Waiting for Bostick ....to pay up: Greeley Tribune - News

Funeral costs battle

Roxye Arellano, (Bio) arellano@greeleytrib.com
May 5, 2006

Elis Sepulveda of Fort Lupton said the Fort Lupton mayor, who is also a funeral home director, has refused to pay her money awarded by a small-claims court for her son's funeral costs.

Mayor Jim Bostick, who failed to appear in court because he was in court-ordered alcohol rehabilitation, said it's all a misunderstanding.

The costs in questions arose from the funeral of Jason Sepulveda, 22, a Marine training at Camp Lejune, N.C. He died June 30, 2002, when the truck he was riding in as a civilian crashed into a tree. Bostick handled the funeral arrangements.

Jason's mother, Elis Sepulveda, said the Marines paid Bostick in full for the balance of her son's services, but he also took $980.49 of her son's savings and failed to return the money to her.

"My son always believed in what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong," said Sepulveda, 45, sitting at the kitchen table in her sister's home. "My son would be furious this is going on."

The military told Sepulveda they had to send her son's money to Bos-tick because his services had not been paid in full. But several days later, Bostick submitted a bill of $4,880 for funeral services. And records show the Marine Corps paid for services in full.

Sepulveda said that, because all costs for services were paid, she should have received her son's savings back.

"Every time I have to go through all of these papers, it's just a nightmare," said Sepulveda, looking at the documents provided by the Marines and spread out on the table.

After many failed attempts to collect the $980.49 from Bostick, she decided to sue him in small-claims court. Sepulveda and her husband, Robert, sought $7,500, the maximum amount in small claims. The claim included the savings amount of $980.49 and 10 percent interest multiplied by 24 months. They also asked for pain and suffering in the amount of $4,148.30, court costs and filing fees.

After Bostick failed to appear at a continuation hearing, the Sepulvedas won the maximum amount, $7,500.

"The media makes it look as if I stole $7,500, which is not true," Bostick said in a released statement. "People think I went into his bank account and took his money. That is not true."

Bostick claims a check for $900 was sent to him from a bank. At that time, he assumed it was to be used to pay for the rental fees for the use of the Fort Lupton Recreation Center, where the funeral was to be held. City records show Bostick was later refunded $200 for a damage deposit for use of the center.

But other itemized claims on Bostick's statement of funeral goods and services submitted to the Marine Corps has stumped the Sepulveda family.

On the invoice, Bostick charged the Marines $200 for clergy services. Sepulveda said the service was provided free by a family friend. On the same statement, he charged $20 for acknowledgment cards and $120 for memory cards. But Sepulveda's family members made the cards, and they have no idea why he would charge for them.

"My family did everything they could to help us out," Sepulveda said. "That's the way we are. They served the food, cleaned the kitchen and the hall. There was no extra charges to be added. If there was, he should have billed it to the Marines."

Bostick said things are getting difficult for him since the community found out.

"I'm not going to lie to you," said, crying. "I was in rehabilitation at the time of the continued hearing. The sad part is, the judge that heard the case is the one that sentenced me to rehab for 45 days. I'm not a bad person, but in this business, I bury babies and kids every day. Stuff piles up inside. I give free funerals all the time. Other funeral homes tell them to go to Jim. He'll care."

Bostick said he thought he submitted another bill to the Marine Corps and, when the $900 arrived, it was for extra expenses. But according to Marines records, there wasn't another bill submitted by Bostick.

"This is a misunderstanding," he said. "I will go back and re-submit a bill to the Marines. I will pay the Sepulvedas money owed to them. I've got to."

Bostick said things have gotten to the point that he and his family are receiving death threats.

"I plan on paying them the money but I'm not doing this to admit guilt," he said. "It's to stop the threats to me and my family. I have to stop it. ... If I had $7,500, I'd give it to her. It needs to end. Whatever I need to do, I'll do it."

Sepulveda said she hopes the community can understand she wasn't out to destroy him.

"I wasn't out to ruin him. He had every opportunity to take care of this," she said with tears. "It's an unsolved task as a mother. No mother would not fight. I'll fight with every last breath I take. I will stand. I will fight for my son."

---

Greeley Tribune - News

"It's my fault ... I will try to do whatever I can with Mrs. Sepulveda to get this issue put to bed," Bostick said. "As soon as I get the money, it's

The Undertaker/Mayor of Fort Lupton has been feeling the heat from keeping a dead Marine's saving account of $7,500. The warblogs must continue to keep this thug under slow simmer until justice is done.....

FORT LUPTON, Colo. -- The mayor of Fort Lupton, who operates two funeral homes, has been afforded police protection after receiving death threats following a 7NEWS investigation that revealed he has refused to repay money illegally kept from the family of a U.S. Marine who died."I've been getting a lot of phone calls from a lot of different people, a lot of threats," said Jim Bostick, the mayor of Fort Lupton.Bostick is worried about his personal safety and that of his business and he now admits he made a big mistake."It's my fault ... I will try to do whatever I can with Mrs. Sepulveda to get this issue put to bed," Bostick said. "As soon as I get the money, it's hers. I mean, fast. Because, you know, I can't keep putting up with the threats against myself and my family."While he may be sincere this time, Bostick claims he doesn't have the $7,500 a Weld County court said he owes Elis Sepulveda.Sepulveda is the mother of a U.S. Marine who was killed in a car accident and brought back to Fort Lupton for burial. Jason Sepuldeva's savings were sent to Bostick's funeral home. It was money Bostick had no right to but he refused to return it."He was the person who received the money," said Magistrate Rebecca Koppes Conway. Conway assessed the judgment against Bostick in small claims court but can't force him to pay."This is not a criminal matter. The only time that people get arrested for not paying their bills is if there is an order of the court to pay and there is a contempt citation and then there's a finding after that the person is in contempt," said Conway.Bostick has many outstanding debts, including more than $11,000 he owes in child support. 7NEWS has learned his mayoral paycheck is garnished monthly.But he said he hasn't decided yet if he is going to resign as mayor."My personal financial issues have nothing to do with my job as mayor," Bostick said. "My intentions were not to screw over a Marine veteran. You know, I'm a veteran myself. I take care of veterans every day.""So why didn't you just pay it?" 7NEWS Investigator John Ferrugia asked.After a long pause, Bostick said, "I should have."Several city officials are urging the Fort Lupton mayor to pay the Sepulvedas as soon as possible, hoping that the firestorm, which has nothing to do with city business, will subside.As one official put it, "This has nothing to do with the Marines vs. Fort Lupton. This is about how Jim Bostick is doing his private business."

DenverChannel.com - News - Mayor In Marine's Money Case Says He's Getting Death Threats

Some minor very minor, really, really minor Swedish Muslim Demands

Ok, Swedish dudes running for office, this year, in exchange for our votes and support, we have a few changes for OUR society that we, Swedish Muslims, want implemented as part of quid pro quo agreement otherwise, baby, we stay home and keep our couch company. And dude, forget the chicken in every basket crap. Ok. Start w/a mosque in every town. You want to talk turkey, make medicene read this:





An open letter to all Swedish political parties that are participating in this years election.

Hello!

If we are to succeed in engaging Swedish muslims so that they will participate in the election in September 2006, we should take note of the following demands and wishes from the Muslim minority in Sweden.

I have not seen clear signals from all parties as to whether they'll accept such wishes. We want to see the most important demands as a part of the political programs. Otherwise there is the risk that the majority of the muslims will remain on their couches on election day.

Muslims are fed up with broken election promises, and therefore they wish concrete suggestions to show that we care. It won't hurt if our elected representatives or new candidates would set aside an hour to read our open letter that is sent to all established parties.

Kind regards

Mahmoud Aldebe

The Forgotten Minority

Islam in Sweden, a short history.

