One of the things I really enjoy about traveling anywhere is the impressions that people and places make upon me.  A very short meeting in a random place can enlighten or change the way you think or feel about something in a way you would never have sought or expected.  That happened to us a lot this past weekend, but in everything, I have got to say that one place in particular really struck me.  We went to the "Wounded Warrior's Barracks" down on Lejeune.

 

Apparently a new program that is being started across the military, these barracks are being set up for our wounded to recover in so that they can stay connected with their units and the whole military culture during that process.  Still in it's early phases, it looks like a wonderful program for both the wounded and those who aren't.  You see, the guys who aren't wounded are going over there and volunteering to help out those who are.  It could be with a ride somewhere, answering phones, escorting and assisting or just talking with the guys as they heal, but they are there with them.  Recovery is no longer an ostracized experience for the soldiers, endured in an isolated place that no one knows about because "We don't want to think about them."  The military is finally realizing that no matter what, the guys don't stop thinking about those who have had to come home.  They want to help them, and my impression is that in these barracks, healing is happening for both the active duty soldiers and the wounded as well.

 

It's an incredible experience to talk to these guys and if you're ever down there or on a military base that has one, I encourage you to stop in and thank a soldier, Marine or sailor for all they have done and continue to do and participate in this process in any way that you can.  Incredible people!  Incredible place!  Incredible way to encourage our troops who are giving so much!

 

God bless!

 

A Mom in America

Today is April 26.  For those of you who have been reading me for a while, you know that yesterday and today mark  the Vet March in D.C for 2006.  We had planned to attend and the Vet and I both took off for this time.  #2 has been trying to call us from Iraq since Saturday.  With the sound in his voice on the answering machine, we know our place is here till we hear from him again, though.  Some choices are like that. 

 

The Vet was telling me about an article he read last night in the latest VFW magazine that sites Newsweek's T. Trent Gegax and Evan Thomas as stating that "America is divided between the vast majority who do not serve and the tiny minority who do."  Hating to credit Newsweek with anything, I do have to tip my hat to them on this one because the fact is, "only 4 tenths of one percent serve our country in the military," according to Richard K. Kolb as stated in "Society & the Soldier" in this April '06 edition of VFW. 

 

I don't know about the rest of the country, but to me that number is a staggering cause for shame!  With all of the advantages we have in this nation, not even one half of one percent is willing to stand and defend it...and people don't like that I'm not allowing comments here.  People get upset that their right to free speech is being infringed upon here, yet not even one half of one percent of you are willing to do anything to defend that freedom.  That's pathetic.

 

What's even worse in this situation is that if not even one half of one percent of you have served, then almost 100% of you really have no clue about the needs of those who are and have.  The sorry truth is that you don't want to have a clue either until you can't say what you want to say or do what you want to do.  This is what it feels like to be the soldier or sailor, airman or Marine who is defending your right to say and do all of those things you love to say and do.  They serve in silence so that you don't have to. 

 

Hasn't been any coverage on the Vet March that I have seen.  It seems to me that when those who have given so much to serve us so well are able to speak, we who owe them so much should at least have the courtesy to listen.  Less than one half of one percent are.  God bless them for that!

 

God bless!

 

A Mom in America     

 

 

HA!  The media is missing out on this one, Gang, and it's really pathetic that they are!  One of the interesting things that I'm running into as a result of being married to The Vet and most recently because of the issues with Eddie Ryan, is the status, or lack thereof, of our Veterans organizations, services and benefits.  Amidst the plethora of coverage in the genres of Cindy Sheehan, recent death totals from Iraq and the latest Al-Jazeera coverage of kidnappings, hostages and Al-Qaida videos...designed to target the American psychie with the magnanimously benevolent Bin Laden, (he's such a nice guy, ya know) you'd be hard pressed to find any mention of the issues our Veterans have been fighting for since the Vietnam War.  I mean, when you think about it, this only effects the lives of a million or so people.  Why should the media cover an issue as minuscule as that?  Why should they have anything to say about the fact that we still have soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War who were so traumatized that they were never able to get functional again and they are still living on the streets and are sleeping in cardboard boxes.  Why should they be discussing the slowly gnawing cancers caused to soldier's exposed to Agent Orange?  The use of our soldiers... our spouses and kids, as a living laboratory for whatever the latest drug for Malaria or vaccine for Anthrax is?  The fact that in many cases for medical claims, the soldier dies before the VA gets around to processing his claim?  The cross canceling issue of concurrent payments in which one payment deducts so much from the other that in the end, the soldier has less that minimal medical coverage and no pension?  The issue of a soldier being raped of his pension in divorce by a spouse who held off till he came home to walk out the door?

