By Claire
Posted in Podcast, Spouse and Family
Tomorrow I will be airing an interview with Operation Gratitude Founder Carolyn Blashek along with service member volunteer SSG Cowie and Blue Star mom Marty Martin. SSG Cowie saw the morale building of Operation Gratitude box delivery up close during a tour in Iraq, and Marty Martin recalls her son’s report of how Operation Gratitude touched the Sailors he was deployed with. Many have been touched by this wonderful, Troop supporting organization. To date Operation Gratitude has mailed out over 417,000+ care packages to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other places our service members are deployed. Nearly a half-million packages sent and counting!
Join us at 1:00pm EDT, to hear Carolyn’s story about what compelled her to support the troops in both word and deed tomorrow HERE at the Show Homepage. I will have a chat room open, but the folks from Operation Gratitude will not be able to join us for the chat session. They will be… well, packing boxes tomorrow!
and, if you would like more information about Operation Gratitude visit their Home Page HERE.
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April 23, 2009 By CJ
Posted in Uncategorized
This is an inspirational story and really what this country stands for.
BOSTON (USASOC News Service, April 22, 2009) – Behind the story lines of the 113th running of the Boston Marathon there is a patriotic story to be found.
Forget the fact the Boston Marathon is held on Patriot’s Day, a local holiday set aside for the anniversary of the Revolutionary War battles at Lexington and Concord.
There is the story of two close friends and Special Forces Soldiers who were both wounded in combat— one in Iraq, the other Afghanistan. Both are recipients of Silver Star Medals for their actions in combat, single-leg amputees and official finishers of the Boston Marathon.
Maj. Kent Solheim from the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School and Staff Sgt. John Walding from the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) completed the marathon on hand cycles. Hand cycles are a type of bike in which the rider pedals with his arms instead of his legs. Solheim finished in 1:50:23 and Walding was right behind him at 1:52:53 accomplishing their joint goal of finishing in less than two hours.
Solheim was wounded in Karbala, Iraq, while he was assigned to the 3rd SFG. His team fast-roped onto its target and in the gun battle that ensued, Solheim was shot four different times. Originally, doctors tried to save his leg; 20 months later, he made the tough decision to have his right leg amputated.
That was seven weeks ago.
Walding was wounded in Afghanistan on April 5, 2008, while assaulting an objective. A sniper’s round hit Walding in lower leg, instantly amputating his right leg.
From there, Walding folded his leg into his crotch and tied it with his bootlace. With the help of his team, he later made it down the side of the mountain.
Walding spent four months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, D.C., before deciding to return to Fort Bragg. In February, he had to return to WRAMC for receive a higher level of care.
“My rehabilitation progress has been phenomenal,” said Walding. “Since returning to Walter Reed, I’ve gone from literally not being able to walk a full day without my back hurting to being able to run a seven minute, thirty second mile last week.”
Walter Reed has a strong team of therapist and experience that is passed down to every Soldier who passes through there, Solheim said. The rehabilitation process is a long road, but support is essential to that process.
While at WRAMC, Solheim and Walding met up again—both were in the same unit previously, Company B, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group.
Solheim and Walding know the physical therapy helped, but they believe their friendship pushed them further.
“I really believe God put us together for a reason,” Walding explained. “If he had not been here with me, I would not have pushed as hard as I did. I still would have hit the gym, still have done the cardio, I would have still ran and done what I was supposed to; we feed off each other. It really has doubled what my intentions are!”
It’s huge to have a partner when you are going through something like this, Solheim said.
“John and I are able to work out together. We both support each other and have been close friends here. I push him, he pushes me; it’s a mutual thing. Both of us have achieved high levels of success and our own goals because we have been able to push each other.”
“You have to have that kind of support behind you,” Walding said. “We’re Green Berets, we’re not lazy people. When you take a Green Beret and say you can’t walk anymore, it’s not just the physical aspect, it’s the mental aspect of, ‘Man, I can’t go run today’ and it’s a lot to take in. I gave three years of my life to get this hat and join the brotherhood, and now I may not have that job anymore.”
