Choice?

I was asked yesterday by a waitress in a Huddle House outside of Hamilton Mississippi if it was hard being an Army Wife. (I think the Infantry t-shirt gave me away). She is currently engaged to an enlisted man who has been in Iraq for 2 months.

She really asked me in one of my weaker moments, as I was hitting hour 7 in travel time. I sat there over a steaming hot cup of mediocre coffee, with The Collective climbing around the booth like it was a jungle gym.

I tried to explain to her that certainly it was hard.

I am a war bride. Married for almost 16 years this week.

One week after my Husbands return from Desert Storm, we married.

10 years ago during non-combat times, not as hard.

A new Bride looking at deployment AFTER deployment certainly not something I can give advice on. As a 16 year veteran of an active duty marriage, one year? as civilians, and now as a National Guard Spouse....I am proud.

"Is it hard?" she asks....

And I recall those moments

A fresh faced man meeting me at the Omaha airport after Desert Storm with an engagement ring in his pocket.

Pinning my DH's rank on his shoulder after he was commissioned.

Getting phonecalls from other wives during the last deployment, in which they expressed relief that my Husband was serving with they're Husbands.

A Husband safely home, and holding his children for the first time in a year...

I guess it is hard, but I wouldn't trade one moment.....

And what was the other option?

Living with Snipers

Go WATCH IT at Dollards

Can I have some cheese with this whine?

In other overwhelming news.

DH's next military school was changed from 3 months (which we had planned for) to 5 months. I was ready to do it single handedly for 3 months, but we have been given a week to prepare for 60 more days. That week includes a drill weekend.

There are modifications that need to be made, and quick.

Lazy, overwhelmed, and busy...

Well first there was this piece of news. This is the second time this has been "announced in the last 2 months. Although local commanders are still calling it "rumor".

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday that no such deployments have been proposed to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, but other officials have said the planning includes the possibility of tapping Guard units from Arkansas, Indiana and other states.

Well our family was expecting it, and counting on it, that is what my DH does, but I wish they would just tell us already. Because the "rumors" from the Pentagon, seem like they are too frequent to be rumors.

Just tell us, we are "big folks", we can deal with it. It is what my Husband does for a job, just give us consideration of not hearing it on National news AGAIN.....

The battle continues

Some Soldier Mom, shares some very personal details with us.

She touches on the very taboo subject of PTSD, in the most gentle way, only a Mother can.

Interesting

My Mother In Law sent this to me via e-mail this morning, and I had not read anything about this. Thank you, for sharing, this is a great story.

The brand new assault craft with a capability of carrying around 800 marines and equipment is to be named the U.S.S. New York, in tribute to the almost 2,800 people who died in the attacks of September 11 2001.

The steel is set to be shipped to Northrop's shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for construction to begin in the middle of next year. The 684-foot ship should be ready for service in 2007. The ship will have the motto "Never Forget".

The recycled steel from the Twin Towers, if it meets quality standards, will be used to form the ship's "stem bar". That is part of the ship's bow, where the vessel cuts the water.

New York authorities have the awesome problem of disposing of the 1.62 million tons of rubble that went to the nearby Fresh Kills landfill from the World Trade Center site.

Some memorial sculptures made from recycled steel have been commissioned by the city, and tribute sculptures have now been erected in many civic, and private facilities throughout the country.





The projected 12 San Antonio (LPD-17)-class amphibious assault ships are the Navy's top expeditionary warfare priority. The USS New York will be LPD-21.
Operating forward, from the sea, America's Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs) and their Marine Expeditionary Units (Special Operations Capable) [MEU (SOC)s] are multimission crisis-response "tools." They are a mix of highly-mobile air and ground firepower with self-sustainable forces, that can quickly project compelling power, withdraw rapidly, and then reconstitute to re-deploy for follow-on missions. The LPD-17 class will be a fulcrum for future naval expeditionary operations.

