Parents of SEAL Team Six soldier killed in action call for President Obama's resignation

'You are not up to this job': Parents of SEAL Team Six soldier killed in action call for President Obama's resignation

• Billy and Karen Vaughn lost their only-son Aaron Carson Vaughn in 2011
• The SEAL Team Six member was one of 33 killed when a Chinook helicopter was gunned down in Afghanistan
• On Monday, the Vaughns wrote a letter condemning President Barack Obama's actions following the release of the video depicting the execution of journalist James Foley by Islamic State radicals
• Mr and Mrs Vaughn criticized the president's decision to go golfing after he held a press conference on the Foley beheading 

By Ashley Collman for MailOnline

Published: 18:14 EST, 1 September 2014 | Updated: 19:28 EST, 1 September 2014

One couple knows all too well the pain suffered by the parents of James Foley, the American journalist executed last month by the Islamic State.

Billy and Karen Vaughn also lost their only-son Aaron Carson Vaughn in 2011, when the SEAL Team Six soldier's Chinook helicopter was shown down over Afghanistan.

Now the couple are calling on President Barack Obama to step down, citing his reaction to the Foley video and 'lack of leadership' in confronting ISIS.

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Time to resign: Karen and Billy Vaughn (pictured above) wrote a letter this week, condemning President Obama's actions following the release of the video depicting the execution of American journalist James Foley by ISIS. The couple lost their own son, soldier Aaron Carson Vaughn, in a 2011 helicopter crash in Afghanistan

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Killed in action: SEAL Team Six soldier Aaron Carson Vaughn was one of seven commandos killed in the 2011 chopper crash, in addition to an Afghan translator and military dog. They were shot down by enemy combatants 

On Monday, the Vaughns wrote a letter, calling out Mr Obama's decision to go golfing after holding an important press conference on the Foley video.

'As Commander-in-Chief, your actions - or lack thereof - Mr President, cost lives.

'As you bumble about in your golf cart, slapping on a happy face and fist-pounding your buddies, your cowardly lack of leadership has left a gaping hole — not only in America’s security — but the security of the entire globe.

'Your message has come across loud and clear, sir: You are not up to this job. You know it. We know it. The world knows it,' the Vaughns wrote in the letter published on World Tribune.  

The couple go on to directly ask Mr Obama to resign so that a man or woman 'of courage and substance' can take over and address the 'out-of-control thug fest' happening in Syria and Iraq, where ISIS is attempting to establish a caliphate.

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'As you bumble about in your golf cart, slapping on a happy face and fist-pounding your buddies, your cowardly lack of leadership has left a gaping hole,' the Vaughns said of President Obama's decision to play a round after holding a press conference on the Foley tragedy

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Vacation mode: President Obama was vacationing on Martha's Vineyard when the video was released by ISIS. He was photographed on the golf course at least two times after the video's release 

'It’s time for you to step down and allow a true leader to restore our honor and protect our sons and daughters...

'America has always been exceptional. And she will be again. You, Mr President, are a bump in the road,' they wrote.

Billy Vaughn told MailOnline that  he has been displeased with the way President Obama has been acting at press conferences. 

'I'd like to see him have some passion about anything going on in the world instead of just speaking in a monotone voice like he has a script that has been made up,' Mr Vaughn told MailOnline.

Aaron Carson Vaughn was killed in August 2011 when a Chinook helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan. All 33 aboard died in the crash, including Vaughn and several SEAL Team Six members.

Vaughn and his fellow commandos were attempting to reinforce a group of Army Rangers after they ran into trouble during a raid to capture a senior Taliban leader.

SEAL Team Six is best known as the group which carried out the execution of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011.

FULL LETTER FROM BILLY AND KAREN VAUGHN

After finally choosing to view the barbaric, on-camera beheading by ISIS of freelance war correspondent James Foley, I have been left with a level of rage known only to those of us who have sacrificed unspeakable offerings on the altar of world peace.

My offering was my only son — Aaron Carson Vaughn. Aaron was a member of SEAL Team VI. He was killed in action when a CH47D Chinook, carrying thirty Americans and eight Afghans was shot down in the Tangi River Valley of Afghanistan on Aug. 6, 2011.

endorse1Many times over the past three years, I have been asked what drove my son to choose his particular career. What made him want to be a Navy SEAL? My answer is simple.

Aaron Vaughn was a man who possessed the courage to acknowledge evil. And evil, once truly acknowledged, demands response. Perhaps this is why so few are willing to look it in the eye. It is much simpler — much safer — to look the other way.

That is, unless you are the leader of the Free World.

As Commander-in-Chief, your actions — or lack thereof — Mr. President, cost lives. As you bumble about in your golf cart, slapping on a happy face and fist-pounding your buddies, your cowardly lack of leadership has left a gaping hole — not only in America’s security — but the security of the entire globe. Your message has come across loud and clear, sir: You are not up to this job. You know it. We know it. The world knows it.

Please vacate the people’s house and allow a man or woman of courage and substance to seize the reigns of this out-of-control thug-fest and regain the balance we, America, have provided throughout our great history.

Thanks to your “leadership” from whatever multi-million dollar vacation you happen to be on at any given moment, the world is in chaos. What’s been gained, you’ve lost. What’s been lost, you’ve decimated. You’ve demolished our ability to hold the trust of allies. You’ve made a mockery of the title “President.” And you’ve betrayed the nation for which my son and over 1.3 million others have sacrificed their very lives.

