Marines @ MindSay

hello all, life is okay here for the moment. but i am stuck with a dilema about my other half. this nut was at the dinner table the other night talking about re-enlisting. (if he hadnt lost his mind, he was gonna have some kind of brain damage once i tossed the salad bowl at him) do they have military on the brain or something? i know that he was in the marines for almost 8 years, but he ALMOST LOST HIS LEG!!!!! so what would make him want to go back? ive danced around this question all day during our phone conversations and have yet to come up with the right way to approach him with the question. we are a reasonably happy family. our lives get a little hectic at times with the kids, but what family doesnt? sex life is great, im a freak in the bed, and not ashamed to admit it:D so, i was just wondering if it is something that they all go through once they are discharged. speaking of kids, my brother has moved in with us and taken the guest bedroom. so now we have a full house. he was miserable with dad since he has decided that he is 16 and ready to test the dating waters again. he thinks that it is too soon for him to be out there testing any waters, as or my opinion, i am with holding judgement right now. anyways, that is what has been on my mind and any input would be great, thanks!  on to another subject, i was on late sunday night and the strangest thing happened on messenger. im not sure if those of you that knew feelie still have his ID on your messenger or not, but his smiley face was lit up, showing him online. it was only for a minute or so, but it really caught me off guard. has anybody been checking his account or using his id? at any rate, i am heading back to the books to get the rest of my work done so i can turn payroll in. Love and hugs to you all.

~kitte

By Fred W. Baker III

American Forces Press Service

 

April 26, 2008 - The cost of a pound of coffee in Colombia: $8. A hand-carved souvenir iguana from Cuba: $10. A cold beer in Honduras: $1.  Traveling throughout Central and South America talking to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines and seeing firsthand the U.S. military's role in the region: priceless.

 

"You can't put a price on that," said Dan Simons, president of The World Company in Lawrence, Kan. "It's off the charts."

 

Simons and about 50 other participants in the 75th Joint Civilian Orientation Conference wrapped up their week-long journey to parts of the U.S. Southern Command area of operations here last night with a dinner and an opportunity to chat with the command's top officer, Navy Adm. James Stavridis. Miami serves as the headquarters for the command.

 

The JCOC is the Defense Department's oldest outreach program. In this trip, participants traveled to Brazil, Cuba, Honduras, Colombia and here. The U.S. Southern Command area encompasses more than 30 countries and covers about 15.6 million square miles.

 

During the conference, participants stood on the deck of the USS George Washington and witnessed hair-raising night landings on the nuclear aircraft carrier up-close. They fired machine guns in Cuba, rode in helicopters in Honduras, and rappelled off towers in Colombia.

 

The civic and business leaders toured maximum-security detainee facilities in Guantanamo Bay, sped across the Keys in super-fast U.S. Coast Guard drug interdiction boats and saw what a jungle cocaine lab looks like.

 

And while all are quick to say those experiences were exhilarating, stimulating, and sometimes frightening, being able to talk with U.S. servicemembers was the highlight of the trip, they said. SouthCom is home to more than 1,200 military and civilian personnel from all services. During the trip, the group dined in a Navy's ship's galley and chatted with sailors. They shared field rations with soldiers and airmen and talked about military life with Marines.

 

"I leave with a real sense of pride, and am just in awe of the men and women who serve," said Saul Kaplan, executive director of Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, Providence, R.I.

 

This is the first time a JCOC has toured Southern Command since the program began in 1948. And it is the first JCOC to see more of the U.S. military's "soft power," or humanitarian assistance and other aid-oriented missions. This group got to talk about drug eradication efforts with Colombian police who risk their lives spraying the coca plants across the country. They delivered school supplies and soccer balls to children in Honduras. They talked with the doctors who provide the medical care for the detainees at Guantanamo.

 

Many of the participants said that they're returning from the trip with a deeper understanding of the importance of the region to U.S. national security interests.

 

"We tend to think of the military as arms and defense. We saw the human heart of the military and the focus and concern for all people," said Rebecca Upham, head of the Buckingham Brown and Nichols School in Cambridge, Mass.

 

And as the event wrapped up, the business leaders and educators talked about how they could spread the word of what they saw in their travels. Entrepreneurs penciled thoughts on paper for upcoming speeches, and authors sketched out ideas for upcoming seminars. No one is leaving without a sense of urgency to tell their story on some scale within their communities.