 

The sorry fact is that this is just the tip of the iceburg.  We are in a war.  Yes, we have soldiers dying, but we have a lot more, coming home everyday and they have needs now and are going to have needs in the coming decades.  What have we done as a nation to prepare for their return?  Clapping your hands and handing them a Bud is nice and all, but what have we done to ensure that our husbands and wives, our sons and daughters are taken care of when they come home?  We've paid our taxes.  We assume that things are taken care of.  Unfortunately, in the hands of politicians, that funding goes to wherever their latest and most lucrative lobby wants it to.  Veterans are still dying, waiting for their claims to be processed. 

 

Funding for the VA should not be a discretionary thing.  It's got to be mandatory and it's got to start happening now.  Our soldiers made a promise to defend us.  Our government promised to ensure that they would be cared for upon their return.  There are a lot of Veterans out there who could sure use this nation to start standing up for them.  My husband is among them.  My son's and many of your sons and daughters will be too. 

 

There will be a March in Washington, DC and at your State Capitals and VA facilities on April 25, 2006.  It's called the Million Vet March.  Many of you have expressed a desire to me to tell the media exactly what you think of the people and issues in the headlines.  We've seen what the "anti-War" protesters can do.  They haven't really seen too much of us, though...standing for our own and ensuring that the right thing happens.  This march is a way to let everyone, especially our kids who are fighting overseas, know that they are not and will not be forgotten, that America will no longer tolerate the discrimination and abuse that our Veterans of Vietnam endured for decades because some media moguls whipped up protests on college campus' and made employers run from the thought of hiring a Vet.  It's a way of ensuring that these kids do come home heroes, that they do have jobs and that they don't have to beg for scraps on the corner.  I think they should know that we are standing for them!

 

http://www.vetmarch2006.com

 

I encourage all to get involved!

 

God bless!

 

A Mom in America  

 

  

Another hero today!!!!  Ha!  Jodie, you're getting kicked off of the "Unsung Hero's List" and can start singing today!  I've held off because this family had a tough landing, but they have made it!  Doug is here and now is the time to start the WOOO HOOO's!  This has been a very long year for Doug and Jodie, but they have "done that and been there" and they understand the true meaning of sand now!  Doug is in the States!  I'm hoping the family is getting settled and that their life now moves on. 

 

Doug, welcome home!!!!!  Enjoy your family!  They have stood behind you and taken a lot this year!  Now is the time for you.  Take it easy as everything doesn't have to happen at once even though it feels like it does.  Know that what you have done meant a lot, not only to Iraq, but to this Nation as well!  I thank you and I salute both you and your wife!  You are both hero's now!  

 

Oh, and Jodi, before you even start, what you have been through qualifies you as a hero on my site.  You see, I do know so don't even go there with me, Girlfriend!  If I had a medal, you'd be wearing it now.  I don't.  But I do have this site and I run it.  Thank you so much for all you have given and done in this year! 

 

God bless you both!

 

A Mom in America

 

 

Okay, everyone has to go over to Dan's site!  He gets my vote for having the best decorated entry because what he has going there is truly a work of art... and incredibly fun! 

 

Hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas!

 

God bless!

