What are your Soldiers up to you wonder? Let’s take a look at what’s happening around your Army that isn’t necessarily reported in the MSM…
Rescue…
UIJONGBU, South Korea (Army News Service, July 6, 2006) – Two Camp Red Cloud Soldiers saved an elderly woman and her handicapped daughter when a sandwich shop caught fire just outside the camp’s front gate July 1.
Pvt. Reid Erickson and Pvt. Russell McCanless Jr. of Headquarters and Headquarters Support Company, Special Troops Battalion, were first on the scene when New York Sub sandwich shop caught fire.
“We walked out of 7 Club to see whether or not I could do handstand pushups, and when I was doing them I noticed something behind us,” Erickson said. Standing and turning around, he saw smoke coming from the shop.
Rushing to the fire, they tried opening the glass door to the sandwich shop to find it hot and locked. The Soldiers then sought assistance at a Korean Police booth outside the gate.
75th Ranger Regiment…
FORT BENNING, GA. (Army News Service, June 30, 2006) – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker presented three campaign streamers yesterday to the first Army unit to receive the streamers for the Global War on Terrorism conflict, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
As Col. Paul LaCamera, commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment, passed each battle streamer, Schoomaker attached it to the unit colors during a ceremony at Fort Benning, Ga.
According to information released by the Army’s Human Resources Command, the 75th Ranger Regt., is the first Army unit to be awarded the Global War on Terrorism, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom streamers. One other unit, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, III Corps, Fort Hood, Texas, was approved for the Operation Enduring Freedom campaign streamer.
“This is a great day not only for Fort Benning, the Rangers, but also for the Army,” Schoomaker said. “I cannot think of a better place and a better way to recognize this great unit. Truly, the 75th Ranger Regiment leads the way and we are very, very proud of it.” The battle streamer ceremony was a prelude to the 14th annual Ranger Hall of Fame induction program hosted by the Ranger Training Brigade here.
Legacy of Sergeant Major O’Reilly…
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii (Army News Service, July 5, 2006) – The famed and beloved honorary sergeant major of the 27th Infantry Regiment died of natural causes June 23 at age 91.
Hugh O’Reilly’s humanitarian efforts have been chronicled in newspapers and magazines around the world, and his story inspired the 1955 Columbia Pictures film “Three Stripes in the Sun.”
O’Reilly’s military career spanned 30 years from 1932 through 1962. He fought in both World War II and the Korean War.
But it was Christmas Eve of 1949 that forever marked O’Reilly’s life and made him an inspiration for generations to come. That June, O’Reilly was ordered to Japan and stationed with the 25th Infantry Division’s 27th Infantry Regiment at Camp Sakai.
Alongside Iraqis…
KIRKUK, Iraq (Army News Service, July 6, 2006) – When people lose their homes and possessions to a disaster in the U.S., neighbors and friends often chip in to alleviate some of the stress.
For four Iraqi families whose homes were damaged by fire from a recent vehicle-born IED, there was help from Iraqi Police; civil affairs and psychological operations Soldiers; and members of C Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
Police officers and Soldiers hauled in beds, water and school supplies to make the families’ lives a little easier until larger repairs could be made.
Afghan Villagers…
WASHINGTON, July 7, 2006 – Villagers captured an extremist who threw a grenade into a mosque in the village of Showbi in the Tere Zayi district of Afghanistan’s Khost province today during prayer, military officials reported.
The grenade injured three men, including the mullah, who were taken to the coalition hospital in Khost for treatment.
The villagers chased the assailant down and captured him, then notified coalition forces. Afghan police took the assailant into custody.
“Extremists continue to conduct needless attacks on Afghan civilians to threaten and intimidate them in the hopes they won’t support a free and growing Afghanistan,” said Army Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force 76 spokesman. “These insurgents offer nothing but violence and oppression. Afghan people only want a safe environment and a reasonable income to live on. This is the future of Afghanistan.”
Citizen Soldiers…
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, July 5, 2006) – A combined 1,350 National Guardsman from Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey assisted in nearly 1,000 water rescues and tens of thousands of evacuations after widespread flooding from torrential rains swept across the northeast in late June.
Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell declared a state of emergency June 27 when 46 of the state’s 67 counties were deemed disaster areas. In New York, Gov. George E. Pataki called the state’s National Guard into action in advance of the threat of severe flooding along the state’s southern tier. And in New Jersey, Guard units assisted in last-minute evacuations along the swollen Delaware River.