But this should come as no surprise, since your wife uttered a vile statement on Feb. 18, 2008, during the primary campaign — one that speaks volumes of your true convictions. “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country,” she said.

I am sure my deceased son thanks you for that, Mrs. Obama. Oh, and you’re welcome.

Never in my lifetime have I witnessed such despair and such growing fear that the world’s last best hope, America, has finally been dismantled. Perhaps the better word is transformed — fundamentally transformed. Come to think of it, it’s become difficult — if not impossible — to believe things haven’t gone exactly as you planned, Mr. President.

Amazingly, in five short years, your administration has lurched from one disaster to another. You spearheaded the ambitious rush to end the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan — with no plan on how to do so effectively. Also, the release of “the Taliban five” in exchange for one American — without consulting Congress — is also on your shoulders.

You have been at the helm during unprecedented national security leaks — including, but not limited to the outing of SEAL Team VI on the Bin laden raid, the outing of the Pakistani doctor who provided the intelligence for that raid, the outing of Afghanistan’s CIA station chief, and the outing of your personal “kill list” to make you look tough. In addition, 75 percent of American deaths in Afghanistan and 83 percent of Americans-wounded-in-action have occurred on your watch, according to icasualties.org.

And now, we have this recent, heinous event: the beheading of an American citizen by a barbaric organization you foolishly referred to as “the JV team” in your statements to the New Yorker magazine in January.

You, sir, are the JV team. It’s time for you to step down and allow a true leader to restore our honor and protect our sons and daughters.

America has always been exceptional. And she will be again. You, Mr. President, are a bump in our road.

                                                                                                     Reprinted with family's permission

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2740184/You-not-job-Parents-SEAL-Team-Six-soldier-killed-action-call-President-Obama-s-resignation.html#ixzz3C7QTxy00 
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‘Murph: The Protector’ - A MUST SEE Movie

Here is my request - Go see this movie and pay your respects to the US Navy SEALs who put it all on the line for all of us. Please.

They do it all for you.

Posthumous Salute to a SEAL Team Leader

‘Murph: The Protector,’ a Documentary About a Navy SEAL

Mactavish Pictures

Lt. Michael P. Murphy, left, is the subject of the film “Murph: The Protector.”

By DANIEL M. GOLD / NY TIMES

Published: March 21, 2013

For the American military June 28, 2005, was a very bad day. A four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance team in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan had been caught in a mountainside firefight with overwhelming Taliban forces, and the Special Operations helicopter sent to extract them was shot down. The 16 men aboard died, as did 3 of the 4 team members on the ground. (The one who lived, Marcus Luttrell, wrote a best-selling account, “Lone Survivor”; the major-motion-picture version, starring Mark Wahlberg, is scheduled for release next fall.)

“Murph: The Protector” is a short, spare documentary about Lt. Michael P. Murphy, the SEAL team leader awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2007. Mr. Murphy, a Long Island native, is recalled as a stand-up son, brother and friend, a lifeguard at Lake Ronkonkoma Beach, a graduate from Penn State who surprised those close to him with declaring his intent to enter the Navy’s elite SEAL unit. “You don’t wish that for your son, to be put in harm’s way,” says his father, Daniel Murphy, himself a Vietnam veteran who was wounded in action.

 

We’re told of Mr. Murphy’s perseverance in achieving his goal. But limited to what his family and friends can describe — there is virtually no video of Mr. Murphy — the film doesn’t give a full sense of its subject. Instead, it works best as a report from stateside: the early news of the firefight; the visit from Navy officers; the drive up from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, escorted by police units along the way, to burial at Calverton National Cemetery. The honors came after, including the naming of a new destroyer and the Medal of Honor, which was the first given for combat in Afghanistan. As operations there wind down, “Murph: The Protector” reminds us of the valor expended on distant front lines and the holes left at home.

“Murph: The Protector” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested) for themes of war and death

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America ask for your help

Please read this request for you to sign a petition and get the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to do the job that they are well paid to perform.  That wounded Veterans have to wait up to 2 yrs to get the help they need is unacceptable.

Congress, the President and their staff don't have to wait for anything.  It is about time that Veterans who defended our country get the same consideration.  Really.

A shocking report just came out about the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability benefits backlog. It says that delays for new vets to receive disability compensation from the VA are much longer than originally reported, which is saying a lot. (If you’ve had a loved one file a claim, you know what I mean.) We must end this backlog now. Sign a petition to call for action with IAVA. According to the report, more than 900,000 veteran’s benefits claims are currently in the system, a number that VA expects to grow to over a million by the end of this month. Of the 600,000 backlogged, VA has said that the average wait time was 273 days, but this report reveals that veterans are waiting between 316 and 327 days after filing. Furthermore, despite spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on developing a digital claims process, 97% of claims are still on paper. The wait is 490 days in New Orleans. 619 in Los Angeles. 612 in Indianapolis. 586 in Houston. 642 in New York. And 681 in Reno. That’s 681 days to get benefits for injuries received while at war. 681 days. That’s just ridiculous. And it’s gone on for long enough. The men and women who have sacrificed so much deserve better than that. Sign the petition today to call on President Obama to establish a Presidential Commission to end the backlog.  Next week at Storm the Hill, IAVA’s membership will bring the petition with your name to the White House. We’ll also gather IAVA members from across the nation on the steps of the Capitol to demand the President fix this ongoing problem once and for all. We’ll keep the pressure up – and we won’t stop fighting until it's done. Paul Paul Rieckhoff Founder and CEO Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)

NEPTUNUS LEX - Captain Carroll LeFon, US Navy Retired - RIP

A year ago, we lost one of our best shipmates -

And we are still trying to understand why but the Good Lord must have needed him in Heaven

Here's my post from a year ago -

Thanks again Cap for all you contributed to our lives and our country.  You are missed.

