Touching the Face of Grace

Any of my regular readers KNOW I always share the voices of our troops. To me, their views, their experiences, ALWAYS trump the flapping jaws of the home based politicians or naysayers. Every last one of our men and women serving overseas gets to live the difference they are making.

The following was found on A Soldiers Perspective, and it truly IS a must read. Honestly, I know I say that a lot, but read it, print it, share it. THIS we on the home team can do. Read on:

Touching The Face of Grace (Tissue Alert)

November 20th, 2008 by CJ

I found this essay, written by the father of a deployed Soldier, on the American Legion website. It was introduced into the Congressional Record by Frank R. Wolf, R-Va, on September 16th. It's a very touching and inspirational story should be required reading by the defeatists in Congress. Here it is:

“Whatever your political take on the war in Iraq, nothing can alter it more than having a loved one in the midst of it. Nor is anyone’s current perspective balanced until they hear at least some things from a soldier’s point of view.

“My wife and I learned these truths when our son, a 2004 Handley graduate, decided to join the Army in 2006. His reasoning was simple: he wasn’t comfortable knowing that thousands of others his age were sacrificing their own freedoms to protect his. When he signed up to join those thousands, it changed our perspective as well.

“Up to that point, it had always been other people’s sons and daughters doing the fighting. Now it would be our own child. Naturally, no one wants their child to volunteer to go in harm’s way for freedom’s sake. It was something of a conviction, though, when my wife and I had to ask ourselves why it shouldn’t be our own son in the Middle East, why we should be spared the rituals of anxiety, prayer, hope and waiting that tens of thousands of other families over here have already endured.

“In early June, we flew to Fort Hood, Texas, to see our son deploy for a 15-month tour in Iraq. Again, one’s perspective is limited until one attends a deploying ceremony for a unit of soldiers. Spouses, children, parents, siblings and friends, all crowding a gym, all clinging closely to their treasures in uniform, accompanied by flags, prayers, cheers and tears. Our son had joined a ‘band of brothers.’ My wife and I had joined the ‘band of others’ who would be waiting at home. Both those going, and those left behind, carry the war on terror in a personal way.

“Still, those of us left behind need to see something of what our soldiers see, and not only what is offered us in the news. To that end, here is one story our son, Luke, shared with us by phone that must be shared with anyone who claims an interest in what our soldiers are doing in the Middle East.

“Stationed outside a city on the Tigris River, Luke had accompanied his colonel into town as part of a security team, while the colonel spoke with a local sheik. While standing guard, Luke noticed a woman approaching from behind and cautiously turned in her direction, his rifle at the ready.

“An interpreter told our son it was OK – the woman just wanted to touch a soldier. Still uneasy, Luke stood still while the woman reached out her hand and touched his face, tears in her eyes....

To read these words is to get some very small glimpse of the reality of what our troops are doing, and what their families face, EVERY SINGLE DAY. Go read the rest of it here - NOW!

*cross-posted from Assoluta Tranquillita*

Sphere: Related Content

Every Day Heroes

Pfc. Kearney

Photo by courtesy
November 20, 2008
Pfc. Douglas W. Kearney during World War II.

(source)

Retired Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore congratulates former Pfc Douglas W. Kearney after presenting him the Bronze Star Nov. 12 for achievement during combat in World War II. Photo by Alan Kurlan

Better late than never!!!

WWII vet receives Bronze Star 63 years later
Nov 20, 2008
BY Isidro Reyna

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Nov. 20, 2008) - Although the honor was bestowed more than six decades later, for one World War II veteran his service has not been forgotten.

Former Pfc. Douglas W. Kearney, 85, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal Nov. 12 in his hometown of Milford, Conn., by retired Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré in a ceremony at the Milford City Hall for meritorious achievement in combat.

"It all started 10 years ago when watching 'Saving Private Ryan,'" said Dr. Sheila Kearney. "My dad said, 'I was there'. I kind of discounted it since the Army was segregated, but he gave a lot of details, so I fact- checked."

