Clipmarks | Soldiers Clips

Same Old, Same Old at Fort Hood

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:08:50 GMT

Same Old, Same Old at Fort Hood

This attack was the rule, not the exception.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of murdering last week 13 people (12 of whom were soldiers) and wounding another 30 at Fort Hood, Texas. It was not the first, nor will it be the last, domestic terrorist incident since Sept. 11, 2001.

We now see that authorities had, or should have had, reason to be suspicious of Hasan — including his contact with a radical cleric and a bizarre “medical” presentation he once gave to Army doctors that focused on Islam and the military.

Now, we’re also learning that someone going by the name Nidal Hasan posted extremist views on the Internet, and that at least one former classmate questioned his loyalty to America.

Yet no one acted.

Was, as there appears to be, a fear among would-be accusers of being charged with politically incorrect bias?

No Dogs Left Behind

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:07:28 GMT

clipped by: jkrabbit

Clip Source: www.peoplepets.com

TV's 'No Dogs Left Behind' Follows Rescued War Dogs on Journey to U.S.

While he was in Iraq, Staff Sgt. Bryan Spears and his company found a scrappy puppy and named him Moody. But due to military regulations, they were prohibited from caring for the animal, and the soldiers said their goodbyes to their new friend.

Fast-forward a few weeks later, and tragedy strikes: Five members of Spears's team are killed in an attack by a suicide bomber. That same day, Moody returns — and it was that turn of events that Spears says saved him from losing all morale. The dog had helped him cope with the loss of his fellow soldiers.

Tags: k9

The voice of broken soldiers

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:27:03 GMT

clipped by: gppixelworks

Clip Source: russiatoday.com

The voice of broken soldiers

In 2006, British soldier Martin Webster hit the headlines after being involved in a media scandal when he filmed British troops in Iraq beating up Iraqi youths

“Once the children started using grenades and firing RPGs, they certainly became a threat to our lives. Our underlying issue as infantry soldiers is to preserve life – our lives and civilians around. So once you pick up a weapon and you are going to use it – you become a target for us to either be captured, arrested or killed.”

“When video cameras became widely available I do not think that the [British] government accounted for the fact that the public is going to see how horrific the war is,” remembers Webster. “You’re fighting kids [in Iraq]. People find it very hard that their Western boys are fighting children. That is the horrible fact of war. Those bombers were in their teens.” He added that the notorious clip with British soldiers beating up Iraqi youth destroyed his life.

Tags: soldiers, war, iraq, children, rpg, grenades, teens, weapons, video

Dog back after a year MIA in Afghanistan

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:03:38 GMT

clipped by: jkrabbit

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Dog back after a year MIA in Afghanistan

(CNN) -- An Australian special forces dog has been found alive and well more than a year after going missing in action in Afghanistan.

Explosives detection dog Sabi was recovered by a U.S. soldier who found her wandering near an isolated patrol base in the desolate southern province of Oruzgan last week, according to the Australian Government Department of Defense.

John, the U.S. soldier, who was identified only by first name, knew his Australian counterparts were missing an explosive detection dog. He knew immediately that Sabi was not a stray.

When she disappeared, the black Labrador was nearing the end of her second tour of duty in Afghanistan. She went missing in September 2008 when insurgents ambushed a combined Australian, U.S. and Afghan army convoy. Nine Australian soldiers, including Sabi's handler, were wounded during the gunbattle.

Video: MIA military dog found

Tags: k9

Emergence of Anti-Taliban Militias a Cause for Concern

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:25:25 GMT

clipped by: gppixelworks

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

Emergence of Anti-Taliban Militias a Cause for Concern

To make up for a lack of manpower in the fight against the Taliban, the Afghan government has encouraged the formation of armed militias in Kunduz Province. But German soldiers fighting in the area are unsure how to deal with these roving bands of guerillas fighters.

For now, they are just militias," he says. "But maybe we will be able to make real policemen out of them in the next few years

When they have been used, there has only been partial success. When it goes bad, though, former allies can quickly become the enemy

At the moment, the militias are still mostly deployed against the Taliban. But what will happen, officers ask, if the groups that have been armed and gained battle experience go their own way and start pursuing their own agenda?

Indeed, many skeptics fear that the current fostering of private armies could spell the beginning of a new process of disintegration in Afghanistan

Tags: afghanistan, taliban, armed militias, guerillas fighters

Dog lost in Afghan battle returns

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:07:40 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: "She's the last piece of the puzzle. It's a fantastic morale booster for the guys,"
----------------
I'd show you her picture but I still HAVE NO ORANGE LINES.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Defence officials said Sabi the dog was recovered by a US soldier at an isolated patrol base.

The dog returned to a celebrity welcome from visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and US commander Gen Stanley McChrystal.

Sabi is being tested for disease before a possible return to Australia.

The black labrador bitch was with a joint Australian-Afghan patrol that was ambushed in Uruzgan province in September 2008.

Nine Australian soldiers, including Sabi's trainer, were wounded in the exchange.

