Category: South Korea

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Do You Need to be Tough to be in the Military?

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINES!!

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Military news…

U.S. Bank is proud to honor military veterans. We’re committed to helping you reach your financial goals during and after your military career. That’s why we offer competitive rates on VA home loans so you can buy a home or refinance with little or no down payment.

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The Air Force has relieved a colonel at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma who berated his airmen for not flying a training mission in dangerous conditions.

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No, the Marine Corps is not offering backseat rides in F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets for Marines who re-enlist.

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While we’re fact-checking, the British press may have to correct its claims that British Royal Marines wiped the floor with their American counterparts during an exercise last month, writes retired U.S. Marine Col. Andrew Milburn, who was actually at the exercise.

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Housing veterans living on the streets in LA could spark momentum nationwide, VA secretary says
VA Secretary Denis McDonough, who spoke at the National Press Club, said the VA succeeded in its goal of getting all homeless veterans living in the area known as “veterans row” in Los Angeles into housing by Nov. 1.
Former Marine in Russian prison goes on hunger strike over rights violationsFormer U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, jailed in Russia for nine years after being convicted over a drunken 2019 incident he did not remember, declared a hunger strike to protest violations of his rights in prison, according to his family and lawyers.

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Law saves the day, Army defeats Air Force in OT

Jordyn Law recovered teammate Christian Anderson’s fumble at the goal line for an overtime touchdown and Army defeated Air Force 21-14 on Saturday.

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Yes I have another excerpt for you from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trecnches of Life. . Aren’t I nice? 🙂

Do I Need to Be Tough in the Military?

I spent twelve hour days on hill 468 in Korea. (That’s the number I remember. Each hill was numbered.) You were up there alone to run the whole operation. I worked in a 2 ½ ton truck with a radio shack placed on top of it.  You were closed into a little area where you could reach both walls from where you sat. The shacks were only about eight to ten feet long.

If you had trouble with claustrophobia, this was not the job for you.

One night everything came to a stop. The generator had stopped. I went out to check and it was out of gas. I had to climb up on the generator to put more gas in. I was doing just fine until I slipped. I started to fall off the generator. I grabbed the first thing I could. Unfortunately it was the extremely hot manifold. It burnt the whole palm of my hand.

There was not one person to take my place, as the soldier who was my replacement was on leave. I had to operate the radio system with my hand wrapped in a cloth, and I was in severe pain.

I could have radioed down to the base, but you were supposed to be a soldier first and a cry baby later. I finished the night. Luckily I only had about three hours to go when I had my accident. I was off duty for over a week while my hand recovered.

Have you had a sudden incident change your path? Did you feel like crying out for help, but didn’t think you should because of how tough we as soldiers are supposed to be?

I am sure many of you have while you were in the service, or are still there.

What do we do about this?

I am convinced now that there is no shame in seeking help. There is no time when you should ever feel that your integrity will be hurting if you seek help for something.

It could a minor injury or it could be harassment. It could that you need to see a counselor for some issues you are going through.

The tough guy/gal theory has no place in the military. It is good to be tough when you are in a trench fighting for your country, but when you need some special help, get it.   

Don’t let the rigors of daily military life drag you down like a huge magnate. Seek help for whatever you think you need help with. 

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Be sure to come back and see more excerpts. Better yet..go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.” When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox.

Bed check… How are you doing today?Does the world seem dark and dreary? Would you rather stay in bed all day to avoid thiss earth?

FEAR NOT!!!

There ar eover 13,350 fellow veterans subscribed to the site who have your back.

But…if it is just too dark and dreary, GET HELP!

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

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+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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Finally, The Outline of the Upcoming Book, Signs of Hope for the Military

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Military news…

A soldier with the Florida Army Reserve has a religious exemption to not only grow a beard, but also wear his hair long while in uniform.. Sgt. Jacob DePietro observes the Nazarite vow from the the Old Testament in the Bible, which states that “no razor may be used on their head.”

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+Report from Jeff Schogol on his trouble trying to get an Afghan interpreter way from his country. They are threatening these people ahead of the final withdraw.

“On Thursday, I received a series of frantic texts from Sher Ahmad Ahmadzai, an Afghan man who worked for coalition forces, after someone threw a Molotov cocktail at his home.” That’s from Jeff Schogol, who wrote this piece about his inability to help Ahmadzai and other Afghans who risked their lives to help the United States and are now in danger of being killed by the Taliban.

“This story is difficult to write because journalists are rightly expected to not get involved in the stories we cover, and the modicum of help that I have tried to provide to Ahmadzai clouds my objectivity,” Jeff writes. “In a way, I’ve already failed at my job.”
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When U.S. Marine Security Guards at American embassies around the world need backup, they call on the Marine Security Augmentation Unit. This may be your first hearing about the MSAU, but the unit’s been putting in a lot of flight time recently: in the past 30 days, the quick reaction force has responded to the call twice to protect embassies in Africa and the Caribbean.

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 A soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division is heading to a court-martial in connection with a murky incident in Syria last summer in which U.S. troops and pro-regime forces exchanged gunfire.