Sweden didn't really get its first contact with Muslims before immigration began during the 1940s, when the first Muslims came from the east, that is from Finland and Estonia, they were Tatars and it was they who established the first house prayer assembly in Stockholm 60 years ago. The Muslims who immigrated during in the 1960-1970 period was part of the big labour immigration. Between 1970 and 1990 the immigration changed character, a flood of refugees began to make up a much larger share of the number of Muslims in Sweden. The Islamic community calculates the number of Muslims in Sweden to be roughly 470 000 people. Everyone that through birth belongs within a tradition [culture] traditionally dominated by Islam, who accepts the Islamic declaration of faith, belongs to a Muslim people, is descendant of Muslims, have a first name that belongs in an Islamic tradition, and who themselves identifies with or considers themselves part of this religion or tradition are Muslims. There are some immigrant Muslims that don't want contact with the Islamic community and that considers themselves secularized, and on occasion we have heard that they are objecting to being considered Muslims. It is hard to calculate the exact numbers but from our analysis and mapping, we can assume that there are approximately 15% of the Swedish Muslims that want nothing to do with Islam and that want to be considered as Swedes with an ethnic background.

Swedish Muslim rights and duties, special laws for religious freedom.

Regarding the problems that concern the legal status of Muslims - concerning everything from laws regarding residency- and work-permits, denominational issues and the legal status of their religious functions to possibilities to, with the support of religious freedom, to practise and live according to the message of Islam - the situation various enormously.

We have struggled, often with little progress, to make Islam accept on the same terms, and with the same (legal) rights, as any other religion in the country. Despite that you talk about the same general rights for all religions, there are still in practise big differences between the ability of different religions to work in the community.

We require special laws protecting religious freedom since all the conventions regarding human rights that Sweden have committed itself to, we are thinking especially of the UNs declaration of human rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (ECPHR) all imply the right to create special laws protecting religious freedom. Creating such specific laws is really about religious freedom since here in Sweden there has been full religious freedom since 1951.

Swedish Muslims have become more and more politically aware of their rights in the community and now they wish for these rights to be respected. To be able to affect Swedish politics and to maintain an effective dialogue and conversation between Swedish Muslims and the different organs of the community [state in this context] we present these practical and necessary solutions that must be carried out if you wish a successful integration policy and a diversified Sweden.

Svenska muslimer är en svensk minoritet

Religious freedom should apply to everyone, and the UNs different declarations in this regard are applicable even in Sweden. So in reality all laws should be altered or adjusted after the needs of all minority groups in Sweden. We Muslims are a large minority group in Sweden, but lack status and the laws created to protect religious freedom must be applied in their widest meaning so that they don't just apply to certain minorities and the majority, but rather they should applied even to the Muslim minority in the country. The problems that exist in regards to the Swedish religious freedom is that it is a Pietistic coloured understanding of individualised religion, that lie behind the Swedish laws regarding religious freedom, whereas for the Muslim minority it is the collective expressions of the religion that are central. One considers the religion more like a way of life than a belief system. It is also a part of ordinary life, with its social rules and judgements, through which religious allegiance is displayed, and the religion practised, not primarily through prayer and sermons and the common religious language that is Arabic. This is why certain Islamic religious practises come outside what is covered by religious freedom.

The Muslim minority criticises this narrow definition of religion that is the basis of the Swedish laws regarding religious freedom. Specific laws are required when it comes to the legal protection of the Muslim minority. With such protection we can request corrections of the Swedish family law to adapt it to Islam. It is this law that is the most important to Swedish Muslims: marriage, divorce, child protection, and raising underage children.

It is also a matter of having the right to take a vacation on some of the two major religious holidays, and to be allowed a few hours time off in the middle of the day on Friday to participate in the Friday prayers. In such matters we special legislation is seen as essential to protect the Muslim identity of the Swedish Muslims. The ability to live entirely according to Islamic family law if you wish to do so is very limited in Sweden [it is very difficult to do so], unless we get status as a separate minority.

Islamic religious community in Sweden

In Sweden there are more than 185 local Islamic assemblies, but only a very few mosques. Several mosque projects are underway. The community views this as a threat and many individuals and groups are loudly protesting. Counties and provinces ought to elevate all the so called basement- and apartment mosques around the country to equal status with Churches, if the local politicians want to bring about a practical integration in the country. The resistance to mosque building comes from certain persons and from organised groups. The arguments that are most often used against mosque building are those linked to the environment [surroundings] in that a mosque would lead to increase traffic, and among other things increased air pollution, and noise. The mosque has been seen as an encroachment on parkland. The negative views on mosque building also contains comments and questions about Islam and Muslims. People talk about the immigration numbers and if they'll increase, about friction between Swedes and Muslims as well as internally between Muslim groups that frequent the area. Many people are openly saying that the limit has been reached, and that the Muslims should accept the customs of the place they've come to. The threat [damage] to Swedish values and culture is often held up as an argument. That one thinks ill of or is afraid of Islam as a religion or movement is also often given as a reason among those that argue against mosque building. This strong ill will can hardly be changed by counter argument and is nourished by ignorance or mythology [bigotry, fantasy] about what it [Islam] stands for. Construction of mosques and financing this construction is a big problem for Muslims in Sweden, the basement facilities that exist are no longer sufficient as they are getting much too cramped.

Basement People

Muslims are called the basement people by young Muslims that are loathe to participate in activities in such underground facilities, often hinting at the problems caused by the local environment such as poor air quality in basements that often lack proper ventilation. Many get sick from underground facilities or bicycle sheds.

Swedish Muslims wishes and hopes.

A mosque in every city or county would have significant value to the Muslims of the country. It would be seen as a recognition of the existence of Muslims and Islams right to exist in Sweden. The right to be a Muslim in Sweden is strengthened if there is legislated religious freedom that gives Muslim groups the right to build their own mosques without any obstacles and it would be a sign from the Swedish majority community that religious freedom can work in practise as well. A mosque has several roles other than simply being a place of worship. The mosque is the house of a great people that functions as a social and cultural institution, a place to meet, where the contact with the Swedish community and its fellow citizens happens daily. The demand to be allowed to build Mosques is a step in a process of Muslim integration that is occurring in Sweden. It is a matter of fundamental needs to keep and practise your religion, but also to be able to improve the status of Muslims and gain respect and understanding. In such a situation it would greatly increase the sense of loyalty towards Sweden as your new homeland, despite being a Muslim.

The creation of interest free loans.

The construction of mosques ought to be financed by interest free loans as an alternative to voluntary contributions from abroad. The counties should take the responsibility to either provide security for these interest free loans or to lend money without interest for the construction of mosques for its Muslim inhabitants. The Swedish state should introduce the term interest free loans and borrowers should have the right to deduct payments on interest free loans from the tax returns on the same grounds as loan interest.

Islam and the school

To integrate Islam into Swedish schools reduces the demand for separate private Islamic schools.

This includes elevating native language and religion [Islam] to the level of normal subject in the curriculum, where Muslim children have the possibility of being educated in homogenous groups using their own native language and their own religion in the County schools. Imams and native language teachers should have status as ordinary teachers in Second Native Language and religion. In this way the demand for separate private schools would lessen and many of the problems Muslim students meet daily in school would easily be eliminated.

Education in school would not be held in a different language from the Swedish, aside from the traditional Native Language education and the increase religious education in their own religion.

Islamic schools

To support the establishment of Islamic elementary schools in densely populated areas with many Muslims where Muslim students would have the opportunity to study in homogeonous groups could reinforce the students cultural and religious identity and this way many of the problems that Muslim students meet every day would very simply be eliminated, among other things Native Language, religious education, the issue of Muslim food, the gymnastics [physical education] question, and there could be a concrete way of helping girls and boys from Muslim countries to participate in segregated swimming classes and thereby graduate with a school diploma.
Many Muslim students finish their High School education without being able to swim at all.

