Jury Awards Father Nearly $11 Million in Funeral Protesters Case

BALTIMORE — The father of a fallen Marine was awarded nearly $11 million Wednesday in damages by a jury that found leaders of a fundamentalist church had invaded the family's privacy and inflicted emotional distress when they picketed the Marine's funeral.

The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned later in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress to the Marine's father, Albert Snyder of York, Pa.

Snyder sued the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified monetary damages after members staged a demonstration at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The defense said it planned to appeal and one of the church's leaders, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said the members would continue their pickets of military funerals.
Continue reading

This group is absolutely disgraceful! If the worst happened and one of them came to my son's funeral with a sign saying "thank God for dead soldiers" I would be hard pressed not to go ballistic. It really grieves me that they claim to be Christian.

Be careful who you scare on Halloween!

Family gives stand-in doll honorable discharge

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Oct 30, 2007 8:30:08 EDT

CUMBERLAND, Ohio — Now that he’s back home from Iraq, an Ohio Marine is learning all about the busy social life his two-dimensional twin led during his absence.

“Flat Brett” is a small, cardboard cutout doll of Lance Cpl. Brett Davis, made by one of his mother’s co-workers at Basic Systems Inc., an engineering and automation firm.

Carman Friday said she got the idea after learning that local schools were participating in the “Flat Stanley” project, in which students mail around a paper doll and keep a journal of its travels. The project was sparked by a children’s book with the same name.

In a similar vein, Flat Brett was photographed as he went around to family functions and was taken along on a business trip to Texas. The little guy with a round, smiling face and wearing construction paper camouflage and black boots even got to meet country singers Josh Turner and Josh Gracin when they performed at county fairs this summer near the Davis family’s home in this village about 70 miles east of Columbus.

The real Brett Davis, 23, who left for boot camp in October 2003, returned to town Saturday after completing his Marine enlistment following a seven-month deployment to Iraq earlier this year.

His mother, Connie Davis, said Monday that Flat Brett is resting now, inside a photo album of his adventures that’s now complete with a final picture of both Bretts together.
Source

2006 Year in Pictures

Moments nicely seen by camera-carrying Marines (and a few sailors).

These are amazing pictures! Don't miss them.

Nice Matters

CavMom has nominated me for the Nice Matters Award! CavMom is a great military mom blogger and I read her blog every day. I'm so honored to have her nomination.



To make it even more fun, I get to nominate 7 bloggers. It's hard to keep it to just 7, but I'll do my best.


De'on at Gunz Up : She is a Gold Star Marine mom. We've actually met in person and she is a dear, dear friend and truly nice in the best possible sense of the word. She is one of those people who is lit up from within.

Dixie at Dixie's Heart and Soul: She is a brand new Marine mom still spending time with her son while he is on boot leave. Those are precious days that pass all too quickly!

Just John at Write on the Right: It seems strange to award a girly graphic like this to a Marine Gunnery Sergeant who is a former Drill Instructor, but I can't help it! He has been so nice to us here at LMP and so helpful to me personally with all my dumb Marine mom questions (What does this abbreviation mean? What can I post on the blog about where he is? and on and on ). He has also patiently listened to my Marine mom bragging... it's so much fun to brag to someone who knows what you're talking about. So John, even though I'm sure none of your recruits ever thought so, we here at LMP think you are NICE! Don't feel like you have to display the graphic though. Don't want to hurt your reputation.



Beth at Blue Star Chronicles: She is another military mom and she was instrumental in helping me get the blog off the ground. It took SEVERAL emails with her for me to figure out our first blog roll. She basically gave me the "blogging for complete idiots" course. Thanks Beth!




Big White Hat: Here I go again with the award for a guy, but he really is such a nice guy. BWH is a true family man and what is nicer than that?

Flag Gazer at Gazing at the Flag: She is so supportive of our troops and of LMP. She has a great blog and I always enjoy her posts and usually learn something new too.

Don at Don's Mind: He too is always so supportive of our projects here at LMP. He was our first contributor in this year's care pack drive. He's a Navy vet and a proud grampa.

Lifting for the fallen

Andrew Farrar Sr. attempts to break his own deadlift world record at the Amateur Athletic Union’s World Powerlifting Championships in Orlando, Fla., earlier this month. Farrar was lifting in memory of his son, Sgt Andrew Farrar Jr., who was killed in Iraq in 2005. Joining Farrar was Col. Richard Anderson, MCB Quantico’s Security Battalion commanding officer, who was the younger Farrar’s CO at the time of his death.

