Authentic Letters From WWII Will be in the Book, Signs of Hope for the Military.

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Military news…

Children of US military contractors in Germany left with no school to attend at last minute
Children of military contractors gain entry into Department of Defense Education Activity-Europe schools on a space-available basis, unlike children of service members and Defense Department civilians, who are guaranteed slots.

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Navy’s Triton surveillance drone returns to Japan for Indo-Pacific dutyAn unmanned surveillance aircraft arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni last month to support the Navy’s operations in the Indo-Pacific region.

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More ‘21st century’ schools are under construction or planned for Pacific basesHundreds of millions of dollars in construction is underway or planned to upgrade schools on overseas U.S. military bases in the Pacific, according to Department of Defense Education Activity officials.

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9,000 of its troops killed since Russia began war, Ukraine says

At a veteran’s event, Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said Ukraine’s children need to be taken care of because “their father went to the front line and, perhaps, is one of those almost 9,000 heroes who died.”

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US Veterans Race to Train Ukrainians as Marines; ‘Time Is Not on Their Side’

Clad in mismatched fatigues, Ukrainian Marine recruits sprawled on the grass, cocking their assault rifles and aiming at targets. Then, to the surprise of their American instructors, one by one they started squeezing the trigger.

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The US and South Korea Are Staging Their Biggest Military Drills in Years

The drills could draw an angry response from North Korea, which has dialed up its weapons testing activity to a record pace this year while repeatedly threatening conflicts with Seoul and Washington amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy.

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I have an update for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of life. In the appendix section in the back of the book, I will have two original letters written home from a soldier in WWII. He is writing to his mom, and it shows how you can’t say anything about what you are doing, or what has happened to his buddies.

Come back often to see more updates for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and out of the trenches of life. Better yet…got to the top of this page and click on subscribe. When you do all future posts will go directly to you inbox.

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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.

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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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There Were Some Good Times, and Some Bad times in Basic training For the Military

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Military news…

Ukrainian women are showing the world what they’re made of in the fight against Russia

“[W]e are enormously strong, and we are enormously brave.”

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Why the US should think twice about arming a Ukrainian insurgency

The U.S. needs to think long and hard before plunging into what would be a long, bloody proxy war against Moscow.

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A Marine special ops commander explains why Russia’s stalled advance in Ukraine is no surprise.

Russia doesn’t wage war elegantly.

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100 women have now graduated US Army Ranger School

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3 Russian generals reportedly killed in Ukraine in less than two weeks

“Russian military leaders are often sent to lead from the front.”

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How an Air Force A-10 pilot pulled off a miracle landing with much of her tail shot off

“I can’t even describe to you what it was like being back on the ground.”

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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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Taking Aim On Perfection

One part of the basic training was done at the firing range. We all had to learn how to properly line up the sights on our rifles, and shot at the targets with some accuracy.

I had never shot a weapon before in my life. It was a little intimidating at first. The loud noise each time you shot was one thing, but the kick from the weapon on your shoulder was another. You had to learn how to “hug” the rifle and keep it tight against your shoulder to keep it from kicking.

The first day was mostly learning how to lie down in the right position, and how to wrap the strap properly around your arm to help keep the rifle steady. This got boring pretty quickly, but the leaders were determined to have us all doing it perfectly.

The second day was much more exciting. They had us actually shooting at targets. The targets were pop-up type of targets. You waited until one popped up and then shot. It tested your awareness and your quick judgement. The targets didn’t stay up long.

I took my shots and waited as others did their shooting as well. I wasn’t sure why I was done so much earlier than the others, but the soldier assigned to me told me I was the fastest at hitting all the targets of anybody in the platoon.

Then they had the targets further away. The first ones were about 50 yards. The second ones were 75 yards. I did the same thing. I was done much faster than the other men. I was beginning to like my rifle and what I was accomplishing.

When we started seeing that some of the men weren’t firing anymore. I was told that they were missing too many targets and would have to come back for more training. The targets were now 100 yards way (the length of a football field.) You really had to concentrate because the targets went up and down pretty fast. I hit all my targets again.

There were only about five of us left after the 100 yard distance. Then they told us we were to be shooting at targets about 150 yards away. At this time they taught us about “Kentucky windage.” This is where you aim a little higher on the target and let the wind bring the bullet down to the target, or just less velocity causes the bullet to start falling lower.

This was much harder. You had to aim above the target to hit the target. This was a very hard concept to learn. I had some miss hits, but the first round was just practice to let us get accustom to shooting at that distance. By the end of the first round I was hitting most of the targets. They were so small from that distance, and you didn’t have more than a couple of seconds to react when they popped up.

