Sunrise - Kandahar, Afghanistan 03/11/2013

Our day started with a nice sunrise today but we got word that 2 US troops died in a "Green on Blue" attack in Wardak Province.....This conflict is difficult and will be so until we can rely on the Afghans for their own defense.  Regardless of what the pointy headed POLS in WASH DC think, it is not going to happen by end of 2014.  To see all the effort made here go for naught will be tragic along with all the killing that will occur once we leave.... There is no easy answers.

I wanted to share this sunrise and hope all is well stateside.

Where does the time go?

Lewis Black is one of my favorite comedians....he channels the "angry man" shtick just right.  He talks about getting old and says he doesn't care about the physical effects, you know you are getting older because "Time moves really fast.". He goes on how summer seem to last three days and one of those was the 4th of July, and he didn't get to have a BBQ.

I feel his pain.  Here it is on the day before I get to fly back to the sandbox and as usual, I am in the same place saying, " Where did the time I had at home go???"

Things went well.  I got to visit my Dad and with friends.  I got to do some of the things I wanted to do.  As usual, I would love to have about three more days but that would still be how I feel even after three weeks.

I am glad to get back to the job as the work we are doing is important and is making a big difference for many in Afghanistan.  The next break will be during the late Spring and that will mean I won't have to deal with SNOW.

More updates from the Sandbox once I arrive.  The news lately shows that the POLS in WASH DC are still taking our country in the wrong direction and that the failed President will never wake up to reality. Some things never change.  Hope things stay well for all here at home.  Those who are in the sandbox with me, including our finest citizens, your military men & women, are doing an incredible job each and every day.  I like that I can be there in support of them.

All for now.....more from the other side of the pond.

Especially this time of year.....

Remember our military are out there, 24/7/365, standing the watch because they want to protect all we hold dear. I have the privilege of being with them here in Kandahar, Afghanistan. 

Sheeple and why I listen to my " Sheepdog " Instincts

Most people will follow what others offer them way too easy.

The term " Sheeple " was coined by someone who correlated the way that people willingly follow what is offered to them, without thought of what they are following.
 
They act like Sheep and usually act with the same blind obedience as a sheep would. Germany in the 1930s & 1940s is a historic instance where this happened to an entire nation.

Now, we have this South Korean Rapper named Psy who the media and all the entertainment idiots have raised to the heights of stardom based on one video he made. One not particularly good video either - Youtube has recorded the largest number of hits on his video ever.

My "sheepdog" instincts were raised as I saw a pasty faced Korean Rapper with minimal talent and the whole world acting like this guy was the best thing next to sliced bread.  I didn't see anything on that level, so why were all these fools fawning all over him??  His talent was minimal ( like most rappers) and he was not exactly what I would call a compelling performer.

Now, we find out the real truth and why my "sheepdog" instincts knew there was something wrong with what was being offered up to us by the media idjits.  This Korean idiot is another in a long line of America haters who made statements that are more than hurtful.  This idiot wrote lyrics in 2004 calling for the death of US Military and their families

I quote:

Kill those f---ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives
Kill those f---ing Yankees who ordered them to torture
Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers
Kill them all slowly and painfully

If this kind of crap doesn't make your blood boil, I seriously question your patriotism.

As a Rapper, he follows in a long line of other Rappers who like to think they can say things that are highly offensive, and not have it effect them professionally. I have a clue for you dumbass, the real world doesn't work that way.  Your words matter. Those who care about our country and our military will hold you to your statements.

This dirtbag from South Korea apologized once he was outed by Michelle Malkin and I thank her for that.  Exposing this cretin and his unethical BS was sorely needed.

As a OIF Combat Veteran, and on behalf of all Veterans who were killed defending freedom (including the freedom of this low-life scumbag) who are unable to be here to comment, your apology is NOT accepted nor will it ever be accepted. If it wasn't for the American Military, the only thing you would be rapping about is living under North Korean oppression.
 
You can take your Rap BS and get the hell out of our country.  You are not welcome in our country, especially by those who value our freedom and value all those who protect that freedom.

His upcoming appearance at the White House shows that the other idiot in Washington, DC has just as little care for how actions effect others.  Obama has done crap in his past he has never owned up to also.  They are a perfect pair of unethical immoral putzes, and symbols of what is really wrong with our country that anyone would want to listen to anything either of them would ever say.

I believe in our country and I support our military always.  If you don't, that is fine but don't expect me to offer support or buy the products of a low life dirtbag like this fat, pasty faced Korean idiot, regardless of how much the media fools fawn all over him.  The media idiots who support him can join him as they have proven to be nothing more than unethical charlatans. 

A reminder for all - Return of the Fallen

A reminder to all - while you are safe at home, brave young men & women put themselves in harm's way to secure our freedoms and the freedom of others.

Read the whole thing - It is in rememberance that we honor those who gave the last full measure of their efforts for all of us.

Enclosed is one of 41 pictures contained at the enclosed link

Thanks for taking time to remember these fine young men and women from our military and from our allies who fight side by side with us.


http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/09/afghanistan-august-2012-return-of-the-fallen/100364/?google_editors_picks=true

Mother of a Fallen US Navy SEAL speaks about what is important to her while a self absorbed POL focuses on only on himself

Thanks to Gateway pundit for putting this video front and center. It needs to be seen by all those who care about our nation and those who swore the oath to defend our nation against all enemies, foriegn and domestic.

All our prayers and thoughts to Karen and Billy Vaughn. True Patriots, Shipmates in the US Navy and all others will never forget the sacrifice your son made and your sacrifice for giving us your son to defend our nation and way of life.

Empty words from politicians and a self absorbed President mean little to the Mother of this fine Patriot. To Obama, this warrior was one more political pawn.

To a grieving Mother and Father, this was their little boy, a son who was only theirs for a short and meaingful life, given freely to preserve our Nation.

In AFGHANISTAN, " It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over "

The great Yogi Berra once said, " It ain't over 'til it's over "
That seems to be the mantra for all things Afghanistan....

IF the enclosed news story isn't the surest sign that the 2014 "yap-yap" about Afghanistan is as worthless as any other promise made by a Politician, I'll be shocked.  There are lies and then there are damned lies. 

If the POLS would just be straight up about things, it would be so much less painful for all involved.

We need to be here  in Afghanistan for the Afghan people, our own defense interests and as a stabilizing force in the region.

No my dear friends, this game is going into extra innings....and then some.

U.S., Pakistan sign deal to allow supply routes through 2015
By Richard Leiby, Tuesday, July 31, WASHINGTON POST

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan will allow NATO supply convoys to cross its territory into Afghanistan until the end of 2015, one year beyond the deadline for withdrawal of U.S. combat forces there, under an agreement signed on Tuesday by U.S. and Pakistani officials.

The pact seems to close, for now, one of the most contentious chapters in the long-turbulent relationship between Washington and Islamabad, cementing cooperation by Pakistan in winding down the war in Afghanistan at least in terms of logistical assistance. Washington also has urged Islamabad to step up its participation in the peace process by bringing to the negotiating table militant groups that shelter in Pakistani’s tribal belt and regularly cross the border to attack NATO troops.

The so-called “memorandum of understanding” signed on Tuesday also provides the option for both sides to extend the deal in one-year intervals beyond Dec. 31, 2015. And it would apply to other NATO nations if they sign separate pacts with Pakistan.

Although Pakistan ended its seven-month blockade of NATO supplies earlier this month, the pact formalizes some key details, including a ban on transporting lethal supplies. And it lays out security arrangements Pakistan will provide for the thousands of container trucks and oil tankers whose routes originate at the port of Karachi.

Last week, after the war-provisioning convoys began rolling in significant numbers, Pakistan once again shut down the routes when a trucker was fatally shot in an attack attributed to the Pakistani Taliban, which has vowed to kill anyone who drives for NATO.

Pakistani officials said Tuesday that the convoys would resume only after the routes – which span hundreds of miles -- are suitably protected. Under the new arrangement, police in cities and towns would handle security until the convoys reach the restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where nation’s paramilitary Frontier Corps would take over.