[size=5]Health and Physical Education[/size=5]

Every county ought to have one night a week that should be a womans evening, and respectively a mans evening, in the gym and the swimming hall. The entire hall [facility] should be open only for women women or men, whereas other evenings would be for both genders. This is among other things about giving young girls from Muslim countries the opportunity to participate in swimming education and thereby getting a passing grade [equiv to anything above an F] in gymnastics [physical education]. The prerequisite for this is that there are no young boys or adults in the swimming hall. The very presence of the opposite sex prevents certain girls with an immigrant background from taking advantage of the swimming education. Among other things ethnic and religious causes means that Muslim girls may not bathe together with young boys and men.

It is both dangerous and injust to that the girls are often not able to swim at all. Thousands of immigrant women can never use the swimming hall and training facilities. This is a pity. Exercise and activity is required by all and the problem with swimming education and training in the official locales is very great for immigrants men and women.

Demands

We demand that county politicions should deliberate this matter immediately. The counties are responsible to make sure that school children get their degrees. All youth regardless of background shall have the opportunity to get a passing grade in gymnastics [physical education]. With good will this could easily be done.

Muslim holidays

That the riksdag [Parliament] create a law that gives Swedish Muslims the right to take vacation time during the Islamic holidays of Eid al fitr and Eid al Adha is a demand from all Muslims. Currently it is impossible to take time off to celebrate the vacation along with your family.

Demands

We demand special legislation in this matter that is the right to two days paid vacation in connection to the celebration of these holidays and that these two days cover the need to celebrate the holidays for Sunni and Shia muslims and it proves that our religion and culture are accepted by the community.

Wishes and hopes

To solve the integration problem requires a true adjustment of legislation to accommodate the Muslim demand for vacation during the celebration of their holidays. To be able to keep your religious way of life at the same time as the Muslims are integrated into the Swedish community, creates a real diversity in the community. Muslims demand that the government shall investigate the possibility of whether a special law is possible and how in this case it shall be motivated given existing legislation in the religious freedom law [Ed note: Just as incomprehensible in the original.] Muslims are in other words demand special treatment in terms of legislation as they are a minority and this would increase their status and protect them from the majority community.

UN and EU conventions

In Sweden one is often pointed to the constitutionally protected freedom of religion and, since January 1995, the equally constitutionally protected European convention about human rights and the fundamental liberties. The support for special legislation can be found even there, but Sweden today chooses to interpret the laws and conventions in such a narrow way that religious freedom is in practise reduced to a level that is unacceptable.

Muslims as a religious minority has, like any other religious minority, according to, among other things, the UNs international convention on civic and political rights, the right to have their own culture, the right to profess and practise their own religion or use their own language.

Friday prayer and time off

Two hours of time off for Friday prayer, between 12-14 o clock winter time, and between 13-15 o clock summer time. The Friday prayer is an obligatory prayer that must be conducted collectively in the mosque. Employers are loathe to even talk about the matter with their Muslim employees. The state, as the biggest employer, ought to be an example for other employers in the private sector. A religious minorities interests and struggle to preserve their identity coincides with both the legislation regarding religious freedom and the established legal minority rights. It would be good to investigate if there is support for special legislation in the relevant parts of the declarations, conventions, and legislation for our just demands.

Halal butchery (permitted foods for Muslims)

To contribute to giving the Muslims and Jews dispensation or special legislation to perform the Islamic and Jewish butchery. In a series of international speeches and conventions it is established that religious freedom is a human right. That certain food items are prohibited to Muslims, especially any products of pigs, are now commonly accepted in the Swedish communities. Institutional food halls are therefore been adapted to providing special food for Muslims and Jews. Since pig products are often used in food items and other every day objects it has become more difficult for Muslims to determine what can be considered permissible foods. The Department of Food Items has therefore created a listing of any food items that contain pig products as a guide to Swedens muslims and Jews, but access to permitted Swedish meet (halal) can still be a problem. In Sweden animals may not be ritually slaughtered before anaesthesia, but you are permitted to import food to be used for our permitted meals.

It is imported meet that is used in the institutional dining halls in, among other places, all schools. Halal butchery has become a special problem for Muslims. This is especially true in connection to the sacrifical feast (Kurban or Eid al Adha) where Muslim families slaughter a lamb due to religious traditions. Since 1937 it has been prohibited in Sweden to ritually slaughter large animals without preceeding anaesthesia. The demand for anaesthesia was part of a larger reform initiate to protect animals. However the law did not only have animal welfare in mind, an important argument was also a distaste for foreign customs. This prohibition against slaughtering according to Jewish and Muslim traditions remains all the same. It has several times been brought up in the riksdag [Parliament] but the decision makers have been unwilling to change their attitude. As late as in 1992 a study made by the ministry of agriculture determined that ritual slaughter cannot be accepted in Sweden. Now however there is a new study being made by the department of agriculture and we hope that the decision makers will come to a positive conclusion.

Burial Grounds

Despite the fac that Islam has existed for 32 years as an organised religion in Sweden, the construction of burial grounds has been constantly hampered. Other than in the forest church yard in Stockholm there are Muslim burial grounds in 20 something countries, but that is not enough. Today there are Muslims in nearly 100 counties that lack burial grounds. The biggest general problem that Muslims encounter is that their dead are to be buried as quickly as possible, according to Islamic custom, and by a Muslim burial in their home county.

Muslims demand that the Union of Congregations [head organ] in the Swedish Church co-operates with the countries counties to reserve burial plots in all counties that have Muslim inhabitants.

Muslims also demand that the ombudsman in each province will, in matters of funerals, take full responsibility to accommodate the Muslim demands for burial grounds.

Imam education in Sweden

Starting Imam education in Swedish universities and colleges is a demand from the nations Muslims and from Swedish authorities. The education can be created as part theology education, part Native Language (Arabian) education. Students can get permission to function as language and theology [religion] teachers. This education can create a natural integration of Islam in Swedish schools, and reduce the demand for private schools.

Opinion making

That the Swedish legal system is democratic and non-discriminating must in practise mean that the system should protect all people and ethnicities in the country, but this isn't always enough as the Muslims see it. People that belong to minority groups can require special rights to be able to exist on an equal footing with the majority. The biggest problem that Muslims face is the opinions of the majority. The community is responsible [or guilty] for trying to assimilate the immigrants of the nation. Both in daily speech and learned discussion the community uses such concepts and expressions in regards to Muslims that are untrue, distorted, and laden with negative undertones. Borders are made between "us" and "them".

As members of the dominant majority culture you're equipped with your own cultures blinkers that gives you great trouble when it comes to seeing the whole picture. The stark one sided focussing on the problems are strengthening the already widespread idea that "the immigrants have forced their way into Sweden and they are a burden on the country's natural resources" and that "they're the only ones that are to blame for the high unemployment and economic crisis not to mention the cause of their own problems." Today you openly speak about the Muslims as if they are not proper, full members of the Swedish community.

The negative image of Muslims are maintained and strengthened by the media and not least by the Swedish educational system. Muslims immediately pick up on the negative connotations [subtext, undertone] that are used to describe their existence. It cannot be denied that this will affect their self-image and the end result is that they are kept outside of the community.

Many Muslims experience discrimination, especially at work or when they are looking for housing. The biggest problem in the integration politics is that second generation children and youths cannot find their place in every day life. This should be seen as an expression of negative Swedish cultural influence that has rubbed off on the youth.

Wishes and Hopes

Swedens Muslims express displeasure towards those local politicians that are not doing anything to increase the struggle against Islamophobia in Sweden.
The Muslims express displeasure towards towards employers, both in the private and the public sectors, since they [the muslims] cannot get work because of their origin, skin colour, foreign name and religion.

Muslims demand that the community should treat them in the same way as you treat native Swedes and the Muslims want to live under the same circumstances as their Swedish neighbours.

Muslims want help to create a creative future on the basis of their cultural background and religious allegiance, if this is done they will feel at home in their new homeland.
If the Security Police will continue to consider Islam a violent religion and Muslims as a security risk, the community will force young religious Muslims to segregate and that is not good either for the community or for the Muslims.

