This is a great story to read which will show you how justice should be handled sometime within the community. I think Valley Falls may be on to something here.
This is a red, white and blue village that is still seeing red after a flag that flew over Iraq was burned by a 21-year-old.
The payback? He was publicly humiliated last Sunday by being duct-taped to the flagpole of Veterans of Foreign War 1938 say he desecrated Sept. 18.
The bottom line is that the VFW post witnessed an infraction against their property, so they enacted a punishment that they felt was just and fair.
The 21-year-old appeared intoxicated when he entered the VFW post on the day of the alleged act, Normile said. When the man was refused service for not having a proper ID, he ran out in a fit of anger. He cut the rope of the flag, which had once flown over troops in Iraq, and ignited it with a cigarette lighter.
Two days later, Normile said the man was forced to sit in the sun pilloried for six hours as townspeople gathered across the street for a youth soccer picnic. A sign was hung around his neck detailing what he had done. It recalled the Middle Ages punishment, subjecting him to public humiliation and scorn.
"He’ll never disrespect the flag again, I can tell you that," Normile said on Friday.
And apparently the local police don’t see a problem with the way the VFW handled the situation either.
State troopers and Rensselaer County sheriffs deputies said no charges had been filed by either the VFW post or the man
Scum of the earth Lynndie England is suing Gary Winkler, the author of the recent biography “Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs That Shocked the World.”
What’s interesting here is that England and her representation are actually blaming Winkler for the lack of sales because England wasn’t listed as an author on the front of the book. Really?! What right-minded, educated individual would actually think that anything with England’s name on it would sell. The reason, I think, the book is doing so poorly now is that England is going around to book signings as if she WERE an author.
Winkler denies any wrongdoing and says he welcomes a Sept. 23 hearing in Hampshire County Circuit Court. Check out interview with the book’s author, Gary Winkler, at our radio show and podcast page.
Debbie Lee, the mother of fallen hero Marc Allen Lee, has been hacked. Her son was the first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq. She has sacrificed a lot for this country as a Gold Star Mom. Her advocacy has taken from DC to the halls of Berkeley City Council to a Tim McGraw song presence. She’s the president of “America’s Mighty Warriors” whose mission is to “honor, thank, support, and encourage the troops and their families and remember the sacrifice of my “Mighty Warrior” Marc Alan Lee, the first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq.”
But, that doesn’t mean anything to those peacenik hippies that could care less. After all, “Marc wouldn’t have died had we not illegally invaded Iraq.” Instead of just opposing her, they’ve hacked into her Facebook page and taken control of her email sending out racial emails and posting disturbing comments on her profile.
Online retailer All-American Direct continues their Laptops for Flat Tops contest this month. Two military families will win laptops with webcams with an additional webcam for the soldier to help improve communication during deployment. To enter, submit a 400 word essay detailing your story of need and why your family should be chosen out of thousands of Americans to win the laptop. You can also submit a one minute video to YouTube. For full details and to enter go to www.allamericandirect.com/military and good luck.
July 29, 2009 By You Served Editorial Staff
Posted in Military News, News
Military Basebook, a Facebook application for military members, is growing by nearly 200 members each day.
RELEASE:
Military members are finding it easier than ever to stay connected to family members and friends across the globe thanks to “Basebook,” a new social networking tool that utilizes social networking site Facebook.
The web-based application allows members to post information about when and where they’ve served and connect with others who served on the same bases or with those who have similar military backgrounds or experiences.
Basebook has already struck a chord with hundreds of military families. More than 1,000 people have added the application in its first three weeks, with military spouses helping lead the charge.
“Long distances and constant relocations can take a toll on military members and their families,” said Basebook creator Josh Kayser. “Basebook is a great way for loved ones to stay in touch with their soldiers. But it’s also a simple way to create an online community rooted in mutual support.”
Basebook members begin by creating a personal profile, which can include information on medals, ribbons, badges and other awards they’ve received. Next, members input their base history, listing where and when they have served or if they are preparing to relocate. The application then helps match members by their base histories or even their similar awards and honors.
In addition, Basebook also features special pages for its most popular military bases. More than 600 people have already become fans of Fort Bragg in North Carolina, which is home to the 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army Special Operations command.
