Wednesday Hero

Sgt. 1st Class Donald Johnson


Sgt. 1st Class Donald Johnson, the electronic warfare officer of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad, talks with local Iraqi kids while on a patrol.

Photo courtesy of United States Army
Taken by Pfc. Evan Loyd

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Soldiers Angels Web surfing

It's been awhile, sorry about that....life gets busy, especially in the summer,huh? :)

While you can always keep abreast of Soldiers Angels news and posts via
BlogNetNews.com/Soldiers Angels

this is my random 'surf' of the web for posts by, and about
Soldiers Angels

Good post from my friend at View From the 8th Floor back at the beginning of August
"...seems like love really does make a difference"


Heart'warming' (groan, a pun:) article in the VenturaCountyStar
Camarillo office donates balnkets to give to the troops by Karen Hibdon


From Catherine's Vintage Style comes a Congratulations Soldiers Angels

Gathering of Eagles:NY posted on Aug.10 an AAR("after action review") of the
Soldiers Angels Beach Party 2009


Bayou Renaissance Man posted Soldiers Angels Needs Your Help


Friend Laughing Wolf has A Cooking Challenge for You


and lastly, Soldiers Angels New York posted
Listen to Your Mother

That's the surf!

Hope y'all enjoy the end of summer!

"Bubba's Belly Run" September 27

Wanted to pass on the word about the

1st Annual Bubba's Belly Run

to be held in Potomac,MD on September 27th.

(and yes....I'm obviously catching up on blogging a bunch of items that have been percolating in my inbox for the past month :)

Spread the word about this one, will you?

Milblog track at Blog World Expo

From the Warrior Legacy Foundation comes a listing of the panels and panelists that will be at the Blog World Expo 2009 that will be held in Las Vegas, October 15-17.

Even though the Milblog Conference moved back to the DC area this past April , the promoters of Blog World wanted to continue featuring a 'milblog track'.

With the anniversary of 9/11 approaching....

I get regular monthly updates from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center.
They have a construction webcam link Here if you'd like to check out their progress.


Upcoming events.....they will be in the Washington Metro area September 2-4 to record oral histories, you can read more about that Here

and the Inaugural World Trade Center Run to Remember will be Sept.6.

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as for the blogging initiative Project 2996 , as you can see Here thus far as of my posting, only 570 bloggers have signed up to honor and remember someone who lost their life that day.

I have a longtime online friend who specifically started a blog just to be able to participate in Project 2,996, you can see her blog here Northstar96sc's Blog

Never Forget.

Wednesday Hero

Pfc. Tavonte Johnson


Pfc. Tavonte Johnson, a field radio operator with Headquarters Company, 7th Marine Regiment, provides security after a simulated attack by a suicide bomber on Aug. 8, as part of 7th Marine Regiment’s pre-deployment training exercise.

Photo courtesy of United States Marine Corps

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Soldiers Angels,Michael Yon, and a wounded British soldier

Michael Yon has the story here
Do Americans Care about British Soldiers?

an incredible effort by many.

Wednesday Hero

Yeoman 1st Class Timothy Gilbert


Yeoman 1st Class Timothy Gilbert, assigned to Headquarters Company of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB 74), donates blood during a blood drive for his six-year-old daughter at the Naval Construction Battalion Center base chapel. Gilbert's daughter has been diagnosed with atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor and is receiving chemotherapy at Tulane Childrens Hospital.

You can read more about Yeoman Gilbert and his daughter, Timia, here.

Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryan G. Wilber courtesy of United States Navy.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Want to make your voice heard about the Military,Social Media, and Web 2.0?

Via a subscription to the DOD Military Health System newsletter, I was sent a link to


-A Blog for YOUR Participation in the Discussions about Web 2.0 and Social Media in the DoD

it's called the DOD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum

In the Welcome post, it states in part: The Department of Defense (DoD) Web 2.0 Guidance Forum is a new initiative to solicit input from the public.......The Web 2.0 Guidance Forum will allow the public to comment and make suggestions to key DoD decision makers regarding useage of Web 2.0 capabilities.