Oct. 26, 2007; Submitted on: 10/26/2007 02:09:52 PM ; Story ID#: 2007102614952

By Staff Sgt. F.B. Zimmerman, MCB Quantico

ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 26, 2007) -- Standing at five-foot, three-inches tall and weighing in at 120 pounds, 58-year-old Andrew Farrar Sr. is a giant in the sport of powerlifting.

While one wouldn’t think it by looking at him, he qualifies as such after breaking the Amateur Athletic Union’s deadlift world record for all raw categories of the 123-pound weight class during the World Powerlifting Championship at the Disney Sports Complex here recently. Farrar put up a staggering 162.5 kilograms (358.2 pounds) – nearly three times his body weight – without any assistance, not even a weight belt.

Setting a record of his own was Marine Corps Base Quantico’s Col. Richard Anderson, the commanding officer of Security Battalion, who deadlifted 242.5 kgs (534.6 pounds) to claim the top mark in the Military/Masters raw categories of the 198-pound weight class.

While both men have taken part in powerlifting competitions before, they met at this meet for one purpose: to honor Farrar’s son, Andrew Farrar Jr., who was killed in Iraq on Jan. 28, 2005. Farrar Jr. served under Anderson with the now deactivated 2nd Military Police Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, and was killed on his 31st birthday while on patrol in the Anbar province. He was electrocuted after running into a live high-voltage wire.

Since his death, Anderson has stayed in contact with his father, calling him every weekend to make sure the family was doing fine and to see if they needed anything.

‘‘The nightmare for these families is that their loved ones will be forgotten,” Anderson said, ‘‘and that’s not going to happen as long as I’m alive.”

During one of their many conversations, Farrar asked Anderson if he lifted, which he does. Farrar then told Anderson he was going to compete in the competition in memory of his son, and asked if he would like to compete. Anderson promptly replied, ‘‘If you do it, I’ll do it, too.”

Farrar said he has been lifting weights since high school, but gave it up for several years. When his three sons – Andrew Jr., Jason and Nathan - became a little older, he got back into the sport, lifting with his boys. He would even go to the gym at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and lift with Andrew Jr. whenever he would visit him there.

‘‘My sons and I found a tremendous amount of enjoyment lifting together,” said Farrar, whose family hails from Weymouth, Mass.

He said he was training for several years for a contest, and his dream was for Andrew Jr., who was on his second tour, to return from Iraq and serve as his spotter.

‘‘He was to come home about the same time as registration was due ... I never sent the registration in,” Farrar said with a tone of sadness in his New England accent. ‘‘I was really looking forward to him coming home because he had never been to one of my contests.”

This latest powerlifting competition was one of many for Farrar, but only the second since the death of his son. For Anderson, the competition was his eighth, and the first since 1998.

Before the lifting began, Farrar said his son was there.

‘‘I feel he’s with me all the time,” he said. ‘‘There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think and remember my son.”

As Farrar took off his warm-up clothes, chalking his strong, calloused hands for his first lift, it was evident Andrew Jr. was there.

Farrar was wearing a brown T-shirt with the words ‘‘Marine Dad” emblazoned on a printed expert marksmanship badge on the left chest that his son gave him after he graduated from recruit training, a yellow ribbon pin on the shirt, and on his left wrist a bracelet bearing son’s name. The most notable tribute was the blue singlet Farrar wore, which has his son’s name, date of his birth and death, location of his death, an Eagle, Globe and Anchor, and the phrase ‘‘Sacrifice with honor for freedom.”

Both Farrar and Anderson made their record-breaking lifts on their second attempt, and they both tried to break their own records on their third attempt, but couldn’t get the weights up. Farrar was visibly upset he didn’t hit his goal of 395 pounds, but Anderson and other competitors congratulated him on his accomplishment.

‘‘Mr. Farrar is a true American patriot,” Anderson said. ‘‘He’s supportive of the troops and the war ... he hasn’t lost his patriotic fervor. He’s honoring his son’s memory and the Marine Corps.”

Farrar and Anderson say they stay in contact via e-mail almost every day, but Anderson said he prefers the personal touch of phone calls.

