Picture of the Week: ?

THERE WAS ONE VOTE THIS WEEK FROM THE GALLERY “BATTLEFIELD ART”–MY VOTE– I CAN’T CHOSE THE IMAGE  DUE TO BIAS. (I VOTED FOR MY FRIEND’S, OF COURSE).  I THINK THEY’RE ALL  WORTHY OF RECOGNITION, BUT I’M UNABLE TO FEATURE ONE AS A WINNER. 

Below are two of the images I was going to post in this weeks gallery, ‘Afghanistan.’ I’ll share the rest another time.

one

two

Click image to launch slide show and full captions. Use the form to vote below

 

one

two

three

four

five

six

 

 

Last weeks winner was # 4. Captioned: NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan — A U.S. Army Soldier calls for an airstrike on the hills surrounding Barge Matal, during Operation Mountain Fire in Afghanistan’s eastern Nuristan province, July 12.

 

Warrior Spirit

 

Broken Homes. Broken Bones. Warrior Spirit. ~#sixwordwar

 

This was in Saddam’s spider hole where our task force found him. Dec 2003 We were assisted by SF units as well. We worked through the night to secure the area then pictured here the next morning, were sealing up his hole with cement. Shortly after this I (pictured left) was wounded by an IED. I chose the caption because of the high divorce rate of deployed troops as well as the pain we go through in battle. Among all the warrior spirit still lives and we push through and live to fight another day. I now help other wounded war fighters, and their families heal through cooking and small scale farming. www.warriorchef.org 14th EN, 555 EN, 4 ID Rugged!

 

A spider hole (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Share:

“Real men …. wear flowers in their Kevlar” ~#USArmy

 

 

Living (?) with Gulf War Illness

“This what living with Gulf War Illness feels like every single day while the +U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs waits for us to die.”

Gulf War Syndrome (Glenn Stewart)

Jun 12, 2014

#gulfwarillness   #gulfwarsyndrome   #vadisgrace   #vascandal

This man is a friend of mine. I hear his and so many other first hand horror stories from veterans every day.  Please visit his page. He’s an advocate for Gulf War Syndrome and has many resources and will speak to vets one on one if need be. He needs our support as well. Thank you.

Related articles

• Veterans of The Gulf War: Survey
• #VAScandal: VA Supervisor-“Elderly Vets Should Be Shot In The Head To Save Money”

Lincoln’s House Divided Speech

 June 16, 1858, at the Illinois Republican convention

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention:

If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed.

Old Glory’s History

click image for highest resolution.

Veterans’ Blogs Offer a Glimpse into Life on the Front Lines

Some blogs worth mentioning.

WordPress.com News

Last week was the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the start of the Allied landing in Normandy, France, that contributed to the end of World War II.

While some marked it with (deserved) pomp and circumstance, we observed it by reading the latest from some of our favorite veterans’ blogs on WordPress.com:

Carrying the Gun

Then-infantryman Don Gomez served two tours in Iraq with the US Army in the early 2000s. After a stint in graduate school and a dissertation on the experiences of Iraqi soldiers during the Iran-Iraq War, he re-upped and heads to Afghanistan later this summer as a Second Lieutenant.

His blog, Carrying the Gun, is a mix of  thoughtful essays on everything from modern soldiering to women in combat to the transition from soldier to civilian. Sprinkled throughout are photos and letters from his Iraq deployments — a fascinating portrait of the life on the front lines.

O-Dark-Thirty

View original post 379 more words

Quiz: Vietnam – I See Death Coming up the Hill …

U.S. Marines fighting in Huế (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 The following has been rated “very difficult,” so put your thinking caps on, I know I had too! Enjoy!

“The title line was written in a letter by a trooper fighting on Hill 937 or Ap Bia Mountain in Vietnam. During ten days of fierce fighting between US forces and the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) Ap Bia became a household name.”

The American’s Creed

imgur.com / Via Twitter: @ChicagoPhotoSho

by William Tyler Page

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.

–Written 1917, accepted by the United States House of Representatives on April 3, 1918.

via:  Historic Documents

Image

Allegiance

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

History:

via: ushistory.org

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth’s Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.

The History of The Vietnam War POW/MIA Flag

In 1971, Mrs.Mary Hoff, an MIA wife and member of the National League of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, recognized the need for a symbol of our POW/MIAs. Prompted by an article in the Jacksonville, Florida TIMES-UNION, Mrs. Hoff contacted Norman Rivkees, Vice-President of Annin & Company which had made a banner for the newest member of the United Nations, the People’s Republic of China, as a part of their policy to provide flags to all UN member nations. Mrs. Hoff found Mr. Rivkees very sympathetic to the POW/MIA issue, and he, along with Annin’s advertising agency, designed a flag to represent our missing men. Following League approval, the flags were manufactured for distribution.

Respected Sir: Thomas Jefferson’s Last Letter

English: The earliest known draft of the United States Declaration of Independence, a fragment in the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Letter of June 24, 1826, from Thomas Jefferson to Roger C. Weightman, declining to attend the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in the District of Columbia

Respected Sir-

Ragged Old Flag

I walked through a county courthouse square,On a park bench an old man was sitting there.I said, “Your old courthouse is kinda run down.”He said, “Naw, it’ll do for our little town.”I said, “Your flagpole has leaned a little bit,And that’s a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it.