Category: New Book Discussion

I will discussing the book, Close Enounters of the Heavenly Kind: Through Bumper Stickers. I will shae my feeling on why it got started, and my feelings as I wrote it.

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Medal of Honor Recipient Braved Open fire to Rescue Four Wounded Soldiers

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Military news….

The US military is running low on ammo after sending so much to Ukraine
The Pentagon is trying to find other ways to send munitions.

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The Army grounds its fleet of CH-47 Chinooks, one of its oldest and most versatile aircraft
Even Marines respect the Army’s CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.

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As Iraq reels from recent violence, it’s worth remembering that 2,500 US troops are still there
Americans cannot forget that 2,500 of their sons and daughters are deployed to Iraq.

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Ukraine is using a ghost army of fake HIMARS to trick Russian artillery
Theatricality and deception are indeed powerful tools.

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Why the US Military Faces a Growing Recruiting Crisis

“The Army has to recognize that there’s been an evolution in that young population,” said U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif, chair of the Subcommittee on Military Personnel. “And if you’re going to target that young population for service, you’ve got to make it appealing to them.”

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Taiwan agrees to buy four American-made naval surveillance drones for $555 million

The first of four MQ-9B SeaGuardians is scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan in 2025.

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Oregon veterans find community, therapy in beekeeping class

The “Bee Heroes America Program” teaches veterans a new skill while providing recreational therapy for those dealing with recovery from a slew of issues such as PTSD.

(My home state)

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I am sharing another Medal of Honor recipient today. I will be sharing one in each post:

Matthew O. Williams Born October 3, 1981, Casper Wyoming Service Branch: U.S. Army.

Citation

After the lead assault element was ambushed, Sgt. Williams braved heavy fire and led a counter attack with icy boulders. and a fast moving river. He provided medical aid to a wounded team sergeant, then continued to fight up a mountainside, directing suppressive fire. After hours of fighting, he exposed himself again to load and evacuate wounded and dead soldiers, ensuring the survival of four.

Presentation: October 30, 2019, the white House, by President Donald Trump

There will be many more Medal of Honor winners in future posts, so keep coming back to check them out. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on subscribe. When you do all future posts will go directly to your inbox.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you fighting back memories?

FEAR NOT!


There are over 15,219 Veterans on this site who have your back.


If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!


Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.
1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

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Remember:


You are never alone.


You are never forsaken.


You are never unloved.


And above all…never, ever, give up.

+Now there is an easier way to get help. Just dial 988, and you will have help ready for you.

_______________________________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

Posted on

The Hardest Thing a Soldier Has to Face is the Loss of a Buddy.

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

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Military news…

GI Go Fund Organized Weekend Fundraiser for Homeless, Jobless Veterans

A group of U.S. Navy SEALs teamed up with veterans and military supporters to swim across the Hudson River for a good cause.

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15-Year-Old Minnesotan Teenager Raises $77,000 To Build Veterans’ Memorial

Eagle Scout Dom Claseman of Olivia, Minnesota, realized his hometown needed a veterans memorial. Dom painted his town with flyers, met with veterans, and appeared in local media. In total, he raised $77,000 to build one.

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‘He Lives Up To His Marine Corps Motto’: WWII Veteran Celebrates 102nd Birthday

Harry Kone, a World War II veteran of the Pacific Campaign, celebrated his 102nd birthday Tuesday with friends, family, and fellow Marine veterans at Semper Fi Bar and Grille in Woodstock.

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Kissimmee WWII Veteran Honored With French Legion of Honor

U.S. Navy veteran Stephen A. Nemeth served as a gunner aboard several armed merchant ships that sailed across a stormy, deadly, cold, Nazi U-boat- and underwater mine-infested Atlantic Ocean, to deliver vital supplies and soldiers for the war in Europe.

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Animal Shelter Honors Military Working Dogs With Memorial

The memorial consists of a life-size granite sculpture of a 12-year-old German shepherd, known as Chyba, who served as a U.S. Army military patrol and security police dog in Kuwait and Germany.

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That time the Air Force delivered a heart transplant on a supersonic bomber
In 1986, a U.S. Air Force FB-111A ferried a heart transplant from Oklahoma to Connecticut in two hours to save a patient.

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US aircraft, artillery pound militants in Syria after rocket attack

U.S. forces struck back with airstrikes and artillery, killing at least four Iranian-backed militants in response to rocket attacks in Syria that injured three Americans.

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I was thinking of what to share today about my military times. Immediately I thought of my time in Korea.

What hit me the hardest was the fact that two buddies and I joined the military, and were sent to Korea, and only two came back alive. That still gives me bad dreams today.

Another very hard time is when a good buddie, I got to know in Korea, went out to the local village and got totally drunk. He tried to make it back to our base, but he stumbled into a honey bucket, (A hole that the locals filled with human waste for fertilizer,) and suffocated. We were in shock when the company commander told us about it the next morning in formation.

I know about the loss of a buddy. If you are there too, I feel for you.

