Category Archives: News

What is the Future of Iran?

No country in the world posses a greater threat to global stability than Iran. Their nuclear program has lead to intense sanctions on the country with many still considering the military option. Recent developments especially show how fragile the situation really is. Continue reading

Long Road Home

Many people over the last 10 years the nation has been at war have made a decision to support service members and veterans by riding bicycles and motorcyles, hiking, or driving across the nation. A new project has begun as three gentlemen start to plan the Long Road Home from Seattle to Washington, DC. Continue reading

AKO Issues ID Theft Warning

Stars and Stripes reports that Army Knowledge Online (AKO) is recommending that users monitor their credit card statements and change online passwords, especially if they used their Stratfor password with other accounts. Hackers recently published hundreds of thousands of registered email addresses and Stratfor usernames online, along with thousands of credit card numbers. If users find fraudulent activity on their credit cards, AKO recommended contacting one of the three main credit bureaus and submitting a fraud alert.  Stratfor is providing 12 months of identity theft coverage to all of its paid customers.  For more tips on avoiding financial and computer scams, visit: http://mnstr.me/A2m9Bk

Free Call Day for Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait

The VFW is sponsoring free calls for troops overseas back home. Details were posted as a Facebook event.

VFW salutes the Armed Forces with an Operation Uplink Free Call Day! Troops and hospitalized veterans in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait can call the U.S. for free for a full 24 hours on Sunday January 22, 2012.

The Free Call Day will begin at 12:01AM on January 22, and end at 11:59PM January 22 (EST).

Free Call Days are offered at more than 800 MWR internet cafes using SPAWAR located at various military installations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

To place a call:
Use regular dialing procedures using your SPAWAR prepaid PIN number. If you do not have a PIN, you can obtain one from the café manager. Upon dialing, you will hear a sponsor announcement informing you that your call is free of charge.

Take advantage of this Free Call Day and call your loved ones in the Unites States!

Feedback is welcomed and encouraged!
uplink@vfw.org

Don’t worry if operational commitments would prevent your loved one from calling home tomorrow for free. The VFW and others are sponsoring additional dates, two a month in fact, for the rest of the year! Let your deployed loved one know so they can get in line early!

Oscar Mike: Apparel With a Mission


Noah Currier served on the front lines of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and returned home safe and sound. He never expected to be confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life, but that is exactly what happen after he was in an accident 3 days after returning from Iraq. Now he and three other disabled veterans are on a mission to bring the best all-American made military apparel to your closet. They are Oscar Mike.

They have a goal to raise $20,000 to grow their product line, offer better service, and ultimately hire additional veterans. They’re raising money on Kickstarter and have raised $6,928 of their goal. That’s just over a third of the way, but they only have six days to raise the remaining $13,072. Check out their video from Kickstarter and then pledge to support their project. Pledges of $25 or more will receive some special stuff from the guys which you can see on their project page. If you like what these guys are doing, show them some support.

Troy to Appear on BBC’s World Have Your Say

You Served contributor and You Served Radio host Troy Steward will be appearing via telephone on BBC’s World Have Your Say today at 1 PM EST to discuss the video that has recently surfaced of US Marines purportedly urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters. He will be joined by John Lilyea of This Ain’t Hell and a few others. This is sure to be a great segment.

Troy has already given a brief snippet of his thoughts on the situation and you can listen to that after the break. He has also posted his reaction on his personal blog.

Continue reading

In Memoriam: Jim “Seamus” Garrahy

It is with great sadness that I post the obituary of Jim “Seamus” Garrahy. He was a Marine’s Marine and never lost the spirit of Semper Fidelis, even after spending many days and nights fighting bone cancer. I remember reading one of his longer “All Hands” emails that he wrote (he didn’t write many long entries of his own since he wasn’t what we would call tech inclined) about possibly ending All Hands. At the end of the email, he fired off a “One more thing!” like Steve Jobs would have at an Apple keynote and announced he had cancer. It seemed to be such an after thought because he knew that the disease would not take him without a fight. His motivation to beat cancer was very easy to see. Two days later, he wrote the following. Continue reading

A Major Change for You Served

Our sponsor, Veterans United Home Loans (formerly VAMC), has not had a full time employee that spent a majority of their time on the blog and radio show. I’m thrilled to announce that has changed.

I started work this morning at VU and will be managing the You Served brand. I’m going to call this change the More, More, More campaign. Here is what that will entail.

More: Posts written by me!
More: Tweets that aren’t autoposts of blog entries!
More: Facebook posts that aren’t autoposts of blog entries!

I can’t express how excited I am for my own future and the future of You Served. With your help, we can take an already great blog and radio show and crank the volume level to 11 (which is louder than 10 in case you didn’t know).

Please feel free to leave a comment here if you have any ideas or suggestions. I would love to hear what you the audience would like to see come from You Served.

Time is running out for 9/11 Survivors

The good people over at War on Terror News have a post up about the deadlines for the people who say their health was affected by the dust and debris of the World Trade Center collapse. If you are one of these people head over to http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2011/12/-911-survivors-approach-important-january-2-deadline.html and check it out.

WELCOME HOME: IRAQ VETERANS TO BE HONORED AT EDUCATION CENTER AT “THE WALL”


The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) is pleased to offer a “Welcome Home” to members of the U.S. Armed Forces returning from war in Iraq, and pledges that when completed, The Education Center at The Wall will honor the men and women who have served in all wars and are part of America’s legacy of service. VVMF and its founders emphasize that the planned Education Center will include and honor those who bore the burden of service in Iraq and who are currently fighting in Afghanistan.

“Veterans of the Iraq war are men and women who served with pride and bravery,” says VVMF President and Founder, Jan C. Scruggs. “Much like the heroes who served in Vietnam, they have done their best for their country, for each other and for the people of Iraq. They will be rightly honored at the Education Center.”

As the war has now ended in Iraq, plans are already underway for a fitting tribute. “This process will take considerable time and deliberation. However, the sacrifices made by veterans of the war in Iraq and other wars, like Afghanistan, must be honored now,” Scruggs said.

The Education Center at The Wall is designed to be a place for us all to reflect about who we are as citizens, as a people, as a country. Future generations will connect with those individuals who died for their country, ensuring that military heroes’ sacrifices will always be treasured… and that their names will never be forgotten. As currently planned, visits will begin with a walk through a history of America’s conflicts, from Bunker Hill to Baghdad. The price of freedom will be honored in the Education Center and patriotism will be shown to be timeless.

Scruggs adds that he has met with key Members of Congress, and assures that there is broad support for honoring the more recent veterans. He continues, ”But until then, their sacrifices will be remembered at the Education Center.”