Islamic culture should be a part of the multi-cultural community. It is up to the community as the maintainers of the dominant culture to recognise Muslims as full fellow citizens, and give Muslims the same social, cultural, economic, political, religious, and personal right as the "native Swedes" enjoy themselves.

Mahmoud Aldebe
Sveriges Muslimska Förbund












Divine Salamis BBS :: View topic - The List of Musulman Demands to Swedish Political Parties...

New equipment to beat desert Heat via Stars & Stripes

Stars & Stripes

Marines have been issued desert tan smocks that fit under their body armor and are designed to help keep air circulating under the heavy body armor and gear harnesses they wear. While some Marines swear by them, others say it's just yet another piece of equipment to put on; wearing them is optional.

Sgt. Michael Jones, First LAR, returns from Third Tour

"Sgt. Jan Michael Jones, who was profiled in The Capital in August as he was returning to Iraq, said his experience was "definitely more high-speed" in this last tour.

"From early September until after Christmas, it was non-stop operations; and they were all big," said Sgt. Jones, who served as a scout for special forces on night raids.

"This year we found some pretty good caches of weapons," he said, recalling one find that included rocket-propelled grenades, two machine guns and materials for making improvised explosive devices.

Another cache consisted of "a lot of stuff," including mortar rounds and 155 mm artillery shells.

"Saddam had ammo everywhere - it is not hard to find it out there," Sgt. Jones said.

Sgt. Jones, 21, went on to say he thought the United States should remain in Iraq and rebuild it as a democracy.

Various armed factions are determined to control the country, he said.

"If we were to leave now, the (place) would just destroy itself," he said.

Sgt. Jones is a member of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif."

HometownAnnapolis.com, Top Stories - Marine 'scout' details his third tour in Iraq

Second Bronze Star Medal for Capt. Thomas 'Tad' Douglas Force Recon

Capt. Thomas 'Tad' Douglas with his wife, Rina, and daughter, Caroline, after being awarded his second Bronze Star Medal. Douglas helped to establish the Hilla Special Weapons and Tactics team that has earned a reputation as one of Iraq’s premier fighting forces. Douglas was responsible for leading more than 70 unilateral, joint and coalition combat missions against anti-Iraqi forces throughout the northern Babil and southern Baghdad area of operations. Douglas was cited for operating "under direct enemy fire and resolutely and without concern for his own safety directing his forces against the enemy," an effort that resulted in the elimination and/or capture of hundreds of insurgent forces.
USMC photo by Lance Cpl. Jeffrey A. Cosola

Haditha Dam Marines Return Home

Some Haditha Dam Marines have returned home. The article does not specify unit:

Members of the Galveston-based amphibious assault unit had been away from home for nearly a year. They spent much of the last seven months patrolling the Euphrates River near the Haditha Dam in Iraq.

“It was a long 10 months,” the younger Lockwood said, “but we did a lot of good over there.”

Members of the platoon carried out two or three patrols on the river just about every day of their tour.

“Once or twice, we were out there for 10 days in a row,” Lockwood said.

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas was on hand with other members of the city council to greet the returning troops. She read a proclamation urging local residents to extend a hearty welcome and to offer thanks to the Marines for their sacrifices.





The Galveston County Daily News

Its not xray vision but its a start

Amazing the stuff you can find on the web:How to See in the Dark - WikiHow

1. Take advantage of the structure of your eyes. The human eye has 'rod' cells and 'cone' cells on the retina, which is the sensory layer at the back of the eye. Rod cells and cone cells are distributed evenly throughout the retina except for the fovea, which is a small area on the back of the eye directly opposite the pupil. At the fovea, there are only cone cells. This is an important thing to know because the 'cone' cells are more proficient at color detection, whereas 'rod' cells are better for low light and detecting movement. Therefore, when trying to see in low light, try not to look directly at the places you are trying to see. By using your peripheral vision you are using more rod cells, which work much better in low light. This takes a great deal of practice for most people.
2. Keep your eyes adjusted for the dark. If you're in a lighted area and know you're going to be going into a dark area, close your eyes tightly, or at least squint your eyelids before entering the dark to give your eyes a chance to adjust. If you can't close both eyes, close one or place a hand over one. This works well when driving into tunnels. Once you're in, avoid looking directly at any light source, no matter how dim you think it is. It takes longer to adjust back for the dark than it did for your eyes to adjust for the light you just looked at.
3. Practice. This can be as simple as shutting out the lights in a room and closing all portals, allowing only the ambient light that slips in under the door. One place to work at it is in the bathroom while taking a shower. You've probably been showering in the same room for years and can practically navigate it with your eyes shut. Most bathrooms don't have a large amount of windows, so there's less light coming in. Just be careful and take it slow. All it takes is one rug in the wrong place and you could fall, hit your head on the edge of the tub, and drown in an inch of water.
4. Scan, don't stare. If you look at something, or a place, in the dark for too long, your eyes will become less sensitive to what little light there is. If you scan your eyes back and forth over the area you are looking at, you will be using different areas of "rods" as described above, and you will be able to see details clearer.
5. Protect your night vision. If you do need to use a light, having a coloured lens over the light will help preserve your night vision. White light, containing all frequencies, from red all the way to blue, will ruin your night vision the fastest. Blue lenses work best; red lenses are the worst, but anything is better than white light. A good way to have a light source that is easy on your night vision is to buy a blue LED flashlight. The lit tip of a cigarette will thoroughly trounce your night vision - it's that sensitive.
   

How to See in the Dark - WikiHow

Race Driver underwear--the answer to the ban on Under Armor ---// CarbonX Underwear Flame retardant Racing suits--wicks away moisture

Here is a possible solution to the ban on Under Armor, Nike, Cool Max flameable suits...racing suits or underwear. You've seen enough TV fiery race car crashes to know that the driver does not get in those high powered wheels w/o the best protection and this is one product available for the well equipped race driver: Under wear made from Carbon X flame retardant material. I found this at HMS Motorsport.

"CarbonX is the brand name behind the products produced by Chapman Thermal Products. CarbonX in its raw form, is a yarn created by spinning O-PAN (oxidized polyacrylonitrile) fiber with an Aramid strenghthening fiber. This formula results in a yarn with amazing fire resistant characteristics that serves as the precursor to a wide array of products and applications requiring heat and flame resistance. The CarbonX yarn can then be converted into an array of fabrics ranging from woven fabrics, knitted fabrics and non-woven felts.

The basic concept and definition of a high performance FR fabric is usually considered a manmade fiber with a continuous operating temperature ranging between 375° to 600° f. The fibers are classified as having favorable characteristics in at least one of the following performance properties: operating temperature, the limit of heat transfer, tensile strength when exposed to high temperature, chemical resistance and, LOI. Most of the FR fabrics currently used for FR safety applications perform well in one, sometimes two of these areas, CarbonX® performs extremely well with all of these performance properties and more. CarbonX® also has the highest LOI rating of any FR fabric available."

Torch Testing

CarbonX Long Sleeve Shirt

Long Sleeve Undershirt made out of CarbonX flame retardant material.

CarbonX and Nomex are very simliar in that they are both materials that are designed to keep you protected should you get involved in a fire. They are also designed to keep you cool and dry. What makes CarbonX different is that it wicks away moisture much better than Nomex does. It's also virtually flame proof, as shown by the picture above. Check out This page for more information about CarbonX.

Part Number	Size	Price
cx 403-lg	Large	$99.99
cx 403-med	Medium	$99.99
cx 403-sm	Small	$99.99
cx 403-xl	X-Large	$99.99
cx 403-xxl	XX-Large	$99.99

CarbonX Long Underpants

Long pants made out of CarbonX Flame Retardant material.

CarbonX and Nomex are very simliar in that they are both materials that are designed to keep you protected should you get involved in a fire. They are also designed to keep you cool and dry. What makes CarbonX different is that it wicks away moisture much better than Nomex does. It's also virtually flame proof, as shown by the picture above. Check out This page for more information about CarbonX.

