MBVD: Ft Hood day of healing

Showing posts with label Ft Hood day of healing. Show all posts

Friday, December 11, 2009

Ft Hood day of healing

Friday, December 11th is going to be a special day at Ft. Hood Tx. The kind folks at the USO along with the MWR and AAFES have put together a great event to facilitate the continued healing that Ft. Hood and its families are still going through. Bloggers, tweeters, people on Facebook can all help. Please read below to learn more and to see what you can do to spread the word.

This Friday, December 11, Fort Hood and the USO – with the support of Fort Hood FMWR and AAFES – is proud to host “Fort Hood Community Strong,” a day for healing, fun and entertainment. Held at Hood Stadium, this event will feature free carnival rides, games, food and top-notch celebrity performers. The biggest gift we can give the community, however, is to honor them with our sincere thanks and support.

Since the November 5 shooting, the USO has stepped up to provide support for the community in any way they can. From grief counseling to the two Mobile USO units providing meals – the USO has been ready to assist the troops, families and command at Fort Hood however needed.

Tomorrow is a day where we are asking everyone to remember to say “thanks” to help continue the healing process. We are asking influential bloggers like you to join us in our cross-web effort to support and honor the troops by dedicating a post thanking the troops and expressing support for their community.

As part of your post, there are a variety of ways you can help us activate the public in supporting the troops.
• Included a link to the Community Strong microsite or directly to the Remembrance Wall that allows anyone, anywhere in the world, to express their gratitude for the military’s service and sacrifice;
• Create a video expressing your support and posting it on the USO YouTube Channel;
• Follow @The_USO on Twitter and Tweet your support with a link to your post with the #communitystrong hashtag;
• Join us on Facebook and express your support there; and/or
• Post the “Fort Hood, Community Strong” badge on your blog’s sidebar.

As a symbol of unity for this campaign, we are asking all participating bloggers to include the following language at the bottom of their post. It includes additional, relevant links for your readers to get involved and support Community Strong.

This post was created as part of the USO’s Community Strong event at Fort Hood –a day for healing, fun and entertainment to uplift the spirits of the Fort Hood community in the wake of the Nov. 5 shooting incident. You can help show your support for Fort Hood and its more than 349,000 military personnel, family members, retirees and civilian employees by visiting the Community Strong website, Tweeting your support with the #CommunityStrong hashtag, leaving comments on the Official USO Blog and donating to the USO’s ongoing efforts to support our troops.
http://facebook.com/theUSO
http://twitter.com/the_USO

Found the above via Troy (Bouhammers).

There is so much to read on the Ft Hood site. There is this:

"The Great Place" Responds
December 4, 2009

Fort Hood, Texas, the largest military installation in the world, is home to tens of thousands of soldiers and their families, along with the schools and recreational services that make up a vibrant community.

Lovingly referred to as "The Great Place," a shocked community is doing what residents say is their only option: providing as much love and support as they can in the wake of the horrific November 5 shootings.

Robin Crouse, director of USO Fort Hood, began making calls around post to see how the USO could help. While still in lockdown, Crouse called the garrison command and learned that hundreds of troops around post needed water, soft drinks, and snacks. She arranged for the SWAT team to pick up the keys to the USO warehouse and gave them instructions to take whatever was needed. When the lockdown ended at 8 P.M., the USO and the rest of the community swung into action. The USO staff became the focal point for feeding the more than 600 investigators, military police, and soldiers who were working around the dock. Local businesses kept the USO's phone ringing. Texas Road House, Bush's Chicken, Big Hoss BBQ, and others offered discounts and donated meals. Chevrolet helped with a van to ferry food to the site; they also chipped in money for gas.

When USO staffers heard there was a family of an injured soldier that couldn't find a place to stay, they went out and bought towels and comfort items to give them some basics, and to let them know they weren't in this alone.

"It was just the fact that [the USO and the community] were out there so quickly," said U.S. Army Specialist Judge Thomas, who is stationed at Fort Hood and volunteers at the USO in his spare time. "For it being such a sudden thing and everything rushed together, I think it went very smoothly. People just gelled together and helped out." (source)

For many of us, we watched in awe as people across America jumped in and supported our troops. Yes, even outside America some of us asked "what can we do, to honour our heroes?"

USO Fort Hood Locks Down ... and Then Helps Out

December 4, 2009

Robin Crouse, director of USO Fort Hood, received a phone call at 2 p.m. on November 5, telling her to lock down the Center immediately. Someone was shooting soldiers on post. She immediately locked the building and told the 35 soldiers at the Center what was going on.

"At the time I was really nervous because we were only a half-mile from the scene," Crouse said. "It was surreal."

While a palpable tension remained, Crouse and the USO's volunteers helped everyone keep calm during those six hours, at a time when everyone felt helpless. She made calls around base to see how the USO could help.

When the lockdown ended, at 8 p.m., the USO and the rest of the community swung into action.

No request was too big or too small. Families of those affected found a place they could call for information and help with lodging or help. Favorite energy drinks were tracked down and Wal-Mart also donated video games and made food deliveries to the base.

