In an ongoing effort to keep the gentle reader informed about your Army, I’ve put together yet another roundup of your Soldiers spending their time in ways other than playing cards, drinking booze, and chasing women.
Addressing a group of journalists, Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, highlighted some of the amazing accomplishments of America’s Citizen Soldiers in recent years…
Blum said guardsmen are in about 40 countries around the globe. “About 75,000 citizen-soldiers and airmen this morning are deployed all around the world,” he noted.
He said many guardsmen are serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. The National Guard has taken over the entire mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo, and has taken over counter terrorism activities in the Horn of Africa and the Sinai peacekeeping mission between Egypt and Israel.
“Last year, we provided more than 50 percent of the combat forces on the ground in Iraq,” the three-star general noted. “This is a different paradigm, a different National Guard than any of us in this room ever envisioned being even possible, let alone being practically employed.” Blum said the National Guard and the Coast Guard are the only organizations he knows of that haven’t been criticized for their efforts in Hurricane Katrina. For Katrina, the National Guard had 8,500 citizen-soldiers called to duty and in place to respond before the hurricane made landfall.
LTG Blum’s closing remarks really moved me…
Blum closed with a mix of pride and optimism. “We’re trying to be a ready force, and I think your Guard today is more ready than it has ever been,” he said. “It has proven itself as a reliable force and Sept. 1 was probably proof positive. When you call out the Guard, you truly do call out America.”
I emphasized that last line in bold as it happens to be a soundbite that I’d love to hear played on this weekend’s MSM news programs. Just a suggestion.
Probably the busiest soldiers/civilians in the Army are the Corps of Engineers. Yet another project underway in the Stans…
NIZHNY PYANDZH, Tajikistan — On one side of the river, an abandoned Soviet observation post warily eyes Afghan territory. On the other side, the hillsides are embedded — quite literally — with rusted pieces of the Soviet war machine.
But soon, an American project will link two former adversaries, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, hopefully bringing economic growth and trade to much of Central Asia.
By summer 2007, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers team hopes to open a $43 million, more than 2,200-foot steel-span bridge that will link the two sides.
The bridge — which will span the Oxus River, famously crossed by Alexander the Great during his conquests — will provide a valuable trade route straight from Tajikistan to the ports of Pakistan, allowing overland movement of essential goods and hopefully, economic development in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian nations that avail themselves of the trade route.
Your Army Corps of Engineers are truly reshaping the world.
Back in October, the Army responded in force to the deadly earthquake in Pakistan and has now turned over ownership of its last M*A*S*H* to Pakistan…
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2006 – The United States today transferred the 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, the last unit of its kind in the U.S. Army, to the Pakistan government for continued use in earthquake relief efforts, a Defense Department spokesman said.
The 84-bed hospital, which arrived in Muzaffarabad shortly after the earthquake struck the country on Oct. 8, is valued at $4.6 million, according to the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.
Iraqi forces teamed up with U.S. Special Forces soldiers and took it to the enemy…
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2006 – Iraqi and U.S. forces conducted raids on two targets in Iraq’s Diyala province and a raid west of Baghdad that netted a total of 106 individuals and a weapons cache, Multinational Force Iraq officials said.
The 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, advised by U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers, conducted assaults on two targets Feb. 12 in Diyala. The troops detained 102 persons of interest - 25 were on the Iraqi security forces “most wanted” list. They also killed two insurgents and discovered a large weapons cache.
The combined Iraqi and U.S. forces cordon-and-search missions were designed to capture key insurgents and disrupt multiple insurgent cell operations. The targets were chosen based on intelligence that specific individuals wanted for planning and facilitating insurgent activities would be in the targets, officials said.
While beginning a search of the first target house, an Iraqi army assault team encountered four armed insurgents and came under heavy fire. Though the team was forced to withdraw outside of the house for cover, one of the team’s sergeants stayed in the house, killing one insurgent and wounding two more before falling back to regroup with his team.
In the midst of fighting insurgents, rebuilding infrastructures, and providing medical support, your soldiers also found time to deliver a wheelchair to a young Iraqi girl suffering from cerebal palsy…
BAGHDAD, Feb. 17, 2006 — Life in a war-torn country can be hard. The life of a disabled child living in a war-torn country is even harder.
Multinational Division–Baghdad soldiers made life a little easier Feb. 8 for a young Iraqi girl who suffers from cerebral palsy when they delivered a free wheelchair in Baladiat, Iraq.
U.S. Army soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, serving with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, surprised the young girl when they assembled and delivered the wheelchair.
So now you know, your Soldiers are indeed on duty, making a difference, and making me damned proud to be associated with this outfit. Sgt Hook out.
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