Part Number	Size	Price
cx 413-lg	Large	$99.99
cx 413-med	Medium	$99.99
cx 413-sm	Small	$99.99
cx 413-xl	X-Large	$99.99
cx 413-xxl	XX-Large	$99.99

Racing Apparel // CarbonX // Underwear // HMS Motorsport

"It ain't Hollywood, Pal" See The War Tapes Trailer

The trailer is up. Check it out here. Rock 'em, Sock 'em leave 'em crying and laughing action in--
The War Tapes: The War Tapes Trailer

Third LAR Cpl. David M. Jeske celebrates Easter Sunday in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province

Marine Corps News> Marines celebrate Easter Sunday in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province: "Easter Sunday is a chance for Christians to “renew baptismal promises,” said Lt. Cmdr. John T. Hannigan, a Catholic Priest and military chaplain for Regimental Combat Team 7 here.

Though liturgy is celebrated the same here as it is back in the States, worship in Iraq for America’s military men and women allows for a more “focused” experience, said Hannigan.

“Since many times we don’t have the religious supplies here that we are used to having for religious services back in the States, we make do with what we have and the symbolism seems to come out ,” said Hannigan, a native of Chicago.

“It all seems holier because I am a couple hundred miles away from where Jesus walked the earth,” said Cpl. David M. Jeske, a 21-year-old from Auburndale, Wis.

Jeske, an ammunition chief for 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, RCT-7, attended Easter Sunday services at his unit’s remote base in the middle of Al Anbar’s barren desert – Camp Korean Village. "

A stress of a Different kind --LAR Marine Cpl. Will Lewellyn explains what real stress is all about....via the dailytimes.com

Lewellyn made it back OK in Oct '04 from a second tour to the sand box. He is now in college studying mechanical engineering. The school paper featured him and two other mates, David Tham, a 2004 graduate of Heritage High and a member of the National Guard's 278th Army Cavalry Regiment and Jorge Zapata, a Marine Reservist w/three/four in Fallujah.

thedailytimes.com - Soldiers turned Pellissippi State students embrace academic stress: "As a member of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Cpl. Will Lewellyn was among the first American troops involved in the March 2003 invasion. Because the unit's job was reconnaissance, its members went ahead of most troops, deep into the country, near the Syrian border and into the town of Tikrit, to survey the situation.
Lewellyn's first stint lasted six months, and when the Marines came back to the United States, they were originally informed they would not have to return. But a second tour was ordered in 2004. This time the unit was gone for more than 10 months. The second trip was worse, according to Lewellyn, because ``there were more casualties, and the insurgency was more rooted.''"

Lewellyn is in the second semester of work toward a mechanical engineering degree. At 23, he is few years older than many students who enter college right after high school, and he sees a difference in himself and his younger classmates.

``Many of them don't know what they want to do, but I know where I want to go,'' he said. ``Being out of school for four years makes you think about that. I also found myself wanting to learn more. I'm thirstier for knowledge now. I find myself reading The New York Times, and I would like to read more books.''

Now that he is a college student, he will have plenty of opportunity to read, as well as take tests and write papers. And, yes, there will be demanding professors, pressure and deadlines.

The War Tapes: The Film

A couple of years ago, a film director named Deborah Scranton got a helleva idea to give 10 cheap video film cameras to 10 soldiers of the National Guard to carry into combat in Iraq. The result is awesome. I have seen some of the out takes and even that is damn good. The War Tapes Premieres in New York, April 29th at the Tribeca Film Festival website.
You can also check out some of the clips at the War Tapes site. Nothing the running dogs of the MSM could come close to what these combat troops filmed. Check it out, dude.
The War Tapes: The Film

American Jihad Accomplices via Hollywood, Interrupted: Pat Dollard Blogs (almost) Live from Iraq: Entry Two

Patrick Dollard outlines the grand strategy of the ruling elite left wing to defeat Dubya....

"Hollywood, Interrupted’s War Correspondent Patrick Dollard asks: “Why did a Hollywood agent have to go do the job that the media should have been doing?”In this, Pat Dollard’s 2nd dispatch for Hollywood, Interrupted from Iraq, Dollard rails against the mainstream media’s disconnect from the truth when it comes to war coverage in Iraq."

"The American Media are primarily Democrats, liberals, leftists -- choose the term yourself. But we all know what we're talking about. Don't get cute and waste my time arguing the point. The American Media, by and large, are trying to sway the next two elections to their team. The best way to do this is to damage the administration and the Republican Congress. The best way to do this is to convince the American people that Iraq is a failure. The best way to do that is to declare defeat and force a retreat. Normally, any winning political strategy is fair enough. But to employ a winning domestic political strategy without regard for the consequences to the American people, whose children will be slaughtered at the hands of ascendant Jihadists (among a series of other consequences) is not only wrong, but just plain evil."

"The media have, by and large, allied with the Jihadists in the hope that the Jihadists' victory in Iraq will win their party the White House and Congress. The media simply cannot resist the temptation to test their power in the service of a domestic political agenda. The whole country is inflamed one way or another over this war. Only a drooling moron would argue that the members of the media are somehow exclusively immune to those passions."Hollywood, Interrupted: Pat Dollard Blogs (almost) Live from Iraq: Entry Two

Teheran throws down the Gauntlet--Dubya's call Punt or Pass

Teheran calls Dubya's Hand---"We're In the Nuke Club so what are you going to do about it...'

---

Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST

Apr. 13, 2006

---

This week Iran presented the US with the ultimate challenge and Washington must now make a decision. Is it fighting to win?

Since the September 11 jihadist attacks on the US mainland, President George W. Bush has stated repeatedly that the greatest threat to global security is the specter of rogue regimes and terror groups acquiring weapons of mass destruction. At his January 2002 State of the Union address, the president declared that the regimes of Iran, North Korea and Iraq comprised an axis of evil and a central goal - indeed the most crucial goal - of the US-led war was to prevent them from acquiring or maintaining arsenals of weapons of mass destruction.

If we accept Bush's definition of the aims of the war, then five years on, the inescapable conclusion is that the US and its allies, such as they are, are losing this war and losing it badly. Iraq's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction was not captured by US forces who heroically brought down Saddam Hussein's regime three years ago this week. It vanished before they arrived.
Israeli intelligence reported before the US-led invasion that starting in late summer 2002 Saddam's WMD arsenal was shipped by truck convoy to Syria. Recently, documents seized from Iraq after the fall of the regime were released to the public. Those documents revealed that under the direct command of former Russian prime minister and KGB boss Yevgeny Primakov, Russian Spetnaz forces oversaw the transfer of Iraq's WMD to Syria ahead of the US-led invasion. These reports have been corroborated by Saddam's Air Vice Marshall General Georges Sada.

So rather than being destroyed or secured, Saddam's WMD arsenal was simply moved from one rogue regime with intimate ties to terror organizations to another rogue regime with intimate ties to terror organizations.

As for North Korea, 10 months after Bush labeled the Stalinist regime in Pyongyang a member of the axis of evil, North Korea announced that it had systematically breached its 1994 agreement with the US not to develop a nuclear arsenal and had harvested plutonium from some 8,000 spent fuel rods at its Russian-built Yangbon reactor. Immediately after the North Koreans admitted their duplicity, the US acknowledged that China, Russia and Pakistan had all actively assisted North Korea in developing its nuclear weapons program behind America's back.

So Bush was being played for a fool. A year after the September 11 attacks, America learned that neither its enemies nor its purported allies took Washington's war goals seriously. North Korea thumbed its nose at Bush, and Pakistan, China and Russia willfully betrayed him.

