Topic: Department of Defense

DoD announces 1st BCT deployment

October 20, 2009 |

The Department of Defense announced today the deployment of the 1st Brigade Combat Team “Bastogne”, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), as part of the scheduled spring rotation of major units in Afghanistan.

Approximately 3,700 Soldiers will deploy as part of the United States’ commitment to maintain the level of forces necessary to provide sufficient military capability for the NATO-International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to further improve security and stability operations. «Read the rest of this article»

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Tanner Applauds Improved Service to Wounded Warriors

October 17, 2009 |

Chairman Urges Agencies to Continue Recommended Improvements

Washington – U.S. Rep. John Tanner, chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, joined with colleagues in thanking federal agencies for improving service to wounded warriors who are eligible for Social Security disability benefits. These improvements were cited in a new report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Tanner also urged the agencies to make additional improvements recommended by GAO.

“The Subcommittee on Social Security is committed to ensuring that those who have made great sacrifices in service to our country receive prompt and fair treatment when they apply for Social Security disability benefits,” stated Chairman Tanner, a veteran of the United States Navy and the Tennessee Army National Guard. “I applaud the Social Security Administration for the success of its efforts to improve outreach and service delivery to wounded warriors, and I am confident the agency will work hard to address the remaining barriers identified by the Government Accountability Office.” «Read the rest of this article»

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“Homefront,” A novel by former miltiary wife

September 11, 2009 |

Homefront is a critically-acclaimed novel hailed as the only one to adequately illustrate the deployment experience. The semi-autobiographical story draws readers inside the surreal anxiety-filled wait, allowing them to experience it themselves on an intimate and personal level.

Books, movies, and TV shows offer valuable insight into experience of the soldier, but until now, there has been nothing to truly help the general population empathize with the others involved in our country’s wars: those who watch the people they love most leave for war and who–from that moment on–try to hold onto the last touch of the hand, the last smile, the last hug. Because it could be the last. From the day the service member touches down in Iraq or Afghanistan (or, earlier – in Vietnam, or Germany), every minute thereafter is spent knowing that could be the minute the beloved soldier dies.

Those who have never experienced a deployment hear people tell their stories on TV, and they think, “I bet it’s hard.” But being told it’s hard doesn’t do the experience justice, doesn’t help people understand.

“The uniformed soldiers just outside the doorway need not say a word — the spouse inside already knows what they are about to say. It is a painful and familiar scene, one played out often in fiction. But what was life like at home, before the fateful knock? … Tsetsi’s details are the things that ring truest about Homefront: a clock Mia sets to Iraqi time; the grit on Jake’s letters, which smell like ’sweat and mud’,” writes reporter Seth Robbins in a recent issue of the Stars and Stripes newspaper, distributed worldwide to U.S. military, Department of Defense civilians, contractors, and their families.

«Read the rest of this article»

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ASVAB: Backdoor military recruitment in the guise of “career testing”

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 20, 2008 |

Tucked inside a handbook my grandson brought home from school was a score sheet not unlike what one might expect from No Child Left Behind or any standardized state Achievement Test paper. Scores and tables and percentiles. Okay. And then I looked closer. Read the fine print (almost needed magnifying glasses for my 58-year-old eyes).

Although it masquerades as a “career exploration test,” I was appalled when I first read the tidbits on the grading sheet, test materials and booklet on a test called the ASVAB, a test most high school juniors (11th grade) take.

ASVAB, you ask? What’s that? ASVAB stands for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery; I had to visit three websites to find the acronym actually spelled out. Yep. My grandson, 17, has been tested by the U.S. Government and the only reasons for that are the probability of intense recruitment efforts or the possibility of forced military service — i.e.: a draft. It’s a logical conclusion, given the issues facing recruiters in a country increasingly disenchanted and disgusted with the policies behind the Iraq War (and the physical, emotional and financial cost of that war), policies that have tens of thousands of U.S. troops deployed in the Middle East, policies that have stretched our troops to the breaking point. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News, Opinion | 2 Comments

Hillary Clinton VS Donald Rumsfeld ends in TKO

By Bill Larson | August 4, 2006 |

Today, Sentator Clinton grilled the Bush Administration as represented by Donald Rumsfeld on it’s handling of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It really is “must see TV!” I have never been a fan either Bill or Hillary Clinton, that being said, I can only say “WOW” in response to the below video of her confrontation with Donald Rumsfeld during Senate hearings today! «Read the rest of this article»

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