Angels Amongst Us ...

... or just some really wonderful people.

It was a long weekend.  The snow started Friday night.  Hubs had National Guard duty Saturday and Sunday.  He needed to be at the armory at 8am.  Since he is about two and a half hours from his destination on a clear-roads-type-of-day he set his alarm for 4am hoping that would give him enough time to drive down even with all of the snow that was falling.

He wasn't counting on the five foot drift up against our garage.  The fact that it took him over 30 minutes to just get out of our driveway and on to the snow-covered roads of our development had me worried.  I knew he had quite a bit of country road to tackle to get to his final destination.  I assumed the snow-plows wouldn't be keeping up. 

Four hours later though, he had arrived!  (Phew!) His speed was cut down to more than half of the speed-limit.  Visibility was pretty poor.  But he made it to the armory safe and sound without incident.

But we had an event to attend to for Hub's civilian-job Saturday night.   We had paid for (expensive) dinner tickets a month ago.  He insisted we needed to go.  I do believe his middle name is Stubborn.  No snow was going to stop him from getting home, despite his wife's stress level at the thought of him turning around and tackling the snow-covered roads again.

So while he was driving home on the snow-swept roads of central Ohio I was getting fussied up; shower, make-up, fancy dress and all.

Somewhere on the drive home Hubs hit a patch of ice.  His Mazda 3 did a spin and landed in a ditch.  Not only did the passenger-truck that was in front of him stop but so did two other cars.  One car was carrying a shovel, as was Hubs (at his wife's insistence I might add!).  So they started shoveling.  The truck had a rope and had him pulled out in no time. 

Hubs didn't even have time to stand around in the freezing temperature.  He didn't have a moment to sit in his car before someone was asking, 'Are you ok?'  He didn't even have time to flag someone down to ask if they could help.

What could have been a major incident was just a blip in the radar of the day.

To the folks that stopped, you are angels amongst us.  It is wonderful when ordinary citizens reach out and help.  It was cold out there.  It was dark.  The wind was blowing.  It would have been easy to say 'someone else' will help I need to keep driving.  But Saturday night you helped a Soldier, my soldier.  Someone who I KNOW would have done the same for you, but that doesn't make your good-deed anything less.   Thank you!  This wife is filled with gratitude.

BTW we did make it to dinner that night, a little late ... but maybe we just appeared 'fashionable'.  I still wish we had stayed home, de-stressed, warmed-up ... but Stubborn is his middle name.

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com

Popular Articles: Week of January 31 - February 6

Here were our top 10 most-viewed military-related articles for the week on MilitaryAvenue.com:

PCS Allowances and Entitlements

Five Steps to Buying the Right Car

Drum Roll Please! ... We have a winner

How Much Car Can You Afford?

Mullen’s Blog: My View on ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’

Take Your Thrift Savings Plan with You

Thankful Thursday: Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard

Military Life Insurance

Exercise Cobra Gold - DoD Roundtable

monthly i-Pod winners from MilitaryAvenue and USAA

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The Defense Budget Squabble Continues at the Kitchen Table – DoD Roundtable

Let’s continue our family squabble today over where to spend our money as we again focus on the defense budget. The squabble probably gets most heated when the family disagrees over priorities and in defense it is probably best exemplified in the military budget for planning manpower and weapons/systems’ purchases. During the Roundtable with Secretary and CFO Robert Hale he highlighted the themes of the budget as being:



1) Taking care of our people
2) Rebalancing the Military
3) Reforming what and how we buy
4) Supporting our troops in the field


I wrote on the first priority in the The 2011 Military Budget - DoD Roundtable with Secretary Hale and people programs usually gain a lot of support. They can be and are frequently controversial but usually seen as a win - win for everyone involved as they are cross service and other interest group lines. I would like to continue to discuss the themes today with the second and third themes which are not as easily agreed to because of service agendas/needs and special interest groups and their individual agendas. Secretary Hale said,