I have these two bad moments written in my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life, so keep coming back to get caught up on the progress of the book. Better yet….go to the top of this page and click on subscribe. When you do all future posts go directly to your inbox.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you fighting back memories?


FEAR NOT!


There are over 15,219 Veterans on this site who have your back.


If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!


Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.
1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

_______________________________________________________________

Remember:


You are never alone.


You are never forsaken.


You are never unloved.


And above all…never, ever, give up.

+Now there is an easier way to get help. Just dial 988, and you will have help ready for you.

________________________________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

Posted on

There Are many Battles Soldiers Face, but the worst one is Depression

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

________________________________________________________________
Military news….

New legislation opens the door for Marine veterans to file lawsuits over contaminated water at Camp Lejeune
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 allows veterans, families and other individuals who worked or lived on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune to sue for harm and exposure to contaminated water.

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New missiles, drones part of biggest-ever US military aid package to Ukraine
The new $2.98 billion package will allow the U.S. to supply Ukraine with air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems and radars.

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Battle for Kyiv: Ukrainian valor, Russian blunders combined to save the capital

Even as Ukraine’s political leaders downplayed the likelihood of a full invasion, the country’s military took critical steps to withstand Russia’s initial assault.

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US aircraft, artillery pound militants in Syria after rocket attack

U.S. forces struck back with airstrikes and artillery, killing at least four Iranian-backed militants in response to rocket attacks in Syria that injured three Americans.

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Army’s training center in Alaska first in line for new cold-weather vehiclesSoldiers at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, will be the first to receive the Army’s new Arctic-capable vehicle late next year.

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Construction Set to Begin on First US Coast Guard Museum

A special keel-laying ceremony was held on Friday at the museum’s riverfront site in New London, Connecticut, about 40 miles south of Providence, Rhode Island.

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Active Military Member Mows Veterans’ Lawns for Free

Master Sergeant Chad Emrick put a call out on social media offering free lawn care service to veterans so they could take pride in their yard and celebrate the summer holidays. He said sometimes veterans have even reached out to him for help with handyman jobs or to just talk and connect.

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I an sharing another excerpt from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of life. This chapter is about what many of us faced while in the military. It is called depression.

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Move out of Your Home Called Depression

So many people (19 Million in the United States) are silently struggling with depression or related demons. The depression rate in the military is very high as well. People do not do anything about it. It leaves them eventually because the person dies.

How can we get off this train of despair? Why do we let depression overtake us? Shouldn’t we be happy with our family friends, and love ones around us? Is there a way to climb out of the dreadful trench and have a productive life?

Now that I have made you also feel depressed, let me share some thoughts with you, and see if you can see any light at the end of the tunnel.

1.  People seem to think that they will be embarrassed if they let someone know they are depressed. That couldn’t be further from the truth! Don’t you think your close family and friends would jump in to help you faster than a cat on a hot tin roof if they knew you were hurting? Of course they would! Stop closing the door on others and wallowing in your own pity. Let people, and other soldiers, become your support system to get you out of your despair.

2.   Why do we let depression overtake us? Because we become very vulnerable to the dark side, and loneliness of life when we have something go wrong. We can’t just keep going as if nothing ever happened. We either deal with it, or we crash, like I did.

3.   Depression has many names by the way. It hides under the names of self-doubt, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, and self-pity. They all are different names, but they are all symptoms of the Big Kahuna depression. All of those nasty critters push us into the lake of the muck and mire, and we can’t seem to stay afloat. Don’t let this villain ambush you! Keep your eyes on the bright side of life, and not on the dark side.

4.  With today’s modern technology, you can connect with your family no matter where you are in the world. I have used Skype, Face Time (I-Phones,) and speaker phones to get as many people as I can, talking to each other and feeling accepted.

5.   I just did that recently when we had a birthday party for my granddaughter.  My son, who is the Uncle of my granddaughter, couldn’t make it. We did a video connect through I-Box of all things. My son was able to wish my granddaughter happy birthday, and talk with all of us. This was a new one for me.  (You are never too old to learn new tricks.)

     Unlike the dark ages when we couldn’t connect with technology at all, you can see and talk to anyone you want and get the feeling you are right at home with them.

              The bottom line:

      Tell the bad guys to get out of Dodge. Let the good guys come in and help you ride off into the sunset of peace together.

IWILL

Often depression is caused by people or happenings around us. We need to stand strong through these unexpected walls we face. More often than not each time we are faced with something like this it is because we are already fighting a battle within us. We need to be aware of depression that is coming on, and withstand the feelings through positive thinking.

Think about this

Isn’t it interesting how we feel someone is trying to hurt our feelings when they really aren’t?

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you fighting back memories?


FEAR NOT!


There are over 15,219 Veterans on this site who have your back.


If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!


Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.
1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

________________________________________________________________

Remember:


You are never alone.


You are never forsaken.


You are never unloved.


And above all…never, ever, give up.

+Now there is an easier way to get help. Just dial 988, and you will have help ready for you.

_______________________________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.