It is Hard to Lose a Buddy during Deployment. You Never Forget it.

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Military news…

F-22 fighter jet shoots down ‘high-altitude object’ off Alaska coast
A U.S. fighter jet on Friday shot down a “high-altitude object” over U.S. waters near Alaska several days after a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, U.S. officials said.

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Air Force fires unarmed ICBM into Pacific Ocean with aim toward deterrence

The Air Force on test fired an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile from California into waters 4,200 miles away near the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the service said.

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Wagner owner says war in Ukraine could drag on for years

The owner of the Russian Wagner Group private military contractor actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine has predicted that the war could drag on for years.

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Mystery surrounds new objects shot down as lawmakers press for details

The announcement of the takedown of a fourth mysterious airborne object came as members of Congress on Sunday pressed for more information from the Biden administration about the objects shot down over North America in recent days.

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US military downs yet another unidentified object in third shootdown in as many days [Updated]
Have you ever lost a buddy while being deployed? I have. Two of them. The first one was a high school buddy. We were sent to Korea, and he didn’t come home alive. Some virus took him out.
The second one was a buddy from my company while stationed at Camp Red Cloud, in Uijeongbu. Korea. He had been out drinking in the village, and got extremely drunk. He was staggering back to the camp when he fell into a “honey bucket.” A honey bucket is a hole in the ground that the farmers put all their human wastes. They used it for fertilizer. He suffocated.

If you have had to go through this I am with you. The dreams never go away.
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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.
+Now there is an easier way to get help. Just dial 988, and you will have help ready for you.
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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.
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While Deployed in the Military, Loneliness Sucks the Life Out of You.

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Military news…

‘Tanks and mud are not friends’ — Ukraine’s terrain is proving to be a problem for Russian armor

“Eastern Europe is either frozen or it’s muddy, that’s just how it is.”

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The Army is now letting soldiers pick their first duty station


Make sure to read the fine print, though
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Congress takes step towards granting free health care to millions of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans

It’s one of many needed.

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Where is the Russian Air Force? Experts break down why they might be hiding


“It is clear to us that Russia is losing aircraft and helicopters at a damaging rate.”

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Putin likens sanctions to ‘declaration of war,’ says invasion pushback risks future of Ukrainian statehood

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said that sanctions and pushback from leaders in Ukraine and around the world in response to the invasion are risking “the future of Ukrainian statehood.”

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Zelenskyy ‘desperate’ plea to US Congress: Send more planes

Fighting for his country’s survival, Ukraine’s leader made a “desperate” plea Saturday to American lawmakers for the United States to help get more warplanes to his military and cut off Russian oil imports as Kyiv tries to stave off the Russian invasion.

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My take….

Putin is directing his bombs on residential areas. Apartments etc. Very barbaric. He is desperate.

He is even losing support from his own military officers. The parliament is not happy either.

An interview of a young teenager in Russia, says he is not happy with his countries choices. He says the allies should help to end this war.

Up to fifty Russian planes have been shot down. 44 tanks have been destroyed. A whole convoy wiped out. Many helicopters destroyed. Seems to be that the Ukrainians are holding tough.

Over 11,000 Russians have been killed.

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Here is another chapter from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the trenches of Life. This one is about the loneliness you face when deployed.

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Loneliness Sucks the Life Out of You

I have written about loneliness already in this book, but I think one of the biggest battles a person in the military may battle is the loneliness that creeps up on them.

Many civilians do not understand how you can be lonely when you have so many other soldiers around you.

It may be hard to comprehend, but all those other soldiers are from all over the country, and do not relate to your needs of needing to connect with your home. They all have their own worlds of loneliness from not hearing from their own loved ones.

I think the worst time of my own loneliness was while I was stationed in Korea. We were stationed on a small base called Camp Red Cloud. There weren’t a lot of soldiers there. I was with the Army Security Agency, and we were there to help keep the peace plus monitor the radio waves to make sure there were no breaches of security.

Being there made me really feel isolated. I was in a foreign country that didn’t speak my language.

That was only part of it. We realized once we settled in to our duties that the people there didn’t want us to be there. We heard rumors about people throwing rocks at the military trucks as they drove from one place to the next. We were protecting them from North Korea, and they wanted us to leave. Didn’t make sense to me, and I am sure it didn’t make sense to any of you who have gone through the same thing.

My task was to be stationed on top of a high hill-they were all numbered- outside of the camp monitoring the radio waves for breaches of security. My hill was hill 468. Talk about being isolated. It was just one person, alone on top of that hill for twelve hour shifts. I was alone inside a deuce and a half ton truck that was full of radio equipment.

The silence was deafening! Just a slight scratch on the roof of the truck had you grabbing your rifle and aiming it at the door. We had antennas attached to the roof to help us get good reception, and the wind often caused the antennas to rub against the roof of the truck. It sounded like someone was on the roof.

You had to be tough. You couldn’t call down to the camp and ask someone to come up. The rest of them had to go through the same things and they knew exactly why you would be calling. No sissy people allowed!!

During the twelve hours shifts you had free time to think, and I mean deep thinking. It wasn’t good to have such long quite times. You thought about home. You thought about that girlfriend waiting for you. You thought about the fun times you were missing, such as fishing in the lake near the farm where I grew up.

So, I know what loneliness is all about. I know what you each have gone through. I feel your pain.

