Check the news lately and you will see it. Afghanistan is a war zone in case anyone did not realize it. The man himself, The Chairman of the JCS whom I met with back in December is asking and looking for more embedded trainers to be with the Afghan Army and Police. You can read the story at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004468688_apusafghanistan.html. In addition to that, there are now daily reports of all types of actions going on. From my experience only 1 in 75 TICs (aka firefights) between Coalition Forces and the enemy is reported in the news. If you head over to http://www.afghanistansun.com you will see the a better scope of all that is happening in country right now.

One of the latest stories to come out is this one, http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/211642,us-airstrikes-kill-33-civilians-says-afghan-lawmaker–summary.html which talks about a US airstrike that killed 33 people. Of course the media is pushing the Taliban propoganda and saying it is all civilian. Let me reassure you that every control measure is taken to positively ID any enemy before calling in something as destructive as an airstrike. In fact, it would get most Americans pissed off to know what we have to go through in order to call in an airstrike (something just short of a congressional act and permission from God himself). What caught my attention about this airstrike is that it is in Mata Khan District which is a place that I was in a lot. The boundary of Mata Khan is only a few miles from the FOB I stayed in and was a place I conducted many, many missions of my tour.

Many at higher levels considered this a “safe” place because they never got shot at there, and took safety in stride when sending soldiers into this area. See, even military members in country don’t even know there is a war going on half the time….and they are stationed there.

This is a cool idea and I love the shirts. I wish they weren’t so expensive. I hate spending more than $10 -$12 for a t-shirt. I love Old Navy, but I never buy anything that isn’t at least 25% off, but usually I wait until they go on sale for 50% off.

TakePride is a grassroots effort started by young artists and former members of the military to re-define what it means to support the troops by using art, style and the stories of real-life Americans at war. Their line of contemporary t-shirts has received more nationwide media attention and motivated more young Americans to be involved in this cause than any other symbol of support. TakePride donates a minimum of 20 percent of its profits to the Wounded Warrior Project.

My favorite shirts are the “1776″ and “a boy, a bear, & a Soldier” t-shirts. Today they launched the “a boy, a bear, & a Soldier” t-shirt - inspired by an amazing story told by Mike Geary, a 23-year-old Army Sergeant stationed in Iraq.

In 2005, when he was 20-years-old, Mike’s life, and the life of every member of his squad, was saved by a young Iraqi child. At the time, Mike was serving his first tour in Iraq, running combat patrols in Tikrit. A day after handing out stuffed animals to Iraqi children gathered in front of his base, Mike was traveling down a nearby highway when he noticed one of the young boys from the previous day standing with his hand raised in the middle of the road directly ahead of his Humvee convoy. Mike’s squad leader decided to pull over and dismount to investigate. The young boy grabbed the squad leader’s hand, walked him down to a spot in the road where they had been about to drive and dusted off a 155mm roadside bomb buried in the sand. It turned out to be one of three IEDs that were daisy-chained together at the distance that their Humvees traveled apart. As Mike watched the bombs being safely detonated from the side of the road, he reflected on how this little boy who he tossed a stuffed animal to just a day earlier had saved the life of every member of his squad.

“A boy, a bear & a Soldier” was designed by a phenomenally talented young illustrator named Aya Kakeda who has done projects for Nike, The New York Times & Nickelodeon. It is available in men’s and women’s sizes for $25 exclusively at www.takepride.com.

This is pretty cool and I hope it passes. I guess if you agree that the Infantry needs to be honored and want to help build the Infantry Museum while investing at the same time, this is for you. I’d buy a few:

The U.S. House passed legislation Tuesday authorizing a commemorative silver dollar to honor the U.S. Army infantry and help fund the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center at Georgia’s Fort Benning.

The legislation was introduced by Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville and co-sponsored by Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop of Albany. It still needs approval from the Senate and faces competition from other commemorative coin proposals.

The infantry coin would sell for $10, with some proceeds going to create an endowment for the Fort Benning museum, which is under construction.

The bill calls for the coin design to demonstrate the courage, pride, sacrifice, sense of duty and history of the Army infantry.

Read the entire article at The Examiner.

General William Wallace has always been my favorite General. Partly because I’m a huge fan of Braveheart and partly because when we were sitting on the border of Kuwait prior to the US invasion, Gen. Wallace visited our Troop and gave an uber-motivating speech. I wish I had a voice recorder, because that thing would have gone down as one of the most famous battle speeches in history! Landing and taking off in his helicopter topped the whole experience.

And six years later, Gen Wallace is still talking straight. He recently wrote an op-ed that I wanted to make sure you got to read:
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I came across this video over at Blackfive.net. It is described as the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Afghanistan performing a medevac mission of 3 “heroes” at night in the mountains. I encourage you to head over to http://www.blackfive.net/main/2008/05/memorial-day–1.html and check out the video and text that goes along with the video. Blackfive does a good job and explaining the risks and factors that go into a mission like this. I could do a cut and paste, but I don’t want to steal from a fellow milblogger without giving them the credit.