Much of the Pennsylvania Guard’s efforts focused on the Wilkes-Barre area where most evacuations took place. In addition to flying missions throughout the commonwealth, Guard members from the 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment, and the 628th Division Aviation Support Battalion flew over the border in CH-47 Chinook and UH-1 Huey helicopters to help evacuate Conklin, N.Y., locals who were trapped by Susquehanna River floodwaters, which rose nearly 30 feet.
Meanwhile, Soldiers from the New York National Guard’s 204th Engineer Battalion evacuated Walton residents who had been trapped by historic flood levels.
“Our guys were at their peak for this mission,” said Maj. Carlton Cleveland, commander of the 204th. “Two weeks of annual training in early June gave our equipment operators and planners plenty of preparation so when the call came in, we hit the ground running.”
With water heights not seen at such high levels in more than 100 years, Walton’s Main St. turned into a canal of thick mud and water, rising in some places to five feet. Rushing waters washed out roads and parking lots, moving cars and their garages downstream.
Immigrants in boots…
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, July 5, 2006) – More than 100 service members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan became the newest American citizens in naturalization ceremonies on Independence Day. In Afghanistan, 27 Soldiers from 17 countries took the oath of citizenship. In Iraq, 75 service members from 29 countries also took the oath.
“Thousands of immigrant troops are making extraordinary sacrifices for America,” said Jack Bulger, district director for the Department of Homeland Defense’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Rome. “They are defending with their lives the liberties which they have only today secured for themselves.”
“The citizen who is a Soldier has to do more for the nation than other citizens because the citizens of America count on them to defend her and make sure that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are guaranteed for all Americans,” said Coalition Joint Task Force-76 Commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Freakley.
Multi-National Force – Iraq Commander Gen. George Casey commended the service members serving in Iraq for their achievement.
“Before us stand great citizen-Soldiers of 29 different countries,” said Casey, “and we are happy to welcome them as the newest citizens of the United States on this 230th birthday of our nation. Yours is the highest form of citizenship. You have shown the courage and the determination in this difficult task of bringing freedom to the Iraqi people.”
For new citizens such as Spc. Guillermo Paniagua, a nuclear, chemical and biological specialist with the 4th Infantry Division, enlisting into the Army meant more than just joining the military. It meant joining the United States.
“It took a long time for my parents and me to establish ourselves as permanent residents in this country,” said the Soldier, who immigrated from Guanajuato, Mexico, in 1984. “I am excited – 22 years later I can actually say I am a citizen.”
Re-up your crazy…
TIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, July 5, 2006) – Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky., currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, have exceeded the retention goal for the 2006 fiscal year three months before its end. They have achieved the highest number of reenlistments for any active-duty division in the Army.
More than $60 million in reenlistment bonuses have been awarded to approximately 4,600 Soldiers, said Sgt. Maj. Steven Sabinash, 101st command career counselor. The fiscal year goals for initial-term, mid-career and career-level Soldiers continue to surpass the mission goal each day.
“One out of every four Soldiers deployed have reenlisted so far,” Sabinash said. “Approximately 61.5 percent of those Soldiers have chosen to stabilize with the 101st, which exceeds the average 30 percent a division usually retains.”
The division’s Screaming Eagles are still reenlisting at a steady rate while deployed, and have helped the division reach an important milestone set forth by the Army.
Our Angels…
HANAU, Germany (Army News Service, July 6, 2006) – Coping with the carnage of war is challenging in the best of circumstances. Arriving at a hospital in a foreign land weak, injured and separated from one’s friends or fellow Soldiers only increases the trauma.
Members of the Soldiers’ Angels make it their mission to help service members being treated for injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan at the Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, as well as other military hospitals. They offer friendship, visits and donations ranging from clothes to backpacks.
Founded by Patti Patton-Bader, the mother of a Soldier who had deployed to Iraq, Soldiers’ Angels attracts support from people from all over the world who are interested in helping American service members, according to Wilhelmine Aufmkolk, a long-time member of the Wiesbaden Kontakt Club and supporter of the Soldiers’ Angels organization.
“There are about 40,000 people involved, with about 60 people in Europe, who regularly support Soldiers’ Angels,” she said. “In 2004 we realized there was an extreme need for backpacks, underwear, hygiene items, something to read, homemade blankets – anything to make the Soldiers’ lives easier when recovering in the hospital.”
Where in the world…
Kosovo: 1,700 soldiers
Afghanistan: 18,000 soldiers
Sinai: 680 soldiers
Saudi Arabia: 200 soldiers
Horn of Africa: 1,700 soldiers
Gitmo Cuba: 1,700 soldiers
Iraq and Kuwait: 133,000 soldiers
Bosnia: 160 soldiers
Sgt Hook out.
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