“We also are seeking this budget to continue rebalancing the military to focus more on today's wars. That involves things like increasing our rotary-wing capability, our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability, our Special Operations Command. All of these activities are critical to today's irregular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”


The rebalancing focus as he said includes improving reconnaissance and surveillance (unmanned), intelligence, rotary wing (helicopter and V-22) resources and special operations. These resources have been extremely stretched during the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have been highly effective as well! They represent a bigger bang for the buck of taxpayer money in some conditions. But the future war needs are hard to predict as Mr Hale agreed. So he also talked about the need for future weapon systems such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Army’s Future Combat System, a new long range bomber, new ships for the Navy and Army (did you know the Army owned ships?), a new ground vehicle and a regional missile defense program. But for these programs he wants to focus on how we buy and build them to keep costs down – a very big challenge for the Defense Department and any large bureaucracy.


The rotary wing production improvements include increasing Army aircrew training by 9% and adding two Army Combat Aviation Brigades. The ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) capability will increase from the current 37 Combat Air Patrols to 65 and the purchase of 12 EA-18G aircraft will expand theatre electronic warfare resources. Special operations will increase the gunship fleet, the Civil Affairs/Psyops manpower and service support personnel. There will also be improvements in Homeland Defense and how we counter weapons of mass destruction! Finally the rebalancing will stand up CYBERCOM, a new command with focus on the defending and exploiting of computer, command and control and internet resources.


The budget will restructure the F-35 program and purchases 42 aircraft in 2011. It includes numerous other weapon systems including the KC-X new tanker program (some of the Air Force’s tankers are older than the crews grandparents!) and shipbuilding programs.


As part of the reform the secretary said there were a number of program terminations in the budget as well. He spoke specifically concerning the C-17 aircraft and the alternative engine for Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) for termination when he said,

“And Secretary Gates has said that if Congress chooses to add money for these two programs, he will strongly recommend that the president veto any legislation that does that.”.


Is this the view of everyone in the Defense Department? It certainly is not with congress and defense contractors (of course, they want to keep production going). But even within the Defense Department there are some who see the need for continued production of the aircraft. Earlier that same day a theatre commander was discussing the Cobra Gold exercise during a different DoD Roundtable. When I asked about his ability to move a command post via C-17 load he said, that the airlift resources were limited and he had to use sea lift for the exercise. Secretary Hale challenged that assumption while blaming it on allocation issues. Of course, there can never be an infinite amount of resources to meet everyone’s needs all the time and that is why we have such a thorough process. Sometimes the politicians, media, service priorities, military associations, defense contractors and many others influence the final product signed by the President.


We will see a lot more interest in this budget process through the media and I will write an additional blog on the last theme, Supporting Our Troops in the Field, in the future and then as we work through the budget process I will discuss new issues as they boil to the top of our table top discussions!


Please to our MilitaryAvenue articles on the military budget to read more about the program and what you can expect to see in your family budget or changes to programs that your family is involved with on a day to day basis.


Thank you to the staff at DoDLive for organizing this great Roundtable discussion. If you like to read or listen to the Roundtable please go to DoDLive!




Photo Credit: An F-22 Raptor piloted by Maj. David Skalicky flies over Langley Air Force Base, Va., Feb. 3, 2010. Major Skalicky is with the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Zachary Wolf)

monthly i-Pod winners from MilitaryAvenue & USAA

They are our monthly-iPod winners in January!

Do you want to be eligible for next month's drawing?  SUBSCRIBE to our MilitaryAvenue Newsletter today!  The military-family newsletter will be electronically published around February 18th.  When you open it click on the picture of the iPod (it will be similar to the photo on the right).  It's that easy!

A GIANT THANK YOU to USAA for not only providing the iPods but more importantly for being there for our Military Families!

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com

Super Bowl Party Plans

While Dale is out plowing the driveway... I am pushing all of the ideas that I have together for the Super Bowl Party... Par-tay that will be *Happening* here this Sunday. The invitations have all been phone calls, facebook interaction or emails. Every invitation was met with a responsive YES, followed by a suggestion of something they would like to bring. Wow! How nice is that?