The Web 2.0 Guidance Forum is open to the general public for comments. That said, the public stakeholder groups we are most interested in hearing from include the following:

Families of military serving overseas

DoD interest groups, including veterans groups, think tanks, academia and others

The Web 2.0 technology community

Government-Industry groups focused on how government and industry collaborate, and

most importantly
Soldiers and sailors and civilians currently using Web 2.0 tools

(They plan plan on keeping the Web forum available and open for comments through the end of August. )
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Thus far, I have found very few comments posted.....so I wanted to try and help spread the word about this. You can't make your voice heard, and make a difference, if you don't even know where to go to do that......so, now you know..........


of particular interest to me, was this post
Use of Web 2.0 Capabilities by Military Families

You can read the link, but the main focus is here:

We want to examine the importance and relevance of Web 2.0 capabilities to Military families and get your view of its impact. We have three questions we would like to pose for discussion:

Q. How valuable and what are the benefits of Web 2.0/social media tools to military families with love ones who are deployed? Is this a critical necessity, or merely a useful addition to your options?

Q. What impact would there be to families, with loves ones who are deployed, if Web 2.0/social media tools were NOT available to military members serving over seas?

Q. When communicating with your love ones who are deployed, which social medium do you use most frequently?

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I'm going to email that link to all the military families I know.....we need to get in on this discussion!!

And now, I'm off to add my 2 cents worth to the discussion above......please, help spread the word, and consider adding your own views to the discussion.

Came across several new-to-me blogs...thanks! to Doc in the Box

So last night I peruse Sean's post about he and his bride's 4th anniversary
4 Year Anniversary in San Francisco
(and belated Happy Anniversary wishes to both he and his bride! :)

and he posts a link to a Navy "IA" (Individual Augmentee) blog.....which sent me on a troll of all the links listed on the first blog, and so on to all the links listed after that....you know how it goes, you start out in one place online and the next thing you know, you've been reading blog posts for several hours,lol.

anyway, came across a hilarious post on one of them that had me FOTCL ("falling out of the chair laughing" :) ....from In the NARMY now....... Narmy Strong

nice to see that there's plenty of good blogging still going on, from both Iraq and Afghanistan, and yes, even one from Djibouti......and I learned that there's a whole world of Navy IA bloggers out there, who knew?

so, thanks! Doc in the Box ,for including the first link that sent me on my way reading :)


If you're interested in checking out the links? (and yes, I submitted them to Milblogging.com , because that's just what 'milbloggers' do,LOL, they tell other milbloggers about new military blogs) ....in no particular order, here they are.......

Djohn's Djibouti Djournal


Uncle Cobs joins the Narmy


Deploying in a "Sea" of Sand .....


bellevuepete


In the NARMY now


Highland Sailor


There's sand in my...


Kickin' through the sand


3rd time,new country


All these folks are quite interesting, and it's a privilege to be able to read about the jobs they are doing.....Thank You! to each of you, for your service......and, for blogging about it, so we can share a bit of your journey!

Wednesday Hero

Lance Cpl. Jeremy P. Tamburello
19 years old from Denver, Colorado
1st Light Armor Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
November 8, 2005


His parents didn't want him to enlist, but it was his passion for helping people that led L/Cpl. Jeremy Tamburello to the military. "He was a very noble, very compassionate, very brave man" said L/Cpl. Tamburello's father, Kevin. "He knew that he was going to have to go to Iraq and he knew that he might die, but he went anyway."

L/Cpl. Tamburello was killed by an IED while conducting combat operations near Rutbah, Iraq.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

The 2,996 Project

What is 2,996?

From the link above:
Project 2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.
On September 11, 2006, more than 3,000 bloggers joined together to remember the victims of 9/11.
Each year we will honor them by remembering their lives, and not by remembering their murderers.
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With only 38 days left until September 11th......as of this posting, there are only 216 bloggers signed up to remember a victim of 9/11.........the list of 2009 participants is HERE

While I know so many of us said " Never Forget " immediately after September 11th....there are those who are now saying "Isn't it time to move on?"