So take 4 minutes out of your day and watch the very powerful video below, showing selfless service and bravery my pilots and medics to extract and save some war-fighters.

After some very publicized neglect when it comes to Veterans issues, such as the omission of Veterans Loans from the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, Congress is taking steps to improve the lives of Veterans. One such effort, the Helping Veterans Keep Their Homes Act of 2008 (HR 4884), is being led by Representative Bob Filner (D-CA). Filner is the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Although the rate of VA Loans going into foreclosure remains lower than the national average, many Veterans are still in danger of losing their homes. The bill aims to alter the guidelines for refinancing a VA Loan by removing the requirement that a Veteran must have 10% equity in his or her home to refinance. Another proposed change would lower the amount of the funding fee for VA Home Loans. With the exception of fee exemptions related to disabled and deceased Veterans, the fee currently ranges from 0.5% to 3.3% of the total loan amount. If the bill passes, the funding fee would be changed to a flat 1% of the total loan amount for all borrowers. VA Loan Limits would also be raised from $417,000 to $730,000.

Another bill seeking to aid Veterans is the Heroes Earning Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008. The bill passed in the House and Senate and was sent to President Bush on June 6. The bill aims to financially aid Military personnel called to duty by allowing for penalty-free distributions from their 401(k)s. It also allows individuals who have flexible spending healthcare plans to cash in on their unused balances. Analysts expect the president to sign the bill into law.

Congress is also taking action to update the Montgomery GI Bill for the 21st century. The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007, sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), would provide more money for Veterans to attend college and extend the time Veterans have to use their educational benefits from ten to fifteen years.

A lot of people think that I’m a “Republican hack” or an “agent of Bush” or whatever because of my views. The fact is that I really can’t be classified. I like to think that I’m a realist, not a Republican or Democrat. I’m not registered under either party (technically, I’m a Libertarian).

I tend to look at things from a Soldier’s perspective. I joined the military to make my country stronger and protect my fellow citizens. So, naturally, I’m going to side with people whom I think are going to meet those goals. About a week ago, I attempted to compare the two G.I. Bills that are competing in Congress. From the limited information I was able to gather, I deduced that the McCain bill was better. While it is in some ways, I’ve been able to compare the two side by side and have changed my mind. Now that I have all the information, I think the Webb bill is actually better, though it has its faults. I’m not afraid to admit that I was wrong. Now, I need to convince you why. Warning: what follows is my inner nerd coming out again as I actually read through each bill and compared them to each other.
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5. We don’t serve lobster tails and caviar at military dining facilities.
4. The Army beret reminds her too much of Monica Lewinsky.
3. She’s been offered the coveted position of being the first female Secretary of Defense (God help us!).
2. It would take longer than eight years to remodel the Pentagon.
1. Pant suits don’t come in digital camouflage.

For the final five reasons Hillary Clinton won’t be Commander In Chief, visit A Soldier’s Perspective.

I’m used to being asked for my military ID. I need to get on post, shop at the PX, and pick up my meds at the hospital. I also have to use my ID card to access my computer at work (we’re a 21st century military!!)

Today is Anissa’s 12th birthday. That means a lot in our church. For the first time, she will be in the Young Women’s program instead of the Primary children’s program. She can start babysitting younger kids (though I don’t think she’s quite ready for that responsibility). 12 is about the next best thing to Sweet 16 I think, though I may just be a man and wrong about that.

For Anissa’s birthday cake, she wanted a Cold Stone Creamery cake. For dinner, I took her to one of our favorite restaurants, Red Robin, and then we went to CSC for the cake. I was still in my uniform since Emily picked me up from work and we went straight to the restaurant to beat the crowds.

I’m not shy about asking for a military discount. If a business is willing to give one, I’m willing to take. Every dollar saved can go towards something more important - like more CDs!! So, I asked the guy if they had a military discount, knowing full well they do since we go there about once or twice a month. He was a new employee so he had to ask and went into the back of the store. I quickly shoved my hands into the Peanut Butter Ice Cream tub and plowed into my face while he wasn’t looking…just kidding. Anyway, he comes back and says that they have a 10% military discount.

“Can I see your military ID?” he asked me. I simply stared blankly at him for about five seconds in my nicely pressed camouflage uniform and clean shaven face. Through the corner of my eye, I saw Emily suddenly look up and turn to me with that “did he just ask for your ID?” look in her eyes.

I got a good laugh out of that as he realized what he had just said and then applied my discount. I asked him if he was sure he didn’t want to see my ID. After all, I could have stolen this uniform, gotten a military style haircut, and just be pretending to be this worn out and tired!

I wrote a little about my experiences flying TO DC earlier. It was a very frustrating experience. However, on the way back, things weren’t so bad.
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