NEPTUNUS LEX - Captain Carroll LeFon, US Navy Retired - He belongs to the ages - (1960-2012)

 

The world lost more than one hero yesterday.

Captain Carroll LeFon, US Navy retired died in a plane accident flying a Israeli Kfir for a military contractor when his jet crashed outside Fallon Air Base in Nevada.

He was known to many in the Navy but many others from his well read blog, Neptunus Lex.
http://www.neptunuslex.com/
He is the main reason I started writing here at US Navy Jeep. He inspired me to want to be more like him and to share the leadership lessons we had experienced in our military careers and life.

As I had written in an earlier posting, "It can all change in an instant..."; None of us are guaranteed anything. Capt LeFon was doing exactly what he loved, flying. He had a difficult day with his plane the day before when his drag chute failed to deploy....He wrote about it in his normal enlightened prose and made light of it. The next day, he was gone.

Our world is a little less bright and enlightened by his loss. He made us think, lead by example and shared the virtues of a cold glass of Guinness. We will not see his like on this earth again.

It is somewhat prophetic that I was watching " The Search for Spock " last night, which deals with the bond between Kirk and Spock and how Captain Kirk finds a way to overcome the death of his friend...In real life, we do not have such ability.

I share in the loss of our Shipmate, Captain Carroll LeFon, Neptunus Lex. All our prayers and sympathies to his wife and children.

In tribute to our beloved shipmate, I would share the words of Pericles who delivered a funeral oration that paid tribute to his men.

" I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with the love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it, who in the hour of conflict had the fear of dishonor always present to them, and who, if ever they failed in an enterprise, would not allow their virtues to be lost to their country, but freely gave their lives to her as the fairest offering which they could present at her feast.

The sacrifice which they collectively made was individually repaid to them; for they received again each one for himself a praise which grows not old, and the noblest of all tombs, I speak not of that in which their remains are laid, but of that in which their glory survives, and is proclaimed always and on every fitting occasion both in word and deed. For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men."Pericles - In tribute to his soldiers after first battles of the Peloponnesian war

Rest Easy CAP, we have the watch. Fair Winds and Following Seas.

Thought for the Day

"It is #God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect."~ Psalm 18:32- AMEN & SEMPER FIpinterest.com/pin/2030138956…

— Middleboro Jones (@Leadership_One) March 2, 2013

MURPH: The Protector.....a must see movie

This is one movie that the BS Media will likely pan/ignore which means it will be awesome for those who appreciate all that our US Navy SEALs do each and every day.

Bravo Zulu to our US NAVY, those who stand the watch for our country, the US Navy SEALs and those who are bringing us the story of MURPH: the Protector.

Regal Entertainment Group Presents Exclusive Release of MURPH: The Protector

Published: February 27, 2013 www.heraldonline.com

2013-02-27T22:33:08Z

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC), a leading motion picture exhibitor owning and operating the largest theatre circuit in the United States, is proud to offer moviegoers the opportunity to see MURPH: The Protector, a feature documentary based on the extraordinary life of fallen SEAL LT Michael Murphy, beginning Friday, March 22nd, 2013, exclusively at Regal Entertainment Group Theatres.

MURPH: The Protector is a moving profile of LT Murphy’s entire life of honor, courage and commitment, as told by his friends, family and teammates. Michael was raised in Patchogue, New York, attended Penn State University and then joined the U.S. Navy to serve in the SEAL Teams. He gave his life for his men in 2005 and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2007.

“The Regal team understands how this film will connect with moviegoers across the country,” said Scott Mactavish, the film’s director. “It’s critical that we honor and remember those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms, and Regal recognizes that there’s an audience eager to hear this story. We’re honored to call them partners.”

A portion of the proceeds from the film will go to the LT Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation. Formed by LT Murphy’s family in August 2005, the Foundation was given New York Department of Education approval and incorporated in New York. The Foundation was granted IRS tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with the expressed written purpose of providing academic scholarships.

MURPH: The Protector premieres on March 22nd, 2013, exclusively at the following Regal Entertainment Group Theatres. Tickets are available at the individual theatre box offices and online at REGmovies.com

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/02/27/4653379/regal-entertainment-group-presents.html#storylink=cpy

CNO Memo on Sequestration

This is not good.

The fools in Washington starting from the one at the White House to many others in Congress have spent us into a $16 TRILLION dollar hole.  This hole is so deep, it will put our nation in a serious "hurt locker".

But we still have millions to send to Pakistan, Jet Fighters to Egypt and wasted millions for the political crap that the politicians value more than our national security.

How bad are things??  Read the enclosed memo from the CNO.

This is about as bad as it gets.