During the search, Kearney found that her father served with Headquarters, 17th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division in campaigns throughout northern France, Rhineland and central Europe, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

"You rarely saw black Soldiers at that time," she said. "He was a machine gunner and rifle marksman. He did extra training."

Douglas Kearney was drafted into the military through the selective service process and was placed with a black unit out of Massachusetts, said Dr. Kearney. He was transferred to an integrated company with the 17th Armored and later deployed.

"My dad was elated to receive the Bronze Star Medal, first because of the recognition," said Kearney. "...and being black then, and in a foreign country with white troops; it was tough."

The award comes as the Army marks the 60th anniversary of desegregation of the U.S. military this year.

Kearney also received the Connecticut Veterans Service Medal presented by the State of Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs. He also served as grand marshal of the Milford Veterans Day Parade.

The Bronze Star Medal came about thanks to the help of Lt. Gen. Honoré, said Dr. Kearney. She serves as the executive director of corporate responsibility at Gallup. Honoré, who retired as the commanding general of First Army based at Fort Gillem, Ga., now works as a senior scientist with the company. She mentioned her father's service to the retired general and Honoré made the request on her father's behalf....

Kearney said she hopes that more veterans who served with her father during World War II will receive recognition for their service as well.

(source)

From MilfordMirror.com comes this:

Resident finally gets his Bronze Star
Written by Jill K. Dion Friday, November 21, 2008

Milford resident Private First Class (PFC) Douglas W. Kearney remembers landing on the beach at Normandy, France, in 1944, and luckily avoiding gunfire that killed or wounded many of the servicemen who stormed the beach that day.

“We landed with a half-track,” Kearney said this past week at City Hall, where he was honored with a Bronze Star for his military service.

He was a gunner aboard the military vehicle, whose caterpillar tracks propelled it over the sand, and he said he put his faith in God as he and his company made their way through a battleground littered with casualties — 90,000 in one day.

“We drove up through the mine fields,” he said. “There were a lot of casualties.”...

Decorated Retired General Russel L. Honoré,...heaped praise on Kearney and his family — a Bridgeport family that had a history of service to their country in WWII.

The late Mary Frances Kearney, Douglas’ sister, was one of the members of the first all-black Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and eventually received several ribbons and medals for her military service.

The late William H. Kearney, Douglas’ brother, was a surgeon and captain in the 368th Infantry, honored for bringing aid to survivors of an airplane crash and supervising their movement from a mountainside after administering emergency treatment.

“Here’s a family represented to date by our hero, for which we stand here today as a free country,” Honoré said as he pointed to Kearney. “We’re blessed by their service to this country.

Looking at Kearney, he added, “He did his duty for his country. We came to set the record straight and give him the medal he deserved.” (Go here to read it ALL!)

AND, there is a very cool site about African Americans in the US Army. My long time readers know I have written about these heroes before, but on this site they have a whole section called "Profiles of Bravery." Take the time to go read this site here.

The Kearneys are an amazing family, with many stories of service to share with us. It is NEVER too late to say: Thank you for your service, Pfc Kearney!

Sphere: Related Content

The Rocket Fire Continues: Sderot Resident Wounded

From the Sderot Media Center

Throughout Monday morning, the Tzeva Adom (Code Red) sounded in communities in the western Negev, as Palestinian terrorists fired a barrage of Qassam rockets at Eshkol from Gaza. Approximately seven Qassam missiles landed in the Eshkol region, causing damage to several houses on a western Negev kibbutz. An additional five Qassam missiles were fired at the western Negev in the afternoon and evening, causing no reported damage or injury.

On Sunday evening, November 16, a Sderot man was injured in a rocket attack, and sent another two Israelis into shock.

The rocket shrapnel caused injuries to the man's hands and head. Two other Qassam missiles were fired earlier, landing in the Eshkol region.

View Video and Read the Report here

From Monkey in the Middle:

The so-called truce is over and again rockets are raining down over the Western Negev. The West does nothing except to condemn Israel for closing the border with Gaza. Olmert does nothing but appease the terrorists. The people of the region live with the knowledge that their lives are in danger on a daily basis.