The final round came and I was ready. The targets popped up and I shot them down. I hit four out of five targets. The rest of the men didn’t do as well. I was named the champion of the shooting range, and from all that I received an Expert medal that I still have to this day.

Have you done something you are very proud of in the military? Even if it was many years ago like my experience was you still should be very proud. If you are now in the service cling to your good experiences to help you through your time there.

You are or have served your country, and anything that was a positive experience should be kept in your memories forever. Be proud!

IWILL

I know that it is hard to “brag,” about anything good you did during your service to your country, but you have had good and bad experiences just like everyone else. We all tend to not talk about our bad experiences because they just reopen the wounds, but please share the good experiences with your friends and love ones. They will enjoy the stories, and you will feel proud of your accomplishments. You are not bragging!!

Think about his

Isn’t it funny that the more we share with others the happier we are?

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Did you have adventures while in Basic Training?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 14,130 veterans on this site who have your back.

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

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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 no 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!

________________________________________________________________

+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.

Soldiers Need to be Accurate With Their Rifles During Basic Training

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An Army chaplain faces court-martial after being charged with over a dozen counts of rape and child sexual assault. Capt. Jeremy Dunn, of the 3rd Chemical Brigade at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, is expected to plead guilty at his court martial hearing on July 14. (Today)

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With just two months to go until U.S. troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan, the Biden administration is still figuring out how to get Afghan interpreters out of the country. Despite those interpreters taking on unimaginable risks during America’s long stay in Afghanistan, U.S. officials still don’t know the answers to basic questions such as how many people they can move or what countries they can move them to.

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A few good Marines will start training with the Army in Colorado soon to learn all about space operations. While they won’t be dropping into hell like the Colonial Marines in ‘Aliens,’ these space marines will get schooled in satellite intelligence, jamming enemy communications and other aspects of Final Frontier fighting.

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President Joe Biden’s promise to rescue Afghan interpreters and their families before the Taliban kills them has rung hollow, because no evacuation plan has been finalized and most U.S. troops have already left the country, reports. Now an estimated 70,000 Afghans who worked for the U.S. are in grave danger as the Taliban sweep across the country.

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A battalion of Black women who served overseas in World War II could soon receive Congress’ highest award for distinguished achievements. Hundreds of women served in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, where they were instrumental in getting millions of pieces of mail to service members in Europe. In doing so, they reversed a huge backlog that was hurting morale, and now they could soon receive the Congressional Gold Medal for it.

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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.

Taking Aim On Perfection

One part of basic training was done on the firing range. We all had to learn how to properly line up the sights on our rifles, and shoot at the targets with some accuracy.

I had never shot a weapon before in my life. It was a little intimating at first. The loud noise each time you shot was one thing, but the kick from the weapon on your shoulder was another. You had to how to “hug” the rifle and keep it tight against your shoulder to keep it from kicking.

The first day was mostly learning how to lie down in the right position, and how to wrap the strap properly around your arm and keep the rifle steady. This got boring pretty quickly, but the leaders were determined to having all of us doing it perfectly.

The second day was more exciting. They had us actually shooting at targets. They targets were pop-up type targets. You waited until one popped up and then shot. It tested awareness and your quick judgment. The targets didn’t stay up very long.

I did my shooting and the soldier assigned to me said I was the fastest of hitting all the targets of anyone in my platoon.

Then they moved targets further away These were about 75 yards away. I again was done faster than anyone else and hit all of my targets.

Then we saw some of the men weren’t shooting any more. I was told they missed too many targets. The targets were moved to 100 yards. (The length of a football field.) You really had to concentrate because the targets went up and down pretty fast. I hit all my targets again.

There were only five of us left. They told us the targets will now be 150 yards way. At this time they taught us about “Kentucky windage. ” This is were you aim a little higher on the target and let the wind bring the bullet down to the target.

I had some miss hits, but the first round was just a practice to get us accustom to shooting at the distance. By the end that round I was hitting most of the targets.

The final round came and I was ready. The targets popped up and I shot them. I hit four our of five targets. The rest of the men didn’t do as well. I was named the champion of the shooting range for that day. From all of that I received an expert medal that I still have today.

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This is a shortened version of this chapter of my book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life. So come back often to see what the rest is. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.” When you do all future posts will directly to your inbox.

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Checking your pulse. Are you doing Ok? Have the dreams from your military time been driving you crazy?

FEAR NOT!

There is toll free number to help you if you need extra help. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. There is no shame to GETTING HELP when you need it.

Never face this world alone!

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1 For texting…838255.

+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.