‘‘Colonel Anderson has given me a tremendous amount of encouragement to keep going,” Farrar said. ‘‘It still helps to have him call every week. It’s difficult to stay focused – I was going to stop lifting.”

With possible knee replacement surgery looming, this was the probably the last competition for Farrar.

When asked what his son would say to him if he were at the meet that day, Farrar said, ‘‘His exact words would be, ‘You can do it, Dad.’”
Source

Take Back the Pink

I found this great link today over at Yankee Mom.

Are you upset that a certain nasty group has taken over your favorite color? Well, let's Take Back The Pink!

Marine earns Silver Star for Fallujah rescues

Wounded sergeant dragged 4 buddies to safety
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Oct 27, 2007 6:52:29 EDT

The snipers could tell the mortar team was close.

Both heard the unnerving sound of an explosive round exiting the mortar tube and immediately ran into the Fallujah, Iraq, street to get the 30 other Marines bogged down with them to scramble for cover.

Two mortars bracketed the leathernecks — one falling behind and another in front — before one mortar exploded a few feet away, blowing Sgt. Chad Cassady through a door and into a courtyard. Cpl. Russell Scott collapsed in the street, peppered with shrapnel in his leg and buttocks, along with a bullet hole in his arm.

Scott desperately tried to crawl into a nearby building, as insurgents’ bullets and mortars rained down on him. Cassady was still lying in the courtyard with shrapnel lodged in his chest and legs, his right lung collapsed, and his liver and kidneys lacerated.

“All of a sudden, [Cassady] came flying out of the smoke and dust and grabbed me,” Scott said of his sniper team leader with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. “He dragged me to the building and then ran back out for the others.”

Almost three years after that November 2004 afternoon during the second Battle of Fallujah, now-2nd Lt. Cassady was awarded the Silver Star — the nation’s third-highest medal for combat bravery — for “repeatedly exposing himself to save the lives of several wounded Marines who were trapped in the open,” according to the award citation.

After Cassady dragged Scott into the building’s kitchen, he limped back out and carried in three more leathernecks. As the sniper tried to carry in a fourth, he passed out from blood loss, and Staff Sgt. Christian Erlenbush had to carry Cassady off the street.

Cassady was immediately airlifted to Baghdad, where he was rushed into emergency surgery that saved his life.

“You can’t just lay down,” said Cassady, now the platoon commander for Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines. “If they stayed out in the street when rounds were coming down, they were going to die.”

He was presented the medal Oct. 17 on the 5th Marines’ parade deck at Camp Pendleton, Calif., after returning from his third deployment to Iraq.

Col. Willy Buhl, 3/1’s battalion commander in 2004, said he and other Marine Corps and Navy officials were disappointed in how long it took for Cassady to receive the medal.

“The secretary of the Navy said that it was Chad’s case that convinced him that he should [delegate] awards like this to the commandant,” Buhl said. “It bothered him and [he] said it was unsatisfactory. Chad was a catalyst for positive change.”

Cassady, 33, one of the older second lieutenants in the Corps, didn’t enlist until he was 26 and had already earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science.

“If you would have asked me what I was going to be when I was 18, I definitely wouldn’t have said a Marine. But after I finished school, I looked at the world differently,” he said.

Buhl said he immediately recognized how Cassady stood out from the other snipers with 3/1.

“When he says something, it’s powerful,” Buhl said. “He knows what he is going to say before he opens his mouth. He got my respect and [that of] the men around him.”

While Cassady was overcoming his injuries, Buhl encouraged him to seek a commission. Cassady was accepted to Officer Candidate School, and despite discomfort from shrapnel still lodged in his intestines, he completed both OCS and the Basic School on time.

Three years after the mortar attack that nearly killed him, Cassady said hearing he’d been awarded the Silver Star left him thinking about the Marines with him who didn’t come back.

“It’s a bit overwhelming,” Cassady said. “It brings back a lot of memories and faces, like the Marines I grew up with that lost their lives in Fallujah.”
Source

Scam Alert!

This warning comes from a Marine mom who was herself a Marine Gunny (hence the way she handled this). Never give your credit card information out over the phone unless you are the one making the phone call and you are absolutely sure who you are talking to. It never ceases to amaze me how people can come up with such low down scams like this.