The Bush administration reacted to the ruin of its Asian strategy by pretending that it hadn't failed. Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and other top administration officials lauded Pakistan for its commitment to preventing North Korea from acquiring nuclear capabilities even as it became public knowledge that Islamabad had transferred centrifuges for uranium enrichment to the North Koreans. They said that China and Russia both knew that a nuclear-armed North Korea was inimical to their national interests and to global security even as neither Beijing nor Moscow expressed the slightest regret for their assistance to North Korea's nuclear program and gave no pledge to cease that assistance.

The Bush administration continued to negotiate with the North Koreans through the six-party framework with South Korea, Japan, China and Russia with the aim of convincing North Korea to stop developing nuclear weapons. Last February, this continued attempt to maintain a failed policy was exposed in all its preposterousness when North Korea announced that it had nuclear weapons. Again the US refused to acknowledge that its policy was a failure.

Last September, the US agreed to a South Korean proposal to offer North Korea aid and security guarantees in exchange for a commitment by Pyongyang to turn back the clock on its nuclear program. Pyongyang responded in November by cutting off all talks in the six-party forum.

This week, the US tried again to engage North Korea at a symposium in Tokyo. Pyongyang reacted by threatening America with destruction. North Korea's Defense Minister Kim Il Chol said last Saturday that in the event of a US strike on the country, North Korea, "will mobilize its political-ideological might and military potentials built up generation after generation and mercilessly wipe out the enemies and thus viciously conclude the stand-off with the US."

The US chief negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, responded to Pyongyang's call to obliterate America by saying, "We've got the right format, the right deal on the table - the September deal - so we have to be a little patient and realize that this is the right approach."

But the right approach to what? It may be the right approach for allowing North Korea to humiliate the US while expanding its nuclear arsenal and selling missile technology to Iran, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia and anyone else who wants it. It is the right approach for placing Washington at the mercy of Beijing, which Washington believes is the only country capable of forcing North Korea to improve its behavior. It is also the right approach for ensuring that Russia, China and Pakistan believe that they can betray the trust of the US whenever it suits their purposes. It is the right approach to take, that is, if the US wishes to fail in its mission of preventing rogue regimes from acquiring and maintaining weapons of mass destruction.

It is not, however the right approach for ending North Korea's nuclear adventure. It is not the right approach for forcing North Korea to stop selling ballistic missiles to anyone who wants them. And it is not the right approach for destroying Pyongyang's ability to threaten the US and its allies with nuclear attack.

North Korea is a frightful place. It is led by a fanatical regime that carries out a systematic, monstrous genocide of its own people. It is fully capable of acting with deliberate malice and devastating depravity on an international level.

But it is alone. It has no vital natural resources that make it an attractive trading partner to states throughout the world. It does not lead, nor does it purport to lead a global movement of Stalinist millenarianism.
It is not like Iran.

IRAN ANNOUNCED this week that it is a member of the nuclear club. Over the past five years this new member of the nuclear club has become the undisputed leader of the global jihad. It controls Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad. It has open and warm ties with al-Qaida. It has transformed Hamas and Fatah into its clients. Syria has become its vassal. It controls the majority of Iraq's Shi'ite politicians and militias. It is feared by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It is respected and revered by European Muslims.

With the largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world and huge deposits of crude oil, Teheran is flushed with oil and gas profits and has recently signed multi-billion dollar oil and gas deals with China. It has close business relations with Europe and Russia. It is a member of OPEC. And it is led by men who believe that they are living in a messianic age which demands millenarian behavior on the road to divine victory on earth.

Iran, the single greatest enemy of the US and everything it stands for, which has repeatedly stated its goal of destroying America and erasing Israel from the map of the world, is now on the verge of acquiring a nuclear arsenal. It already has delivery systems capable of launching nuclear strikes against Israel and most of Western Europe. Through its own Revolutionary Guards units, Hizbullah and its other terror clients, it has been actively warring against the US for 27 years.

Iran made its fastest leaps towards nuclear capabilities since the September 11 attacks. When in late 2002 Iran's secret nuclear facilities in Natanz, Arak and Isfahan were revealed to the world, the US reacted not by moving to destroy this emerging threat which it acknowledged to be the greatest threat to its own national security and to the security of the world. It reacted by backing Britain, Germany and France's attempts to appease the mullahs into giving up their nuclear weapons program.

The Europeans' diplomacy never had any chance of ending the Iranian program. Iran did not embark on it nuclear weapons program in order to be bought off but in order to have a nuclear arsenal. Yet Washington complimented the Europeans' worthless summitry by clearly signaling that Iran had no reason to worry about US military intervention. This it did by studiously ignoring the fact that Iran was actively warring against US forces in Iraq and flooding Iraq with its agents, spies and weapons.

To date, the US's official policy for contending with Iran is to seek redress in the UN Security Council. That is, the US has placed the responsibility for meeting what it has itself admitted is the greatest threat to global security in the hands of nations that do not share its assessment of Iran. By seeking Security Council action on Iran, the US has delegated the power for contending with the Iranian nuclear threat to China and Russia which have both assisted Iran in developing its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Like its policy towards North Korea, the US's policy towards Iran serves not to thwart Teheran's nuclear aspirations but to facilitate them. It serves not to expand America's options for contending with this grave and gathering threat to its national security and global interests, but to limit them.

After the September 11 attacks, George W. Bush was revered by Americans and lovers of liberty around the world. His soaring rhetoric and stated determination to fight for all that is good and sacred in this world won the hearts of millions and instilled in them the hope that the great battle for civilization had been joined by a force capable of defending it.

America is the greatest nation on Earth and it does have the ability to defend the world against regimes like Iran and its allies. It can prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. It can take those weapons out of North Korea's hands. It can bring Damascus to its knees and force it to cough up Iraq's arsenal of pathogens. And no, military might is not the only way for it to accomplish these tasks.

But America cannot, and it will not accomplish any of these goals if it continues to abide by strategies and frameworks that serve only to strengthen its enemies and permit its "allies" to behave perfidiously. It cannot and will not defend the world from evil, demonic regimes like Iran's if it continues to allow the likes of the EU, Russia, Egypt and China to undercut its will at every turn.

This week Teheran threw down the gauntlet. The greatest battle of this war - the battle to prevent the world's most dangerous regime from attaining the most dangerous weapons known to man - has begun. The moment has arrived for President George W. Bush to make clear if he is, in the final analysis, the leader of the free world or its undertaker.

---

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

Bravo 4th LAR Marines Saddle Up for Iraq

Detrick Marines prepare for Iraq deployment:

"Marines with the Bravo Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion were notified in December that they would be deployed to the Middle East on June 5. Since then, the unit has been preparing themselves and their families.

‘‘We have an important task ahead of us that all of our Marines are taking seriously,” said Capt. Michael Stolzenburg, the new commanding officer of Bravo Company. ‘‘The hallmark of the Marine Corps Reserve is to be ready, and we are.”

The reserve unit, which operates from the PFC Raymond Flair U.S. Army Reserve Center at Fort Detrick, has spent weekends training in the usage of weapons, marksmanship, the operation of communication equipment, infantry tactics and learning the culture of Iraq. Health and dental screening, financial and legal issues and preparing their families have all been part of the training to ready the Marines for war.

The unit has 120 members, who come from many areas outside Frederick.

‘‘We make the most of our time on the weekends,” Stolzenburg said. ‘‘These Marines continue to show how incredibly dedicated and professional they are by their motivation and focus in whatever they’re asked to do. They know their preparation here will pay off three-fold over there.”

Once in the Middle East, the unit will patrol the waterways that surround Iraq for roughly seven months, said Christian Devine, public affairs officer with Fort Detrick.

To prepare for sea duty, this month the Marines must complete a combat lifesaving course at Fort Detrick and in May a select few will receive further training at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

On June 5, the entire unit will be deployed to Camp Lejeune for three months of intensive training in riverboat operations, before deployment to Iraq.

Soldiers and their families will gather at Fort Detrick on June 4 to meet each other and be briefed on what they can expect.

This is not the first time the Bravo Company has been called up for active duty.