The Green Berets not only found motivation in each other, but in their families as well.
Family is essential to recovery; from the wife, the children, parents or just someone who supports you, it’s one of the most important factors in making a comeback, Solheim said.
“To have the support of your wife and kids back home and show you this is why you’re here is essential,” Walding began to explain. “I don’t necessarily get healthy to get back to an (Operational Detachment), I mean, that is where my heart is, but when my son is 12-or 15-years-old and wants to play football, Daddy can run around and play football. When my daughter wants to play tennis, Dad can play tennis. It’s not their fault this happened to us, but having their support is the best motivation anyone could ever ask for.”
“We weren’t training for the Boston Marathon when this started,” Walding said. “We were just training so we could play with our kids again. It’s not our kids’ fault that we got shot, and going through this together, it doesn’t matter who finishes first, I couldn’t have done it without Kent and we will finish together.”
The Soldiers had help getting into the race.
It would not have been possible without Team Achilles – Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans, said Walding. People don’t understand how difficult it was to get hand cycles into the Boston Marathon, out of 26,385 participants, 20 were hand cycles.
“That’s because of Team Achilles, they fought to get us in here not only getting us the spots, but we didn’t have to qualify either,” he continued. “We just have to say, ‘I have an interest to get on a hand crank and do 26.2 miles, and they make it happen.’ They are truly an enabler for people who want to get healthy.”
The Freedom Team program is run through WRAMC. Achilles makes the hand cranks available to the Wounded Warriors with the goal of getting them back on their feet and looking at other opportunities the athletes have in life.
“Having lost a leg, you can’t swim because you have sutures in your leg; you can’t ride a bike because you can’t wear a prosthetic, you obviously can’t run or walk, so any type of cardiovascular activity you want to do is going to come from your upper body.”
“I just got tired of the exercises (Walter Reed) has in the clinic, so I just decided to try the hand cranks. I took one to a local park in D.C. and started riding on a daily basis,” Solheim said. “I was there with Staff Sgt. Walding, and it was just something we started doing together. It’s a been a tool for us to get out of the hospital, outdoors every day, and now it has lead to the opportunity to do the race.”
Originally the Boston Marathon was not a part of the process; it was something the Soldiers did on their road to recovery in order to keep their fitness up. Prior to competing in the Boston Marathon, Solheim and Walding had only been riding the hand cranks for approximately seven weeks.
The Boston Marathon is a large accomplishment, but the men have bigger goals, getting back to life.
“I’m no longer in the hospital fighting for my life. Now, I’m getting back to life,” Solheim said. “I think the Boston Marathon is kind of a capstone to what we have been doing. We’ve trained together, worked out together, and in my mind, we’ll finish together. Whether he is in front of me or behind me, it’s insignificant. We started this together and we’re going to finish together.”
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April 22, 2009 By CJ
Posted in Uncategorized
Army Chaplain Capt. Ed Choi takes great pride in serving as a father to his three children and as a father figure to the Soldiers he counsels. Born in Korea, Choi recalls hearing stories throughout his childhood about the sacrifices U.S. service members made during the Korean War and these stories sparked his interest in serving his country. Now an American citizen, he and his wife, who share a Korean heritage, want to pass down the lessons and values their own parents taught them. Despite the transitionary challenges a life in the Army has presented them, they work hard to ensure no matter where they are physically located that they maintain a consistent home life for their children.
“I think the Army life can be challenging for kids because of the separations during deployments and moving every two to three years, but overall the military has many benefits for children,” said Choi. “A lot depends on the parents and how they help their children adapt.”
Choi credits his family with serving as his own support team during both of his deployments, and particularly appreciates the sacrifices his wife, Kathryn, made. Even though she was caring for their three children on her own, they always made time to pray and send letters. Choi says those words of encouragement were a great source of strength to him, as he on a daily basis searched for words of inspiration and guidance for his own Soldiers.