LCDR Michael Scott Speicher, USN - lost on this day 17 JAN 1991 over Iraq

I wanted to make sure that today did not pass without a mention of LCDR Michael Scott Speicher, USN who was lost on this day 17 JAN 1991 over Iraq.  He was the first US Casulalty of the Gulf War.

I wear his name on a POW/KIA Braclet and will do so as long as I live as he was missing for 18 years, and it is my mission to make sure he is not forgotten.  He was a dedicated warrior, father, husband and shipmate to many. Bravo Zulu LCDR - Fair Winds and Following Seas.

Twists, turns snagged search for Speicher

Defense Intelligence Agency official says a number of factors led to 18-year vacuum between pilot’s disappearance, discovery of his grave

 

By Pamela Hess - The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Saddam Hussein was telling the truth, this time. The United States just didn’t believe him.

So it took the most powerful military in the world 18 years to find the remains of the only U.S. Navy pilot shot down in an aerial battle in the 1991 Gulf War.

Michael Scott Speicher’s bones lay 18 inches deep in Iraqi sand, more or less right where a group of Iraqis had led an American search team in 1995.

The search for Speicher was frustrated by two wars, mysteriously switched remains, Iraqi duplicity and a final tip from a young nomad in Anbar province.

U.S. officials often were blinded by the same myopia that tainted prewar intelligence — the American conviction that Hussein’s government lied about everything. As it turned out, the Iraqis lied, but sometimes they told the truth.

For more than a decade, speculation swirled that the 33-year-old Speicher, a lieutenant commander when he went missing, had been captured alive. That was disproved by the team that found and confirmed his remains.

“He wasn’t captured or tortured,” said Thomas Brown, chief of the Intelligence Community POW/MIA analytic cell at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Brown, who worked on Speicher’s case for 15 years, described to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview how the threads leading to the pilot got so tangled.

Speicher was shot down by an Iraqi MiG 100 miles west of Baghdad on Jan. 17, 1991, the first day of the war to drive Saddam’s invading forces from Kuwait. Then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney announced the pilot’s death as the first casualty of the war, but no search and rescue effort was launched.

When the war ended that March, the U.S. demanded the return of Speicher’s remains. But because of a data glitch, the U.S. erroneously pinpointed his crash site south of Baghdad.
The Iraqis were puzzled. They knew an F-18 had been shot down west of the capital. But they followed the botched U.S. coordinates and searched for Speicher’s plane in the south, finding nothing.

The search was soon complicated by the Iraqi discovery of a different crash site — of a downed Air Force A-10 fighter. The Iraqis brought the unidentified American A-10 pilot’s remains to a Basrah hospital for safekeeping, labeling them “Mickel” for a clumsy translation of what might have been the pilot’s belt buckle manufactured by McDonnell Douglas.

Just before those remains were to be handed over to the U.S., Shiites rebelling against Saddam seized the hospital, forcing Iraqi officials to make a hasty gamble.

If they didn’t turn over the pilot’s remains, they would be in violation of the U.N. resolution ending the war, and the war would not be officially over. So the Iraqis instead handed over to American authorities a 4-pound piece of another cadaver and said it belonged to “Mickel.”

U.S. officials already had accounted for the dead A-10 pilot, so the unidentified remains stumped them. Were they Speicher’s? By May 1991, DNA tests ruled that out. Iraq was being duplicitous, but the U.S. couldn’t figure out what was behind the switch.

Rumors from Hussein’s inner circle about the “Mickel” remains began to morph into whispering that the Iraqis held a live American pilot. The rumors were picked up by U.S. intelligence.

Two years later, in 1993, Speicher’s crash site was found by a party of Qatari falcon hunters. Brown believes the Iraqis already had identified the crash site but failed to come forward out of fear they would be accused of covering it up. So instead, the Iraqis led the Qatari hunters to the site, Brown said, so they would “stumble” on the wreckage.

The hunters gave the U.S. Embassy in Qatar a piece of a plane containing a serial number that matched Speicher’s F-18.

U.S. military officials began planning an operation to retrieve Speicher’s remains. The plan was dropped in 1995 when the Red Cross secured permission from Iraq for a humanitarian search team to excavate the crash site.

Shepherded by Iraqi officials, the search team was led by a local Bedouin boy to Speicher’s half-buried flight suit. Nearby were expended flares, part of an ejection seat and pieces of a life raft. But the searchers found no remains. They left suspicious, convinced that they had been set up even though Brown now says Saddam’s government was telling the truth about the site.

In January 2001, President Bill Clinton changed Speicher’s status from killed in action to missing, echoing U.S. belief he could be alive. An intelligence assessment said Speicher probably had survived the crash and Iraq was either holding him prisoner or hiding his remains.

In the summer of 2002, as the Bush administration prepared to invade Iraq, new intelligence intercepts suggested Speicher was being moved between dozens of secret sites inside Iraq.
Before the 2003 invasion, “we were positive we were getting him back,” said Buddy Harris, a Speicher friend who later married the pilot’s widow. “We were getting ready to go over and meet with him. We had the whole family prepped, with psychologists ready to help.”

At least three different times, based on U.S. government information, Speicher’s relatives thought they were getting him back, Harris said.