 

Simon said the trip gave him new appreciation for the efforts of U.S. servicemembers. He admitted he had become somewhat apathetic regarding their service, because it did not have a direct, personal impact. Now he is going to work with United Service Organizations on an upcoming project, and is also teaming with a nonprofit organization to sponsor races to be held across the country on Sept. 11.

 

"I could have been working on this for a couple of years," he said.

 

Michael Roberts, the chairman and chief executive officer of The Roberts Companies in St. Louis, said his experiences on the trip will be part of his regular speeches. As an entrepreneur and author, Roberts regularly speaks to businesses and on college campuses such as Harvard.

 

"In those environments, I can say to them what the military is about from a humanistic perspective, as opposed to a strict warring and defense operation," Roberts said.

 

Roberts used a sports analogy to sum up his impressions of the military's use of soft power: "The best defense is a good offense." He said the humanitarian missions of the military, such as building schools, countering narco-terrorism and providing health care to impoverished countries, is a side of the military most people do not know about.

 

In the end, the trip was a call to action for him and the others, Roberts said.

 

"We need to do what we can to spread the word about the humanitarian mission of the U.S. military," he said. "We do have a 'good neighbor' policy. And the world is our neighbor."

By U.S. Army Sgt. James Hunter

Special to American Forces Press Service

 

April 24, 2008 - The nearly 200 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who became U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony at the Al Faw Palace here on April 12 each took a different route to the military and their service in Iraq. Army Spc. Vivek Mishra, a chemical operations specialist born and raised in central India, took a rather unusual route to his new life. Mishra serves in Multinational Division Baghdad and is assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.

 

His father was a doctor, serving at the head of India's Department of Pharmacy. Mishra's family was wealthy; famine or war didn't bring him to the United States of America. His studies did.

 

He grew up in a large household that held anywhere from 25 to 40 family members at any given time. There was a lot of respect among the household's members, he said, and a major focus on family and religious values.

 

Often, Mishra spent time with his friends at clubs or dining out at the restaurants that lined the highways near bodies of water. When it was time for Mishra to go to college, he knew exactly the field he wanted to join. He felt he was not good at math, and he didn't like art. He wanted to be a chemist.

 

"At that time when I was in India, they considered it a very big thing to be a doctor," Mishra said, "but my dad never forced me to do anything. He said whatever I wanted to choose to do, do it."

 

After three years at the Government Science College, Mishra earned his bachelor's degree. Then, less than three years later, he earned his master's degree in chemistry at the Rani Durgeivati University in Jabalpur, India.

 

"In chemistry, I love reactions," he said. "You cannot see it how it changes into another substance. When you mix two substances, it will have a reaction. I love being able to understand those things."

 

After earning his master's degree, Mishra joined the doctorate program. During his studies, he said, his professor asked if he was interested in getting another master's degree at a school in the United States. He said he thought it would be a good choice, but wanted his parent's opinion on the matter first. His father told him if he stayed in India, he would just know his surroundings; however, he would not know the "real world."

 

Mishra arrived in the United States in 2002 and enrolled at Illinois State University to work toward another master's degree in chemistry. He was nearly complete with his degree, he said, with one semester left and 80 percent of his thesis done, when he decided he needed to take a break from school.

 

He was recently married, and said he didn't make much money working as a graduate assistant at the university. He had to put college aside to provide for him and his wife. He worked a numerous jobs, but never really found his true calling. He said he wanted to work in a lab as a chemist, mixing different substances.

 

"At that time, I said, 'Well, I do not have this much patience to continue to look for a job,'" he recalled. After seeing an article on recruitment, he decided the next best thing for him would be the military. Mishra recalled with a chuckle that he didn't tell his parents he'd joined the Army until he graduated from advanced individual training, where he became a chemical operations specialist.

 

"They were in shock," he said.

 

His mother didn't want him to join the military, he said, but his parents understood he wanted to make a difference. His mother thought that no matter where he was as a soldier a bullet would find him, he said. That has not been the case.

 

Mishra said being in the military is his true calling.