During his most recent deployment to Iraq with the 26th Infantry of the 1st Infantry Division, Choi was responsible for providing pastoral care, counseling Soldiers and conducting religious services. On his way to provide grief counseling to his platoon after an accident earlier in the day on June 21, 2007, Choi’s own vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) before he reached the base. Although injured, the Chaplain returned to duty the next day knowing that his mission to provide guidance outweighed his own physical pain. For his meritorious service on that day, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.
Upon transferring to the 36th Signal Battalion in June 2008, the family was pleased to learn they would be stationed in Korea. The couple was especially excited to have the opportunity to teach their children their native language and immerse them in their heritage. Choi is proud that his children, Titus (13), Faythe (12) and Emily (8), have been able to travel and experience more than many children their age.
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By Claire
Posted in Spouse and Family
It makes sense to me that a child raised in a home where duty and service is practiced as a way of life, would follow and do likewise. Military children are exposed to adults around them who live their lives in service to their Country and who sacrifice daily for the freedom and safety of others. Children learn by example, and the following story is a beautiful example of the values of service reflected in a military child. Congratulations Brittany Wallace!
Operation Homefront Names First Military Child Award Winner
Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs
Date: 04.22.2009
EXCERPT
WASHINGTON – An Army family member has earned $5,000, a laptop computer and a trip to the nation’s capital as the first Military Child Award winner for a national troop-support organization.
Brittany Wallace, 17, will receive her award from Texas-based Operation Homefront at a ceremony, April 29.
Wallace was among 450 military children from 8 to 18 who competed for the award. Jennifer Cernoch, Operation Homefront’s Texas chapter president, nominated the San Antonio teenager.
“I’ve seen the actual, genuine empathy that Brittany has, not only for her own family, but also for other wounded warrior families, especially their kids,” Cernoch said. “She has been such an inspiration to the kids in helping them cope with their fathers’ injuries. From her babysitting to just being there, she’s become a wonderful role model.”
Operation Homefront members voted online for three finalists — Wallace, Adam Soisson of South Bend, Ind., and Mollie Danel of Camp Lejeune, N.C. — and a panel of judges selected one for the top award.
“Our selection criteria included the child’s circumstances, hardships, challenges overcome, community activities and the example he or she sets for others,” Kerry McGinley, associate editor for Operation Homefront, said. “We were really moved by Brittany’s giving nature, her commitment to her family as well as other wounded warrior families, and all that she’s accomplished despite the challenges of her situation.”
Wallace’s challenges began in 2007 when her father, Army Staff Sgt. Robert Henline, was the lone survivor of a roadside bomb in Iraq that burned 38 percent of his body and all but destroyed his left arm. Despite his life-changing injuries, the soldier said, it was his daughter who fought the harder battle.
“She helped her mom a lot during our difficult time,” Henline said. “She had a lot on her plate. She never complained, and never felt sorry for herself. She took over caring for her siblings. We were, and are, so proud of her.” CONTINUE READING
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April 21, 2009 By CJ
Posted in Uncategorized
Shut up! That’s right. I’m willing to bet money that none of you idjits out there complaining about “harsh interrogation techniques” or “torture” have never done an interrogation in your life. You’ve never had to sacrifice anything in their lives except two-ply toilet paper once or twice.
First of all, this false argument that torture doesn’t work – yeah, it’s false. If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be used century after century.
Second, the techniques used by the United States military and intelligence agencies are NOT torture. It’s no different than how they’ve redefined the term “sexual assault”. It used to mean an ASSAULT of someone in a sexual manner. It involved rape, penetration, inappropriate touching, non-consensual sex, and child molestation. When this wasn’t occurring at levels high enough to get proper government funding, the term was redefined to include voyeurism and exhibitionism. That wasn’t good enough, so it was further defined to include yelling.