After the battle there was no sign of the dog, and months of searching failed to find her. Sabi was officially declared Missing In Action.

it would probably never be known exactly what had happened to Sabi in the 14 months she was missing, but the fact that she was in good condition indicated she had been cared for by someone.

And despite being MIA for more than a year, she showed through a simple game of "catch" with a tennis ball that she hadn't forgotten her training.

Tags: animals

Our Distorted Priorities... courtesy of both parties!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:41:29 GMT

clipped by: CulturalEngineer

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Veterans Get Lip Service, Bankers Get Billions

shocking juxtaposition between the lucky Wall Streeters and the unlucky soldiers.

We all know at this point that our banking system is being used as an unregulated bonus-seeking mechanism for bankers, now underwritten by taxpayers with $23.7 trillion worth of national wealth.

Bankers lent pretend money to home buyers to award themselves actual money in bonuses -- making home prices balloon and, in the process, bankrupting America's treasury, currency, the states, and many of its citizens.

I have been most surprised by the blatant disregard that our politicians and even some journalists have shown for the most fundamental American notion of fairness. I don't think handing taxpayer trillions to some of the least worthy individuals is something that our country will stand for, regardless of what the current incumbents think.

If we must resort to handouts to save our country, let's at least put them in the hands of the most deserving.

To commemorate Veterans Day

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:37:35 GMT

clipped by: valann 47
clipper's remarks: The last vid had me in tears.

Clip Source: www.mentalfloss.com

To commemorate Veterans Day, here are some overjoyed dogs greeting returning soldiers.

[Video]

In our first clip, Gracie welcomes her dad, who has returned from Afghanistan.

[Video]

Buddy can’t contain his enthusiasm after seven months apart from his owner.

[Video]

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anything make a sound quite like this. How great are dogs?

[Video]

We’ve posted this incredible clip before—dogs greeting a soldier after 14 months in Iraq. Worth watching again.

[Video]

Basset hound Reggie welcomes his best friend home from Afghanistan.

[Video]

Rocky gives his favorite soldier the welcome home he deserves.

[Video]

From the YouTube description: “Soldier daddy comes home after a month of training, and the pups go ballistic!”

[Video]

This boxer was cautious at first, but that caution was quickly replaced by excessive jubilation.

[Video]

Dachshunds Franklin and Sally give a vocal welcome to their dad,

[Video]

This soldier is attacked (and nearly hurdled) by his pups.

[Video]

Tags: videos, soldiers, welcome

Dogs Welcoming Home Soldiers

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:40:16 GMT

clipped by: reimers

Clip Source: www.mentalfloss.com

I can’t begin to imagine how hard it would be to leave my family for months at a time, especially if my destination were Iraq or Afghanistan. And I don’t know how I could deal with my wife being deployed overseas. These reunion videos—for me, at least—shed a tiny beam of light on how emotionally draining being a military family can be. They’ll also make you want a dog. To commemorate Veterans Day, here are some overjoyed dogs greeting returning soldiers.

[Video]

Not a dog person? We’ll end with a compilation of returning soldiers surprising their kids at school. Powerful, powerful stuff.
* * * * *
On this Veterans Day eve, here’s hoping all our men and women serving overseas get to come home soon. And when they do, I hope they all get equally enthusiastic greetings—from dogs and cats, sons and daughters, significant others, parents, neighbors, friends, and grateful strangers.

Lack of health care killed 2,266 US veterans last year: study

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:32:48 GMT

clipped by: nosebleedlouie

Clip Source: www.google.com

Lack of health care killed 2,266 US veterans last year: study

WASHINGTON — The number of US veterans who died in 2008 because they lacked health insurance was 14 times higher than the US military death toll in Afghanistan that year, according to a new study.

The analysis produced by two Harvard medical researchers estimates that 2,266 US military veterans under the age of 65 died in 2008 because they lacked health coverage and had reduced access to medical care.

That figure is more than 14 times higher than the 155 US troop deaths in Afghanistan in 2008, the study says.

Released as the United States commemorates fallen soldiers on Veterans Day, the study warns that even health care provided by the Veterans Health Administration (VA) leaves many veterans without coverage.

Veterans Day 2009: Thank you

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:57:06 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: They are casualties of war… and as far as I’m concerned, Sergeant Kimberly Munley, who took their cowardly attacker down, is a veteran today.

The terrorist enemy doesn’t have a formal chain of command that can sign an armistice, they don’t muster on clearly defined battlefields, and they’re quite happy to benefit from the efforts of deranged fanboys. If we don’t stand behind our professional soldiers, and give them the tools to do their jobs now, we will all become soldiers before this enemy is defeated.

Somewhere in the world tomorrow, an American soldier will ring in the eleventh hour of the eleventh day with gunfire. Another will arrive home after an honorable tour of duty, perhaps passing brothers and sisters in arms saying farewell to their families. A mother’s tears will fall on a letter from the far side of the world. Old veterans will spend a beautiful afternoon watching children play beneath the flag they raised at Anzio, Guadalcanal, Incheon, or Khe Sanh.

