Military Log

By ROBERT BURNS – Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The career of Ann E. Dunwoody ascended Friday from humble beginnings 33 years ago at Fort Sill, Okla., to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general.

At an emotional promotion ceremony, Dunwoody added a fourth star and, looking back on her years in uniform, said it was a credit to the Army that she was given a chance to rise through the ranks in a male-dominated military.

“Thirty-three years after I took the oath as a second lieutenant, I have to tell you this is not exactly how I envisioned my life unfolding,” she told a standing-room-only auditorium. “Even as a young kid, all I ever wanted to do was teach physical education and raise a family.”

“It was clear to me that my Army experience was just going to be a two-year detour en route to my fitness profession,” she added. “So when asked, `Ann, did you ever think you were going to be a general officer, to say nothing about a four-star?’ I say, `Not in my wildest dreams.’

“There is no one more surprised than I — except, of course, my husband. You know what they say, `Behind every successful woman there is an astonished man.’”

Later, at Fort Belvoir, Va. — her birthplace — Dunwoody was being sworn in as commander of the Army Materiel Command, responsible for equipping, outfitting and arming all soldiers. Just five months ago, she became the first female deputy commander there. THE REST

More HERE and HERE

chrys :: Nov.14.2008 :: ARMY, GENERALS, HISTORY, NEWS, VIDEO, WOMEN :: No Comments »

There is always too much that needs to be said on this day. Today I choose this little bit of USA . . .

Anderson middle schoolers plant memories with flag ceremony
Photos and Story By Pearce Adams - November 11, 2008

Students at Lakeside Middle School in Anderson place more than 1,000 American flags outside their school Tuesday to honor Veteran’s Day.

Marine veteran and Anderson resident James Osborn (red coat) waits his turn Tuesday to place an American flag outside Lakeside Middle School during a Veteran’s Day ceremony.

ANDERSON COUNTY — A Marine veteran, who lost his memory of combat in Vietnam after brain surgery, said he would never forget the sight of more than a thousand American flags during a Veteran’s Day ceremony.

About 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, more than a 1,000 Lakeside Middle School students walked from their school, and one-by-one pushed miniature American flags into the soil.

James Osborn, serving 6 years with the Marines in the 1960s, walked with other veterans after students had created multiple rows of flags.

After placing a flag, Osborn, wearing a red Marine Corps jacket, had his Veteran’s Day gift.
“Pride of the United States,” said Osborn, who snapped to attention when students ran a flag up the school’s flagpole, listened as the school band played the National Anthem, remained solemn as a student played TAPS and joined students in a mass Pledge of Allegiance. STORY

chrys :: Nov.11.2008 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Until I repair what has been damaged . . . CLICK For some good tributes.

Many of the items I had posted here are missing in an earlier attack by someone who apparently had no interest in our military!!

chrys :: Oct.16.2008 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Found this ad in the September 1975 Reader’s Digest

The average Marine Corps recruit has four cavities and size nine feet.

And he’s asleep one-third of every day.

He’s nineteen years old, weights 153 pounds and stands 5′8″ tall.

When he enters boot camp he can do 8 pull-ups, forty-seven sit-ups and run 3 miles in twenty-five and a half minutes. When he finishes training he’s increased his strength by a third and his speed by a quarter. And he’s had his cavities fixed.

During training he eats three meals a day for a total of 416,000 calories. He usually burns up more than that.

He learns how to take apart and reassemble a rifle in one minute. And he learns how to fire it . . . well.

His average 14 1/2 neck size usually increases one half inch.

In his eleven weeks of basic training he writes about seventy letters and receives thirty-three.

In short, he’s your average kind of guy in every way but one. By the time he’s finished training, he’s earned the title, Marine.

chrys :: Mar.09.2008 :: MARINE :: No Comments »

January 22, 2008 6:11 AM PST By Mark Rutherford
(Credit: Rheinmetall)
Check out the schnoz on this one. Düsseldorf based Rheinmetall advertises its Gefas (Geschütztes Fahrzeugsystem) as the “safest, most future-proof system of its kind anywhere.”

The conceptual model shown here was configured for convoy protection. Some options include a high-powered, electromagnetic, counter-IED system, an automated weapons station controlled from safely inside the vehicle, electro-optical sensor systems with downstream image processing for detecting and tracking moving targets, a 12-meter tactical radar, laser-optical sensors for detecting enemy optics, and an “instantaneously activated” smokescreen. REST OF THE STORY

chrys :: Jan.22.2008 :: PATROL VEHICLE, WAR ON TERROR :: No Comments »

The manual prohibits abuse or corporal punishment of prisoners

A US military operating manual for the Guantanamo prison camp dating from 2003 has been released on the internet.

The 238-page manual gives precise instructions for guards on handling prisoners and running the camp.