Brown believes the Iraqi government was trying to convince President George W. Bush that Speicher was still alive to protect Saddam from being targeted when the invasion came.
If that was the motivation, it backfired. Bush used Speicher’s case as more evidence that Saddam had to be ousted. After Bush cited Speicher in his September 2002 speech at the United Nations, the rumors of Speicher’s movements abruptly stopped, Brown said.

After the U.S. invasion, intelligence analysts searching for Speicher entered the Hakmiya jail in central Baghdad and dug up the grounds. They found remains, but none that matched Speicher’s DNA.

They did find a jail cell wall that appeared to be marked with the initials “M.S.S.” — and wondered if they had been scratched by the missing pilot.

The Army dismantled the wall section and sent it back to the U.S. for testing. That same summer a soldier discovered similar initials and what appeared to be a date— 9-15-94 — scratched into an I-beam in a parking garage in Tikrit. The FBI cut down the beam and sent it to the Smithsonian Institution for testing.

But the markings turned out to be more false leads. The museum determined the Tikrit initials were made with a special ink reserved for Iraqi religious groups — and an American prisoner would not likely have had access to such sacred ink. While other “M.S.S.” markings were found all over Iraq, the analysts were never able to tie them to Speicher.

The searchers continued to press every lead. For six years, soldiers and Marines deployed in Anbar were told to ask people there if they had heard anything about the missing American pilot.

The instructions finally paid off in July. A sheik told Marines of a Bedouin who remembered a burial 20 years earlier. The sheik couldn’t recall the exact location, but it was enough for the Marines. They returned to the old site that had frustrated the Red Cross searchers and with 100 men, bulldozers and back hoes, they turned over four football fields worth of desert, 4 feet deep.

The earth yielded another piece of a pilot’s flight suit and a jaw bone. The teeth matched the missing pilot’s dental records. Michael Scott Speicher, who reached the rank of captain because he kept receiving promotions while his status was unknown, had been there all along, Brown said.

The U.S. now says the case is closed, but Speicher’s family, from outside Jacksonville, Fla., is still unconvinced that he died in the crash.

Buddy Harris says the ending is too neat, meant to whitewash the Pentagon’s failure to launch a search and rescue mission in 1991.

“Too many people want to tie it into a nice little bow here,” Harris says. “Their motive wasn’t Scott Speicher, it was to get this thing done

Christmas Eve in Kandahar / HOW THE GRINCH STOLE THE SEABEES GRAVEL

Christmas Eve in Kandahar, Afghanistan - When I took on this gig, I had planned that I would be here for the holidays.

It may still be December 23rd back home, but here, it is already December 24th.

I posted this a while back and it bears posting again. It was the first time I was away from home on Christmas.  Enjoy and Merry Christmas Eve !!

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE THE SEABEES GRAVEL...A Seabee Christmas story from Iraq in 2004

 8 years ago, I was in Iraq with the Seabees - It was Christmas and we were doing the job we were assigned -
Helping rebuild Iraq.

One of the things we needed more than anything else was GRAVEL - It was needed to firm up the muddy areas and allow construction to occur -

No Gravel - No ability to build - A big problem -

On Christmas Eve, I sent this to all my fellow Seabees -

It was my way of getting them to see that Christmas was a time for us to be thankful for all we have and to allow the season to make our hearts light...Being away from home and staioned in Iraq was a tough assignment, but we could make sure that Christmas was still the day that we celebrate the birth of our Savior...

I share this with you in that same spirit - I have much to be thankful for -

I have my wife, who is the best part of my life. I have good family, good friends and a faith that we have been blessed by the LORD.

I hope that all of you enjoy Christmas, Hanukkah and the Holidays and take stock of what we have been given.....We have all been blessed.

Middleboro Jones

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE THE SEABEES GRAVEL
by Dr Seuss (with help from Middleboro Jones)
Every Seabee
Down in Seabee-ville
Liked Gravel a lot...

But the Grinch,
Who lived just North of Seabee-ville,
Did NOT!

The Grinch hated Gravel!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.

But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But,
Whatever the reason,
His heart or his shoes,
He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Seabees,

Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown
At the warm lighted windows below in their town.
For he knew every Seabee down in Seabee-ville beneath
Was busy now, working on their CESE.

"And they're waiting on a convoy!" he snarled with a sneer.
"Tomorrow they’ll expect more gravel ! It's practically here!"

Then he growled, with his grinch fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find a way to keep Gravel from coming!"

For, tomorrow, he knew...

...All the Seabees
Would wake up bright and early.
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

Then the Seabeess, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
And they'd feast! And they'd feast!
And they'd FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would start on Seabee-pudding, and rare Seabee-roast-beast
Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!

And the more the Grinch thought of the Seabee gravel coming
The more the Grinch thought, "I must stop this whole thing!
"Why for many years I've put up with it now!
I MUST stop Gravel from coming!
...But HOW?"

Then he got an idea!
An awful idea!
THE GRINCH
GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

"I know just what to do!" The Grinch Laughed in his throat.
And he made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.
And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy trick!
"With this coat and this hat, I'll look just like Saint Nick!"

"All I need is a reindeer..."
The Grinch looked around.
But since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old Grinch...?
No! The Grinch simply said,
"If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!"

So he called his dog Max. Then he took some red thread
And he tied a big horn on top of his head.

THEN
He loaded some bags
And some old empty sacks
On a ramshakle sleigh
And he hitched up old Max.