On that terrible day, we all watched as so many heroes stepped up. In the aftermath of that awful day, the whole country - including many support groups - came together as one to offer whatever they could. Our military proved, yet again, what exceptional people they are as they lived "Army Strong".

The Ft Hood site has a Wall of Remembrance where you can leave a message of support for all our troops. Go here to do that, and remind our troops that we cherish and honour them.

I wrote about those who fell that day here and here. Take another look at these short profiles and remember those who served.

We will never forget that day, but I choose to remember that even in the midst of such irrational madness, all that is good and right about America the beautiful shone so brightly. Rather than dwell on the actions of one, I choose to focus on the many heroes of that dark day. Our troops and our citizens proved that America will always stand together to overcome any adversity. It IS the American way.

Today, and every day, keep Ft Hood in your prayers. They are America the beautiful.

Sphere: Related Content

Subscribe to: Comment Feed (RSS)

SOLDIER"S ANGELS NEEDS YOUR HELP!

The Veterans Hospital in Tucson needs our help!!! They have contacted Soldiers' Angels with a list of needs for their patients. Soldiers Angels needs your help in making some of these come true.

Below you will find just a small portion of needs that are immediate. You can also find this list posted on the Soldiers Angels Forum at www.soldiersangelsforum.com you will be able to find lots of great information there for our deployed and vets.

If you are sending a monetary donation please follow the link and indicate the State you are in.

Donate here;
Ttp://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=veterans-support

COMFORT ITEMS- $350/MO
Dry Skin Cream
Slipper Socks-No skid
Catheter bag covers
Shaving Cream
Hand Lotion
Baby Shampoo
Hand Soap
Roll on/Spray Deodorant
Denture Cleaner
Underwear (men and women (all sizes)
Toothbrushes
Denture Grip
Socks (white)
Talcum Powder
Nail Clippers
Toothpaste
Ladies hand and body lotion
Backpacks
Disposable Razors
Comb/Brushes
Shawls
Shaving Cream/small
Knitted Caps
Travel Alarm Clocks
Ball Caps
Tote Bags
Shower Shoes
Pocket Size Needle and Thread Kit
Heart pillows for cardiac patients
Lap Robes (3x5 or 5x7)

GUEST SERVICES
30 cup coffee makers
Coffee supplies (reg. & decaf)
Music CDs
Stamps
Writing Paper and Envelopes
Prepaid Phone Cards for patients’

RECREATION
Puzzle books
Crossword Puzzles
Pencils
Video tapes & DVDs (movies, educational)
DVD Player

Sports equipment (basketball, tennis rackets &
Tickets for entertainment & sporting events
Balls, badminton set, Frisbees, football)

If you can send just one item that would be great!!! If each person sends one thing we will make a difference! They are also needing those who can volunteer time at the hospital just contact the Voluntary Services Dept. For information.

Mail Items to:

Department of Veterans Affairs Southern Arizona VA Health Care System – Voluntary Services 9-135, 3601 S. Sixth Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85723

PLEASE HELP US HELP THOSE WHO FOUGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM!

My Favorite Speeches and Other Items of Interest

George Bush's March 28, 2007 Discusses Economy, War on Terror During Remarks to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association;http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070328-2.html
Mitch McConnell's March 15, 2007 Funding For Troops, Not Timelines for Retreat; http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=270747&start=1
Ronald Reagan's June 12, 1987 Tear Down This Wall Speech; http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/wall.asp
Vice President Cheney's March 12, 2007 Remarks at the AIPAC 2007 Policy Conference; http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070312.html

Winston Churchill Quotes

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.
Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.
Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.
Danger - if you meet it promptly and without flinching - you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!
I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.
I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
I like a man who grins when he fights.
I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed to express her unflinching resolve to fight and conquer, I should at once have been rightly cast aside.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time-a tremendous whack.
In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Never, never, never give up.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism.
One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
The first quality that is needed is audacity.
The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go.
The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
These are not dark days: these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived.
They are decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can.
War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.
We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.
When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber.
When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Ronald Reagan Quotes

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.
All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources
Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
Double, no triple, our troubles and we'd still be better off than any other people on earth. It is time that we recognized that ours was, in truth, a noble cause.
Facts are stupid things.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.
History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
How can a president not be an actor?
How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.
I will stand on, and continue to use, the figures I have used, because I believe they are correct. Now, I'm not going to deny that you don't now and then slip up on something; no one bats a thousand.
In Israel, free men and women are every day demonstrating the power of courage and faith. Back in 1948 when Israel was founded, pundits claimed the new country could never survive. Today, no one questions that. Israel is a land of stability and democracy in a region of tryanny and unrest.
Let us ask ourselves; "What kind of people do we think we are?".
Man is not free unless government is limited.
My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out.
No mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology.
Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.
Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act.
Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.
Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.
The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas - a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.
The United Sates has much to offer the third world war.
There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.
Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.
We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.
We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.
Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
You know, if I listened to Michael Dukakis long enough, I would be convinced we're in an economic downturn and people are homeless and going without food and medical attention and that we've got to do something about the unemployed.