The pact was signed in a ceremony at Rawalpindi by a senior Pakistani defense ministry official, Rear Admiral Farrokh Ahmed, and the U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires, Richard Hoagland.
The agreement formalizes the verbal agreements that the United States reached in the past with Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s most recent military ruler, who was forced into exile in 2008 after civilians took power.

Musharraf was able to set foreign policy and forge alliances as he saw fit. The deal he struck in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was a quid pro quo: Pakistan would cooperate in the war against terrorism, including allow the U.S. supply routes, in exchange for billions in aid.

The U.S. eventually designated Pakistan a “major non-NATO ally,” but that alliance, severely tested by the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, essentially collapsed after a U.S. airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at Afghan border posts last November.

The signed agreement is significant in that it appears to have been reached with the absence of overt Pakistani military involvement, U.S. officials have said the Pakistani generals stood back to allow civilian leaders to negotiate the pact, which proved to be a slow, politicized and unwieldy process.

Some Pakistani officials have described the NATO route agreement as a watershed moment, signaling that the “one phone call” days of Washington-Islamabad relations are over, and a sign that civilian rulers, for all their struggles in solving the nation’s social and economic ills, now have a voice in foreign policy.

Echoes from a Sacred Space at FOB Frontenac, Afghanistan

The enclosed info was something I had seen back in early 2010 when I was doing a bit of FOB-Hopping around Afghanistan. I came across it in some notes I had rediscovered.

What I had witnessed at FOB FRONTENAC - The name comes from Fort Frontenac, a French fort and trading post located in what is now Kingston, Ontario

– I went there on a two day helicopter hop from hell.  I was there to do a town hall meeting and see if any of their staff would work for the company I was working with at the time.  I had wrenched the crap outta my arm getting off a helo about three weeks earlier and it was killing me.
 
The Pain was an " 11 " on the scale of  1-10 as I managed to have two tendons pop off the bone in my right arm in the process of getting blown off my feet by prop wash from a helo.

Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.  Then, I saw something that put it all in perspective.  Here are my notes from back then.  I am still in awe of what was on this FOB out in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan.  Here's what I had written in 2010:

FOB FRONTENAC - AFGHANISTAN

The picture directly below is from Micheal Yon's report on this Sacred Space -- the others enclosed are the ones I took while I was there.

Enclosed are pictures from Camp Frontenac - a small FOB about 20 miles north of Kandahar...I took a hop there over the last week to do a meet n' greet with some potential new employees from another company. Middleboro Jones riding our company helicopters to get there and then getting stuck there for a day as there were no flights back that day....The next day, I caught a hop back to Kandahar with the Special Forces guys in a helicopter with no lettering or markings on it....if you want to get to where you need to go here, sometimes you have to just go with the flow...no questions asked.

Next to the Chapel, the Chaplain has erected a teepee which holds the pictures of the 21 soldiers lost from the 1-17, the Buffalo Brigade - to see this beautiful sacred space in the midst of all the harshness of the environment here is something beyond words. I stepped into the teepee and viewed the pictures and said a prayer.

There are moments of ultimate beauty here in a harsh landscape, and moments of incredible clarity - seeing how precious life really is.....It is something that is lost on most us during our day-to-day existence. We lose sight of what is really important, and how quickly it can be taken from us if we are not careful.

A prayer for the Brave Buffalo Soldiers and one of thankfulness for all that the LORD has provided to me. I am truly blessed and I was grateful for the reminder.

A reminder

While you were out at the ballgame, shopping or the weekend BBQ, brave men and women stand ready to protect our country and others who need our help.

A member of the Female Engagement Team (FET) US Marines Cpl. Reagan Odhner and GySgt Michelle Hill from the 1st battalion 7th Marines Regiment patrol together with Afghanistan National Army (ANA) soliders in Sangin in Helmand Province, June 6, 2012. (Adek Berryadek Berry/AFP/GettyImages


Remember them as they are out there 24/7/365.  They volunteered to protect our freedoms around the world and we are safe because they stand ready to do whatever is required.

SEABEES make a difference for others in Kandahar

Navy SeaBees assigned to the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team pose for a picture April 13, 2012 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Kandahar PRT is a joint team of U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy service members and civilians deployed to the Kandahar province of Afghanistan to assist in the effort to rebuild and stabilize the local government and infrastructure.



If anywhere in this world there is a need for the skills of the " Builder Bees" of the Navy, it is out here in the Sandbox.  I got to speak with some Seabees when I was here last time and they were making things better for others as only Seabees can do.

" The difficult we do right away, the impossible takes a little while longer."

Bravo Zulu to these hardworking professionals.

News: 'We build, We fight': Seabees in Kandahar
  Story by Staff Sgt. Timothy Chacon
  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Several Navy Seabees are assigned to Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction team in Kandahar Afghanistan.

Many people may have never heard of the U.S. Navy’s Seabees. The simple, but to the point motto of “We build, We fight” is all one would need to know to understand the basics of what Seabees do, but there is much more to their story. The Seabees have over 70 year of history and accomplishments both in combat and humanitarian missions around the world. From storming the beaches at Normandy during World War II, to assisting with relief efforts in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquakes, the Seabees are more than qualified to handle any situation or challenge placed before them.

The eight Seabees assigned to the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan find themselves tasked with a mission that is somewhere in between a combat and humanitarian mission. The mission of KPRT is to assist with improving governance and rebuilding the infrastructure of the Kandahar province. The Seabees play a major role in the infrastructure rebuilding as well as logistical support for all missions conducted by the PRT.
There are three types of Seabees assigned to KPRT: Construction Mechanic, Builder and Construction Electrician. All three titles are self-explanatory as to what duties they perform, but what might not be so evident is what actually goes into performing those duties.

KPRT currently assists of local Afghan construction contractors with several projects in the Kandahar province. The Seabees are not the ones swinging hammers or pouring concrete, but they are providing valuable oversight and expertise for those projects. They monitor the projects and work hand in hand with local engineers ensuring they are meeting certain building standards and safety regulations.

“What we do is very important, we try to teach the locals safer ways to do the projects and help them establish a standard for building codes.” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Michelle Bernales.

Along with the oversight, the Seabees also spend time trying to educate the Afghans on building methods and techniques.

“We don’t just tell them what they need to be doing, but also the reasons for it,” said Bernales. “It’s important they understand why they are doing things a certain way. This will not only make their structures safer, but prolong the life of the buildings.”

The building sites are in the local community and not within the safety of a secure compound. The Seabees venture to these construction sites to keep track of the building process, often times putting themselves in dangerous situations.

MEMORIAL DAY - May we never forget those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom

A good article from the National Geographic about how Memorial Day has been changed by our society and how there is movement to change the date back to the original date of May 30th, regardless of where it falls on the calendar.

It is my hope that our citizens never forget how much others have sacrificed for our freedom.

The enclosed picture was one I took when I visited Arlington National Cemetery in 2010 for the funeral of a fallen US Marine.

Memorial Day: How It's Changed, Why Some Oppose 3-Day Weekend

Day of remembrance lost in swirl of summer kickoff?

Brian Handwerk

for National Geographic News

Published May 25, 2012

Every year Memorial Day brings people together in the United States to honor fallen service members on the last Monday in May.

Since its post-Civil War beginnings, the holiday has changed considerably and now may be best known as the start of summer vacation season—prompting some critics to call for moving the date away from a three-day weekend.

Unlike Veterans Day on November 11, which honors all who have served their country, Memorial Day is set aside for special remembrance of those who laid down their lives for U.S. national defense.

Despite the modern spirit of patriotic camaraderie, Memorial Day has its roots in one of the most divisive events in U.S. history: the Civil War.

Soon after the bloody conflict ceased, General John A. Logan—commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans—called for a holiday to be observed every year on May 30.

At the time, that holiday was known as Decoration Day, because Logan wanted to honor the fallen by "strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating, the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."