Then the Grinch said, "Giddyap!"

And the sleigh started down
Toward the hooches where the Seabees
Lay a-snooze in their hooches.

All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.
All the Seabees were all dreaming sweet gravel dreams without care

When he came to the first house in the square.
"This is stop number one," The old Grinchy Claus hissed

Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Seabeess' feast!
He took the Seabee-pudding! He took the roast beast!
He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash.
Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Seabee-hash!

Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.
"And NOW!" grinned the Grinch, "I will make sure no gravel arrives…

And the Grinch grabbed the DSN line, and started to call

When he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast, and he saw a small Seabee!
Little Seabee Burke, who was not more than 22.

The Grinch had been caught by this little Seabee daughter
Who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water.
She stared at the Grinch and said, "Santy Claus, why,
"Why are you taking our Gravel? WHY?"

But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!

"Why, my sweet little Seabee," the fake Santy Claus lied,
"There's a stone in this gravel, that’s sharp on one side.
"So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear.
"I'll fix it up there. Then I'll bring gravel back here."

And his fib fooled the Seabee. Then he patted her head
And he got her a drink and he sent her to bed.
And when Seabee Burke went to bed with her cup,
He went to DSN line and called the gravel convoy off!

Then the last thing he took
Was the log for their fire.
Then he went up the chimney himself, the old liar.
On their walls he left nothing but hooks, and some wire.

And the one speck of food
That he left in the house
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.

Then
He did the same thing
To the other Seabees

Leaving crumbs
Much too small
For the other Seabees' mouses!

It was quarter past dawn...
All the Seabees, still a-bed
All the Seabees, still a-snooze
When he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their gravel!

"Pooh-pooh to the Seabees!" he was grinch-ish-ly humming.
"They're finding out now that no gravel coming!
"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!
"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two
"The all the Seabeess down in Seabee-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!"

"That's a noise," grinned the Grinch,
"That I simply must hear!"
So he paused. And the Grinch put a hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow...

But the sound wasn't sad!
Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn't be so!
But it WAS merry! VERY!

He stared down at Seabee-ville!
The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then he shook!
What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Seabee down in Seabee-ville, the tall and the small,
Was working! Without any gravel at all!
He HADN'T stopped gravel from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came from the country of Jordan, not local at all,

Those damn Seabees didn’t have to go that far after all!

And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe gravel," he thought, "doesn't come from a Marshalling area.
"Maybe gravel...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

And what happened then...?
Well...in Seabee-ville they say
That the Grinch's small heart
Grew three sizes that day!

And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light
And he brought back the gravel! And the food for the feast!
And he...

...HE HIMSELF...!
The Grinch carved the roast beast!

Pearl Harbor Survivor "I thought my life might end that day"

When it comes to history, I prefer first person accounts. The truest sense of what happened and the impact it had is gained from the direct witnesses to history.

On December 7th, 1941 the lives of all of our nation's citizens and the world were changed.

Here is one person's account of what he saw.  God Bless our WW2 Veterans as they will soon all pass into history and we will miss their courage and their first person account of history.

Pearl Harbor attack frozen in time for 91-year-old Navy veteran

(JASON REED, REUTERS / December 6, 2012)

 

Suzanne RoigReuters

4:43 p.m. CST, December 6, 2012

HONOLULU (Reuters) - At age 19, Delton Walling agreed to have an injured finger surgically removed so he could enlist in the U.S. Navy, and went on to see action in most major World War Two battles in the Pacific.

But after years in combat, and a lifetime of joy and loss, the memories of one event stand out above all others for Navy veteran Walling - the chaotic Sunday morning he spent in a Pearl Harbor signal tower as Japanese bombers pounded the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Walling, 91, a retired tree trimmer and paper mill worker now widowed and living in California, says returning to Pearl Harbor this week, as he has for 25 of the past 71 years since the attack, transports him back in time, to a day when his personal history and the nation's history merge - December 7, 1941.

"You just can't take that day out of me," he reflected in an interview with Reuters.

"I thought my life might end that day," he recounted. "We were devastated. Everything was blowing up right in your face. We were taught that we were the best, but the Japanese far outclassed us."

Walling is making his latest Pearl Harbor pilgrimage in a wheelchair, fitted with a pacemaker and hearing aids.

He is one of an estimated 1,000 Pearl Harbor survivors still alive today, and one of just 50 expected to attend services on Friday on the Hawaiian island of Oahu commemorating the surprise Japanese air and naval assault that claimed 2,390 American lives and drew the United States into World War Two.

Nearly half of those who perished were sailors aboard the stricken battleship USS Arizona, the sunken remains of which lie beneath a platform that forms the centerpiece of the World War Two Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a site administered by the National Park Service.

The 90-minute raid also left 1,178 people wounded, sank or heavily damaged a dozen U.S. warships and destroyed 323 aircraft, badly crippling the Pacific fleet.

'LIKE SYNCHRONIZED DANCERS OVERHEAD'

At the time, Walling was a petty officer and signalman attached to the battleship USS Pennsylvania, then dry-docked in port, and was assigned to the communications force of Admiral Husband E. Kimmell, commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Walling had been scheduled to report for duty that day at 4 p.m. local time, but while out on a run at 6:30 a.m. he decided to stop by the communications tower to collect on a debt from a fellow sailor who was about to ship out.

