Welcome Home!

We got back Friday, and it's going to take me awhile to sort through all the pictures, but here's the most important ones:)















Welcome Home! to Dustin ("Krunch")

(since we 'only' took about 330 pictures in Hawaii,lol......more to come, in the days ahead!

Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Post Was Suggested And Written By Cynthia


Sgt James E. Craig
27 years old from Hollywood, South Carolina
1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
January 28, 2008


James, 27, was killed on January 28, 2008, in Mosul, Iraq, along with four other soldiers when the unit encountered an IED, followed by an ambush from a nearby Mosque. It has been a year since James was killed. I miss him each day.

James was on his third deployment to Iraq. There are so many things about James that I admired. He was 'loud' and funny and articulate and sweet - even calling himself 'Sweet Soldier' - and brave and tough. He was a devout Christian and more comfortable with telling people he was than anyone I ever knew - he had a enviable, easy comfort with this faith. It would be so easy to write and write about James, but let me share some portions of his letters - his long and articulate letters.

"...I am very much looking forward to this war being over. However, I fully support everything that is going on over here ever since I saw first hand what the real situation was. Our media doesn't portray the truth of this operation or the necessity to the people here. They need freedom and desperately cry out for someone to help them. ... I know one thing, God wants me here."

"The war here is stating to come to an end. It will be a slow transition period where the responsibility of the battle space is handed over to the growing Iraqi Army. It all depends on the Iraqis if we are able to leave them with it safely."

"...it is a tale of my wonderful journey where I made memories I will never forget and stood up for something that I believe in...that sweet taste of freedom when the day is done and the knowledge that I have done something to ensure the positive future of my loved ones. And, you should know that it comforts me the most that what I do protects wonderful people like you."

To read more about Sgt James Craig, go here.

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.

Our Heartfelt Thanks!

To all of you who have supported Dustin with letters, cards, care packages,
or even just simply kept him in your prayers during the last 15 months........

his Dad and I would like to give you a heartfelt Thank You!

(and also to those of you who supported Us during this time, keeping us in your prayers and sending words of encouragement.....)

we never could have made it through this without all the wonderful friends and family out there !

(No, he's not home yet, but the time is coming soon!)

Things will be quiet on the blog here for awhile, as we're heading out soon, to welcome him back:)

Bless you all, and Thank You again!

Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy


Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike A. Monsoor
29 years old from Garden Grove, California
September 29, 2006


In April 2008, Michael Monsoor (who had already been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions in a May 9, 2006 incident, when he and another SEAL pulled a wounded team member to safety amidst gunfire) was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. His funeral, attended, in the words of President Bush, by "nearly every SEAL on the West Coast," was held on October 12, 2006 at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. During Monsoor's funeral service, as the casket was taken from the hearse to the gravesite, fellow SEALs lined up in two columns to slap and embed the gold Tridents (a pin awarded for successful completion of SEAL Qualification Training) from their uniforms onto the top of Monsoor's coffin.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike A. Monsoor's Summary Of Action.


"The procession went on nearly half an hour, and when it was all over, the simple wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten." - President George W. Bush

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.

Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Deb


Capt. Ed Freeman
Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)


While reading the info on Cpt. Freeman, I found that I couldn't have put it better than this.

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.

Dilemma!!

Yikes, just found out that the 2009 Milblogging Conference is going to be the Same weekend as the 2009 Face of America Bike Ride !!!

(Now, I just have to figure out how to be in TWO places at once, LOL)

A "Free Mail" Thank you!:)

Very nice, and unexpected, surprise in the mail yesterday:)

Out of the many Christmas cards we sent out to troops, we received a note in the mail yesterday thanking us for our support.

I mention it because of, once again, what a difference even a card makes for a soldier serving far from home. To quote the line that says it all:

"Knowing that people back home continue to hold us in their thoughts and prayers gives us the boost that we need to continue to persevere."