Clip Source: michellemalkin.com

Applebee’s honors vets and active duty military with a free meal today. Krispy Kreme is doing the same. Or take a vet out to McCormack & Schmick’s or Golden Corral for a special dinner.

Must-read Veterans Day tributes at milblog Mudville Gazette and from Blackfive’s Matt Burden, who reminds us: “It’s about the living.”

To honor our wounded troops, make sure you pitch in at Project Valour-IT. Today’s the last day of the annual fundraiser.

Happy 234th Birthday, Marines!

Doctor Zero on “The Eleventh Hour:”

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of 2009, the wounded of Fort Hood will remember their fallen friends, and wonder how a man wrapped in enough red flags to turn him into a bloody mummy was allowed to infiltrate their base. Those wounded and dead rely upon us to ask the questions their superiors in the chain of command cannot comfortably answer. Calling the injured and dead of Fort Hood “victims” perpetuates the blindness that compelled those men and women to face the enemy unarmed.

Tags: airforce, army, coast guard, marines, national guard, national security, navy, veterans day 2009

Obama Ally Code Pink Targets Children of Military Families for Psychological Abuse

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:29:56 GMT

clipped by: Jacob173

Clip Source: biggovernment.com

Obama Ally Code Pink Targets Children of Military Families for Psychological Abuse

This is not the first time Code Pink has waged psychological warfare on our troops and military families. Four years ago the group initiated a weekly protest at the main entrance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where Code Pink held signs reading, “Maimed for a lie” and “Enlist here and die for Halliburton.” One Veterans Day, Code Pink protesters called the wounded warriors at Walter Reed war criminals and on other occasions have called them terrorists.

Benjamin, whose work prolonging the insurgency in Iraq with humanitarian aid and political support for the terrorists is believed by many military families to have led to the maiming and killing of thousands of American soldiers in Iraq, has now focused her energies on helping our terrorist enemies defeat America in Afghanistan by propagandizing against reinforcements for our troops.

[Video]

Dear soldiers: Please come home safely - your puppies miss you

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:49:33 GMT

clipped by: Lexica
clipper's remarks: As do many others.

The dogs in the "I've never heard anything make a sound like this" clip are beagles, which explains the noise – that's the famed "bugling" they do.

And the dog almost hurdling its owner is an Italian Greyhound: half spring, half rubber, half Mexican jumping bean.

Clip Source: www.mentalfloss.com

To commemorate Veterans Day, here are some overjoyed dogs greeting returning soldiers

Gracie welcomes her dad, who has returned from Afghanistan

[Video]

Buddy can’t contain his enthusiasm after seven months apart

[Video]

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anything make a sound quite like this

[Video]

dogs greeting a soldier after 14 months in Iraq

[Video]

Basset hound Reggie welcomes his best friend home from Afghanistan

[Video]

Rocky gives his favorite soldier the welcome home he deserves.

[Video]

Soldier daddy comes home after a month of training, and the pups go ballistic!

[Video]

This boxer was cautious at first, but that caution was quickly replaced by excessive jubilation

[Video]

Dachshunds Franklin and Sally give a vocal welcome to their dad, a U.S. Navy man returning from an eight-month deployment to Kuwait

[Video]

This soldier is attacked (and nearly hurdled) by his pups

[Video]

Not a dog person? We’ll end with a compilation of returning soldiers surprising their kids at school.

[Video]

Tags: video, dogs, soldiers, veterans, big-sappy-moosh

Lack of health insurance kills 2,000 vets each year

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:40:55 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Four times as many as die in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Clip Source: www.newser.com

(Newser) – Some 2,266 US veterans under 65 died last year because they didn't have health insurance, a team from Harvard Medical School estimates. Although most vets get medical care through the VA, there are about a million and a half, under 65, who were not wounded and are "too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care," one professor says.

Being uninsured ups your odds of dying by 40%, the researchers note. Hence the result: "Six preventable deaths a day," says a study co-author. "On this Veterans Day we should not only honor the nearly 500 soldiers who have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the more than 2,200 veterans who were killed by our broken health insurance system," the associate professor says, according to ThinkProgress.

Tags: healthcare

Heartbreaking: Fort Hood soldiers remembered, in pictures (21 images)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:00:08 GMT

clipped by: clip-on-tie

Clip Source: www.sacbee.com

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- Sketching out lives that ended too soon, President Barack Obama remembered those slain at Fort Hood as husbands and fathers, immigrants and scholars, optimists and patriots -- an expectant mother, a granddaughter of veterans, a music teacher. Just below his speaking platform Tuesday, before thousands of mourners, the dead were remembered in a traditional Army way: 13 pairs of combat boots, each with an inverted rifle topped with a helmet. A picture of each person rested below the boots. "Neither this country, nor the values that we were founded upon, could exist without men and women like these 13 Americans," Obama told the throng. "And that is why we must pay tribute to their stories." (21 images)

Clip Source: www.copytaste.com

via

Tags: ft hood, massacre, muslim fanatic, murder, soldiers, america, land that i love, terrorist act