But many Civil War memorial ceremonies actually predated Logan's first Decoration Day, which was held at Arlington National Cemetery in 1868. More than two dozen U.S. cities claim to have hosted the first Decoration Day or Memorial Day.

In 1966, the U.S. Congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized Waterloo, New York, as the "birthplace" of Memorial Day, based on a May 5, 1866, service held to honor local veterans, which included citywide events and the closings of local businesses.
The first national Memorial Day holiday, designated by Congress, was held in 1971.

Memorial Day a "Sacrosanct" Observance

In the years just after the Civil War, Northern and Southern Memorial Day services didn't necessarily honor the same soldiers.

But since World War I, the holiday has gathered the nation together to honor all men and women who've lost their lives in conflict, from the American Revolution to the present day battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Over the decades the name of the holiday has shifted as well, with Memorial Day gradually becoming the common moniker.

Now in cemeteries across the United States veterans and citizens alike hold ceremonies, and the graves of the fallen are adorned with flowers and U.S. flags.

"We believe that Memorial Day is a sacrosanct national observance for the entire country," said John Raughter, communications director for the American Legion, a nonprofit organization of veterans helping veterans.

Smaller local observances, in which citizens honor veterans known to their communities, remain as links to the original spirit of Decoration Day, he said.

"Thankfully most communities in this country recognize this, and we are grateful that they have observances and ceremonies on the local level. Those are very important."
An End to Memorial Day Weekend?

Due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968—which moved observances of several holidays to create long weekends—Memorial Day has for decades been held on the last Monday in May.

But some groups, including the American Legion, hope for a return to the original May 30 observance, to truly set the day apart.

"The majority of Americans view Memorial Day as a time for relaxation and leisure recreation rather than as a solemn occasion and a time to reflect and pay tribute to the American servicemen and women who sacrificed their lives in defense of our Nation," according to an American Legion resolution issued at the group's 2010 National Convention.

Instead of being part of a long weekend, the resolution asks that Congress "restore the official observance of Memorial Day to May 30 and that all American institutions toll their bells for one minute, beginning at 11:00, on that date in remembrance of those who died defending the Nation."

Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, has several times introduced legislation favoring a shift of Memorial Day back to May 30.
(Related pictures: "World War II 'Time Capsule' Fighter Found in Sahara.")
And some communities still observe the original date with solemn parades and other services of remembrance.

Since 2000 people across the U.S. have also been asked to observe a national moment of remembrance at 3:00 p.m. local time on the official national holiday. Flags are flown at half staff until noon, to signify a day of mourning.

"I think people are realizing again that Memorial Day is not about picnics, ball games, or going to the beach," the American Legion's Raughter said.

"There's nothing wrong with those things and enjoying the lifestyle that we have," he added. "But remember that the lifestyle that we have in America—the ability to enjoy a long weekend—was made possible by the nearly one million men and women who have died in service to this country since the American Revolution."

Perhaps the fact that so many of today's U.S. troops are in harm's way, serving in dangerous overseas deployments, has sparked a bit more solemnity, no matter which date is observed, Raughter suggested.

"We seem to remember when we see young men and women come back wounded, amputees, or hear of people we know who made the supreme sacrifice," he said.
"It's a shame that it sometimes takes a war to remind us of the heroes that we have, because even during peacetime, the vets are still with us, and they should be remembered at all times, not only when the guns are firing."

Boston Radio Station WAAF 107.3 supports Task Force Yankee in Afghanistan

WAAF 107.3 is one of the radio mainstays in Boston. They used to be classic rock but have leaned more towards the metal/new rock edge. Times change and musical tastes change but Rock & Roll is here to stay...

WAAF has sent one of their DJs, "Mistress Carrie" to Afghanistan to support the troops. WAAF's homepage is here -


http://www.waaf.com/


Here is a few of here observations as she spends time at FOB PHOENIX in Kabul, one of my old stomping grounds. Pretty funny as some of her observations are spot on.

Things I've learned in Afghanistan so far
By Mistress Carrie

I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last few days, just hanging with the guys here in Afghanistan… It’s amazing the conversations that you can have, while you are sitting at a picnic table praying to the internet gods! It takes so long to load pics, audio, and video that you have nothing better to do, than ask questions of anyone that comes your way. There is such a cross section of people here, it’s amazing. There are over 15 countries involved in the allied forces in Afghanistan. The number of private contractors is amazing, and I cannot believe the number of locals that are walking around on base. Local Afghan civilians cook on base, they clean on base, and the build everything on base. Obviously they are supervised, but I NEVER had this kind of access to the local Iraqi’s 5 years ago. It’s culture shock times 10! Here are some of my observations so far.

1. Burning tires and poop is bad for your sense of smell, and your lungs.

2. The sound of a Blackhawk hovering over your bedroom is something that you get used to, and amazingly makes you feel relaxed.

3. People with purple hair (especially women) in Afghanistan get stared at constantly. It’s actually quite funny now!

4. There is such a thing as a ‘brass magnet’ and I am that person! It’s UNREAL! The guys in my unit think it’s out of control. They can never relax, you never know when a General is going to pop out and surprise us!

5. There is no other place that a dedicated soldier wants to be, than with ‘his guys’. No matter the injury or illness, they just want to get back to work. I’ve never seen dedication like I have seen here.

6. Bureaucracy is everywhere, even in a war zone.

7. There are certain things that our troops cannot live without… video games, movies, music, and Skype. Skype is the greatest for these guys. I’m watching a few soldiers Skype with their kids right now, and it makes me want to cry.

8. If you are tired enough, you can fall asleep anywhere!

9. DO NOT leave your Facebook page open in a room full of soldiers! BAD things can happen!

10. Ball busting is he same in any language!

11. You could make a fortune selling frozen margaritas here. I would pay $1000 for one right now!

12. Army coffee and hot chocolate is a great way to start the day… waking up at 0500 to drink it is NOT a great way to start the day.

13. It is possible that the biggest and toughest looking guy in Kabul, is an accountant. I’m not kidding, his name is Donald, and he is HUGE!!!

14. Anything can become normal, even people carrying automatic weapons into the cafeteria to eat breakfast!

15. Having a private security detail and up armored vehicles drive you everywhere makes you feel like the President!

16. Jello is awesome

17. It’s a small world. We keep bumping into people that we grew up with! My producer Mike is going to run from Mayor of Camp Phoenix soon, he knows everyone!

18. Grown men, no matter how tough, LOVE to make ice cream sundaes!

PORTRAITS in HONOR, COURAGE & COMMITTMENT - Navy Seals who gave the full measure of service to their country

Rest easy Shipmates, we have the watch.

Bravo Zulu to each of you for your selfless service to a grateful nation.

These men lived the Navy Core Values of " Honor, Courage & Commitment"


Portraits of Navy SEALS killed in helicopter crash
By The Associated Press 10AUG2011

The Navy SEALS who died aboard a downed helicopter in Afghanistan came to the special forces from far-flung corners of the country, some motivated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. They were intensely patriotic and talented young men with a love of physical challenges and a passion for the high-risk job they chose.

Thirty Americans — 22 of them SEALS — and eight Afghans were killed Saturday when a rocket-propelled grenade fired by a Taliban insurgent downed their Chinook helicopter en route to a combat mission. All but two of the SEALs were from SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, although military officials said none of the crash victims was on that mission in Pakistan against the al-Qaida leader.

The Pentagon has not yet identified the victims of the crash, but family members and friends have spoken to The Associated Press and other media outlets about them.

Here are the stories of some of the fallen:

___

Matthew Mason

A severe arm injury during fighting in Fallujah in 2004 didn't keep Matthew Mason off the Iraq War battlefield. Nor did it dull the competitive fire of the avid runner and former high school athlete from outside Kansas City.

Within five months of losing part of his left arm, absorbing shrapnel and suffering a collapsed lung, Mason competed in a triathlon. He soon returned to his SEAL unit.

"He could have gotten out of combat," said family friend Elizabeth Frogge. "He just insisted on going back."

