Taking care of your wounded warriors is a mission the Army has placed atop the priority list second only to combat.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Army News Service, Jan. 22, 2008) - Getting Soldiers healed from physical, psychological or emotional wounds is an Army mission of highest priority, second only to combat, a senior official said during the Warrior Transition Leadership and Training Conference Jan.13-18.
With the creation of 35 Warrior Transition Units worldwide since mid-2007, more than 8,900 Soldiers, or warriors in transition, are currently assigned and have but one primary responsibility - to heal.
“There has to be a place for these Soldiers to convalesce and heal, and possibly one day return to duty,” said Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition. He also heads up the Army Medical Action Plan, which called for establishing the WTUs.
Rock of the Marne Soldiers from Company A, 1-30th Infantry fought tooth and nail alongside local Iraqi citizens to push more al-Qaeda rat bastards out of their neighborhoods.
FOB KALSU, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 28, 2008) - For three days, Coalition Forces weathered harsh cold and deadly pressure-plate improvised explosive devices to secure a foothold in southern Arab Jabour, beginning with an air assault Jan. 20.
Infiltrating areas dominated by al-Qaeda in Iraq, infantrymen of Company A, 1-30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division began their push through the farm fields.
Capt. Neil Hollenbeck, Company A commander and his Soldiers would initially be cut off from ground supply lines. They had to pack enough food and water to sustain themselves for three days while arrangements were made to have supplies flown into the territory, which had never seen a sustained Coalition presence.
Photo Courtesy U.S. Army
Dog faces and angry citizens on the same side make a recipe for success. Sgt Hook out.
Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson lost his legs to an IED when his convoy was hit in Baghdad on May 7, 2007. A week before the tragic event, the battalion commander made the following statement to a reporter in Baghdad…
“We could build a fortress around ourselves that no one can penetrate, but then we will have lost,” said Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, who commands the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery.
Several months following that tragic event, the former battalion commander met with the New York Football Giants on the eve of a big game against the Washington Redskins.
“I just spoke from the heart, as a soldier and as a former football player,” he said, “for about 10 or 15 minutes. I talked to them about appreciating the opportunities in their lives, how special and privileged they were, how everybody needs to understand what they truly have. And I talked to them about the power of sports in people’s lives, especially soldiers’ lives, how many times I’d watched soldiers get up in the middle of the night after a 12-hour shift if there is a chance to watch a game, or how soldiers would do anything to watch a game before they went on that kind of shift.
“I told them that of course after all the exteriors had been stripped away, they played the game for themselves. But that they had to play the game for each other. Then I talked about myself, how my old teammates came to my need, and how I was reminded again the power of a team, the emotional commitment teammates have for each other, that when a team finds a way to do things greater than they thought they could do, that they couldn’t have done individually, that a bond is formed that can live forever.
“I told them that truly great teams usually form that bond by going through something together, and how whatever they were going through at that point in the season that no success ever came easy. And finally I reminded them that nothing is promised to anybody in this life, starting with tomorrow.”
The New York Giants haven’t lost a game since. In fact, they’ve won 10 straight away games and find themselves in the Super Bowl. LTC Gadson is indeed an inspiration, not just to football players, but to us all. Sgt Hook out.
Calendar Girl Gina Elise has a date with our wounded warriors currently recovering at WRAMC next month. She plans to visit with these brave men and women who have sacrificed more than should be asked to personally thank them for their service and to help raise their spirits. You can help by purchasing a Pinup for Vets Calendar that Gina will deliver to our heroes herself.
He was a famous trumpet man from out chicago way.
He had a boogie style that no one else could play.
He was the top man at his craft,
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft.
He’s in the army now. he’s blowin’ reveille.
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B.
Some 200 Soldiers and Airmen recently returning from serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom will be honored during halftime of the Dallas Cowboys v. New York Giants football game later today thanks to the Cowboys Organization and the USO. I’m glad to see such recognition of true American heroes from the NFL, often the center for role models in today’s society. Unfortunately kick-off is just after midninght Iraqi time, but I’ll be sure to catch the re-runs on the Armed Forces Network tomorrow.
Hats off to the Cowboys, though their season will end today at the hands of the New York Football Giants. Sgt Hook out.
As most of you know by now, Major Andrew Olmsted, Soldier, Milblogger, Husband, and Patriot was recently killed in action while serving here in Iraq. His family has received numerous offers to honor this fallen hero and the family has repsonded with a dignified, classy request that captures the love and respect shared among those who serve and their families.
Major Olmsted’s family has requested of those who wish to do something in honor of him, they can send donations to a fund that has been set up for the four children of CPT Thomas Casey, who served under Andy and was killed while trying to help him. The address is here:
Capt. Thomas Casey Children’s fund
P.O. Box 1306
Chester, CA 96020
Those words mean more to Private First Class Alexander Cesario than they do to most.
BAGHDAD, Jan. 3, 2008 – Like any soldier, Army Pfc. Alexander Cesario always makes sure he has all his essential equipment before he goes “outside the wire.” For Cesario, that means his weapon, radio and night-vision goggles, as well as one special personal item: an American flag his father brought home from Vietnam.
Cesario, a Somerville, N.J., native serving as a forward observer with 82nd Airborne Division’s Company A, Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, has carried his father’s flag with him on every mission since being deployed to Iraq a year ago.
The soldier’s father, Adam, 61, acquired the flag when he was a young paratrooper serving in Vietnam. The elder Cesario never let a day go by without unfurling the flag, no matter where he was or what he was doing.
“(My dad) flew that flag every day, even if he had to put it up on a radio antenna,” Cesario said.
At one point, a mission went wrong and Cesario’s father was cut off from the rest of his platoon. For three days, he had to hack it out of the jungle alone, with the Viet Cong in hot pursuit. But even on the run, he still managed to raise the flag each day.
“He didn’t stop moving at all for those three days, except to fly that flag,” Cesario said.
When Cesario’s father returned from the war, he put the flag into safekeeping. He was so protective of it that even family members were rarely allowed to handle it.
“It was like his prized possession,” Cesario said.
Nothing could make the elder Cesario part with the flag until Alexander, 19, was deployed to Iraq this year. After he began patrolling the streets of Baghdad, Cesario decided he wanted to carry on his father’s tradition. After some arm-twisting, he convinced his dad to mail him the flag.
The flag arrived with step-by-step instructions on how to take care of it, Cesario said. He recalled the final step with a laugh: “If you lose it, don’t bother coming home.”
Photo Courtesy U.S. Army
I salute the Cesario family for their dedication and service to this great nation and to the flags of our fathers. This We’ll Defend. Sgt Hook out.
VA Mortgage Center is hosting an American Hero Award. There are 10 outstanding nominees… all members of YOUR military so get over and vote. My friend CJ Grisham is in the running and has my vote. Sgt Hook out.
Halfway down the road to hell,
In a shady meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler’s Green.
-Author Unknown
I’ll See you on Fiddler’s Green Sir. Sgt Hook out.
This site is a collection of my writings, thoughts, and ramblings and in no way reflects the official positions of the United States Army or the Department of Defense. OPSEC trumps everything.
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In view of a recent tendency to identify characters in fiction with real people, it seems proper to state that there are no real people in this volume: both the characters and their names are ficticious. The names or designations of any military units are ficticious. There are no living people nor existing military units presented in this book.
-Ernest Hemingway
Halfway down the road to hell,
In a shady meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler's Green.
-Author Unknown
The Blog of War
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