I got a call last night from the 440 area code (which is OH somewhere). Anyway, the woman said that she was from the Marine Corps Association and she said that Chris had renewed his subscription to Leatherneck Magazine in August and had not paid the $42. They asked for PFC which he hasn't been in a long time. The lady without even taking a breath said "I know this is his mother and if you give me your credit card number I will go ahead and take care of this so his credit is not affected." Knowing that the entire line she was feeding me was BS I told her "If you ever call this number again, I will hunt you down like the dog you are and rip the skin off your body with my bare f***ing hands. How dare you take advantage of our fighting men and women!" She hung up very quickly. I called the MCA (Marine Corps Association) this morning and asked about my son's subscription. The nice woman told me that it was paid in full and that there was no problem. I did tell her about the phone call.

I had remembered receiving an email recently about this from another organization that I am a member of.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND LET FOLKS KNOW TO BE CAREFUL!!!

These Marines personify ‘Semper Fidelis’

Marine Brotherhood

As I stood in line to grill my sandwich, I watched a young corporal preparing two meals to-go. There was nothing really special about the meals . . . except this.

It was obvious to me that this Marine was carefully selecting different things for each tray. One was for him, the other was for his buddy who stood guard at the gate.

He carefully selected meat and cheese, meticulously grilled and wrapped them, then chose sides. I was moved by the obvious care with which the Marine made lunch for his buddy.

But the bond between these Marines goes far beyond chow time.

The International Zone has its own Marines who stand guard to keep the area safe. There are about 50 of them, and they live in the basement of the Presidential Palace. I sat down with a few of them, a team of four, to get a taste of what it means to be one of them. And I learned this: the Marine Corps is a family.

The men I spoke with are all between ages 19 and 23, and all single, though the one from Rhode Island has a girlfriend. When the topic of girlfriends rises, the other three give him a hard time, something he’s obviously accustomed to by now.

I can tell these four guys are close. They are all part of a group of five who are on the same guard schedule. When I indicate my assumption that this must be why they are so close, one of them replies, “Ma’am, if anyone of the 50 Marines down here walked into a dark room, I could sniff and tell you who it is.”

These men don’t just share a job . . . they are brothers.

There was something about these four that reminded me of that bad joke that John Kerry tried to cover up a few months ago — the one about young people who don’t study hard enough ending up in Iraq.

Let me say this. I have never met more impressive, intelligent, respectful, honorable, funny, handsome men in my life. These young men are the best America has to offer. They are not washouts, dropouts or losers. And, while their peers are back home beer-bonging at a frat party, these young men are on the rise as leaders.

They keep their living quarters cleaner than my grandmother’s house and they bear the burden of ensuring safekeeping of the people who live in the Green Zone.

These men make me proud to be American.

And while the four I met utter not a word of complaint — aside from the fact that they need more beef jerky — they are making sacrifices. I try to get them to talk about these sacrifices, and they really won’t have it.

They talk about their fellow Marines who are fighting in more dangerous areas, under fire daily. They feel guilty because they are in a relatively safe place. But they know their time will come.

Today they protect their fellow Americans — the people who live and work at the embassy in Baghdad.

But they look forward to that day when they can take their turn protecting Iraqis from the bloodshed that has driven a stake into the heart of Iraq.

It is a timeless honor to sacrifice for our countrymen, but I wonder how many of us are so eager to live a life of sacrifice for people not our own, for people of a foreign land.

When I direct the conversation to thoughts of home, I get a reaction I’m not expecting. Talk of family is usually the one thing that gets people talking about sacrifice. Missing home and loved ones is maybe the hardest part of the tour of duty.

These four love their families, and they talk about the things they look forward to about home: barbecue on the beach, sleeping late and letting mom wait on them, the food (this came from the Italian boy, of course), and girls.

But they all agree on something that shocks me. When they go home on leave, they can’t wait to get back to their brothers. When they are home, they call back to the unit, missing their fellow Marines.

My small mind fails to comprehend how a group of young men can bond so seamlessly — more tightly than many siblings. These men would die for each other in a heartbeat. I pray not one of them is forced to make such a noble choice. But I have no doubt each one of them would happily lay down his life for his friend.

These men are Marines. They are family.

This article appeared in the October 23rd eddition of the Plainview Daily Herald written by a young woman named Terah Kay who is currently in Iraq. Terah is a graduate of Abilene Christian University and received her juris doctorate from the Texas Tech University School of Law last May.

