Tag: Signs of Hope

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Panic is High in Afghanistan, Especially at the Kabul Airport

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I told you I would keep you up dating on my SFC friend who is in harms way in Kabul, Afghanistan. The city has been over run. We have all seen the panic at the airport.

i haven’t heard from my friend in two days. Has me worried big time. She is part of the military that is the last in Afghanistan. She is a huge harms way situation. Please pray for her.

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Military news….


The Coast Guard belatedly commemorated its 231st birthday last week with a record offload of illegal drugs.

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For some reason, White House officials still believe the conquering Taliban will settle for a negotiated peace with the collapsing Afghan government, rather than total victory. Then again, when it comes to Afghanistan, U.S. presidents rarely like to face reality.

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The scene at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul has devolved into chaos as both Afghan and foreign nationals seek to flee Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s violent campaign to reclaim the country. Social media footage captured at the airport shows hundreds of people on the airport flight line, apparently blocking the take-off of at least one commercial airliner.

The Taliban captured Kabul on Sunday as former President Ashraf Ghani fled to neighboring Tajikistan, leaving Taliban fighters to occupy the presidential palace and mark the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan almost exactly 20 years after the United States initially invaded the country.

While President Joe Biden has ordered another 1,000 troops to bolster the roughly 5,000 U.S. troops already a the airport to help evacuate Americans who work at the Kabul embassy and some Afghans who have applied for visas, the U.S. embassy in Kabul warned on Sunday that the airport had come under fire amid the Taliban’s push into the city.

“The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly including at the airport,” the embassy said in a statement. “There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place.”

The U.S. military’s focus right now is evacuating Americans from Afghanistan.

For Afghans, the prospect of getting a flight to another country is virtually non-existent for the foreseeable future. While Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has claimed that the evacuation from Kabul is “not Saigon” the U.S. government is once again leaving a country as tens of thousands of people in the capital are terrified of retribution from the new regime.

One Kam Air flight was apparently unable to take off because hundreds of people tried to board it.

“The runway of the airport was filled with a constellation of uniforms from different nations,” the New York Times reported. “They joined contractors, diplomats and civilians all trying to catch a flight out of the city. Those who were eligible to fly were given special bracelets, denoting their status as noncombatants.

Despite the panic that has engulfed the country in recent weeks, the Biden administration has held fast to its decision to rapidly withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan amid the worsening security situation there.

“When I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our Forces and our allies’ Forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country’s civil conflict,” Biden said in a statement on Saturday prior to the Taliban’s march on Kabul. “I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan—two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth.”

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The article about Afghanistan is heartbreaking. How could the president not know this would happen, and why hasn’t he been taking people out earlier. Many people will die now because the Taliban have no mercy.

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I shared with you a couple of posts ago, that I was cutting back on my excerpts from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

You can see some of them by searching the archives.

I will be sending the book to my publisher soon.

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What’s happening in your world? Do you have friends still in Afghanistan? Do you worry they will not make it home?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,800 fellow veterans subscribed to this site. What don’t you join them by clicking on the subscribe button at the top of this page. When you do, all future posts will directly to your inbox.

If the days are just too much for you, GETHELP!

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.

Never fear the world.

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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Veterans Are Letting People Know Their Feelings About President Biden

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A junior sailor accused of setting the fire that destroyed the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard last year had previously attempted to become a Navy SEAL. He also appears to have an affinity for the film “Apocalypse Now.”

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“If you get qualified as a cyber Marine, you ain’t ever leaving, unless you want to.” That’s what former Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said in 2018 about the Corps’ need for a cyber force. Now, three years later, the Marines finally seem to be putting action to words by rolling out four new jobs tailor-made for the cyber fight.

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An Air Force senior master sergeant wrote a typo-riddled letter demanding “flawless” paperwork from their subordinates. While I couldn’t find the NCO’s name, some of their errors include writing “non-comisioned” officers in the heading, and “see my personally” in the body.

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I shared with you on my last post the total outline of my upcoming book, Signs of hope for the Military; In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Got good reactions from you. That is very encouraging.

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I was at a doctor’s appointment yesterday, and when the doctor concluded the procedure she asked me questions:

  1. How do you feel about the new president of our country? My answer was, “I haven’t liked one decision he has made.
  2. What do you think the veterans think of him? I said according to RallyPoint, a veteran social network for only Military, close to 90% do not like him.
  3. What have the veterans said about the Afghan war? I said, Many are very upset that President Biden hasn’t done everything he can to get the interpreters out of harms way. I went on to tell her that a correspondent has been trying desperately to get an interpreter out, and the interpreter email him saying, “Please help me! They threw a Molotov cocktail at my home!”

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Bed check! How are you doing? Did you have interpreters that were your friends? Is your day too long, and the nights too short?

FEAR NOT!

There are 12,570 fellow veterans here who have your back.

However, if the road of your life is too tough, 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.

Never face the world on you own!

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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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.

__________________________

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.