Arriving at the tower, he was informed that an American destroyer, the USS Ward, had just sunk a Japanese mini-sub encountered at the mouth of the harbor, an incident that came to be regarded as the first American shots fired in the war.

"By the time the communications were sent, it was 7:56 a.m. and that's when the first (Japanese) bombs hit on the ramp at Ford Island. It hit all the planes lined up on the runway. In 15 minutes, the (battleships) USS Utah and Oklahoma rolled over, and the (battleship) Arizona blew up at 8:05 a.m."

Once the Japanese bombers were on full attack, Walling said, he never left his post, transmitting and decoding messages for 14 or 15 hours straight at the signal tower.

"We were watching all these planes overhead, the oil on the water burning, the men. The Japanese pilots were like synchronized dancers overhead. We were standing at the tower, devastated," he said.

Walling, who now resides in Wallace, California, near Sacramento, said the precise times and details of events are seared in his memory, something that the passage of seven decades, the birth and death of his daughter and the death of his wife, have been unable to dampen.

"We were thinking what else is coming," Walling recalled of the bewilderment he and his fellow sailors felt in the immediate aftermath of the raid.

"It was a terrible scene. We were devastated and mad and afraid because we didn't know what was coming next."

The next day, he was promoted to chief petty officer.

When Walling joined the Navy, he was barely 19. A former boxer, he had an injured finger that almost kept him from enlisting. A military doctor told him the only way he could enlist was to cut it off. So he did.

"I joined the Navy because I didn't like the idea of being in a foxhole," Walling said. "I was in almost every battle in the Pacific. If there was an island involved in the war, I was there."

SALUTING THE FALLEN

And now, without any family left, Walling said, his last wish is to have his ashes scattered after he dies among those of fellow sailors at the site where the battleship Utah sank.

As has been the practice with past anniversary ceremonies, visiting veterans, relatives and dignitaries will bow their heads on Friday for a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the time when the attack began, as military jets soar overhead in a "missing-man" formation.

The destroyer USS Michael Murphy and the submarine USS Tucson will render a salute to survivors and fallen servicemen, and the morning service will end with a "walk of honor" by the attending World War Two veterans, all of them in their late 80s and early 90s.

The turnout by Pearl Harbor veterans on Friday was expected to be only about half what it was last year, when about 100 showed up, half as many as attended the previous year

The Gateway Pundit - Obama Honored Fallen SEALs By Sending Their Parents a Form Letter Signed By Electric Pen

When members of the miltary pass away in the service of our country, it is SOP that they get a letter from the President to ensure they know that the sacrifice is something important to the country and our Commander-In-Chief.

The link enclosed shows that on August 6, 2011, when our country lost 30 US service members in a Chinook that was ambushed and shot down by the enemy in Wardak Afghanistan, the families all got the same form letter signed by an autopen from the President.

What's worse, the letters were all the same. The article states it plainly:

" After the deadliest single loss of US forces in Afghanistan, Barack Obama sent out form letters to the parents."

Our Warriors and there families deserve better and our country deserves better than a failed former community activist who has no place being our leader as he doesn't know what the word " LEADERSHIP" means.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/08/obama-honored-fallen-seals-by-sending-their-parents-a-form-letter-signed-by-electric-pen/

Read the article and then make sure to vote this pathetic excuse of a failed politician out of office. Do it for our country, and do it for our servicemen & women.

USS Constitution to set sail on Sunday Aug 19th

In 1997, I was honored to be a member of the crew of USS CONSTITUTION when she set sail for the first time in 116 years in honor of her Bicentennial Celebration.  It was a wonderful time and she sailed brilliantly.  When it was done, all wondered when we would be able to sail her again.

Well that day has come and USS CONSTITUTION will sail again this Sunday to commenorate the 200th Anniversary of her victory over HMS Guerriere.

Make us proud old girl....I only wish I could be there.  Alas I am otherwise occupied presently in the sandbox.

USS Constitution to set sail on Sunday
Brockton Enterprise

BOSTON — The world's oldest commissioned warship will set sail on Sunday for the first time since 1997 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the  victory over HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812.

The victory of the USS Constitution in this battle marked the first time a US ship defeated a Royal Navy frigate at or nearly equal size. It's also the battle in which the ship earned the nickname, "Old Ironsides."

The ship will be towed from its berth at the Charlestown Navy Yard at 10 a.m. Once Constitution is at President Roads, between Deer Island and Long Island, at 11:30 a.m., the crew will set up to four sails and make toward open water for about 10 minutes. 
 
After leaving President Roads, a 21-gun salute exchange with the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s 101st Field Artillery Regiment will then be fired toward Fort Independence on Castle Island at approximately 1 p.m.

The 101st Field Artillery Regiment is the oldest regiment in the Army. Sails will be furled at 2:30 p.m. and crew members will depart the ship at 3 p.m. Constitution will re-open for free public tours at 4 p.m.

The last time Constitution sailed under its own power was to honor the ship’s bicentennial.
 
At10 a.m. Saturday, just outside the Constitution's berth, the U.S Postal Service will unveil the USS Constitution Forever Stamp. The original painting used for the design of the stamp is on view at the USS Constitution Museum.

The museum will have tables set up all weekend for visitors to write letters to service members.