 

"I will be in the Army for about 20 to 25 years, as long as my body permits it," he said. "It's like a big family. It's a big mental support. I have made a lot of changes within myself."

 

When growing up, he said, he wasn't given orders; he simply was given the choice if he wanted to do something or not.

 

"I have learned responsibility and order," he said.

 

Now that he's a soldier and a U.S. citizen, his next goal in his career is to become an officer in the chemical field.

 

"War is completely changing, but chemicals are still an issue," Mishra said. "The chemical corps is growing, and they need really good soldiers to understand all these things."

 

He said he wants to maximize his abilities with chemicals in relation to the military. In the meantime, however, he will first soak in his new status as an American citizen.

 

"It's completely different now to be an American citizen. It's a good feeling," Mishra said. "Now I am on the same track as everyone. I don't think anyone treated me differently because I wasn't a citizen, but it's a mental thing."

 

Becoming an American citizen is an honor Mishra deserves, said Army Capt. Robert Woodruff, his commander.

 

"Specialist Mishra exemplifies all that is good in an American soldier, even before he officially became a U.S. citizen," Woodruff said. "He's been through a roller coaster ride for the two years to get to this culminating point in his life. He is technically and tactically proficient in his skills as the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear expert in the company, routinely filling the shoes of a noncommissioned officer on a daily basis. He definitely deserves this."

 

(Army Sgt. James Hunter serves in Multinational Division Baghdad with the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office.)

American Forces Press Service

 

April 11, 2008 - Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England will join U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Emilio Gonzalez and deliver the keynote address at a special military naturalization ceremony April 14, at the Pentagon.  Twenty-five service members from 14 countries are scheduled to take the Oath of Allegiance and become citizens of the United States during a rare all-military naturalization ceremony slated to begin at 1 p.m.

 

The new citizens represent are from Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines and the United Kingdom. The servicemembers are from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, and include members of the National Guard and Reserve.

American Forces Press Service

 

April 10, 2008 - It's reasonable to think servicemembers deployed the world over might be missing Girl Scout cookies again this year, but that's not necessarily the case.  More than 150 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines soon will be enjoying Girl Scout cookies and other goodies thanks to the Thank You Foundation and several members of the greater Cincinnati community.

 

"This was a real community effort," said John Guinn, president and founder of the Thank You Foundation. "Students from St. Margaret of York [School] collected items, and several Girl Scout troops donated cookies. Senior citizens from the Lebanon Country Manor helped pack up the boxes."

 

Seventh-grade students at St. Margaret of York in Loveland, Ohio, spent two weeks last month collecting care package items for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

"Our U.S. troops in Iraq have sacrificed so much for our country's freedom so it was a wonderful feeling for me to have the opportunity to be able to give back to them," said Marisa Pike, one of the seventh-graders who participated. "It's great to be part of a school that encourages students to serve others in their need."

 

Her classmates agreed the project has given them a new appreciation and perspective for the sacrifices servicemembers make, as well as the importance of volunteerism.

 

"This project really helped me understand that one person can really make a difference," said Sarah Wandtke, also a seventh-grader at the school. "It feels really great to know that you are helping someone. I hope we can do this again next year."

 

In addition to the items collected by the school, Girl Scout Troop 8238 in Landen donated 300 boxes of cookies, and Troop 41865 of Bethany School in Glendale added at least another 50 boxes, Guinn said.

 

Kim Robinson, a Lebanon Country Manor employee, has both a son and son-in-law in Iraq. She, along with the seniors from the manor and her daughter and daughter-in-law, helped pack the boxes for the Thank You Foundation.

 

"I know personally what it means to the men and women serving over there to get these packages from home," Robinson said. "We try to do all we can to let them know they are loved and in our thoughts and prayers."

 

Over the last several months, the Thank You Foundation has sent several hundred care packages to troops and has worked with other groups in the Cincinnati area to send clothing, school supplies, and toys to children in Iraq.

 

In addition, the foundation has focused efforts on providing financial support for the families of wounded and disabled soldiers in Cincinnati and across the country. In January that support helped a disabled Vietnam veteran visit his dying mother in Texas.

 

"We do what we can to help where other organizations can't," Guinn said. "Care packages are really just a small part of the many things we try to do to say thank you."

 

(From a Thank You Foundation news release.)