This column is the latest in her series. I encourage you to read the rest. They are all excellent.
Terah Kay: Just below bananas 09-06-2007

Terah Kay column: Angry words demoralizing 10-07-2007

Terah Kay column: Tea time in the ladies’ room 10-04-2007

Terah Kay column: America’s defenders making tremendous sacrifices 09-18-2007

Terah Kay column: Reality of Fear 09-17-2007

Terah Kay Column: Going for a ride in the Red Zone 09-16-2007

Terah Kay: Duck and cover 09-11-2007

Terah Kay column: Observing Ramadan can keep you free 10-11-2007

We have an address!

We finally have an address that we can give out. Now you don't have to email me if you decide to send a donation by check.

Lubbock Marine Parents
PO Box 64192
Lubbock, TX 79464-4192

Updates

We had a great meeting Tuesday night, so I have lots to update you on.

First I want to let you know about the thank you cards that we are doing for Veterans Day. We are hoping to collect 200 thank you cards for the local VA clinic to hand out during the week prior to Veterans Day. If you want to participate just let me know and I'll get all the details to you. We are also planning to "adopt" a vet family for Christmas. We'll let you know more on that soon too. It is so important that our vets know that we appreciate the sacrifices they have made to keep us free and that they will never be forgotten.

The collections for our Christmas care packs are coming along very well. We hope to have everything collected by November 19th so that we can get it sorted in time for our packing party on December 1st. If you want to see the list of items we are collecting and drop off locations, click here. Also remember that we still have our contest going on.

Our new shipment of cookbooks is here. The first shipment sold out quickly. They make great Christmas gifts and we use the proceeds to pay for shipping all these care packs.

Thanks for all your support!

Iraq troop deaths drop sharply in October

By Steven R. Hurst - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Oct 24, 2007 7:06:51 EDT

BAGHDAD — October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths and Americans commanders say they know why: the U.S. troop increase and an Iraqi groundswell against al-Qaida and Shiite militia extremists.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch points to what the military calls “Concerned Citizens” — both Shiites and Sunnis who have joined the American fight. He says he’s signed up 20,000 of them in the last four months.

“I’ve never been more optimistic than I am right now with the progress we’ve made in Iraq. The only people who are going to win this counterinsurgency project are the people of Iraq. We’ve said that all along. And now they’re coming forward in masses,” Lynch said in a recent interview at a U.S. base deep in hostile territory south of Baghdad. Outgoing artillery thundered as he spoke.

Lynch, who commands the 3rd Infantry Division and once served as the military spokesman in Baghdad, is a tireless cheerleader of the American effort in Iraq. But the death toll over the past two months appears to reinforce his optimism. The question is, of course: Will it last?

As of Tuesday, the Pentagon has reported 28 U.S. military deaths. At the current pace, the monthly total will be about 37 or 38. That would be the lowest total since 31 in March 2006 and the second lowest monthly toll stretching back to February 2004, when 20 soldiers died.

In September, 65 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.

Part of the trend can be seen in a volatile and violent band of lush agricultural land on Baghdad’s southern border.

The commander of the battle zone — Lt. Col. Val Keaveny, 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne) — said his unit has lost only one soldier in the past four months despite intensified operations against both Shiite and Sunni extremists, including powerful al-Qaida in Iraq cells.

Keaveny attributes the startling decline to a decrease in attacks by militants who are being rounded up in big numbers on information provided by the citizen force — which has literally doubled the number of eyes and ears available to the military.

The efforts to recruit local partners began taking shape earlier this year in the western province of Anbar, which had become the virtual heartland for Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida bands. The early successes in Anbar led to similar alliances in other parts of Iraq.

“People are fed up with fear, intimidation and being brutalized. Once they hit that tipping point, they’re fed up, they come to realized we truly do provide them better hope for the future. What we’re seeing now is the beginning of a snowball,” said Keaveny, whose forces operate out of Forward Operating Base Kalsu, about 35 miles south of Baghdad.

While U.S. death figures appear to be in sharp decline, the number of Iraqi civilians and security forces show a less dramatic drop. And any significant attack — by insurgents or civilians caught in the crossfire — could quickly wipe out the downward trend.