Want to give someone a boost? Go Here www.soldiersangels.org

and see how to get involved!:)

Soldiers Angels Web Surfing

My weekly 'surf' of the web for posts by, or about
Soldiers Angels


First off, with over 700 soldiers waiting for adoption? kudos to The Albrecht Squad blog
who are running a drawing to send two Support Our Troops packages to be sent, to encourage new sign-ups of Angels....see more about that HERE


More about Linda Ferrara:

The Stars & Stripes article
Mother of fallen soldier hands out donations at Landstuhl by Steve Mraz

Soldiers Angels Germany has more Linda's Visit to Landstuhl

and Airman Mom had a post about it here that I want to include because in the comments, someone mentions Quilts of Valour and that's worth checking out,also.


Soldiers Angels-Medical Support tells about A true hero you may not have heard of before...


Griefcase posts Mary Kay and US Troops


It's a small world....in this article Dances to aid Ajax legion,charities which says that 3,900 Christmas CD's were distributed through Soldiers Angels....I realized that I am hooked up with Gil Leclerc on MySpace:)


Cool story from BaldwinCountyNOW.com A knitting army of one

And lastly, two stories to feature from Soldiers Angels Network:

WV Cub Scouts in the news

and

Cookie Thank You


That's the surf!

Items of Interest to Pass on

Send your Valentine's messages via Stars & Stripes
Stars & Stripes Valentines Messages


Talking With Heroes 2009 Announcement Center


From Chabad.org Write to an IDF Soldier


And a poem from Rogue Gunner

A soldier died today

Rest in Peace,Paula Loyd

Michael Yon had a post on Jan. 8th Godspeed to Paula Lloyd

and Wired.com Danger Room's Noah Shachtman had a post with more on the same day

Third 'Human Terrain' Researcher Dead

(and the correct spelling of Paula's last name is 'Loyd',with one "L")

I remembered the news story of the attack on Paula Loyd

In early November, while on patrol in an Afghan village, Paula Loyd was doused with a flammable liquid, and set on fire. She suffered second- and third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body. Loyd was rushed to a nearby medical center, where she was treated by a burn specialist. Shortly thereafter, Loyd was evacuated to the military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, and then to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

and judging by blog posts and news stories I saw around the net, there is a lot of controversy about the Human Terrain System program, and also a lot of controversial commenting back and forth between liberals and conservatives because one of Loyd's fellow contractor's shot and killed Paula's attacker shortly after the attack on Paula Loyd.

However, I do not wish to get into all those issues.

In researching a little more about Paula Loyd, I think the main thing to remember about her is that her's was a life very well lived, in service to others.

On mySALife from San Antonio,TX, there was an article about Paula Loyd written in December, that gives you a glimpse of how special she was

Cary Clack: Hate brings her back to loving town

and in Paula Loyd's obituary HERE , you truly get a sense of what a great loss her death was to not only her family and friends, but to our country,and the world.

Paula Loyd was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and lived in Alamo Heights. She attended Cambridge Elementary, where her father attended elementary school, junior high, and started high school in Alamo Heights before moving to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.

She attended Antilles High School for two years and graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. Paula holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology and Spanish from Wellesley College. She received a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree in Foreign Policy and International Security from Georgetown University, as well as a Certificate in Refugee and Humanitarian Studies.

Following college, she served a four year term in the US Army and a four year term in the US Army Reserve Program.

While serving in the Reserve Program she became involved with humanitarian work programs in Afghanistan, and for several years after with the United States Agency for International Development, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations. Paula served as a Field Program Officer for USAID in Zabul Province, where she worked closely with the United Nations, U.S. military, local Government officials and tribal elders on a number of humanitarian and development projects.

Paula passed away in the Brook Army Medical Center. Her death occurred as result of the injuries sustained while serving humanitarian causes in Afghanistan.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

In her years on this earth, Paula Loyd touched many lives.