The San Antonio class is being designed and built to fight. Its warfighting capabilities include a state-of-the-art command and control suite, substantially increased vehicle lift capacity, a large flight deck, and advanced ship survivability features that enhance its ability to operate in the unforgiving littoral environment. The deployment of LPD-17s will provide each naval expeditionary force with greatly enhanced operational flexibility. The LPD-17 can operate as part of an Amphibious Task Force - the "workhorse" of a three-ship ARG - organized to accomplish a broad range of military objectives; or as an element of a "Split-ARG" that has the LPD-17 detached and operating as a single ship, supporting lower-risk operations.









The 4th USS New York



When built this will be the fifth USS New York, the previous one was laid down 11 September 1911 by Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York and launched 30 October 1912. It served in both World Wars.
During her World War I service, New York was frequently visited by royal and other high-ranking representatives of the Allies, and she was present for one of the most dramatic moments of the war, the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in the Firth of Forth 21 November 1918. As a last European mission, New York joined the ships escorting President Woodrow Wilson from an ocean rendezvous to Brest en route the Versailles Conference.
In 1937, carrying Admiral Hugh Rodman, the President's personal representative for the coronation of King George VI of England, New York sailed to take part in the Grand Naval Review of 20 May 1937 as sole U.S. Navy representative.
From America's entry into World War II, New York guarded Atlantic convoys to Iceland and Scotland when the U-boat menace was gravest. Submarine contacts were numerous, but the convoys were brought to harbor intact.
New York brought her big guns to the invasion of North Africa, providing crucial gunfire support at Safi 8 November 1942. She then stood by at Casablanca and Fedhala before returning home for convoy duty escorting critically needed men and supplies to North Africa. She then took up important duty training gunners for battleships and destroyer escorts in Chesapeake Bay, rendering this vital service until 10 June 1944, when she began the first of three training cruises for the Naval Academy, voyaging to Trinidad on each.
New York prepared at Pearl Harbor for the planned invasion of Japan, and after war's end, made a voyage to the West Coast returning veterans and bringing out their replacements. She sailed from Pearl Harbor again 29 September with passengers for New York, arriving 19 October. Here she prepared to serve as target ship in Operation Crossroads, the Bikini atomic tests, sailing 4 March 1946 for the West Coast. She left San Francisco 1 May, and after calls in Pearl Harbor and Kwajalein, reached Bikini 15 June. Surviving the surface blast 1 July and the underwater explosion 25 July, she was taken into Kwajalein and decommissioned there 29 August 1946. Later towed to Pearl Harbor, she was studied during the next two years, and on 8 July 1948 was towed out to sea some 40 miles and there sunk after an eight-hour pounding by ships and planes carrying out full-scale battle maneuvers with new weapons.New York received 3 battle stars for World War II service.

Military videos wanted

Since the MSM, refuses to report news. Here is your opportunity.

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2007 – The Military Channel is asking servicemembers across the armed forces to submit videotaped stories about their service in the global war on terrorism for broadcast on television, company officials said.
“We want to give a voice to the troops to allow them to tell their stories,” Jill Bondurant, Military Channel publicist, said during an interview with American Forces Press Service today.

The Military Channel plans to use servicemember-submitted video for broadcast during nightly one-hour blocks of programming starting in early February, Bondurant said. The dates and times haven’t been specified yet, she said.

Video can be in digital or taped format, Bondurant said, and can be submitted via the following methods:

-- Online: www.mywardiary.com;

-- E-mail: mywardiary@discovery.com; or

-- Mail: Military Videos, care of Discovery Productions, 8045 Kennett Street, Silver Spring, Md. 20910.

All submitted video will be screened for appropriate content, Bondurant noted.

The initiative seeks to illustrate some personal stories of military service during wartime, Military Channel spokesman and former soldier Pat Lafferty told the Pentagon Channel in a recent interview. Most evening news programming on the military these days shies away from the personal and focuses on “big picture” events, he said.

“There’s only so much that the ‘normal media’ can get out as far as the stories (and) what’s going on,” Lafferty said. “And, oftentimes, that really isn’t the story about individual servicemembers and what they’re doing on a day-to-day basis.”

A component of Discovery Communications, the Silver Spring, Md.-based Military Channel was the first television media outlet to partner with America Supports You, a Department of Defense program connecting public and corporate support for the troops to servicemembers and their families.