The US military said the manual seemed authentic but was out of date and should not have been publicly released.

About 340 prisoners are still held at Guantanamo, which was opened in 2002 to detain people suspected of terrorism or links to al-Qaeda or the Taleban.

Allegations of abuse at the camp have been lodged by detainees, their lawyers and human rights groups.

Calls from both within the US and around the world to close the camp have gone unanswered. THE STORY

chrys :: Nov.15.2007 :: GITMO, WAR ON TERROR :: Comments Off

MARINE STYLE

chrys :: Aug.13.2007 :: MARINE :: Comments Off

chrys :: Jul.22.2007 :: VIDEO :: Comments Off

By Pete Hegseth - “Vets for Freedom”

As an Iraq war veteran who participated in combat operations and political reconciliation efforts, I take issue with some of the arguments repeatedly being made on Capitol Hill. Most recently I was bothered by statements from Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who cited three common antiwar arguments in his June 21 op-ed, ” Lincoln’s Example for Iraq,” all of which run counter to realities on the ground in Iraq.

A deadline for withdrawal is an incentive for Iraqi political compromise. Levin thinks we ought to pressure Iraq’s government with a warning tantamount to saying: “You better fix the situation before we leave and your country descends into chaos.” He should consider the more likely result: an American exit date crushing any incentive for Iraqi leaders to cooperate and instead prompting rival factions to position themselves to capitalize on the looming power void.

My experience in Iraq bore this out. Only after my unit established a meaningful relationship with the president of the Samarra city council — built on tangible security improvements and a commitment to cooperation — did political progress occur. Our relationship fostered unforeseen political opportunities and encouraged leaders, even ones from rival tribes, to side with American and Iraqi forces against local insurgents and foreign fighters.

We can bring the war to a “responsible end” but still conduct counterterrorism operations. The problem with this argument is what a “responsible end” would mean. What is “responsible” about the large-scale bloodshed that would surely occur if we left the Iraqis behind with insufficient security forces? What is “responsible” about proving al-Qaeda’s thesis that America can be defeated anywhere with enough suicide bombings?

The senator also seems to believe that America will have success fighting terrorists in Iraq with a minimal troop presence, despite the fact that 150,000 troops have their hands full right now doing precisely that.

We are “supporting the troops” by demanding an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Levin says that “our troops should hear an unequivocal message from Congress that we support them.” He explains his vote to fund and “support” the troops while simultaneously trying to legislate the war’s end. But what kind of “support” and “unequivocal message” do the troops hear from leaders in Congress who call their commanders “incompetent” or declare the war “lost”?

Such statements provide nearly instant enemy propaganda to every mud hut with a satellite dish in Iraq and throughout the Arab world. These messages do not spell support, no matter how you spin them. And they could inspire insurgents, making the situation more dangerous for our soldiers and Marines. THE ARTICLE Published in the Washington Post! (Good work city newspaper!) Excellent “hot links” throughout the article.

chrys :: Jun.26.2007 :: PETE HEGSETH, POLITICS, WAR ON TERROR :: Comments Off

(Left to right) Derya Smith, Sherry Gaylor, Janet Faust, Col. Debra Lewis, Gulf Region Central district, Gulf Region District, walk between buildings in the GRC compound in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. (USACE photo)

By Norris Jones, Gulf Region Central district

Blackanthem Military News. CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – Overseeing one of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ busiest Districts are four female leaders in the Gulf Region Central district (GRC), who manage the construction of essential service projects benefiting Iraqis in Baghdad and the Al Anbar Province in Iraq.

Led by District Engineer, Col. Debra Lewis, GRC is responsible for overseeing nearly 400 active projects valued at more than $1.2 billion. She is assisted by Deputy District Program Manager Derya Smith, Chief of Contracting Sherry Gaylor and Chief of Resource Management Janet Faust, who oversees the district’s programs that are renovating hospitals, building schools, repairing sewer lift stations, paving roads, installing new water and sewer lines, constructing courthouses, electric distribution networks and many more critical components of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mission to rebuild Iraq.

“In Fallujah, one of our other key cities, we’re managing $80 million in contracts to put in that community’s first-ever wastewater treatment plant and collection system. Residents there are currently using septic tanks with raw sewage running in the streets and into the Euphrates River,” said Lewis. “We’ve also got $57 million in contracts to upgrade its electrical network including new substations, more than 45,000 utility poles, and 2,400 kilometers of cable. We’re building four new primary healthcare centers there each capable of providing medical care to 150 patients daily.”

During Lewis’ one year in command the district has closed out more than 500 projects valued at more than $650 million. THE ARTICLE

chrys :: Jun.24.2007 :: ARMY, IRAQ, WAR ON TERROR, WOMEN :: Comments Off