this and there doesn't seem to be much on it yet
U.S. to Appeal Blackwater Case Dismissal, Biden Says
There isn't a time mark on the NYT piece but the few others I found had it as about an hour ago.
This is a cut from the Times piece. |
There's More...
:: (15
Comments, 642 words in story)
|
|
Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 05:50:14 AM EST
|
US Marine Corps ends role in Iraq
 Vice President Joe Biden (C) poses for the media with top U.S. military commander in Iraq General Raymond Odierno (L) and U.S. Ambassador Chris Hill at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad January 22, 2010. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped up its role Saturday in Iraq, handing over duties to the Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan.
Snip
If all goes as planned, the last remaining Marines will be followed out by tens of thousands of soldiers in the coming months. President Barack Obama has ordered all but 50,000 troops out of the country by Aug. 31, 2010, with most to leave after the March 7 parliamentary election.
The remaining troops will leave by the end of 2011 under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact....>>>>>
Slide Show
|
Discuss
:: (2
Comments)
|
|
Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 09:43:57 AM EST
|
| Last night I put up a quick diary at DKOS about a live online broadcast on a forum, debate, on the Future of Energy being held at the University of Charleston and streamed live to what looked like a full house. They have quickly broken up the video into three parts and placed them on YouTube as well as the Real News Networks website. The forum is about an hour and a half long and while civilized, as it should be, Kennedy keeps putting down pretty much every sorry excuse Blankenship tries to use in defending what he and the coal corporations are doing to West Virginia and the Heritage and Beauty of that State and this Country in the name of Great Wealth for the very few and less and less for the workers and residents of West Virginia and well beyond their state borders! |
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 510 words in story)
|
|
Wed Jan 20, 2010 at 13:15:32 PM EST
|
VA Reaching Out to Students and Schools to Speed Benefit Payments
"Shared Responsibilities" Among Schools, Students and VA
WASHINGTON - In a coordinated effort to speed up the processing of Post 9/11 GI Bill education benefits this spring, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that it has been reaching out to student Veterans, servicemembers, university officials and other partners to meet its commitment to an aggressive processing goal by Feb. 1, 2010. Feb. 1 is the first date spring payments are due and presently VA has processed over 72,000 of the approximately 103,000 spring enrollments received. Since inception of the historic new program last year, VA has paid over $1.3 billion in benefits to more than 170,000 students....>>>>> |
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 50 words in story)
|
|
Tue Jan 19, 2010 at 07:03:41 AM EST
|
| Below are a series of reports from the PBS NewsHour on Jan. 18th 2010 show, the first is of a very heartwarming rescue when all hope should have been gone especially in that pile of rumble once a building. For many the interview with the American Ambassador should be paid close attention to. While everyone would like to see much more rapid rescues and aid supplies to reach those tens of thousands of Haitians who need it so desperately Haiti is one of the many poor countries, not a resort island, where what is needed, like a larger airport or seaport and warehouses, where when extreme devastating natural occurrences aren't available for such a massive undertaking. Those thousands there as volunteers and more as well as the Haitians understand that. |
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 325 words in story)
|
|
Mon Jan 18, 2010 at 07:55:09 AM EST
|
| After some four decades of activism and advocacy by many, many doing much more then I was able to do especially prior to this technology becoming so widespread, but ignoring by the greater majorities, finally the issues of life, and experiences in living, are becoming better understood and more are paying the much needed and long overdue attention, especially related to the children. |
There's More...
:: (3
Comments, 903 words in story)
|
|
|
|
Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 11:59:38 AM EST
|
| This past week a conference opened, from the 10th to the 14th of January 2010, to discuss the growing suicide rate among our military and veterans community.
This is an extremely important issue, the Mental Injuries and Post Traumatic Stress as to War, that should be right up there along side never starting one except as a Very Last Resort when all else fails and to always plan an exit strategy as we should have done in Afghanistan after 9/11. Bringing in any and all support functions, promised rebuilding monies, NGO's, government agencies gear to help rebuild including those in the military, in Afghanistan's case after toppling the government that supported the criminal terrorist who carried out the devastating attacks on our country. Iraq should never had been allowed to happen! |
There's More...
:: (5
Comments, 1819 words in story)
|
|
|
|
|
| VetVoice Recommends |
|
"The War I Always Wanted,"
By Brandon Friedman
"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
Buy The War I Always Wanted here.
"A Time To Lead,"
By General (Ret.) Wesley K. Clark
"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.)
Buy A Time to Lead here.
"Love My Rifle More Than You,"
By Kayla Williams
"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
Buy Love My Rifle More Than You here.
"How to Break a Terrorist,"
By Matthew Alexander
"...a riveting, fast-paced account that reads like a first-rate thriller."
--Publisher's Weekly
" ...an absorbing behind-the-scenes look at the secret intelligence war within a war."
--Military.com
Buy How to Break a Terrorist here.
|
| RSS Feed Links |
|
Subscribe to VetVoice in a feed reader!
Subscribe to VetVoice by Email!
|
|
Diaries and comments at VetVoice do not necessarily represent the views of VoteVets.org. VetVoice will strive to remove any illegal material as soon as it is flagged. Similarly, VetVoice will use its discretion in determining whether to remove exceedingly offensive material. However, between posting and removal, any offensive or illegal material does not reflect the condoning or endorsing of said material by VoteVets.org or VetVoice.
Similarly, the views expressed on this website are those of the authors alone. Opinions on this website do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense or any of its components.
|
| Veteran Candidates We Support |
- Congressman John Boccieri, U.S. House, Ohio-16
- Congressman Chris Carney, U.S. House, Pennsylvania-10
- Congressman Eric Massa, U.S. House, New York-29
- Congressman Walt Minnick, U.S. House, Idaho-1
- Congressman Patrick Murphy, U.S. House, Pennsylvania-8
- Congressman John Murtha, U.S. House, Pennsylvania-12
- Congressman Gary Peters, U.S. House, Michigan-9
- Congressman Joe Sestak, U.S. House, Pennsylvania-7
- Congressman Tim Walz, U.S. House, Minnesota-1
- Candidate Anthony Woods, U.S. House, California-10
- Emerging Leaders: State and Local Candidates
|
| Contact Your Elected Leaders |
|
|
|
