Searching for Gold Star Families to Interview for my Upcoming Book

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Military news…

Thanks to a U.S. Marine’s GoPro deployment video, we can see what the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan actually looked like. This isn’t the sanitized version presented by public affairs: this is the confusion, anger and antics that actually marked life on the ground in the war’s final days.

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The Department of Defense needs your help renaming nine Army forts and two Navy ships that were named after people who served the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. . That’s right, the military is crowd-sourcing name ideas for its installations, so it’s up to you to make the dream of Forty McFortface, or perhaps something better like Fort Alwyn Cashe, a reality.

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 The five sailors killed in a recent helicopter crash aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln provide a stark reminder that seemingly routine military operations can turn just as deadly as combat. That is especially the case when it comes to the difficult task of landing a helicopter on an aircraft carrier.
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16 years ago, Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe died after walking through fire three times to save his fellow soldiers from the burning wreckage of their Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Iraq. But despite being endorsed by the Pentagon eight months ago to receive the Medal of Honor for his incredible act of sacrifice, Cashe has still not received it.

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For the past three presidential administrations, top military leaders went out of their way to avoid any conversation with the American public about what was happening in Afghanistan and why. But now that U.S. troops are finally out, military leaders have no excuse to keep their work secret. The war is lost, and the country deserves to know why.

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Ever want to take your boss to court for being a jerk? It’s a tactic that rarely works in the military, but it did for the legendary Army Maj. Richard “Dick” Winters of “Band of Brothers” fame. That’s right, Winters out-foxed the Army’s green weenie just like he did the Nazi’s. in WWII.

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I just finished putting the table of contents together for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

All I really have are some follow up interviews. I also want to do another interview with a Gold Star mother, but I seem to have lost her contact information.

If you know Vickie Ziegler, please tell her to connect with me at doug@dougbolton.com.

I have stopped sharing excerpts from the book, because my publisher said SLOW DOWN! Do not give so much away free.

You can find many of them by searching the archives.

Better yet….

You can go to the top of this page and hit “subscribe” to be a part of this site, which has over 12,970 fellow veterans. When you do, all future posts go right straight to your inbox.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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People Are very Upset With President Biden and His Approach to Handling Our Dead Heroes

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I am only going to share on piece of military news today on this wearing red day. It is very upsetting, but needed to be shared.

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Biden Met with a befitting hostility from the families of our 13 heroes lost in last Thursday’s suicide bombing in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday to participate in the dignified transfer of remains.

As The Washington Post reported Monday, Biden appeared to repeatedly glance down at his watch, in yet another gesture of disrespect that shook these families to their cores.

“I hope you burn in hell! That was my brother!” one unidentified sister of a fallen troop yelled across the tarmac shortly after the ceremony’s conclusion, according to Mark Schmitz, father of the fallen Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz.

The dignified transfer had ended, but the grief hadn’t.

It was yet another display of the immense frustration, anger and anguish plaguing our heroes’ loved ones in light of last week’s tragedy.

These Gold Star families who witnessed Biden’s disrespectful gesture, who listened to him talk more about his son Beau than their own fallen warriors, who knew where they could rightfully place their blame, had not yet scorned the president enough.

Schmitz grieved and expressed his ire for Biden in his own way, flashing a picture of his son during his private meeting with the president that day.

“Don’t you ever forget that name. Don’t you ever forget that face. Don’t you ever forget the names of the other 12. And take some time to learn their stories,” he told Biden, according to the Post.

The outlet noted Biden, who didn’t appear to like Schmitz’s comments, flippantly fired back with, “I do know their stories.”

Schmitz also shared his account of the unidentified sister in despair who shouted across the tarmac at Biden that she hoped he would “burn in hell” for what his shoddy withdrawal policy caused.

“I can’t fault her for it,” he told the Post. “We all lost somebody.”

Members of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum’s family — except for his widowed wife Jiennah — elected to skip out on their chance to meet with Biden, saying they “did not want to speak to him,” according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.

“You cannot kneel on our flag and pretend you care about our troops,” McCollum’s sister Roice said.

“You can’t f*** up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry. This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands. The thousands of Afghans who will suffer and be tortured is a direct result of his incompetence.”

She and her father fled the room before Biden entered. Her sister Cheyenne reportedly stayed behind with Jiennah, but left when she saw that Biden was being “fake.”

Cheyenne said Jiennah wanted to see if Biden would give her a “sincere conversation or apology.”

But he didn’t. Jiennah said his spiel seemed “scripted” and that it touched more on his own son Beau (who served in Iraq, but did not die while serving) than on the loved one they were grieving.

But Biden carried that disrespect with him to the tarmac as well.

“The checking of his watch, that didn’t happen just once,” Darin Hoover, the father of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, Jr. said, according to the Daily Mail.

“That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one, all 13, he looked down at his watch.

“As a father, you know, seeing that and the disrespect,” he said.

He continued a moment later, describing the repeated gesture as “the most disrespectful thing [he’d] ever seen.”

These families are hurting. They are angry. They deserve to be angry, and they deserve to have their voices heard.

They’ve been bombarded with grief and, as they’re going through hell, Biden opts to disrespect them time and again.

What could be so important that Biden would elect to repeatedly refer back to his watch during a ceremony honoring 13 of our most courageous and selfless? What could be more important than honoring these men and women and their grieving families?

Nothing. And I’m sure Biden knows that.

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My view…

We should NEVER forget what happened in Afghanistan. Those 13 heroes didn’t have to die.

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I have found a publisher!

Bookbaby will be my publisher! They are the best at what they do. I will be sending them my book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life, soon.

Keep coming back for more updates.

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How is your world turning today? A little shaky?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,925 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If your world is shaking so hard you think you are in a earthquake, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. 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!

_________________________________________

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The Afghan War May Be Over, But its Scars Will Last Forever

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Military news….

The last U.S. military aircraft has left Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, marking the final moment of America’s longest war. The conflict left thousands of American troops and Afghan citizens dead and injured and shaped an entire generation of American service members.

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As the ground war in Afghanistan comes to an end, the military’s mission elsewhere continues, like in California, where Air Force Tactical Air Control Party members are helping firefighters battle wildfires. But they are not calling in airstrikes like they would in a combat zone. Instead, they are doing something much more useful.

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Sometimes good news comes in the strangest forms, like when a Navy challenge coin saved the life of an Oklahoma police officer by stopping the bullet that would have hit his femoral artery.

Even if Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss knew he would die in Kabul, he still would have deployed there, said his wife Alena, who survived Knauss after the Special Forces soldier was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last week. The 23-year-old was a remarkable man.

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My view…

Yes, the Afghan war is over, but its scars last for ever.

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Another reminder is that I have slowed down my sharing of excerpts from my upcoming book. Signs of Hope for the Military: In an Out of the trenches of Life.

Speaking of trenches, one of my sections of the book is called, Voices from the Trenches.

These will be actual interviews from soldiers who have been deployed to a foreign land. Many of the interviews were very hard for me to do. They talk about death. They talk about lost buddies.

They talk about near death experiences. Some are even funny.

Stay with me on this. Please go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.” When you do, all future post will come directly to your inbox.

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Is your world controlled by nightmares? Are there things you try to forget, but can’t?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,900 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If the nightmares are overcoming you, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are Highly qualified counselors there to help you. They ill 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!

_______________________________________

+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.