Boston salutes the USS CONSTITUTION and all the men who sailed her

She is the flagship of  the US NAVY.  I was privleged to be a member of her crew in 1997 when she went undersail (untethered) for the first time in 116 years.

The ship and the men who sailed her are united in history with their ship.  The staff of the USS Constitution Museum have made an extraordinary effort to bring the history of the crew to life. 

I salute these brave men as the ship is majestic but she was only able to be the success she was because she was manned by men who knew their duty and served on her decks, in peace and war.

BRAVO ZULU to the crew and captains of the USS CONSTITUTION - You made her proud.


Majesty and history
Constitution's forgotten crew and the War of 1812
 By Peter Schworm
 Boston Globe Staff / July 1, 2012

Undefeated in battle, a wooden vessel so stalwart it became known as Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution is perhaps the nation’s most famous warship, an abiding symbol of national pride and naval might.

Yet for two centuries, the hundreds of ordinary sailors who served aboard the great frigate during its most famous victories have been forgotten by history, with little known of their lives or sacrifice. They were celebrated in their day, honored with parades on their triumphant returns to Boston. But as the ship’s legend grew, they faded to obscurity.

Now, as Boston joins the nation in commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812, their stories are finally being told.

After a decade of poring over archives here and abroad, researchers at the USS Constitution Museum in Charlestown have pieced together the lives of hundreds of seamen and Marines who served on the Constitution during the war. Among the many characters are James Bennett, a freeborn black man who plugged holes from enemy shot and was later killed in the Battle of Lake Erie, and Asa Curtis of Scituate, the ship’s gunner, who was “weatherbeaten and scarred from many years at sea.”

Often starting with little more than a name, researchers spent long hours combing through pension applications and military documents, personal correspondence, and British prisoner-of-war records, to compile profiles of the sailors and provide a fuller picture of the ship’s history.

“It’s always been the missing piece of the story,” said Anne Grimes Rand, the museum’s president, as she walked through an exhibit that highlights individual sailors and the experience of life at sea.
It was a daunting task, one that scholars warned was nearly impossible given the passage of time. But the museum staff, joined by a host of volunteers, pursued the project with a sense of obligation, determined to give the men their due.

“The Constitution is talked about as if it’s its own agent,” said Sarah Watkins, the museum’s director of collections and learning. “We wanted to tell the story of the men who sailed, who steered, who fought.”

Armed with a solid list of crewmen, researchers began searching through archives for leads, relying heavily on pension records and protection certificates that seamen used as proof of citizenship.
“It was like a passport of the day,” said Lauren McCormack, the museum’s bicentennial programs coordinator. “And in the pension records, you really had to tell your story.”

Those archives often provided a foothold that led researchers to other documents — marriage and death records, wills, and census records.

Slowly, breakthroughs came, and lives came into focus. As researchers learned more, they were drawn into the stories, forging bonds with the figures from long ago.

“They started out as names, and they evolved into individuals,” Watkins said. “For us, it’s not just an intellectual pursuit, it’s an emotional connection.”

The bond was particularly strong with David Debias, a freeborn black from Beacon Hill who was just 8 when he joined the crew, becoming a servant for a master’s mate.

Debias was among the crew chosen to sail on the HMS Levant after it was captured by the Constitution. That vessel was in turn seized by the British on its return to the United States. He was imprisoned in Barbados for a few months before being sent home to his family.

He was discharged in 1815, earning $32 for his seven-month stint.

But Debias was soon back on the seas again, joining the merchant fleet and then reenlisting on the Constitution. In 1838, he left his ship while it was docked in Alabama and was seized in Mississippi as a runaway slave.

Researchers found a letter that a lawyer for Debias wrote the secretary of the Navy, asking for proof of his military service. But they couldn’t find a response and worried the path had gone cold.
“We all wondered, ‘What happened to David?’ ” Watkins said.

Then one day, the National Archives called, saying they had tracked down the Navy’s response affirming his military service. When the news came, yelps of delight filled the museum’s library. They never found out whether he regained his freedom. But there was hope.

Another riveting, if tragic, story was that of Philip Brimblecom. Born in 1786 in Marblehead, he grew up fishing cod, and in 1809 he sailed on his uncle’s schooner to Spain. But the ship was taken off the coast of Spain and impounded by the French government. Brimblecom went to work aboard a French merchant ship, but then it was seized, and Brimblecom was jailed in England.

He eventually escaped and found an America-bound ship. But by this point the war had begun, and Brimblecom was captured again. In September 1812, he was exchanged as a prisoner of war.
Undeterred, he signed up for the Constitution the same month. During a battle in December 1812, a cannonball took away his arm at the elbow.

“Everything bad that can happen in seafaring happened to him,” said Matthew Brenckle, the museum’s research historian.

He could not find work, and wrote the Navy seeking a job and increase in his $6 monthly pension.
Brimblecom was given a job in the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1816, but later wrote and asked them to “look after a poor distressed crippled sailor.” He died at 38.

Such stories show the dangers and unforgiving nature of life at sea, and the sacrifice of those who served during what many consider the country’s second war of independence.

Yet hundreds of crew members remain just names on a muster, and researchers say their work is far from done. As word of the project has spread, descendants of sailors have contacted the museum with potential leads, and researchers are hopeful they will continue to make progress.

“We find out more practically every single day,” Brenckle said.

Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com