The application is open to all active and retired military members and their families. Users can log on via Facebook or through Basebook’s website at www.militarybasebook.com.
In a move to assure the American people that it can prioritize its workload with all the grace of a monkey banging on a type writer; Congress recently decided to draw its attention away from real problems and focus on making a change to something that I’m sure has been bugging many of us: The Homeland Security Terror Alert Graphic.
The system was created by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3, six months after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, to provide a “comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people.” It’s basically the Crayola Crayon Color Chart for American Populace Freak Out. I can understand, to an extent, why Congress would want to ratify this visual metric of American Security so I have decided to help them out in their design process. I have combed the internet in search of design alterations to The Homeland Security Terror Alert System in order to give Congress a look at all of the options available.
Some of the ones I found were hyperbolic in both color scheme and warning convention.
Some of them reflected the pop-culture sensibilities of our modern world
And for reasons I have to been unable to discern; one of them revolved around hot dogs.
And while each of these designs has merit I think that they may still be overly complicated and in some cases confusing. I believe that any infographic used to alert the American public to possible danger should be both simple and to the point. Which is why I’ve designed my own version that I’ll be sending off to my Congressman/woman/cymbal banging monkey as soon as this post hits the internet.
Following this land mark decision Congress has promised that it will appoint a $14million dollar committee to review and revise the kids menu at Denny’s to include more pictures, a wider selection of food choices and, according to one Congressman who wanted to remain nameless, “A maze that doesn’t take an hour and a half to finish, causing me to lose all my concentration and spill my ‘moons over my hammy’ all over my lap.”
This past week there was a murder-homicide that occurred inside the PX at Ft. Lewis. My son and his wife are stationed there, and I have two friends who are stationed there as well. Fortunately no one I know personally was involved or in the PX when it happened. All we know at this point is a retired soldier, aged 59, walked into the PX and opened fire on a civilian, female, employee. He killed her and then turned the gun on himself. He died later that day at the hospital. The PX was full of shoppers when this happened. The murder suicide was witnessed by women and children.
The story is horrible. It’s tragic. I am actually pleased to see that the main stream media has not made more of it than it was. I wish I could say the same thing about the gossip and the rumor pushers both inside the installation and out. Within minutes the rumor mill started and lips were flapping. The first speculation was the man was a young Iraqi veteran who killed his cheating wife. That shifted to the man being a Vietnam Veteran who killed a random woman. The story grew in insanity. I had to wait until I saw some consistent local reporting before I felt like I knew what really happened.
Are our lives so starved for drama we feel the need to take an already horrific crime scene and add to it? Why in the world do we insert ourselves into these kinds of things by gossiping and spreading stories?
The story gets worse. Not the story about the retired soldier and the woman he murdered — that couldn’t get any worse. The story of gossip and careless words gets worse. I peeked at the comments being made on the online newspaper by civilians in that area about our military. Apparently military bases have a fair share of gossips and story spreaders, but our civilian neighborhoods are not lacking either. Everyone was an expert on what happened, how the man’s “veteran status” (not confirmed at that point if he was a vet or not) affected him, and why we should disarm all veterans. Of course no one addressed the fact that civilians committing murders FAR out numbers those committed by military members.
Ideas, stories and words have consequences. We are far too careless as a culture — I will admit I have been careless before, myself. It’s a mistake I am trying hard to never fall into again. We all feel entitled to our opinion. Anytime we feel entitled to something we divorce the reality of consequences and responsibility that goes with the thing we feel entitled to. Speech is a right. Responsibility is innate with every right we exercise.
I was cleaning off my camera from our vacation to Chattanooga and found some photos I took a few months back that I wanted to blog about and just got busy.
In May, Roush Racing visited Redstone Arsenal. The purpose of the visit was to talk about the meshing of racing technology with the needs of the Army. Many safety features used in NASCAR have been incorporated into Army equipment and vice versa. Roush landed on the base in his own P-51D Mustang plane.