The same thing has happened with torture. Real torture, you see, doesn’t exist at the hands of this country. You will never find a prisoner having their fingernails pulled out, being forced to kneel on bamboo reeds, having extremities cut off, being skinned alive, or placed in an iron maiden. Since this real torture doesn’t exist, the left has had to redefine it. So, they decided that torture included such actions as waterboarding. When there weren’t enough incidents of that happening, liberals decided that we needed to redefine torture to include sleep deprivation, loud music, and standing for long periods of time. Now, we can’t even place harmless caterpillars in their cages or flush their holy books down toilets!
If this is torture, I’d like to turn my kids in IMMEDIATELY!! I can’t even describe the lack of sleep that raising three kids has caused me. Now that they’re moving into their teenage years, I’m assaulted daily with the same two songs over and over and over and over and…you get the point. The bottom line is that I’ve done interrogations, I’ve seen interrogations, and I’ve been interrogated. And while at SERE, I’ve been “tortured” over and over. As a matter of fact, I was beaten, slapped, sleep deprived, placed in a small confined box for days (which sucked thanks for my back injury), and other actions I won’t talk about.
The media is stoking the fires to get the Obama administration to begin charging the Bush administration with war crimes that don’t exist. At a press conference at the White House today with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the media was fixated on this. Even when the subject of discussion had NOTHING to do with torture or harsh interrogation techniques, the media kept egging on the administration to “do something”. At one point, Gibbs read an Ode to Obama from the Canadian Prime Minister in response to a question about Vice President Cheney’s remarks yesterday, to which the media slipped and showed their true colors: “With 60 votes we can stop a filibuster.” Did you catch that “WE” in there?
But, this is nothing new. President Obama is just doing back on yet another of his promises to “look forward” instead of back. He is bowing to the extreme left of his party. It’s interesting that Obama changed his mind after Moveon.org sends out an email demanding he “appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the architects of the Bush-era torture program” and claiming that “this isn’t about retribution or politics. It’s about accountability.” Accountability for what? For “horific” torture techniques like *gasp* “keeping detainees awake for 11 days straight”, “waterboarding” *the horror*, and “forcing prisoners into coffin-like boxes with insects” *make the bad man stop, mommy*.
The media and left in this country is going through great lengths to convince you, the American people, that none of these techniques work and that they elicit false confessions. Guess what? They don’t elicit any more false confessions than normal interrogations do. As a matter of fact, the kinder, gentler techniques of just asking questions or trying to get into the heads of the detainees also results in false statements. All of these techniques, whether direct questioning or “harsh” questioning, are all dependent upon the actual interrogator. It’s true that most good interrogators don’t even need the more harsh techniques because they can get information without it.
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April 18, 2009 By Troy
Posted in Life in the Military
http://www.military.com/news/article/soldiers-call-for-army-to-drop-berets.html
It has been eight years and soldiers are still heavily complaining about wearing of the beret. Since I wore the (maroon) beret for eight years as an airborne soldier, I was more than familiar with its shortcomings when it was made the new headgear in 2001. I enjoyed wearing it as a sign of distinction and esprit-de-corps for those years, but even in the field we quickly went to the patrol cap. In Alaska we always had one ear freeze, and only the tip of the other maybe warm (if we pulled it down far enough). We cut out almost all the cardboard inside the front, we shaved them down to almost nothing, we were always pulling on them. I will always cherish those years on jump status and wearing of the maroon beret.
However it was not a practical headgear. When we went to it Army-wide in 2001, I predicted many of the issues mentioned in the above article, but not the ACU related complaint. I must say this is the first time I have heard that one, and it is a great argument. The Army has changed the ACU coloring and design a few times since coming out with it to make sure that all parts of it and all accessories matched one of the 3 colors of the uniform. But we still have a black beret that sticks out like a “tird floating in a punch-bowl”.
Let hope the complaints are heard and the wear of the black beret every day is changed soon.
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