Mason, the father of two toddler sons, grew up in Holt, Mo., and played football and baseball at Kearney High School. He graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 1998. His wife, who is expecting their third child — another boy — also attended Northwest Missouri.

Mason returned to Missouri in May to compete in a Kansas City triathlon, and took his family to Walt Disney World for the first time this summer, Frogge said.

"He loved doing what he did," she said. "He was the type of guy who thought he was invincible."

___

Jason Workman

Jason Workman had his sights set on becoming a SEAL as a young teenager. He was about 14 when his older brother graduated from West Point. That's when he knew he wanted to be an elite soldier, friend Tate Bennett told The Deseret News. Then came the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and Workman's calling grew even stronger.

"He didn't become a Navy SEAL by chance," Bennett said. "He knew that's what he wanted at a young age and made it happen."

After returning from his Mormon mission, Bennett said, Workman went to Southern Utah University and later joined the Navy.

Across his small hometown of Blanding in southern Utah, flags were flown at half-staff as residents mourned the loss of one of their own.

Even as a SEAL, Workman came home periodically. During his last trip, he led training sessions with local law enforcement, sharing his military skills, and planned to provide more training during a trip home this fall, Mayor Toni Turk told the Salt Lake City Tribune.

___

Jon Tumilson

Jon Tumilson got an early start on his preparation to join the SEALS. He had been a wrestler in high school and competed in marathons and triathlons.

Neighbors remembered the Rockford, Iowa, man as a warrior committed to the SEALs, no matter the pain he endured in training or the risks he ran on each mission.

"When he did something, he put his all into it," Jan Stowe, a neighbor of the Tumilsons for more than 30 years, told the Des Moines Register.

Tumilson, who was 35 when he died, "was going to be a Navy SEAL since I can't remember when," Stowe said. "He's like a hero to everyone here."

Another neighbor, Mark Biggs, said people were shocked by his death.

"You just never thought it would happen to Jon," Biggs told the Mason City Globe Gazette. "He's done so many dangerous things."

Friend Justin Schriever remembered Tumilson as "a die-hard at everything. He'd always go the extra mile on everything. He wouldn't let anything stop him from accomplishing something."

___

Brian Bill

Brian Bill had plans for when he finished his military service. He wanted to return to graduate school and hoped one day to become an astronaut.

For those who knew him, such lofty goals were not out of reach.

"He set his standards high. He was that kind of person," Kimberly Hess, a friend who graduated with him in 2001 from Vermont's Norwich University, told The Advocate newspaper. "He was remarkably gifted and very thoughtful. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for you no matter the time or day."

Diane Warzoha, who had Bill as a student at Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford, said it was no surprise that he fulfilled his goal of joining the SEALs.

"Brian just wanted to do his best, to protect other people ... Challenge did not deter him, ever."

___

Spc. Spencer Duncan, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bryan Nichols, Specialist Alexander Bennett

Three of the crew members aboard the downed Chinook were from the same Army reserve unit — Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment — based at New Century AirCenter in Gardner, Kan.

Spc. Spencer Duncan, 21, of Olathe, Kan., had written to friends about how much he loved working as a door gunner on a Chinook helicopter. But The Kansas City Star reported that he also told friends that he missed Kansas sunsets and lying in a truck bed listening to the radio and cuddling with his sweetie.

He joined the military in 2008 and had been in Afghanistan since late May.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bryan Nichols, 31, a pilot from Kansas City, Mo., was eager to get back to flying after a stint handling paperwork as a unit administrator. So when the word went out that people were needed to train for a mobilization, Nichols volunteered.

Lt. Col. Richard Sherman, former commander of Nichols' unit, said one of his favorite memories is flying a pace car with Nichols to the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

"My happiest and saddest memories are now tied to him," said Sherman, who was in command and working as an instructional pilot when Nichols joined his unit.

"He had no enemies. He was one everyone wanted to be around. You just liked flying with him because you knew he was going to improve as a young pilot and get better every time you flew with him."

Specialist Alexander Bennett, 23, couldn't wait to deploy again after returning from spending a year in Iraq in 2009. So the reservist moved on his own from the Tacoma, Wash., area to Overland Park, Kan., to join Bravo Company.

"He wanted to be part of our unit when it deployed," said Sherman. "He was a typical young kid and liked to go out and have a good time with the guys."

___

Sgt. Patrick Hamburger

Patrick Hamburger planned to propose to his girlfriend, but had a job to do first: a mission in Afghanistan.

The 30-year-old sergeant from Grand Island, Neb., joined the Nebraska National Guard when he was a senior at Lincoln Southeast High School, but this was his first deployment, his brother Chris Hamburger told The Associated Press.

"He didn't have to go, and he wanted to go because his group was getting deployed. He wanted to be there for them. That's him for you," Chris Hamburger said, adding that Patrick always looked out for his two younger brothers and friends.

He was also the kind of guy who helped his girlfriend raise her 13-year-old daughter from another relationship, as well as the couple's own 2-year-old daughter, and planned to propose marriage when he got home, Chris Hamburger said.

Patrick Hamburger had been in Afghanistan less than two weeks and had arrived at Forward Operating Base Shank a few days before climbing aboard the helicopter to rush to the aid of an Army Ranger unit under fire from insurgents.

"It doesn't come as a total surprise that he was trying to help people and that's how it all ended up happening," Chris Hamburger said.

___

Michael Strange

If someone was sad, Michael Strange tried to make them smile. He loved snowboarding, surfing, scuba diving, running, and shooting guns on the range.

"He loved his friends, his family, his country; he loved making people laugh. He was one of a kind," Strange's brother, Charles Strange III, said outside the family's Philadelphia home, where American flags were planted throughout the neighborhood.

Strange, 25, decided to join the military when he was still in high school, and had been in the Navy for about six years, first stationed in Hawaii and for the last two in Virginia Beach, where he became a SEAL about two years ago, his mother, Elizabeth Strange, told The Associated Press.

But he always told his family not to worry.

"He wasn't supposed to die this young. He was supposed to be safe," Elizabeth Strange said. "And he told me that, and I believed him. I shouldn't have believed him because I know better. He would say, 'Mom, don't be ridiculous and worry so much. I'm safe.'"

Charles Strange said his brother loved the SEALS, especially "the competitiveness, getting in shape and running and swimming and all of that."

He also had two sisters and recently became an uncle. The family last saw him in June, when he came for a weeklong visit for his birthday, his mother said. He was supposed to be back for Thanksgiving.

"It was going to be such a good time," his mother said.

His grandmother Bernice Strange remembered him as a young man who loved cheesesteaks and the Philadelphia Eagles and always brought her flowers.

"He was a wonderful grandson to have," she said Monday night. "God truly blessed me with him."

____

John W. Brown

If Elizabeth Newlun wanted to have a serious conversation with her son, John Brown, she had to shoot baskets with him.

"There's nothing athletic about me, but I realized that you have to get into other people's comfort zone to get information," said Newlun, of Rogers, Ark., explaining that her son, an Air Force technical sergeant, was a "gentle giant" who "just loved anything physical, anything athletic."

Newlun said her son played football and basketball in high school and went to John Brown University on a swimming scholarship. He had wanted to go into the medical field and become a nurse anesthetist, but decided to join the military after seeing a video of a special tactical unit, she said.

The airman was a paramedic and ready to attend to the medical needs of anyone who was rescued, his mother said.

Arkansas state Rep. Jon Woods went to high school with Brown in Siloam Springs and remembered playing basketball and watching "Saturday Night Live" on the weekends.

"When you think of what the ideal model of a soldier would be, he would be it," said Woods. "He could run all day."

___

Aaron Carson Vaughn

Aaron Carson Vaughn was a man of deep faith, insisting to his family that he didn't fear his job as a Navy SEAL "because he knew where he was going" when he died.

"Aaron was a Christian and he's with Jesus today," Geneva Vaughn of Union City, Tenn., told The Associated Press on Saturday. "He told us when we saw him last November that he wasn't afraid ... he said, 'Granny, don't worry about me.'"