The current pace of civilian deaths would put October at less than 900. The figure last month was 1,023 and for August, 1,956, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press from government reports, hospitals and police. Other tallies differ and some have given higher civilian death tolls.

While the decline in deaths is notable, it is only one of many measures of potential progress in Iraq, said Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon analyst now with the private Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Cordesman said a more balanced picture needs to include factors such as wounded civilians and soldiers and the number of people fleeing their homes. The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that between 1,000 and 2,000 Iraqis still leave their homes each day for safer havens in the country or in neighboring nations. “It’s just been going up slowly,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort in Geneva.

“The numbers we’re dealing with here are only major acts of violence, the number of times people are killed,” said Cordesman. “This is certainly progress ... but it has to be put in perspective.”

Lynch’s mission also shows the slow pace of reclaiming areas from militants. His troops and their new local allies must work town by town, village by village.

Sunni Sheik Emad Ghurtani is among those helping.

“Honestly, I’m not going to hide this from you,” Ghurtani told Lynch as the two stood talking at a newly established tribal check point near Haswa, a village just north of the Kalsu base.

“There is some al-Qaida here in this area. But, God willing, we will get rid of them. ... The citizens are coming out. They’re not afraid any more,” the tall and handsome tribal leader said. Three scruffy young men watched, AK47s slung over their shoulders, in the sandbag bunker at the check point.

Lynch, hatless on the balmy autumn day, answered in staccato sentences.

“What we really need is information. You know where al-Qaida is. You know who they are. You have to tell us. We can use all our capabilities to take out the enemy. But you have to tell us where they are, because you know. You’ve got our total support.”

The sheik, who made Lynch promise to return for lunch one day, responded with striking eloquence.

“Because of what the American forces have accomplished, instead of us moving step by step we’re going to start running toward the enemy. ... Instead of walking, we’re going to start running now. We just need the weapons and ammunition,” Ghurtani said.

The guard force at the checkpoint changed during the conversation. Three young men barely out of their teens, ancient Kalashnikovs in hand, strolled town the dirt road that led back into Ghurtani territory. Their U.S.-provided uniforms are a vest with a reflective orange band akin to what road crews wear in the U.S.

Ghurtani complained they hadn’t been paid the $100 a month the Americans had promised.

“If I get some of the money they need I can get them shoes, some vests and some ammunition. If they can find me cheap weapons, we can start getting these men ready. God willing in the next few days,” the sheik said.

Most heartening, Lynch said, was the checkpoint just across the road and over an irrigation canal. It was run by Shiites.

Lynch said the checkpoints on opposite sides of the road highlighted a kind of reconciliation by necessity: not fighting each other but protecting themselves from a common enemy.

“The have to be convinced that we’re not leaving. That’s the issue. If they were to think we’re leaving we’d have also sorts of trouble,” Lynch said, clambering over a makeshift earthen bridge across the canal.

The local Shiite sheik wasn’t at the checkpoint.

He was in a hospital recovering from injuries in a car crash. Two ragtag fellows in their 20s stood up from their sandbag bunker and told Lynch they needed money to buy weapons. “Al-Qaida has all kinds of weapons. We just have these old rifles,” one of them said pointing to his dilapidated Kalashnikov.

“OK. We just continue to work together to get you the money so you can buy better weapons, better ammunition, uniforms. Improve your checkpoint. We just have to work together,” Lynch said, spinning on his heel and marching back to his nine-Humvee convoy.

On to Haswa, down a road known for Iranian-made roadside bombs, a Kiowa gunship clattered protectively above. Back at division headquarters, public affairs officers were hammering out more press statements about how Concerned Citizens were leading soldiers to militant weapons caches and turning in extremist fighters.
Source