 

A Mom in America

We have two more hero's who arrived back home on the 19th of December!!!!!!!!  Welcome home Redwood and Ariel!!!!!!!!  God bless you both!!!!!!  This has been a very tough year for both of you!  While most of the attention goes to those serving in Iraq, you have both given a year of your lives in support of those troops.  Because of what you did in Kuwait, their job was a little easier and in that you have both done those soldiers, your country and the Nation of Iraq an incredible service!!!!  I thank you both so much!!!!!  You stood and you were counted and guess what, guys.  YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!  On my site, that's the stuff hero's are made of!

 

Unfortunately, this also means that you are no longer  "kids".  You have "done that and been there" and that means, it's time for you to move over with the other hero's on this site.  Now you join the ranks of Rebecca, Sour Dan, Rich, Aron, Martin and my own Vet!  I can't give you medals, but I can give you this, and always my gratitude and respect!  It is such an honor to have you home and it makes all of us feel more relieved to have you here! God bless you both and thank you so much!

 

Welcome Home and have a Very Merry Christmas!!!!

 

A Mom in America 

It's Veteran's Day!  Remember what they have given, and if you see one, take the time to say Thank You!

 

God bless!

 

A Mom in America

Big day today!  Long and very big!  I thank everyone who voted, and am ready to announce the decision of our family.  We are dividing our donation between all four branches of the military because, for us, it seemed the right thing to do!  We hope that it contributes to all.

 

That being said, onto more events of this day!  Today is the 230th birthday for the United States Marines!  I am honored to know two very fine young men, the best in my opinion, now serving under this branch of the military.  My prayers are with them every minute of everyday because I know they are the best!  They are my sons.

 

One of the things that has consistantly bothered me about this site is that there has been an acute lack of Marines listed here.  Yesterday a Veteran Marine came here to vote in our family predicament.  His name is Rich.  The  thing I find really interesting about Rich is that what he is doing now is such an example of what I see in Veterans across the board.  You see once the military, and that is any branch of the military, has touched your life, even when you leave service, you don't stop "serving".  Rich is in Iraq right now, not as a Marine, but as a civilian.  He is there helping to rebuild that country.  He could be working anywhere over here, but he isn't.  He's in Iraq and continues to work with the people of Iraq right now. 

 

I see so much of this with the Veterans, not that they all go back to Iraq, but that they all really feel compelled to continue supporting and serving even after they come home.  I see it in Dan, in Martin, in TJ and in my own Tom, aka "The Vet".  They all continue to work, diligently work, to ensure that people know about our troops and the people of Iraq.  It's an incredible thing and a quality that I continue to be proud of each of them!

 

So tonight, as the last of the birthday of the Marines passes into Veteran's day, I can think of no better way of marking this time than to be adding both a Veteran and a Marine to the list of Hero's on this site!  Rich, I thank you for your service to this country and for your service to the soldiers in this struggle for Iraq.  I also thank you for your continued work in Iraq!  It is not an easy place to be as a civilian or a soldier an your courage and dedication to the people of Iraq is an example for everyone of our nation! 

 

I thank you, Rich, for standing to be counted!  You are a Hero!

 

God bless!

 

A Mom in America

Dan, God bless you!  Don't be angry.  I now.  A bulldozer can, in the hands of the right person, be a "weapon of mass destruction".  I now what you saw.  Be at peace.  This is your time to heal!  I know what you see everyday in the casualty lists.  I see it too.  Realize that they don't know and have no way of understanding.  They didn't see it, or smell it or live it.  You did.

 

I Thank God everyday, Dan, for you and soldiers like you!  You have done so much and most people will never understand it.  You are home now, though.  Rejoice in that beautiful woman you are with and in the freedom you stood to defend!  God bless you , Dan!  You are a hero!

 

Dan, I know what you saw.  Don't give in and don't give up!  Those mass graves did not lie and no, most of America should not know what you saw or what you know.  It's the same with us.  The Vet and I have to see all of them home, the right way, because we do know.  So stand behind them with us and let's see this thing done!

 

A Mom in America