"He was a tough warrior, but he was a gentle man."

Geneva Vaughn said her grandson, 30, joined the SEALS straight out of boot camp and was already a decorated fighter when he was asked by the Navy to return stateside to become an instructor. But he applied to SEAL Team 6 after two years, earning his way onto the squad in 2010.

He asked the military to return him to combat and shipped out just six weeks before he was killed, Vaughn said.

"He was doing what he loved to do and he was a true warrior," Geneva Vaughn said.

Aaron Vaughn leaves behind his wife, Kimberly, and two children, 2-year-old son Reagan and 2-month-old daughter Chamberlyn.

"They will take away his love for Christ. They will take his dream and his love for the country, and they will know what an amazing man he is," Kimberly said about the children in an interview on NBC's "Today" show Monday.

___

Robert James Reeves, Jonas Kelsall

Robert James Reeves and Jonas Kelsall had been childhood friends in Shreveport, La., where they played soccer together and graduated from Caddo Magnet High School, Kelsall's father, John, told The Times of Shreveport and KLSA-TV.

Both joined the military after graduation, though the 32-year-old Reeves spent a year at Louisiana State University first, his father, Jim Reeves, told the newspaper.

Reeves became a SEAL in 1999 and served on SEAL Team 6, his father said. During his many deployments, he earned four Bronze Stars and other honors.

Kelsall, 33, was one of the first members of SEAL Team 7, his father said.

He trained in San Diego and met his wife of three years, Victoria, when he was attending the University of Texas out of Basic Underwater Demolition training, his father said.

Reeves placed several American flags outside his home and his neighbors joined in, many decorating their homes in red, white and blue in support of the families.

___

Kraig Vickers

When he was a Maui High School football player, no one could match Kraig Vickers' intensity on the field.

But off the field? "You couldn't find a nicer guy," his former coach remembers.

"He played middle linebacker, so he was really smart, the quarterback of the defense; and when he put on his helmet, no one could match his intensity and aggressiveness," coach Curtis Lee told the Maui News.

Vickers, who would have turned 37 on Thursday, graduated from high school in 1992 and attended Evangel College in Missouri on a football scholarship. "He decided college wasn't for him," and returned home, his father, Robert Vickers, said. After stints in tree trimming and working as a hotel security guard, he became a certified scuba diver and decided to join the Navy in 1996.

He lived in Virginia Beach, Va., with his wife Nani, who is seven months' pregnant with their third child. Robert Vickers said she is making plans to return to Hawaii because she only has a small window of time before doctors won't allow her to fly.

"He wanted to be buried near the ocean," his father said, adding that the family is awaiting details on when the body will arrive on Maui.

___

Chris Campbell

Chris Campbell may have been physically slight, but family and friends said the Navy SEAL was always ready to take on a challenge.

His mother, Diane Campbell, told The Daily News of Jacksonville she remembered him and his older brother learning to ride a unicycle brought back from Okinawa as one example of her son's determination.

"If Chris thought he could, he would try," Diane Campbell said.

Former high school football coach Jack Baile remembered Campbell, 36, showing he was up to a test when he tried out for the team as a smallish junior at about 5 foot-7 and 140 pounds.

"When kids come out for football for the first time, the first thing you're worried about is, are they going to like to be hit, or want to be hit, and like to hit. That was not a problem with Chris. He had no fear with that," Baile told The Associated Press.

"I remember hearing for the first time when he had joined the SEALS, I thought that kind of fits Chris. He didn't have a lot of fear of things and I think he always wanted to try to prove to somebody that he could do things. He was an adventurous-type guy."

Campbell's work frequently sent him on missions out of the country, and his family asked few questions when he showed up with a full beard or arrived for a visit that could only last three hours. In an email to his daughter Samantha sent days before the crash, he wrote that he was looking forward to coming home in November and celebrating her 15th birthday in January.

Chris Campbell told his family that if he was killed in the line of duty, he wanted the local newspaper to write about his life and death, with a request for donations in his memory to the Wounded Warrior Project. The project helps wounded service members recover from their war injuries.

___

Nicholas Spehar

When 24-year-old Nicholas Spehar said he was going to do something, you could take him at his word.

The 2005 graduate of Chisago Lakes High School was a "quiet leader," a star in academics and three sports during his time at the school along Minnesota's eastern border, said Principal Dave Ertl.

"Nick was an active young man, and if he said he was going to do something, he did it," Ertl said. "I could see him as a Navy SEAL and giving 110 percent to serve his country."

Younger brother Luke Spehar told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that the family does not want to talk about Nick, the second of five children, until after his funeral. "We need time," he said.

Craig Swanberg, 46, of Chisago City, a town of about 4,700, said the Spehar kids played football with his own children.

"The whole family is a down-to-earth group ... nice, everyday, salt-of-the-earth people," Swanberg said. "Nick was a big kid, a powerlifter, who was not as soft spoken as his brothers."

Ertl said Spehar played football and baseball for Chisago Lakes, starred on the swimming team and was an academic letter winner.

"He gave 100 percent in high school," Ertl said. "And he gave 100 percent to our country."

___

David Carter

David Carter was a man of faith who was "somebody you could count on."

Yolanda Levesque, a neighbor speaking for the pilot's family, called Carter an outstanding father, "a true Christian" and a patriot.

"He was our American hero," Levesque said, struggling to keep her composure while reading from a statement at a news conference Tuesday.

The 47-year-old Carter of the Denver suburb of Aurora was a chief warrant officer 4, a full-time Army National Guardsman and an instructor pilot. He was a skilled aviator with more than 700 hours of combat flying time, said Army Guard Col. Chris Petty.

Carter was one of two pilots flying the Chinook CH-47D on Saturday when it was apparently shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by an insurgent.

He had a passion for training young aviators, Petty said, and leaves behind "much more than dozens" of new pilots he taught.

"There's a big hole in our organization today," Petty said.

Maj. Gen. H. Michael Edwards said Carter was "somebody you could count on."

"Every time you needed a launch, a helicopter for a state mission, Dave Carter was there," Edwards said.

Carter, of the Denver suburb of Aurora, is survived by his wife, Laura, and two children, Kyle and Kaitlen.

Carter's sister-in-law Marie Krizanovic described him as a "gentle-souled person."

"Happy-go-lucky, gentle-natured," Krizanovic said. "He had a very strong spiritual faith. He loved flying."

David and Laura Carter were set to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in December

From Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, we honor those who paid the ultimate price for freedom

Yesterday at the same moment the rest of the world was focusing on the tanking of the stock market, the dedicated professionals of Bagram Air Field's Mortuary Affairs Detatchment went about the important work of caring for and preparing the remains of 31 US Military members who perished in the Helicopter crash in Wardak Province over the weekend. I have been to the facility where they work and have met these soldiers whose mission is the dignified recovery and preparation of the remains of their fallen comrades.

Two C-17 Aircraft were parked and the transport carrying the 31 flag draped coffins arrived. The process of preparing these splendid warriors for their return home is one that has occurred before and will be repeated in the future as there are two constants that prevail here:

1. Young men die in war
2. Commanders, NCOs, Doctors, Nurses and all others are unable to change item #1.

Each of the men on that fated helicopter knew the risk, was doing what they wanted to and had trained for. It was the misfortune that the enemy also was well trained, aware of where they would be and what could cause the greatest loss of life.

The US Military will prevail against those who are unwilling to allow freedom in this stark and dangerous land. Like many before them, these warriors will be remembered and revered for their selfless service to our nation and the cause of freedom.


Afghan Crash Remains On Way To US
Flights Expected In Delaware On Tuesday
By David Ariosto - CNN
August 8, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Two military transport aircraft bearing the remains of the 38 U.S. and Afghan personnel killed on board a helicopter shot down Saturday have departed Bagram, Afghanistan, and are headed to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan said Monday.

The flights are expected to arrive at Dover sometime Tuesday.

Everyone inside the CH-47 Chinook was killed, marking the worst single-day loss of American life since the beginning of the Afghan war, NATO reported.