24th anniversary of Beirut bombing marked

By Trista Talton - Staff writerPosted : Tuesday Oct 23, 2007 17:31:24 EDT

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — They gently brushed their fingertips across the stone where the names of the men who died on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in 1983 are engraved.
On Tuesday, families and friends gathered around the Beirut Memorial here once again to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the day terrorists drove a bomb-laden truck into the headquarters building for the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers.
The crowd — filled with an assortment of Marines, sailors, airmen, soldiers, mothers, fathers, wives, children and survivors of the blast — looked toward the wall as speakers talked about that fateful day.
Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson, commander of Marine Corps Installations-East and the ceremony’s guest speaker, told the story of one survivor, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Nashton, who was fighting for his life on a hospital bed in Germany when he and other survivors were visited by then-Commandant Gen. P.X. Kelley.
Nashton could not see or speak and could barely hear. When Kelley knelt by his bedside, Nashton reached out a hand and brushed his fingers over the general’s star-collared shirt.
Nashton signaled he wanted to write something. He was handed a pen and paper and scribbled two words — “Semper Fi” — before handing the paper to Kelley, Dickerson said.
“Jeffrey feels guilty, as many of you do today, that he survived,” Dickerson said. “Don’t feel guilty. It’s your memory. It’s their legacy you’re maintaining.”
Dickerson rattled off a long list of terrorist attacks dating back to November 1979, when the U.S. Embassy in Iran was taken over by militants. He spoke of various embassy attacks throughout the years, the bombing of the Cole and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“The lessons learned in Beirut are relevant today,” Dickerson said. “These cowards are still out there. These cowards — these terrorists — are global. And they fear democracy.”
Photo slideshow:
Remembering Beirut
Source

California Wild Fires

I know we have lots of parents and family members worried about how the Marines and recruits in Southern California are being affected by the fires. Here are some links to keep you up to date on what is going on. Let's keep praying!

Miramar

Camp Pendleton

MCRD (Recruit Depot) San Diego

Meeting Tonight!

Please join us for our meeting tonight at 7:00 PM. We'll be meeting at Family Counseling Services.

Here are the directions to the meeting: Go to 50th and Ave Q and turn South onto Avenue Q like you are headed towards the strip. After you travel a few blocks, turn right onto Briercroft Office Park Road. It is the small street after the Avenue P light. Look for building #22 and we'll be in Suite #10.

Paralyzed Veterans of America Veterans Day Wall of Honor

Add A Hero to the PVA Veterans Day Wall of Honor!
Show a veteran or active duty service member how much you care.

Anyone you know who has proudly served our great nation or is currently serving today — deserves all the honor and respect we can give them.

You can see their name online when PVA ‘erects’ the 2007 Wall of Honor on November 7th as part of their Veterans Day 2007 ceremonies.

Marine astronaut set to pilot shuttle today

Staff reportPosted : Tuesday Oct 23, 2007 7:48:34 EDT

When NASA launches the space shuttle Discovery today, the man piloting the craft will be Marine Corps Col. George D. Zamka, making his first spaceflight.

Liftoff of the seven-member crew is scheduled for Tuesday morning from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., according to an Army press release, though inclement weather may delay the planned 11:38 a.m. launch.

The mission will deliver an Italian-built connecting module to the station.
According to a NASA biography, Zamka graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1984. He trained on the A-6E Intruder at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., and was assigned to Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242 at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Calif., where he was a Squadron Weapons and Tactics instructor. In 1990, he trained as an F/A-18 pilot and was then assigned to Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121. Zamka flew 66 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm. In 1993, he was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif., as a forward air controller. In 1994, he graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, later serving as an F/A-18 Hornet test pilot and operations officer.

In 1998, he returned to VMFA (AW)-121 and deployed to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.

Two other service members will be onboard the shuttle. Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy will command the mission and Army Col. Douglas H. Wheelock will serve as mission specialist.
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Contest

*Just bringing this post back to the top as a reminder.

Remember that we still have the Christmas donation drive contest going on to win a cookbook and a BBQ apron. Your name will be entered in the contest for each $5 donation that you make toward our care pack shipping expenses. So far, Don has a big lead on everyone. His name has been entered LOTS of times! Thanks Don!!!

You can donate through the Paypal link in the sidebar or you can email me and I will give you an address so that you can mail a check. If you stop by and leave a donation to our account at American State Bank, just email me with your name and donation amount. The deadline for the contest is 5:00p.m. November 9th. I will have one of the Marines at the Marine Corps Ball draw the name and I will announce it here on the blog Saturday November 10th. Good luck!

October Meeting

Please join us for our October meeting Tuesday, October 22nd at 7:00PM. We will be meeting at Family Counseling Services located at 22 Briercroft Office Park, Suite #10. We'll be discussing our Christmas carepack drive, cookbook sales, November officer elections, and Operation Enduring Hope. Our meetings are open to the public and anyone who is interested in helping with our various projects is welcome to attend.