Loneliness is something we allow to happen. We let it creep into our system like the plague. We don’t fight it enough to make it go away.

After about a month of battling the loneliness in Korea I came up with some ideas to conquer loneliness, and survive. Hopefully it will help you as well, if you are deployed or even a veteran back in civilian life:

  • Write a journal. Don’t worry about what to write, just write. I wrote about some fun times I had in high school. I wrote about the biggest fish I ever caught as a youngster. I even wrote about being bullied in grade school. By putting down the good and the bad, I was able to release my feelings down on paper. It was like I was having a session with a counselor, only on paper.
  • I became an avid reader. Reading takes you into another world. A world you become a part of. You feel the pain; the happiness, and the fear the characters go through. They become family and you are guided through their lives in in a way you can learn about coping in your own life.
  • Send letters home. I know many of you now have SKYP and many other ways to communicate, but the written word seems so much more personal to me. Sending a letter to your family is a direct connection that I can almost guarantee you they will cherish, and keep forever.

Among the books I read was the Bible. I read it every day. I found comfort through many of the passages. I recommend Psalms, Isaiah, Jerimiah, Genesis, and Proverbs from the Old Testament and all of the New Testament.

Don’t let loneliness control your life. Take steps to rid the darkness that it can cause in your life. God is always there for you. He loves you. He even loves me warts and all.

IWILL

Loneliness is a direct cause of depression, and sadness. Try to fill your life with things you enjoy. Don’t sit and think of negative things. Don’t hide from the world where you are stationed overseas. Find things to fill your day that will change your attitude, and give you hope.  

Think about this

Isn’t it great that the more we communicate the happier we are?

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Come back and read more chapters from the book, Signs of Hope for he Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life. 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.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Did you face loneliness while deployed?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 14,104 veterans on this site who have you back. (BTW…on my last post there were 14,068. That is an increase of 36 in just two days. The subscriptions are skyrocketing right now, and I am very pleased.)

Here is what I am asking you to do…please share this site with other veterans you may know. It has helped so many.

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If you are battling mentally, because of your love for others, but it isn’t working, 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 no 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!

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Going Through the Military Gas Chamber of Life is Hard at Best

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Military news…

Traumatic Brain Injury Classifications Are Leading to Preventable Deaths, Report Says

The terms “mild,” “moderate,” and “severe” used by doctors to annually categorize head injuries in roughly two million Americans, are outdated and imprecise, and treatments based on those terms are leading to increased medical costs and preventable deaths, according to a report published Feb. 1.

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Documents Reveal U.S. Military’s Frustration With White House, Diplomats Over Afghanistan Evacuation

Senior White House and State Department officials ignored intelligence on the Taliban’s advance on Kabul and resisted efforts by U.S. military leaders to start evacuating embassy personnel and Afghan allies weeks before the capital’s collapse.

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Judge drops all charges against Navy corpsman accused of killing former Green Beret

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_Americans were promised an ‘orderly and safe’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. US troops say it was anything but.

“The crowd there was crushing women and children up against the barricade

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

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I’ve Been Gased!

One of the parts of basic training was to learn about chemical warfare. They taught us about what the gases were, and what effect they had on people.

The hardest part of this training is that you had to go through their “gas chamber,” yourself. You could carry your gas mask, but you couldn’t put it on in the chamber until you shouted your military serial number you were assigned, and then on some occasions they might ask you other questions.

This is while your eyes feel like they are coming out of your head, and tears are so thick in your eyes you can’t see at all. You are coughing and spitting out words that may seem nonsensical to others, but for you it was desperation to literally feel like you you’re just trying to stay alive.

19658538….No it’s 19768538…No it’s….19635854. You keep trying to get your serial number right. It is hard because your brain is being fried.

You finally get through the maze, and you are out the other side. You can barely see the other men lying on the grass, all coughing and sneezing just like you are. You take several deep breaths, and you begin to feel better.

You have been through a “gas chamber,” in your life. The day you went to find out you were going to be deployed to Iraq, or Afghanistan. For us older guys it would be Korea, or Vietnam. To a few good men and women that are still with us, it was WWII.

It is a time of a sudden crash of everything you thought was OK. It stops your heart for a second, and you sense instant fear of the unknown.

This is the time we find out what our true character is. Like when I was on a plane ready to be shipped to the Bay of Pigs. I was in fear, but in my heart I was ready to do whatever it took to defend those who needed help. I am sure you felt the same way.

Fear is not a bad thing, as I have said before. It keeps us on the right track to being alert, and ready.

We can also face this fear by knowing that we have a God that is right there with us each step we take. He is there to guide us and keep us out of harm’s way, if that is His will.

Be proud that you have, or are now serving your country. Don’t let the tear gases of life get you down. Always remain strong, and be a good example for all those around you.

IWILL

I may be pushing the thought of facing fear in the military a little hard in this book, but I think that is one of the overwhelming factors that cause us to go through depression, anxiety, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects that haunt in while serving our country.

Fear is, sometimes, not a bad thing. It can get us in an alert mood that keeps us keen on the task ahead. 

Think About This

Isn’t it funny that sometimes fear gives us more strength and courage?

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There will be more excerpts coming so come back aften. Better yet… go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.” When you do all future posts will come directly to you in box.

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Checking in on you…How are you doing? Are you struggling with memories?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 13,825 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If you are battling mentally, because of your love for others, but it isn’t working, 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 no hang up until they know you are OK.

1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

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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.