The battalion was part of Operation Desert Shield in November 1990 and participated with United Nations coalition forces to liberate Kuwait in Desert Storm.

From February 2002 until September 2003, the reserve unit was deployed in the early phases of the Iraq war."

Connecting the Dots... The Christian Science Monitor’s Other Freelancer: Steven Vincent via The Big Carnival

David Paulin lastest post on the MSM in Iraq is up and worth reading. Check it out
The Big Carnival

Bravo Co. 4th LAR Will Deploy in Sept.via Frederick News Post

"FREDERICK -- Marines stationed at Fort Detrick spent Monday morning in the base's Henry O. Tuell Dome, getting acquainted with IVs and bandages as part of a combat lifesaving course. The Bravo Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, will deploy to Iraq in September."

"The 120 Marines earned a certificate in combat lifesaving after completing last weekend's course, which included skills such as evaluating a casualty, treating chest trauma, controlling bleeding and requesting a medical evacuation."

"They're all training in the event of someone getting injured, so they can take care of their buddies," said Agustin Hernandez, a civilian medical training coordinator who led the course. "The bottom line is taking care of each other when you go to war."

"On March 31, the Marine Corps confirmed the Bravo Company's deployment. The reservist unit was warned in December it could be deployed and has spent weekends since training in infantry tactics, marksmanship, insurgent operations and physical readiness."

"Cpl. Jeremy Cheshire, 26, said he looks forward to training and deployment."It's what we joined the Marine Corps for," said Cpl. Cheshire, who joined the Marines in February 2002.'"

Beginning in May, the Marines will train at Fort Leonard Wood, Miss.; Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland; and Camp Lejeune, N.C., to become a small-craft company, patrolling and securing Iraqi waterways near the Euphrates River.

Ongoing training

Throughout their training, the Marines will practice the skills they learned during the lifesaving course, Mr. Hernandez said.

"You don't learn IVs in one day," he said. "But just being able to feel comfortable with your skills and knowing the tools to save someone's life is an accomplishment in itself."

Using their lifesaving skills, Marines can serve as an extension to trained medics. A unit of several dozen Marines may contain as few as one medic, Mr. Hernandez said, and the training will decrease preventable deaths during combat.

About 15 percent of combat deaths could be prevented if more troops knew how to treat injuries, including controlling bleeding, alleviating pressure buildup in lungs and clearing airways, Mr. Hernandez said.

Sgt. Marc Christ, 30, deployed to Iraq with the Bravo Company three years ago. The intense training before deployment will help calm any fear among the unit's Marines, he said.

"It's not really that people get scared," he said. "(Fear of) the unknown is a better word. We can get away from as much of the unknown as possible, and the more things you're prepared for, the less scared you are."

Experiences

Two Marines have been killed during Bravo Company deployments.

During the 2002-2003 deployment to Iraq, Lance Cpl. Gregory MacDonald was killed and two Marines injured when the road under their vehicle crumbled and they rolled into a canal.

In the early 1990s, the Bravo Company's Lance Cpl. James M. Lang was killed during the company's deployment to the Persian Gulf.

Bravo Company's commanding officer, Capt. Michael Stolzenburg, returned from Iraq in February after a 10-month deployment.

Capt. Stolzenburg said he's been talking with the company's Marines about his own deployment.

"The things I saw, heard about, experienced -- I'm preparing them mentally, emotionally, for what they need to do over there," he said.

Though the company previously deployed to Iraq from February 2002 to September 2003, about 75 percent of Marines in Bravo Company are new to the Corps and have never deployed before.

"Of course they think about getting killed or hurt," Capt. Stolzenburg said. "But that's why they're all here to train hard. And they are all training hard."

The Frederick News-Post

Pfc. Michael-David Paddy, LAR, To Wed April 15th...no excuse to ever forget his wedding anniversary

Michael-David Paddy will marry Connie Cota in Reno April 15. He is a mortar man with the Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion out of 29 stumps. Here is best wishes and many good lucks for the couple with the anniversary I'll never forget. Hoorah!!
HeraldNet: Active Duty

Bait and Switch Tactics by the Holier than Bloggers Members of the Antique MSM viaThe Big Carnival

The Mantra of the MSM against bloggers has been the "diss" that bloggers (clad in pajamas) are missing the essential credentials, degrees, and the experience of gray beard editors- read..not be be trusted. Copy? Check this out:

".... Big Media’s bait and switch: The New York Times and a slew of other news outlets (Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Cox News Service, San Francisco Chronicle, Newsday, The Washington Times, etc.) all pretend the freelancers they’re using are staff writers. In fact, many of those freelancers probably lack enough job experience, fancy education, contacts, or whatever, to even get a job interview at those elite papers (assuming those papers are even hiring, which they probably aren’t)."

The Big Carnival

Admiral Mullen drops in for a Visit at Haditha DSU

"Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Mullens paid a visit to the Haditha Marine-based Dam Security Unit operating here. The DSU is a company of Marines operating boats to provide security in the waters of both the Euphrates River and Lake Qadisiyah. “The main reason for him coming out here is to help the Navy make a smooth transition to riverine warfare when they replace us in the near future,” commented Maj. Joe E. Cleary, the DSU officer in charge."

"According to Mullen, the DSU will become a unit operated by the Navy in a little more than a year. With the decommissioning of the Marine Corps’ Small Craft Company, the Navy will be the ones to provide security to the waterways, much like they did during the Vietnam War."
Marine Corps News> Corpsman receives promotion from top naval officer

One America---Theodore Roosevelt via rpatrick

"All of us, no matter from what land our parents came, no matter in what way we may severally worship our Creator, must stand shoulder to shoulder in a united America for the elimination of race and religious prejudice. We must stand for a reign of equal justice to both big and small. We must insist on the maintenance of the American standard of living. We must stand for an adequate national control which shall secure a better training of our young men in time of peace, both for the work of peace and for the work of war. We must direct every national resource, material and spiritual, to the task not of shirking difficulties, but of training our people to overcome difficulties. Our aim must be, not to make life easy and soft, not to soften soul and body, but to fit us in virile fashion to do a great work for all mankind. This great work can only be done by a mighty democracy, with these qualities of soul, guided by those qualities of mind, which will both make it refuse to do injustice to any other nation, and also enable it to hold its own against aggression by any other nation. In our relations with the outside world, we must abhor wrongdoing, and disdain to commit it, and we must no less disdain the baseness of spirit which lamely submits to wrongdoing. Finally and most important of all, we must strive for the establishment within our own borders of that stern and lofty standard of personal and public neutrality which shall guarantee to each man his rights, and which shall insist in return upon the full performance by each man of his duties both to his neighbor and to the great nation whose flag must symbolize in the future as it has symbolized in the past the highest hopes of all mankind."

From Philip Davis (ed.), Immigration and Americanization (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1920)

Theodore Roosevelt Advocates Americanism

The foreign-born population of this country must be an Americanized population - Theodore Roosevelt Advocates Americanism

The foreign-born population of this country must be an Americanized population - no other kind can fight the battles of America either in war or peace. It must talk the language of its native-born fellow-citizens, it must possess American citizenship and American ideals. It must stand firm by its oath of allegiance in word and deed and must show that in very fact it has renounced allegiance to every prince, potentate, or foreign government. It must be maintained on an American standard of living so as to prevent labor disturbances in important plants and at critical times. None of these objects can be secured as long as we have immigrant colonies, ghettos, and immigrant sections, and above all they cannot be assured so long as we consider the immigrant only as an industrial asset. The immigrant must not be allowed to drift or to be put at the mercy of the exploiter. Our object is to not to imitate one of the older racial types, but to maintain a new American type and then to secure loyalty to this type. We cannot secure such loyalty unless we make this a country where men shall feel that they have justice and also where they shall feel that they are required to perform the duties imposed upon them. The policy of "Let alone" which we have hitherto pursued is thoroughly vicious from two stand-points. By this policy we have permitted the immigrants, and too often the native-born laborers as well, to suffer injustice. Moreover, by this policy we have failed to impress upon the immigrant and upon the native-born as well that they are expected to do justice as well as to receive justice, that they are expected to be heartily and actively and single-mindedly loyal to the flag no less than to benefit by living under it.