While at the Arsenal, he set aside some time to have lunch with the troops, sign autographs and answer questions. Many of the troops are avid NASCAR fans and ecstatic about the opportunity. Mr. Roush signed over 600 autographs during his visit to Redstone for both Soldiers and civilians. He signed everything from pictures, to T-shirts, to die-cast cars, and even dashboards.
Mustang fans were so happy to hear he was there that an impromptu car show started in the parking lot with over 30 Mustangs showing up during the session. One Soldier even asked Mr. Roush to sign his brand new 2008 Ford Mustang.
Here are some photos of Mr. Roush interacting with the troops at the dining facility.
I also took a moment to interview some of the Soldiers that had an opportunity to meet with him and get an autograph using my handy-dandy You Served Flip Camera. This first video is just a simple video of Jack Roush signing a Soldier’s new Mustang (how do they afford these things?)
After the signing was complete, I interviewed the owner of the Mustang. I apologize that the video is unedited. I also should apologize for asking him about “Mr. Fenway”! What was that all about?!
Twitter has been an amazing source of information out of Iran since the presidential election in that country. Tensions are boiling over and reports of violence are flowing out faster than news organizations can keep up with them. These events have lead to a lot of speculation amongst the people I work with on a day to day basis. We all agree the situation in Iran is too much to stomach, but what can America do?
At this point, our government hasn’t taken the tough stance that I would have hoped we would. The position of President Obama is hardening, but it is far from the outrage that we should be expressing. The Iranian regime is guilty of oppressing their citizen’s, barbaric violence, and possibly outright election fraud. The Iranian people are standing up for what they believe in, and that is a good thing. Their protest must continue if they want to have real change in their government. They must not rule out physical action and retaliation against the regime if their will continues to be oppressed.
Direct military action against Iran has been a topic of discussion for some time. Right now we can’t fight that battle. Our military is already fighting in a two front war and adding a third could be catastrophic. As forces continue to draw down in Iraq over the next several years, they will be needed in Afghanistan to fight the battle there.
Iran’s aggressive rhetoric and nuclear ambitions will eventually become too much. Israel is routinely the target of rhetoric and would very likely be the target of a nuclear warhead should Iran be allowed to build one. Israel has been known in the past to take aggressive action against weapons manufacturing that would be used against them, and that day is coming in regards to Iran. If that day comes while the current administration is in office, will we stand by our ally or condemn their actions?
Iran will continue to be a thorn in the side of America until their nuclear programs are halted for good and they outcast the extremists amongst them. I hope that happens soon.
As many of you have heard, Ed McMahon passed away today. Many of us remember him from his years on The Tonight Show and Star Search, but what many do not realize is he served in the United States Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Reserve. He retired from the Reserves in 1966 at the rank of Colonel.
When the United States began gearing up for World War II, McMahon wanted to become a Marine fighter pilot. Since the Navy’s V-5 program required two years of college, he enrolled in Boston College. When the Navy relaxed the two-year requirement, McMahon dropped out of school and signed up. In early 1943, he first went to a civilian-run Wartime Training School in Texarkana where the Navy evaluated cadets’ potential by checking them out in a Piper Cub. Then came the three-month Preflight School at Athens, Georgia. McMahon received primary training at Dallas and intermediate training at Pensacola. McMahon received the single engine carrier syllabus and was assigned to the Marines. After receiving his commission and wings in early 1945, McMahon was sent to the Corsair Operational Training Unit at Lee Field, Green Cove Springs, Florida. Upon completion of training, he was “plowed back” and became an instructor in the same unit. On the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, McMahon received orders to join the Marine carrier program on the West Coast. His orders were cancelled and he returned to civilian life.
After McMahon graduated from Catholic University, he got a job in television in Philadelphia. In two years, he had become Philadelphia’s top TV personality. In 1952, McMahon got his big break when he was offered a job in New York with CBS; however, he was recalled into the Marine Corps due to the Korean War. After several months of training at Miami and El Toro, McMahon arrived in Korea in February 1953. He flew 85 artillery-spotting missions in the Cessna OE Bird Dog before returning home in September 1953.
Andrea Shea King interviewed Ed on 30 November 2007 about his time in the Marines and his life on television. The interview isn’t too long, but it is a good listen for more on his time in the Marines.