The inbound helicopter -- loaded with 30 U.S. service members, a civilian interpreter and seven Afghan troops -- crashed after being "reportedly fired on by an insurgent rocket-propelled grenade," the statement said.

Twenty-five of those on board were U.S. special operations forces, including 22 Navy SEALs. Five air crew members were also on board.

"Their loss is a stark reminder of the risks that our men and women in uniform take every single day on behalf of their country," U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday. "Day after day, night after night, they carry out missions like this in the face of enemy fire and grave danger."

Obama said he has spoken with U.S. military officials in the field and with Afghan President Hamid Krazai. "We will press on and we will succeed," he said. But the president added that "now is also a time to reflect on those we lost" and on the sacrificies of all who have served, as well as their families.

The president discussed the incident at the end of televised remarks focused on the economy.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking earlier, said, "The thoughts and prayers of the entire nation are with the families and with the loved ones of those we lost in Afghanistan over the weekend. They were far from home, but we know that they were also where they wanted to be."

"As heavy a loss as this was, it would even be more tragic if we allowed it to derail this country from our efforts to defeat al Qaeda and deny them a safe haven in Afghanistan," Panetta added. "Instead, we will send a strong message of American resolve from this tragedy, we draw even greater inspiration to carry on the fight."

Until Monday, military officials had been largely tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding the crash, which occurred in the rugged Tangi Valley area of Wardak province, about 60 miles southwest of Kabul.

The events leading up to the crash began when insurgents -- armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles -- engaged in small arms fire with coalition forces on the ground, NATO reported. ISAF forces were carrying out an operation targeting a known Taliban leader in the area.

Several militants were killed in the gunbattle, officials said. Coalition troops called in additional forces to assist in the operation as the firefight continued.

"Those additional personnel were inbound to the scene when the CH-47 carrying them crashed, killing all on board," NATO said.

The troops on the ground immediately left the scene of the insurgent firefight "to secure the scene and search for survivors."

NATO spokesman Brigadier Gen. Cartsen Jacobsen said the crash site has been cordoned off while recovery efforts continue.

An investigation is under way, he said.

"The recent fighting season has not materialized as the insurgents had predicted," Jacobsen told reporters in Kabul. "But the insurgents are resilient and far from defeated."

Jacobsen told reporters there was no indication of newer, more sophisticated weapons, responding to rumors that Taliban insurgents may have been the beneficiaries of better equipment during the exchange.

Saturday's crash represents the second downed NATO helicopter by insurgent fire in recent weeks. A helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan in July, though no casualties were reported.

Despite Saturday's loss, Afghan and NATO operations do not appear to have relented.

On Monday, more than 100 demonstrators in Ghazni province protested over what they say is the killing of two people during a NATO raid, according to provincial council chief Hamid Ullah Nawroz.

ISAF spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff confirmed that there was a joint Afghan-NATO raid late Sunday evening in the area that killed two insurgents, uncovered a munitions cache and detained "numerous suspected insurgents."

Meanwhile, NATO says one of its helicopters made a hard landing Monday in southeastern Afghanistan.

The Navy transport helicopter went down in Paktika province, though "initial reporting indicated there was no enemy activity."

No casualties were reported.

CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report
Copyright CNN 2011

Taliban Bastards use children to test weapons in Afghanistan

Here, on the ground in Afghanistan, things are much clearer than you can imagine. You see the reality of what the conflict here means to those it impacts the most, the citizens of Afghanistan and the military that is trying to defend them from the terrorists.

The Taliban are butchers, ruthless and soulless. They try to say they are fighting in the name of their faith but they are liars. The use of children as pawns in the fight is the sign of shallow, depraved and godless criminals. They are not the representatives of the people of Afghanistan and should not be granted any place in the outcome of Afghanistan. I ask you to read what is written below by Micheal Yon. If it doesn't fill you with disgust and revulsion, then I am concerned about what would convince you that the Taliban are no better than the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge or any other group that murders innocent children to incite terror.


Taliban Attacking More Children
26 July 2011
Zhari District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan
Micheal Yon - http://www.michaelyon-online.com/

Over the past several days there have been news stories here in Afghanistan about the Taliban strangling an 8-year-old boy. The reports say that his father refused to turn over a police vehicle to the enemy, and so they murdered his son.

Late last night, a courageous Afghan journalist named Mustafa Kazemi emailed an image of the boy that Mustafa said had been murdered. Afghans are enraged. They hate this behavior as much as we do. The boy appears to have had his eyes gouged out before being strangled to death. This image is graphic.

And so last night I walked to the Headquarters of 4-4CAV here in Zhari District, the most active district in Afghanistan at this time. I asked what was going on tonight. A noncommissioned officer filled me in on the day’s events. We had been in a minor ambush resulting in a slight injury and a damaged MRAP, so I knew about that one. But then he explained about a boy whom he said the Taliban forced to step on an IED just down the road from here. Apparently, according to Afghans, the Taliban may have been testing a new bomb made from a soda bottle. The boy’s name is Jalil, and our people estimate that Jalil is 6 to 8-years-old. Jalil was picking grapes with his brother when the Taliban, according to reporting, told the boy to step on the bomb. It blew off his right leg below the knee, leaving hamburger on the stump, and fractured his femur. Afghans brought Jalil to the nearby American base called COP Kolk, where 4-4CAV Soldiers treated him. A helicopter took Jalil and his father to Kandahar Airfield for advanced treatment.

I asked the Taliban spokesman for his take on this, and he emailed back that “It is enemy propaganda.” The evidence is against him.

The AFGHANISTAN version of the " Non-Denial Denial "

As previously reviewed here, we are once again encountering the phenomena known as
"The Non-Denial Denial "

To wit: " Non-denial denial is a phrase that became popular in the wake of the Watergate scandal, referring to an equivocal denial, particularly one made by an official to the press."

READ between the lines here as US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker spoke to the press today in Kabul -

"We will stay as long as we need to and not one day more."

"Beyond 2014, even when Afghans have transitioned to a full security lead, I'm confident we and the international community will be in the position to work with Afghanistan to prevent any forcible return of the Taliban to power."

While both of these statements are technically true, they are also so wide open you could drive a Bradley Tank through them....

No, my good friends, this is the " New Germany ", this is the " New Korea ".....think about how long we have been in both of these places and then read the report again.

The NON-DENIAL DENIAL is alive and well......and in full effect.


No permanent U.S. bases in Afghanistan: U.S. ambassador
By Michelle Nichols
KABUL Mon Jul 25, 2011 4:02am EDT

KABUL (Reuters) - The United States has no interest in creating permanent military bases in Afghanistan and does not want to use the country as a platform to influence neighboring countries, the new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said Monday.

Washington is negotiating with the Afghan government on a deal to define the long-term American role in Afghanistan beyond the end of 2014, when NATO-led combat troops are due to leave after handing security control to the Afghan army and police.

It remains unclear whether the "strategic partnership" agreement would explicitly refer to possible U.S. military bases in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the possibility of long-term U.S. bases can only be addressed once peace has been achieved.

"We have no interest in permanent bases in Afghanistan," said U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker shortly after he was sworn in at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, in an apparent nod to Afghanistan's powerful and wary neighbors.

"We will stay as long as we need to and not one day more."

Afghanistan has complex relationships with Pakistan and Iran, who see the country as vital to their own security and fear U.S. efforts to undermine their influence there, while both China and Russia are wary of U.S. ambitions in the region.

However, despite billions being poured into building up the Afghan security forces, the problems they face -- from illiteracy to corruption -- means both Afghans and foreigners expect some kind of continued military support beyond 2014, even if foreign troops are no longer on the front lines.

The United States may also be keen to keep bases for attacks on targets in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas believed to pose a terrorist threat, such as the base that was used to launch the raid that killed al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden earlier this year, analysts say.

Crocker said the United States had no hidden agenda.

"We have no interest in using Afghanistan as a platform to project influence into neighboring countries," he said.