We cannot afford to continue to use hundreds of thousands of immigrants merely as industrial assets while they remain social outcasts and menaces any more than fifty years ago we could afford to keep the black man merely as an industrial asset and not as a human being. We cannot afford to build a big industrial plant and herd men and women about it without care for their welfare. We cannot afford to permit squalid overcrowding or the kind of living system which makes impossible the decencies and necessities of life. We cannot afford the low wage rates and the merely seasonal industries which mean the sacrifice of both individual and family life and morals to the industrial machinery. We cannot afford to leave American mines, munitions plants, and general resources in the hands of alien workmen, alien to America and even likely to be made hostile to America by machinations such as have recently been provided in the case of the two foreign embassies in Washington. We cannot afford to run the risk of having in time of war men working on our railways or working in our munition plants who would in the name of duty to their own foreign countries bring destruction to us. Recent events have shown us that incitements to sabotage and strikes are in the view of at least two of the great foreign powers of Europe within their definition of neutral practices. What would be done to us in the name of war if these things are done to us in the name of neutrality?

Theodore Roosevelt Advocates Americanism

Theodore Roosevelt Advocates Americanism via rpatrick

... There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts "native" before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance. But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as any one else.

The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic. The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American. There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.

For an American citizen to vote as a German-American, an Irish-American, or an English-American, is to be a traitor to American institutions; and those hyphenated Americans who terrorize American politicians by threats of the foreign vote are engaged in treason to the American Republic.Theodore Roosevelt Advocates Americanism

Entire Army Squad Reenlists Together via Blackfive

“In my 33-year military career, this is the first time I’ve known an entire squad to demonstrate their commitment to each other and to military service with such esprit de corps, and I’m very proud to be a participant in reenlisting this fine ‘Beast’ squad of the ‘Fighting 5th’ Engineer Battalion,” said Brig. Gen. Robin Timmons, commander, 16th Eng. Bde., who conducted the reenlistment ceremony."

Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy go Away!!

Reluctant employers and incompetent Labor Department investigators are conspiring to hobble the Reservist deployed to the war zones. The Chicago Suntimes leads w/a investigative story on the troubles of reservist keeping their jobs and a military career. It's tough.

With reservists away from their jobs more, some employers are balking at holding those jobs for them when they return, as federal law requires. Others are laying off or firing reservists and guardsmen, or making things so uncomfortable they quit, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation found.

The number of complaints filed with the U.S. Labor Department accusing employers of job discrimination against reservists and guardsmen went up 38 percent from the military buildup that began after the Sept. 11 attacks until 2005 -- from 908 complaints in 2001 to 1,465. It dipped last year to 1,320 -- a decline the Labor Department attributes to its aggressive efforts to get the word out to employers about the law. Illinois has seen a similar pattern of complaints.

'Laws are weak'

People who try to remain in the military part time sometimes face pressure at work to either leave the military or leave their jobs, lawsuits and interviews with returning reservists and investigators show.

"As long as reservists are getting deployed as we are, employers are going to get hip to the law and figure out how to beat it," says Tice Ridley, 33, an Army reservist who plans to quit as an investigator for the Cook County public defender's office and go full time with the Army.

The Iraq war veteran filed a job-discrimination complaint in 2004, telling the Labor Department his union president was told Ridley wouldn't be promoted because "it would hurt the efficiency of the office if he were deployed."

The public defender's office denied that. Labor Department investigators didn't find any violations. His case remains in union arbitration.

"The laws are weak," says Ridley. "If that's all we have, as soldiers we're screwed."

Read the rest....

Reservists fight to keep jobs

Jill Carroll--the disposable freelancer picking up the slack for the hypocrites of the MSM viaThe Big Carnival: March 2006

Jill Carroll is not an employee of the Christian Science Moniter. Fooled me. David Paulin at the Big Carnival exposes some dirty laundry and major hypocrisy by the members of the antique MSM who, on one hand proport to be the Most High and Holy Guardians of High Standards and public trust against knuckle dragging bloggers "poaching" on their exclusive territory and their secret use of cheap, disposable freelance writers.

The Big Carnival: March 2006: "Faced with plummeting advertising revenues, media organizations have slashed their staffs and operating budgets in the past couple of decades in pursuit of ever greater profits. One of the causalities have been foreign news bureaus. As a consequence, many outlets have turned increasingly to freelancers like Carroll. Compared to staff writers, they're cheap.

Carroll freelanced for The Christian Science Monitor and several other publications -- in other words, she got paid per article. I don't know what she was earning. But as a former freelance foreign correspondent who has written for some of the same publications as Carroll, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe and Platts Oilgram News, I assume she got a few hundred dollars per article. It's really not much for a multi-source showcase piece, written from a war zone amid myriad inconveniences and risks: electrical outages, irregular phone service, and vicious Muslim terrorists not inclined to look kindly upon an American woman writing for a paper called The Christian Science Monitor, for which she'd be working on assignment.

Clearly, idealism, ambition, and a spirit of adventure are the motivating forces driving Carroll and other freelancers working abroad. And more than a few are encouraged by editors who suggest their freelancing may eventually lead to staff positions with a regular salary and usual benefits – the very things one expects in any decent job, whether an office or coal mine.

Carroll would have enjoyed none of the benefits enjoyed by staff writers in Iraq: No bullet-proof vests; no war-zone training; no armed guards. Forget about insurance of any kind. (The Christian Science Monitor, to be sure, has yet to comment publicly on these issues; however, it appears she was not treated like a typical freelancer.) Even so, she was on her own, living in what The New York Times described as a modest 'threadbare' room -- all for the love of journalism.

There's a certain hypocrisy at play when one compares the media's attitude toward freelancers like Carroll against the values it professes as a noble and vigilant watchdog of the public's trust. Consider the mining accident at the Sago mine in West Virginia, which occurred just days before Carroll's kidnapping. The mainstream media raised its collective voice in anger over even a hint of safety violations at the mine. Yet when it comes to journalists like Carroll, it tolerates and even encourages the same abuses it would gleefully excoriate in those who fall into its journalistic cross hairs."

COT-- Change of Tactics-Army will now Kick A's and Take Names

Blowing pass the kill zone of a iraq thug ambush is no longer an option for Army convoys. From now on SOP will include a mandatory turn and burn response w/max sledge hammer on thugateers interested in finding the nearest air locker exit.

The change is part of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker’s underlying philosophy of a more rigorous response to attacks,according to Harvey Perritt, spokesman for the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va.

“In the first two years of Iraq, convoys (under attack) just fired and kept rolling,” said Maj. Roger Gaines, the battalion’s operations officer said Thursday. “That gave bad guys the perception that Americans run away. Now, convoys will stop and engage the enemy.

Stars & Stripes

- Daylight-Saving Time Returns Sunday 2AM

Set your clocks forward tonight before you hit the sack AND remember to turn off your cell phone. In the morning, when your turn your cell phone on the correct time will reload. Change the batteries in your smoke detectors and refresh the photon torpedoes to 600 gigawatts. Max. For you Navy guys the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the two....

"That means push the clocks ahead _ spring forward _ before going to bed Saturday night. The official change occurs at 2 a.m. Sunday, local time."

BREITBART.COM - Daylight-Saving Time Returns Sunday

Golf Range atop Hadithah Dam

Camp Hadithah Dam, Hadithah, Al Anbar (June 17,2005) -- Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class G. Taylor Cleveland perfects his drive on the top deck of Hadithah Dam. Family and friends send the the Navy docs boxes of golf balls for their driving practice. Unfortunately they have a one-hit lifespan, disappearing either into the lake or into the desert.
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Marc Fencil