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A Poem worth Reading He was getting old and paunchy
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We live in the land of the free, only because of the brave! "For those who have fought for it, freedom has a meaning the protected will never know." - Author unknown
One of Maxine's best!!--- Indeed! Minorities We need to show more sympathy for these people. * They travel miles in the heat. * They risk their lives crossing a border. * They don't get paid enough wages. * They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do. * They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak a different language. * They rarely see their families, and they face adversity all day ~ every day. I'm not talking about illegal Mexicans. I'm talking about our military troops! Doesn't it seem strange that many Democrats and Republicans are willing to lavish all kinds of social benefits on illegals, but don't support our troops, and are even threatening to defund them? If you wish, pass this on. It is worth the short time it takes to read it. One of Maxine's best!!!!!!!!!
Those of you who might not know, the man on the left is the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and he is proud to know the man on the right.
Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears.
Meet Brian Chontosh Churchville-Chili Central School Class of 1991.
Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Husband and about-to-be father. First lieutenant (now Captain) in the United States Marine Corps. And a genuine hero, the secretary of the Navy said so yesterday.
At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow.
That's a big deal. But you won't see it on the network news tonight
And all you'll read in Brian's hometown newspaper is two paragraphs of nothing. The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.
Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see thosesame casket pictures day in and day out.
And we're almost on a first-name basis with the jerks who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.
We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom but we don't hear about the heroes. The incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue .
The ones we completely ignore, like Brian Chontosh.
It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad . Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.
When all hell broke loose, ambush city. The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades.
And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him. So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire. It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish. And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack...
He told his driver to floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the 50 cal unload on them.
Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across their machine guns and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the Humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines.
Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta
and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.
But that's probably not how he would tell it. He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Ooh-rah, and drive on.
"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."
That's what the citation says. And that's what nobody will hear. That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news.
Accounts of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform or to depress - to report or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.
But I guess it doesn't matter. We're going to turn out all right as long as men like BrianChontosh
wear our uniform.
WHY WASN'T THIS REPORTED ON CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC? INSTEAD WE GOT 24-7 COVERAGE OF TIGER WOODS INFIDELITY CONSEQUENCES. WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT?
"That's what we do...We're Americans" YouTube - The North Platte Canteen This is an interesting piece telling about Military Ministries. Click Here
The Sack Lunches - a story
I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to! be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.
Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.
'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. 'Petawawa.. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan .'
After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time...
As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to base.'
His friend agreed.
XEROX is doing something cool for our troops If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.
This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.
The Story Behind "TAPS": It all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moan of a soldier who lay mortally wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach the gunfire, the captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The captain lit a lantern, suddenly he caught his breath and went white with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier, it was his own son.
Veterans Day Celebration 2009 The veterans celebration was held again at the Northern Hills Elementary School on Veterans Day starting 8:30 am. There was also a big event at the VFW Post on Austin Highway. Hundreds attended.
......21 bands playing in a MARATHON STYLE 12 hours STRAIGHT....3-5 minutes between bands PERIOD
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS AND OUR VETS
Here's a good video history of some of our brave men in days past.
Chuck Oualline, Spur 3, recently sent me (Bill Smith) some slides from the early days on the Walker and in Long Binh. They are now posted at: http://NorthwestVets.com/
You can contact Chuck direct at: spur3@satx.rr.com - Thanks Chuck!
Here is one recent experience of some of our brave troops in action. I wish success stories like this would be recognized by the media. Outnumbered 8-1: 'A good day for the Corps' in Afghanistan By Peter Bronson: "Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs and machine gun fire. One of our humvees was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast." That's not from an episode of The Unit or 24. It's not from an anti-war movie. It's not from any newspaper or TV news reports I could find. The quote comes from a "designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified." He was reporting what happened recently in the city of Shewan, Afghanistan. The story was told in a Marine Corps News report by Cpl. James M. Mercure. "The day started out with a 10-km patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat," the marksman said. Mercure reported, "Shewan had been a thorn in the side of TF 2nd Bn, 7th Marine Regt, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground TF Afghanistan, throughout the Marines' deployment here in support of OEF, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat ops in the area." "The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense 8-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon Sgt personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions, while the plt fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site." '"The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they're given the opportunity to fight,'" the sniper said. '"A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong."' "During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a co.-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the 8-hour battle for Shewan, in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position." '"I was in my own little world,"' the young corporal said. '"I wasn't even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target."' "After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies' spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more. "I didn't realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies' lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,"' the corporal said. '"It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured." Such an amazing story of heroism and victory would have been on Page One in every paper in the country during World War II. Just 30 Marines giving 8 hours of hell to 250 insurgents, is the kind of story that would make a good movie - if that kind of movie still could be made. But these days, it did not even make Page 10. I couldn't find a story about it anywhere. The only mentions were on conservative blogs and military Web sites. The soldiers who are fighting for their lives and our country might as well be in another dimension. News from the battlefronts in Iraq and Afghanistan is apparently not important. It reminds the jaded anti-war crowd that they were wrong. We're winning. It reminds a self-centered nation that some Americans are making sacrifices much bigger than a loss in their 401(k)s. So we don't hear about it. But we need to hear news like that, because a good day for the Marine Corps is a good day for freedom. And that's a good day for America.
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