Friday, November 14, 2008

BNS*N1

The Senate confirmed the promotion of Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to four-star general July 23. Dunwoody will take over command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, Fort Belvoir, Va., Nov. 14. Photo by U.S. Army

First female four-star general to be promoted Friday

Nov 12, 2008
BY U.S. Army Materiel Command Public Affairs Office

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (AMC News Service, Nov. 7, 2008) - Lt. Gen. (promotable) Ann E. Dunwoody will become the first female four-star general in U.S. military history Friday, and later that day will assume command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command from Gen. Benjamin S. Griffin in a 2 p.m. ceremony at the AMC headquarters parade field.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. will preside over the ceremony, which will include a 17-gun salute, the AMC Band and the AMC ceremonial color guard.

Dunwoody will be promoted as the first woman four-star general in the U.S. military in a ceremony at the Pentagon earlier in the day....(read more here).

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BNS*N2

Schools bringing hope to Iraq
Thursday, 13 November 2008

By Kendal Smith
Gulf Region Central district

Baghdad, Iraq - Themes of hope dominate school openings and ribbon cutting events throughout Iraq. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division has overseen the renovation or new construction of nearly 1,100 schools, and another 38 are still in construction.

“This ancient civilization of Mesopotamia between the two rivers taught the world how to read and how to write,” said Ahmed Rubayee, director general of Baghdad’s Rusafa secondary education department at Al Neel School, which opened in July. “That is what we are doing here today, establishing a school - and to once again be civilized and concentrate on teaching our children to read and write.”

With the same theme of hope in a stable civilization for education, a new wing of six classrooms for Al Abrar primary school, south of Baghdad, opened for students on Oct. 15. Located in the Mahmoudiyah Qada district, this $496,000 project adds much needed classroom space and facilities for this rural area.

“The ribbon cutting for this school not only signals the completion of a building, it signals one small addition of hope for the Iraqi people,” said Col. Ron Light, Gulf Region Central district commander. “While we are here to celebrate the completion of a school, more importantly, you can see the faces of hope on the children. You see the joy of being at a decent school, and that is exciting.”

The school has more than 650 students, but due to a lack of teachers, can only conduct one crowded session. At the ceremony, Al Abrar’s headmaster, Mahmoud Alewee said, “This new building serves us well since the school was never expanded from its beginning in 1960 until now, but we need more rooms.” ...(read more here)

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BNS*N3

Soldiers and members of a color guard render honors before a Veterans Day re-enlistment ceremony for 274 servicemembers on Joint Base Balad, Iraq, November 11th, 2008
US Army photo by Kiyoshi Freeman

Hundreds of Servicemembers Re-enlist During Veterans Day Ceremony
Thursday, 13 November 2008

JOINT BASE BALAD — Nearly 300 servicemembers stationed across Iraq gathered at Holt Stadium here Tuesday to re-enlist in what officials said is the largest mass re-enlistment in the base's history.

After helicopter and convoy movements and rehearsals, 274 servicemembers swore oaths to defend their country again.

"We gather today to remind ourselves that our mission as fighting men and women must continue," Army Brig. Gen. Michael Lally, commander of 3rd Sustainment Command and the host for the event, said. "To continue, we must have those that are willing, able and are inspired to raise their hands again and again to be counted with those that came before them."

To the re-enlisting servicemembers, the significance of holding the ceremony on Veterans Day was important.

"Every Veterans Day has been big for us in uniform," said Army Sgt. Juan Rojas, a cook with the 297th ITC and a Miami native. "It gives me great pleasure to be here and be part of history."

Army Col. Kevin O'Connell, commander of 1st Sustainment Brigade, said Soldiers stay in the Army for the same reasons they join: training, education, adventure, money. But the most important reason they stay in the military is service to their nation, he added.

"They're patriotic," O'Connell said. "They want to serve in an all-volunteer Army … to give back to a great nation what it's given to them."

While she was not planning to make the Army her career, said Army Sgt. Latasha Myers, a mechanic with the 503rd Maintenance Company, her experiences and the people she works with inspired her to re-enlist.

"I love what I do," she said. "I love fighting for my country."

O'Connell said friends and families should be proud of what their sons and daughters did this day.

"They re-enlisted on a big day, while they're in combat. They continue to serve when their nation needs them -- when we're in conflict," he said. "They're our future."

Lally said the re-enlisting servicemembers are common men and women who always have done, and will continue to do, uncommon things.

"The stories of those in front of you are still being written," he said. "Today another chapter has begun. Wherever they go, whatever they do, each story will be different. Each will contain trials and deployments, and tales from lands yet to be seen. However, the common theme in each will be their selfless service and their universal commitment."

(American Forces Press Service)

(source)

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BNS*N4

Boys Club

Local Iraqi children pose for the camera while taking part in festivities during a ribbon cutting ceremony for a newly installed micro-power generator in Muhallah 137, Sheikh Umar, eastern Baghdad, Iraq, on Nov. 9, 2008. Photo by Staff Sgt. James Selesnick. (source)

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Wednesday Hero

Spc. Kenneth W. Haines
25 years old from Fulton, New York
2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
December 3, 2006

Spc. Kenneth Haines joined the United States Army in September 2000 as a fire support specialist and had been assigned to his unit for just over three years. He deployed to Iraq in October of 2006.

During his time in service, he received several military awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and National Defense Service Medal.

Spc. Haines was killed by an IED that was detonated near his vehicle while on patrol in Abu Hishma, Iraq.

All Information Was Found On And Copied From MilitaryCity.com

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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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.