"Our sole interest is in Afghanistan's security and sustainable stability and ensuring it will never again become a haven for international terrorism."

Crocker reopened the U.S. embassy in Kabul in 2001 after the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces for harboring al Qaeda militants, including bin Laden who was killed in May at his hideout in neighboring Pakistan.

Crocker has also served as U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon. Ambassadors are normally sworn in by the Secretary of State in Washington, but Crocker chose to be sworn in by a junior foreign service member in Kabul.

He said that as Afghanistan gradually took control of its own security, it was important to remind Afghans that there would be no "rush for the exits" by the international community.

"Beyond 2014, even when Afghans have transitioned to a full security lead, I'm confident we and the international community will be in the position to work with Afghanistan to prevent any forcible return of the Taliban to power," he said.

Supporting the Troops.....more than just a slogan

BRAVO ZULU to Ms. Kayyem for putting this issue on the radar screen for those who don't have a family member who has served and for anyone else who needs some perspective.


A soldier’s money
From health care to finances, we should protect those who protected us
By Juliette Kayyem - Boston Globe
July 25, 2011

LAST WEEK, 650 troops quietly left Afghanistan, beginning the long slog home as part of President Obama’s drawdown. At the same time, General David Petraeus, the architect of the surges in both Iraq and Afghanistan, formally resigned from the military to take over as director of the CIA. The timing was coincidental, but not without meaning: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now simultaneously moving to a close.

Petraeus handed his Afghanistan command to Marine Lieutenant General John Allen, who will oversee further troop departures. He also symbolically handed over some measure of responsibility for those troops’ future well-being to his wife, Holly Petraeus, who represents a rare growth industry in government: protecting and providing to our returning service members and veterans.

As a nation, we are simply unprepared for the numbers of returning troops we now face. The wars of the last ten years have created over 1.1 million veterans; another 2.4 million men and women are on active, National Guard, or reserve duty. This class includes soldiers who have served in combat longer than any in US history. Of the nearly 400,000 who have seen combat duty, more than 13,000 have spent at least 45 months - nearly four cumulative years - in combat.

We know so little about the magnitude and the depth of the issues they will be facing in health care, employment, and education. All they want is to go back to normal lives. And that too is a challenge.

Holly Petraeus will help wage a small piece of this upcoming war. She runs the Office of Service member Affairs for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the entity conceived and established (but not to be run) by Elizabeth Warren. Her statutory mission, authorized to begin just last week, is to provide financial education for service members. Many are “young and inexperienced, with twice-a-month guaranteed paychecks, who move to areas in the country where they have never lived before and try to make ends meet,’’ she told me in an interview. Outside many military installations in the United States are strips of storefronts offering too-good-to-be-true deals: buy this, buy that, pawn this, cash that.

Service members are stressed, in difficult situations, and money is often tight. A survey of US military personnel showed that 25 percent have over $10,000 in credit-card debt; only 50 percent have any sort of rainy day fund for financial emergencies.

Today, the number one reason for a service member to lose security clearance is not loose lips, or drugs, or espionage. It is failure to show good financial standing because they simply can’t get ahead of their bills.

The blame isn’t just with shifty car dealers and pawn brokers. Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase violated the Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act, which gives mortgage relief to deployed personnel, by overcharging thousands of clients and even foreclosing on 14 houses.

Financial woes may turn out to be the least of returning service members’ problems. At the highest levels of the Pentagon, there is a dawning recognition that we as a nation have no idea how the impact of excessive redeployments and the guerrilla nature of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will affect soldiers and their families. The end of war has been marked by celebration in the streets, as in World War II, or a hurried helicopter ride, as in Vietnam. This time, it must be marked by a much greater effort to adapt to the needs and aspirations of those returning home.

We are now ending the longest volunteer-only military effort since the American Revolution. And because there has been no draft, the divide between the US military and citizens who were asked to sacrifice little has grown. “Supporting our troops’’ has become a cliché with no meaning. We have learned to love our troops - often for selfish reasons, such as avoiding a draft - without really knowing them. Service members represent just 0.8 percent of the population.

In the months and years to come, we will be welcoming home and into society a population the likes we have not seen in our lifetime; the sheer numbers who have seen combat over and over will change the nature of the moral duty we owe those who fought voluntarily. And it will begin to change us. Ask Petraeus. Either one.

Juliette Kayyem can be reached at jkayyem@globe.com.

Meanwhile in the sandbox......

4th of July - At Home & Over There

The reports from the homefront today were as expected - The 4th of July went off as planned with parades, cookouts, festivities, fireworks and the Boston Pops played on the Esplanade for hundreds of thousands cheering 235 years of our Nation's Independence....

Meanwhile, the effort to fight those who would terrorize the innocent went on as usual also....While those back home enjoyed a summer ritual of cookouts and family get-togethers, brave men & women stood the watch in places far from home....

Brings to mind a quote from Lt. Galloway in the movie " A Few Good Men"

Lt. Weinberg: Why do you like them so much?

Galloway: Because they stand upon a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch."

" Sometimes you have to travel 7,000 miles to find a sense of purpose.” - Reflections of a Father about his deployed Son on July 4th

The picture above shows a young boy standing next to his Dad just before deployment. This picture was taken at the US Army Reserve depot in Taunton, MA., near my hometown.

I have experienced both sides of this phenomenon.....Deployed myself a few times, saw my son deploy to the fleet during his service in the US Navy and now, I'm back overseas working in support of the military. The author does wonderful job of capturing some things that others, who do not have a military member in the service will never truly understand. I understand his feelings and I know my family & friends do also.


While My Son Serves
Partying at a raucous sendoff. Waking up worried at 3 a.m. Getting a welcome phone call from the Iraqi desert. The families of deployed soldiers live in a world of their own, says Dave Shiflett.
By DAVE SHIFLETT -Wall Street Journal

Today, less than 1% of Americans wear the uniform.
What's it like seeing a family member off to Iraq, and perhaps beyond?

The question comes up regularly these days as our 26-year-old son prepares to ship out. Kids in our middle-class world tend to head for college or for the sort of job that eventually convinces them that college isn't such a bad idea after all. Some friends wonder how our son ended up a sergeant in the Army National Guard.

"Sarge" (as we call him now) didn't volunteer because of family influence. We are Virginians and have served, but only when called. The Vietnam War ended before I got called up, but my father was a World War II navigator in the Naval Air Corps, transporting troops from Hawaii to Guam, and Sarge's grandfather on the other side was in a front-line artillery unit in Korea. A century before, the man I was named after did some surveillance work for Robert E. Lee, and in something of that spirit, our son became an Army Scout.

As America celebrates Independence Day this weekend, it's a good time to think of the men and women serving their country overseas. Kelsey Hubbard talks with WSJ contributor Dave Shiflett as his son is about to be deployed to Iraq.
He is, to be sure, a good demographic fit: Over two-thirds of our armed forces are white, most are male, and Southerners continue to be well-represented in the ranks. There was also his early fascination with soldiers and guns, but that's true of many boys.

Sarge has always possessed one habit of mind seemingly at odds with military life, which many critics insist is fit only for drones. He possesses what we lovingly call a hard head, an independent streak that, as it happens, is an inherited characteristic.

After his enlistment I had to ask why he would join an organization where taking orders is a way of life. "It's how you get to the big game," he replied. Put another way, he's a single young man looking for adventure—and perhaps meaning—and tends to believe that the people who man the office cubicles are the real drones.

He certainly chose an unusual path: Fewer than 1% of Americans wear the uniform these days. That, in turn, puts families of deployed soldiers in something of a world of their own.

For one thing, you're unlikely to bump into someone at the local tavern to commiserate with (which is not an argument for avoiding taverns, tavern life being one of the traditions that our children cross the oceans to protect).

New acquaintances sometimes seem shocked to meet someone with a deployed family member. "I'm so sorry," is their typical response. You'd almost think the lad was heading into rehab or entering the slave trade.

“'When I'm out in the desert, I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing,' our son said after returning home. Sometimes you have to travel 7,000 miles to find a sense of purpose.”