You, my gentle truthseeker, can do something to help. If you have a blog, please cross post this. Let your voice be heard against the daily violence that the media is covering up against the poeple of Israel. Call or write your Congressman and Senator. Let them know you support the people of the Western Negev and not Hamas. And please, click on the logo below and give generously to the Sderot Media Center. The funds you donate are used to help the people of the Western Negev cope with the stress of living under the threat of daily rocket attacks.




Cross posted at Monkey in the Middle

Sphere: Related Content

The Future

THIS is what we are all about. I found this on Soldiers' Angels Germany - one of my favourite places on the internet. Go here to find lots of great stuff, and mark it as a 'fave'. :)

Sphere: Related Content

Media Malpractice, continued

As reported at Do The Right Thing under the title of 'Media Malpractice', I have taken the percentages and inserted numbers for a better perspective. If you haven't watched the documentary on this subject please do.

A recent left wing troll comment pointed out that 67,000,000 people voted for obama up from the 63,400,000 reported shortly after November 4th. Apparently another 3,600,000 votes were found and counted. Isn't that special?

Using the 67 million number and based upon Zogby's recent poll of obama voters, the following numbers can be expanded.

97.1% High School Graduate or higher or 65,057,000; 55% College Graduates or 38,781,350.

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing) 38,458,000 got this wrong. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and John Murtha are actually Democrats you idiots.

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing) 54,806,000 got this wrong. Duh, what's plagiarism?

82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing) 55,342,000 got it wrong.

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing) 59,228,000 got it wrong. How many of those actually work in the coal industry?

56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing). 37,587,000 got it wrong.

And yet.....

Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes.Only 9,179,000 got this wrong.

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter. Only 4,154,000 got this wrong.

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!! This one made me laugh, 58,223,000 got this wrong.

Apparently these people watch way too much television, in particular the Lame Stream Media. Tina Fey is NOT Sarah Palin and Saturday Night Live is a comedy show last time I checked you morons. LOL. Oh. But wait. Doesn't Tina Fey actually work for one of the major news outlets? Is SNL like CNN? How stupid are you clowns?

Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct. 1,608,000 got at least 11 of the 12 questions correct.

Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey). 335,000 got all 12 questions correct. What does this tell you about the 97.1% number above? And the questions were all multiple choice.

I don't follow polls but many on the left do as evidenced by all the poll numbers thrown around by them prior to the election. Of the 67,000,000 who voted for obama, I wonder how many of those were people thought to be dead who miraculously came back to life to vote or have a park bench as an address or are in reality dogs and cats registered to vote? Perhaps only your local ACORN voter fraud center or the DNC can answer to those.

Simply amazing to me that 67 million could have elected a total unknown. This admitted to by the Lame Stream Media and a high percentage of those who voted for nobama, apparently, if you follow polls that is. Of course any good leftist will dispute the polls when they don't go their way.

The total population of the United States passed the 300 million mark in 2006. So nearly 24% of the population voted for obama. Astonishing. Just imagine what the number would be if Roe vs Wade had not become law and nearly 50 million babies had not been murdered by your stinking abortion clinics.

I have my own list of questions for readers of this blog. There are 17 total. Thanks Norm.

Without looking the answers up on the net or from some other source, how many can you answer correctly? No cheating.
___________________________________________________________________________
History Test

1. What Party was founded as the anti-slavery Party and fought to free blacks from slavery?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party

2. What was the Party of Abraham Lincoln who signed the emancipation proclamation that resulted in the Juneteenth celebrations that occur in black communities today?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party

3. What Party passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution granting blacks freedom, citizenship, and the right to vote?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party

4. What Party passed the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 granting blacks protection from the Black Codes and prohibiting racial discrimination in public accommodations, and was the Party of most blacks prior to the 1960’s, including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party

5. What was the Party of the founding fathers of the NAACP who were themselves white?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party

6. What was the Party of President Dwight Eisenhower who sent U.S. troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools, established the Civil Rights Commission in 1958, and appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party

7. What Party, by the greatest percentage, passed the1957 Civil Rights Act and the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party

8. What was the Party of President Richard Nixon who instituted the first Affirmative Action program in 1969 with the Philadelphia Plan that established goals and timetables?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party

9. What is the Party of President George W. Bush who supports the U.S. Supreme Court’s University of Michigan Affirmative Action decision, and is spending over $200 billion to fight AIDS in Africa and on programs to help black Americans prosper, including school vouchers, the faith-based initiative, home ownership, and small business ownership?