Well, that choice is up to you........however, I Can tell you that I Meant it when I said "Never Forget"....and in 2006, when Dale Challenger Roe first came up with the idea of a 'blogburst' honoring and remembering the victims of 9/11,
I learned about 3 of those victims whom I now carry in my heart, and remember their families and friends in my prayers

Jonathan Neff Cappello

John Patrick Salamone

Gerard (Jerry) P. Moran

because I participated in Project 2,996,

and in 2007, I learned the names and a little about the lives of two more of the 9/11 victims
Yuguang Zheng and Shuyin Yang

because I again participated in Project 2,996

In 2008, I was privileged to learn a small bit about the life of another 9/11 victim
Catherine Carmen Gorayeb

In 2006, and 2008, many bloggers joined in to do just the same, you can see the list of their tributes on the Project 2,996 website Here and Here
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There is Still time left, to receive the name of one of the victims of 9/11 to honor and remember, and learn just a small bit about the Life they lived, and share it with others in the blogosphere.

If you think you'd like to sign up to join Project 2,996 this year......go HERE

(and please...help spread the word about this to other bloggers.)

Capt.Michael Scott Speicher will finally come home

Having had a stepson who was based at COB Speicher (formerly FOB Speicher) while he was serving in Iraq? (and since I asked him at the time "Do you Know whom the base is named after?")
I'd be remiss in not acknowledging the recent announcement that Capt. Speicher's remains were finally found and identified.
Others blogged it, a few of them are:

View From the 8th Floor Welcome Home, Captain Speicher

Assoluta Tranquillita Rest in Peace, Captain Speicher ( and she links to a good post about the same by CJ at A Soldiers Perspective Capt. Scott Speicher to Come Home )

Cassy Fiano BREAKING: Remains of Navy pilot Scott Speicher found

and One Marine's View Heros Call-WELCOME HOME WARRIOR- Captain Michael Speicher

Condolences to the family and friends, and may finally having Capt. Speicher come home bring them peace.

WW I Heroes are passing on.....Farewell, and R.I.P.....

Atlantic Lines had this post Harry Patch RIP

which led me to search to find out more about Harry Patch.

There is, of course a Wikipedia entry

and this article (which mentions the death of Henry Allingham prior to Harry Patch's death) from the Telegraph.co.uk I found quite interesting

The heirs of Harry Patch are fighting in the fields of Helmand by Bryony Gordon

and I found two books that I'll have to add to my Amazon wishlist

The Last Fighting Tommy: The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches by Harry Patch and Richard van Emden

and

Kitchener's Last Volunteer: The Life of Henry Allingham, the Oldest Surviving Veteran of the Great War by Henry Allingham and Dennis Goodwin


One of the best books I've ever read about WW I I reviewed on the previous incarnation of this blog in 2007
Just Finished Reading "A World Undone: The Story of the Great War,1914 to 1918" by G.J. Meyer


Wikipedia also had a List of last surviving World War I veterans by country

one of whom lives only one state away from me Frank Buckles

I had never given a lot of thought to how we honored (or didn't ) our World War I heroes, until I visited the Mall in DC in February 2007 A Visit to the Wall and Other Memorials and came upon the DC WW I Memorial in a very dilapidated state.......on Frank Buckles Wikipedia page I saw that he had been designated the honorary chairman of the WW I National Memorial, and a link to here stated at the bottom of the page:

In September 2008, Rep. Ted Poe of Texas, with the support of Frank Buckles, the last living US veteran of World War I, proposed a bill in Congress stating the memorial should be expanded and designated the national memorial to World War I.

Considering that just a few months ago my daughter and I visited briefly at the Gettysburg memorial, and that is a massive memorial to those who fell on that field back in the Civil War? I do not see how we could do any less as a nation, to honor and remember those who fought in WW I ......so I'd like to add my small voice to those calling for the current WW I memorial to be expanded and nationalized.....and perhaps, maybe before the last few surviving veterans have all passed on.