Others simply have no experience with the phenomenon of military service. At a Christmas party a few years ago, a colleague told me, very earnestly, that I was the only person he knew with someone in the military and that my son (whom he had never met) was his only link to that world.

Sheldon Kelly, an old family friend who served with the 82nd Airborne and whose own son has done multiple tours, recalls a lunch in Washington, D.C., with professional friends when the Iraq war was at a high point. "They were all war hawks," he recalled, "but when I told them my son was in Iraq, they were stunned. It was like I was in a different class." None, he added, had children in the military.

All of which can result in a feeling of isolation for some service families and an assumption of societal indifference. With so few people deployed, it's almost as if these conflicts are not really happening.

One local couple, whose son earned a Purple Heart in Iraq, told me that while plenty of people are happy to "ribbon up"—attach those "Support Our Troops" stickers to their cars—that's pretty much the extent of their outreach.

For the most part, however, the usual response when we tell people about Sarge is to say that we must be proud—which we are—and we must also be worried. Well, sure. We're parents—worry is our fate. Yet we try to worry wisely. And thankfully, at this point in his life, Sarge is not leaving behind a family of his own.

His first deployment, in 2007, was supposed to take him to Baghdad, but he ended up in a much quieter area at the southern border. He did not like that, but my wife and I sure did. This time around his gun truck will be driving point on convoys taking troops out of Iraq.

While the Iraq war has wound down, there are still dangers. In June, 11 servicemen were killed, five in a single rocket attack. Death by improvised explosive device is a possibility for anyone riding those roads, and so visions of your son bleeding out as he screams for his mother can appear, unsolicited, in the middle of the night. Some level of apprehension is unavoidable.

Then again, why do we have children if not to give us plenty to think about at 3 a.m.?

Sarge shows few signs of coffin phobia, though he is not looking forward to dealing with intense heat, scorpions and camel spiders (which, he tells us, can grow to the size of your hand, hiss loudly, and sometimes charge in packs). As for other hazards: Sandstorms can be blinding, it's not advisable to date the locals, and a cold beer can be very hard to come by.

And you never know where his service might eventually lead him. The U.S. is supposed to be out of Iraq by Dec. 31, but that could change. With Sarge's new deployment set at 400 days, we suspect a bonus trip to Afghanistan may be in the bargain. Who knows—maybe he'll end up seeing wild, wonderful Tripoli!

There's a saying that when one family member deploys, the entire family deploys. What often isn't said is that, despite the definite downsides to military deployment (including the possibility of becoming a casualty and, at the very least, long separations), it has a strange knack for bringing people together and even making life better.

“There's a saying that when one family member deploys, the entire family deploys.”

Sarge's 2007 deployment had some positive health benefits for me, though for nonheroic reasons. Here's why: If your soldier is killed (not a great possibility, though some parents lose sight of that), there will be a knock at your door. Accordingly, if you happen to be home in the afternoon when the FedEx guy drops by, you might experience an unwelcome cardiac jolt.

To avoid that experience I took up walking, often logging 30 to 40 miles per week. Not quite boot camp, but the exercise probably added a few years to my life.

There are also moments that simply would not have happened were it not for deployment. I remember a call from our son (via cellphone) who said he was out in the middle of the desert under a bright canopy of stars. Despite a short voice delay, the reception was incredible.

"You out there by yourself?" I asked.

"No, Dad. I have my machine gun."

It was a strange, intense moment of bonding, even though he was probably 7,000 miles away.

Deployment also cured me of a lingering cable-TV habit. Whatever patience I once had for the chattering class—make that the braying class—disappeared. I don't know what is worse: raving about how our soldiers are "mercenaries" or hearing a parlor patriot (go get 'em, boys!) suggest that because recent conflicts are "low-casualty" (compared with Vietnam, Korea and the world wars), they are nothing to get worked up about. As my friend Sheldon pointed out, it does seem that the people with the biggest heart for war never seem to have any blood on the line.

It is undoubtedly true that war is good not only for munitions makers but also for what a friend calls the "prayer life." In the run-up to Sarge's 2007 deployment, a celestial petition entered my mind so effortlessly and naturally that I assumed the same has been true for soldiers' parents through the ages: If a life must be taken, take mine and spare his.

Deployment can also be a positive experience for soldiers. After returning home, our son said that "when I'm out in the desert, I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing." Sometimes you have to travel 7,000 miles to find a sense of purpose, and many men, I suspect, may come to wish they had made a similar journey.

It's my impression that men like me, who never served, often feel that we've missed out on an important part of life. We don't know what it's like to be young and far away from home, vulnerable to instant personal extinction but also part of the comradeship that such danger creates. In this sense my son's service is a far greater thing than I have ever done.

Back home from deployments, soldiers can experience a vast array of problems, from nervousness while driving under an overpass (ambush?) or in traffic (since cars in today's war zones can carry bombs) to the more serious manifestations of post-traumatic stress disorder. The military offers some support. A Department of Defense service called MilitaryHomefront provides support for those suffering from various maladies, including combat stress, domestic abuse and suicide prevention.

For families whose soldiers didn't make it home, of course, there is an unfathomable depth of sorrow.

On a happier note, the one area in which deployment is nearly unsurpassed lies in its ability to bring people together for a grand sendoff.

We held Sarge's farewell party just before June 1, his official deployment date (he won't arrive in Iraq until this month), so grilling burgers on July 4th will be tame by comparison.

This was definitely not a Norman Rockwell scene, though one suspects Norman would have had a rocking time. A smoky cooking fire (my idea to roast an octopus was vetoed; our oldest son flew in from San Francisco to butcher and cook a pig) cast a rich haze over 100 or so friends, relatives and a few thirsty strangers, some bearing musical instruments while many others, including soldiers with hard combat experience, came armed with a host of jugs.

When soldiers and musicians gather, the alcohol deities smile broadly. Thirsts worthy of condemned pirates were slaked with passion, and as the smoke and noise levels rose, neighbors could be forgiven for thinking the Vikings had landed (though none sounded the alarm down at the local sheriff's office, for which we are thankful). One senses that many serious head wounds required treatment the next morning, but there was the solace of knowing that the damage was sustained in the line of duty.

This party was not as raucous as the one for Sarge's first deployment, where lights-out came around 5 a.m. This time, all was quiet by 2. The last departure was also officially marked by a ceremony in which Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine traveled to Portsmouth to shake the hands of the hundreds of soldiers departing with my son's unit. Families appreciated that. This time, the current governor didn't show up at the sendoff, which was held in downtown Richmond.

For now, memories of Sarge's sendoff will keep us smiling as we ride out the 400-day deployment.

Grandmother: "Will the vehicle you're riding around in have any weapons?"

Sarge: "Yes, Grandma. We'll be taking along a .50-cal."

While Sarge is away, we're likely to see the local boys who have completed their tours and sometimes gather in a home-built "speakeasy," bedecked with the flags of their respective services: Army, Marines, Navy.

I recall a conversation with them one night about an American flag that has accompanied them on various deployments, sometimes tucked under their battle armor to keep it—and perhaps themselves—safe. The cable TV brayers would scoff at this as "gaudy patriotism," but to my eye this level of communal devotion is another thing soldiers have that most of us don't.

“Despite the definite downsides to deployment, it has a strange knack for bringing people together.”

These vets—young in years but in some cases having witnessed profound horrors—were in full hoot at the send-off, singing along to woozily brilliant renditions of Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried," Paul Simon's "The Boxer," a deeply fractured rendition of the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon," and the Grateful Dead's "Dire Wolf," with its resoundingly appropriate chorus, "Don't murder me!"

There was also a glorious "Over the Rainbow," sung by a woman whose voice brought hope for better days, and then the farewell toast:

Know that you will be constantly in our thoughts and prayers.

We look forward to gathering together again to welcome you home.

Until then, don't mess with the women.

Keep your head down, and

Godspeed.

Now, off he goes.

—Mr. Shiflett posts his writing and original music at www.daveshiflett.com.