[ ] a. Democratic Party
[ ] b. Republican Party
___________________________________________________________________

10. What Party fought to keep blacks in slavery and was the Party of the Ku Klux Klan?

[ ] a. Republican Party
[ ] b. Democratic Party

11. What Party from 1870 to 1930 used fraud, whippings, lynching, murder, intimidation, and mutilation to get the black vote, and passed the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws which legalized racial discrimination and denied blacks their rights as citizens?

[ ] a. Republican Party
[ ] b. Democratic Party

12. What was the Party of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Harry Truman who rejected anti-lynching laws and efforts to establish a permanent Civil Rights Commission?

[ ] a. Republican Party
[ ] b. Democratic Party

13. What was the Party of President John F. Kennedy who voted against the 1957 Civil Rights law as a Senator, then opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after becoming president, and later had the FBI (supervised by his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy) investigate Dr. King on suspicion of being a communist?

[ ] a. Republican Party
[ ] b. Democratic Party

14. What is the Party of current Senator Robert Byrd who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Senator Fritz Hollings who hoisted the Confederate flag over the state capitol in South Carolina when he was the governor, and Senator Ted Kennedy who recently insulted black judicial nominees by calling them “Neanderthals” while blocking their appointments?

[ ] a. Republican Party
[ ] b. Democratic Party

15. What was the Party of President Bill Clinton who failed to fight the terrorists after the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, sent troops to war in Bosnia and Kosovo without Congressional approval, vetoed the Welfare Reform law twice before signing it, and refused to comply with a court order to have shipping companies develop an Affirmative Action Plan?

[ ] a. Republican Party
[ ] b. Democratic Party

16. What is the Party of Vice President Al Gore whose father voted against the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s, and who lost the 2000 election as confirmed by a second recount of Florida votes by the “Miami Herald” and a consortium of major news organizations and the ruling by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission that blacks were not denied the right to vote?

[ ] a. Republican Party
[ ] b. Democratic Party

17. What Party is against the faith-based initiative, against school vouchers, against school prayers, and takes the black vote for granted without ever acknowledging their racist past or apologizing for trying to expand slavery, lynching blacks and passing the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws that caused great harm to blacks?

[ ] a. Republican Party
[ ] b. Democratic Party
___________________________________________________________________

An estimated 97% of black voters voted for obama and yet we are told that a vote for anybody other than obama is considered racist. Oh really? So I'm a racist....a bigot because I didn't vote for your blaspheming messiah. Will we be made to wear 6 pointed stars on our shirts with "bigot" in the center?

Good luck with your new president elect. Somehow I can't help but shudder at the prospect of 4 years of lies, deception, indoctrination, and intimidation ahead of us aided and abetted by your Lame Stream Media malpractitioners...is that a word?..heh. We've already had 2 years of a Democrat majority in CONgress. Just imagine if they have a filibuster proof majority. God help us.

When your president elect gets done with his "experimentation" perhaps the adults can take over and actually fix the problems plaguing this country. Until then I can only pray your elected Democrats don't screw things up too bad so it doesn't take us decades to correct the inane stupidity of their policies.

And just so you socialist clowns know, the problem with socialism is that you will eventually run out of other peoples money.

Who ya gonna tax when you can't tax anyone anymore? When you have ruined capitalism and run small business owners out of business, where is the money going to come from then? How many big businesses are you going to take over and allow your CONgress Clowns in Action, CCIA, to run into the ground? You already have nearly 50% of the population who don't work and rely on some form of government handout. What are you going to do when that number increases sharply? Slave labor? Concentration camps? Gulags? Reeducation Centers? Involuntary euthanasia for everyone over the age of 50? All of the above?

Good luck with that.

Sphere: Related Content