An organization assisted Paula's family during the several months Paula fought for her life at Brooke Army Medical Center, and the family has asked that donations be made in her memory to The Moonlight Fund

Please, in her memory, take the time to check out the link to their website and learn more about them.

And please hold Paula's family and friends in your prayers this Saturday, as they lay her to rest.

Rest in peace, Paula Loyd. You served honorably and well with your talents in the too-short years you were given to be on this Earth.

My condolences, to the family and friends of Paula Loyd.

Wednesday Hero

Airman Melissa Pyle


Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Equipment) Airman Melissa Pyle mans a jet blast deflector station on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the Gulf Of Oman. Theodore Roosevelt and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 are deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

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 Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

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~2009

Welcome to the first 2009 edition of Soldiers Angels Web Surfing, my (mostly) weekly ’surf’ of the web for news by, and about,Soldiers Angels

When I first started doing this weekly post (back in March 2007?:),there wasn’t the BlogNetNews.com/Soldiers Angels link available, which is where you can get all the latest on posts by some of the major Soldiers Angels bloggers.

I highlight some posts from that link (which is where you should be going for your ‘Soldiers Angels’ news!)but I also come across other posts that I like to share….so, without further editorial comment (except to say “Happy New Year!” and “thank you”, for going along for the ’surf’:) let’s get to my post!

Christmas is over, but this story was too cool not to share, from the Crescenta Valley Sun Christmas Spirit Shines Brightly

And this was a Christmas message on a new-to-me Angel blog called
Quilting with a Marmalade Cat Merry Christmas

Time to be thinking of Valentine’s Day, and Mardi Gras !:)

For Valentine’s day, from MLive.com, kudos to this Michigan Library system!
Create Valentines for troops at Bay County Library System


and for Mardi Gras, Greta is on the job again here!
Soldiers Angels Louisiana:Operation Overseas Mardi Gras 2009

In other news, Soldiers Angels Network links to this Stars and Stripes article
Theft of $8,000 donation was blessing in disguise for mother of fallen soldier by Steve Mraz

Soldiers Angels Network has also started a cool new daily post called
Soldiers Angels Photo of the Day

(To see previous day’s photo’s, and other just generally great posts, check out the whole blog! Soldiers Angels Network )

Ladies of Liberty did a Soldiers Angels Ladies of Liberty 2008 recap that I know you won’t want to miss!

Soldiers Angels Texas had a great story here
Florence Elementary School in Southlake Texas “Pays It Forward”


And lastly, with over 700 soldiers waiting for ‘adoption’ right now? It’s nice to see posts like this, on Mommy Needs a Time-Out Make a Soldiers Day

(and check her comments, she got SuperMommy to adopt already,too! Way to go!:)


Well, that’s the ’surf’ for this first full week in 2009. Thanks for stopping by to go on this trip with me:)
-------------------------

This post is cross-posted, as usual, on Hooah Wife and Friends which is a great blog, and great bunch of folks!
and also on my MySpace blog

Don't Forget to Start Voting for the 2008 Weblog Awards 'Best Military Blog' on Monday, January 5th

Time to start voting!

The 2008 weblog awards voting is going to start today.

One of my great friends, JP over at Milblogging.com is a finalist:)

now, I'm not telling you who to vote for (subliminal insert: "milblogging.com") because there are many other military blogs entered, and as JP says here
" Get out and vote for the best military blog. Or, you can just vote for Milblogging.com." (LOL)

but please Do go and vote!
The link for voting for 'Best Military Blog' is HERE

but while you're there, check out All the categories 2008 weblog awards finalists
because this is just a cool way to come across new blogs and bloggers,too!

Cards Needed!

With Valentine's Day coming up, wanted to pass on that friend Kat is once again collecting Valentine's cards for the Troops

http://crazynightinga.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentines-card-drive-for-troops-lets.html

Happy 2009:)

Thanks to all who stopped by here for the last year,
and looking forward to sharing with each of you in the coming year of 2009!



Christian Glitter by www.christianglitter.com