Tag: trenches

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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 The Army and other branches use outdated body fat measurements to judge soldiers’ fitness, which, when combined with PTSD, sexual trauma and other common military mental health issues, create a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.

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Basic Training Has Some Fun Times, and Some Not so Fun Times.

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Military news…

Troops Get Biggest Raise in Ten years

Active duty troops received a 3.1 percent raise thanks to the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act. It was the largest raise in a decade.

For the military the new Act includes the funding to build:

  • Almost 100 new F-35’s
  • 24 new F/A-18’s
  • 155 new helicopters
  • 165 Abrams tanks
  • Nearly 50 Paladin howitzers
  • 10 new Navy war ships- including two amphibious ships, three submarines, three destroyers, and three aircraft carriers.

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As Congress squabbles over funding, National Guardsmen around the country are bracing for the loss of training time and the paychecks that come with it. The uncertainty comes as Guardsmen are still recovering from an extremely busy 2020 that saw them responding to the COVID-19 pandemic; hurricanes, wildfires, and eventually the U.S. Capitol riots in January.

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The first group of Afghan interpreters and their families arriving in the United States will be housed at Fort Lee, Virginia. It’s not clear when the 2,500 Afghans will arrive, but their numbers include about 700 Afghans still applying for Special Immigrant Visas that would allow them to stay in the U.S.

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The Air Force’s top general delivered a laser-guided kick that emphasizes the branch’s commitment to diversity in its ranks. Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. talks about how, when he’s in the cockpit of an F-16, nobody knows the color of his skin. He’s just “an American airman, kicking your butt.”

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Another excerpt for you from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

This is my rifle; this is my gun

When we were in inspection mode in basic, one of the things we had to do was strip down our rifles as fast as we could, clean them, and put them back together again. We were timed. That was in case you were on the battle field, and had to do repairs in a hurry. Our rifles meant a lot to us.

One time our drill sergeant had us in formation, and came in front of each soldier. He would ask us questions to try to trap us into saying the wrong things that pertained to military regulations.

He stepped in front of one of my buddies, and asked him what he had on his shoulder. My buddy said, “This is my gun sir!” That was the worst things he could have said. The sergeant grabbed the rifle and said , “This is your rifle!” The he grabbed my buddy in the groin, and said, “This is your gun!.”

My buddy bent over in pain, but the sergeant wasn’t through yet. He made my buddy step in front of the whole company and yell, “This is my rifle and this is my gun,” as he grabbed his groin. He had to say further, “One of for fighting and one is for fun!” The sergeant made him do this for several days. He also made my buddy sleep with his rifle, to make sure he know the difference.

We need to take our time and think about we are going to say. Often times what we say is something we regret.

When we say something that hurts someone else, all the apologies, or acts to to overcome what you have said will help, but the wounds are still there.

Think about this story when you are getting upset with someone. Is what you are about to say constructive, or are you just going to say something to hurt them?

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This is a shortened story from the book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Come back and see other 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.

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Be check… How are you doing? Did you have some not so fun things happen to you during your basic?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,500 fellow veterans here on this site who have your back.

If it is just too overwhelming for you GET HELP!!

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

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

Never let past dreams over come you!

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.