“We are all suffering in silence,” is how one soldier described the unseen problem of eating disorders in the U.S. military. The Army and other branches use outdated body fat measurements to judge soldiers’ fitness, which, when combined with PTSD, sexual trauma and other common military mental health issues, create a rampant eating disorder problem that has gone largely underreported until now.

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The U.S. may be leaving Afghanistan, but the ‘Forever Wars’ aren’t really ending, writes defense expert Bonnie Kristian in this guest op-ed. Despite his statements about leaving Afghanistan, ending support for the Saudi war in Yemen, and leaving Iraq, President Joe Biden’s plans for doing so remain vague, and you can stuff a lot of violence into an absence of details, Kristian argues.

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No excerpt today from my book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

What I am going to to is give you an outline of the book to give you a taste of what is coming:

  1. The first section will basic training. I have many stories there. Some funny some not so funny. Many things to talk about.
  2. The second section will be being deployed to Korea. Some very sad stories there, and few humorous.
  3. The third section will be my states side time at FT. Bragg. One very scary time there, but good vibes most of the section.

Then I will have two appendixes:

  1. Interviews from the trenches. I have interviews from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. Many are heartbreaking. I also have an interview with a Gold Star mother I am working on right now. Pretty exciting.
  2. The second Appendix will be eight pages of resources for veterans. It will have every conceivable information you may be looking for.

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How are you doing? Do you fear sleeping? Have you seen enough of the turmoil we are facing in this world today?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12, 550 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If the road is getting to rough for you, GET HELP!

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

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never face this not so friendly world alone!

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!

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+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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Many Soldiers Fear Going to Sleep, Because of the Nightmares That Are Waiting for Them

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Military news…

A self-proclaimed ‘incel’ allegedly joined the U.S. Army to train for a mass shooting of women but washed out after four months. What’s an incel? They are men who preach violence against women out of sexual frustration, and at least 50 people have died in the U.S. and Canada from incel attacks.

Prosecutors allege that sometime between July and August 2019, 21-year-old Tres Genco wrote a note saying he “will get arms training in BCT [Basic Combat Training] and the “KC [kill count] needs to be huge! 3,000?” 

By the time Genco was arrested, Sheriff’s deputies found an AR-15 rifle modified to shoot fully automatic, a 9mm Glock pistol without a serial number, and plenty of ammo. “I will slaughter out of hatred,” he allegedly wrote in a manifesto.

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Getting attacked by a bear is one thing. Getting attacked by the same bear repeatedly, however, is the stuff of both nightmares and films starring Leonardo DiCaprio. A story about a recent Coast Guard rescue of a man fighting off bears in Alaska in a real-life version of ‘The Revenant.’

This was the experience of one unidentified man at a mining camp in Alaska before the Coast Guard rescued him last week, according to a news release from the service. And they came just in the nick of time: “He only had two rounds left,” said Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer First Class Ali Blackburn. “I’d imagine you’d be a little loopy after not sleeping for so long.”

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What does the U.S. Army and the ‘Fast and the Furious’ movie franchise have in common? They both have robot mini-tanks that look ready to kick some serious butt.

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Most people wouldn’t do push-ups after climbing up 20,310 feet of snow and ice, but it was easy-peasy compared to what these airmen just went through. a tory about a group of remarkable Air Force mountaineers. Last month, the airmen climbed Denali, the highest peak in North America, but not without a near-fatal incident that took all of their training and resilience to get through alive.

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An Army Ranger who recently returned from Afghanistan has been accused of brutally murdering a security guard in Tacoma, Washington.  Spc. Patrick Byrne is now being held in a Washington jail.

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Here is another excerpt from Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Skosh the Dog

While I was stationed in South Korea, we had a company stray dog that made our Quonset hut home. She was a loving dog that was pretty small, and that is why we named her Skosh.

We had to protect her as much as we could, because the Koreans consider dogs a delicacy. She wouldn’t last long in the village outside the Camp Red Cloud compound.

Much to our surprise she got pregnant. We didn’t know there were any other dogs in the area. I guess when a dog is in heat, any dog will find them.

She had four little puppies. As soon as they were born, right in our hut, she took them and hid them. We feared for the lives of those puppies, and we were right. Withen a week after Skosh moved them, she came back to our hut and never left again. She obviously lost her babies.

It was sad time for the soldiers in my hut. We knew what had happened, but there was nothing we could do about it. Skosh wanted to raise her babies her way.

I find that this happens in life today. We do whatever we can to guide our children, and show them what is best for their lives, but they still go into unknown territories and see what they can find out.

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There is much more to this chapter in the book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Come back often to see more. Better yet… Go to the top of the pages and click on “Subscribe.” When you do all future posts go directly to you inbox.

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How are you doing? Does going to sleep frighten you?

FEAR NOT!

There are 12,525 fellow veterans subscribed to this site and they all have your back.

If the night a just too much for you, GET HELP!

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

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until the know you are OK.

Never sleep in fear!

1-800-273-8255 ….For texting, 838255

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never fosaken.

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.