So... since it is the Colts vs Saints; blue vs black; IN (Indianapolis Colts) vs NO (New Orleans ... Saints) there is room to play with subtle themes!

Food:

Chili Saint's Delight made with colt-like meat. Most folks call ground round. Tamed cooked and ready to eat.

Halos that might look like onion rings... but taken right off of these players and brought to our table!

Halo holes... Like a donut hole... but these barbecue sauce covered meatballs take the bite out of the New Orleans team.

Heavenly Hash: finely sliced roast beef mixed in with baked potato, onions, and mushrooms baked together in one dish any Colts fan will love to bite!

We celebrate with soft drinks but have a few bottles of Colt 45 Malt liqueur, not certain any one prefers this... and a bottle of Saint Amour wine and Saint Julian wine.

Planning a party becomes a fun experience as you let your mind wander, pull in oddities and smile. Colors are banners that grab the eye. Food is the system that alerts the senses! Sharing food is a guarantee to share grins, good times and gratitude!

Heavenly Hash: serves 8

1/4 c margarine
1 c chopped onion
4 c baked potatoes
4 c thin sliced roast beef, sliced even further into bite size pieces
4 T parsley
1/3 c water
2/3 c milk

In a large skillet saute onions in margarine over low heat until golden; about 12 minutes. Add potatoes, meat, parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Spread this mixture out over the onions.

Brown hash 10 to 15 minutes, turning frequently with a wide spatula. Stir in water and milk. Reduce heat; cover and cook 10 minutes or until crisp.

We will be having blue cups and black plates, blue napkins and black candles. But most of all we will be having fun. That is the objective, and the goal of any get together: good food, good fun and good fellowship.

Thankful Thursday: Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines & Coast Guard

I don't know how to describe the gratitude this email left me feeling.  I received it from a friend.  She was my middle-child's preschool teacher when hubs left for Iraq.  Her husband is a Coast Guard Reservist and had been deployed before and was also getting ready for another deployment at the time.  She understood.  She would 'report in' when I picked him up from school: "We had a great day", "He was a little clingy today", "He wanted to talk to me about Dad today".  She knew little reassurances like that were what I needed.  We were blessed. Other teachers he had just didn't /get it/.  They didn't understand the reassurance I would have liked in trying times.

So here we are, almost two years later.  Her husband was given two days notice to leave for Haiti.  The preschool did a collection of things he needed to send to her husband and his unit in Haiti (which I actually wrote about last week: Thankful Thursday: A HOT LONG Shower).  This email was her response, her genuine appreciation for those that were so willing to support her husband, and in turn her.

I speak with my husband a couple times a day. He wanted me to let you all know that the conditions in Haiti are more deplorable than anything he has seen in his life. This is not my husband's first deployment. He has been to Kuwait twice and to Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit. He has also been an innter-city police officer for 18 years. He has seen his fair share of sad and heartbreaking conditions.

The military men and women are bathing out of buckets and sleeping in tents. The heat is almost unbearable. Yet they are there to guard the ports of Haiti as a duty to our country and to help so many people in desperate need. I miss my husband terribly but I know he is doing something he is so very passionate about.

So to our service-members who sacrifice SO MUCH; from a warm-shower, to running water, to kissing their spouse good-night and tucking their little ones into bed.  I offer this trifle, yet genuine

THANK YOU

from your friend, neighbor, cousin, daughter, spouse!

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com

The 2011 Military Budget - DoD Roundtable with Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer Robert Hale

The military budget discussions can sometimes be like your family’s efforts to decide where to spend your money. Credit card (cost) overruns? New purchases? Housing maintenance costs? Prices going up? Unexpected medical or school expense? Computer died? Car maintenance? Gas pump prices jumped? Mission to see grandma/grandpa on the schedule? New child on the way? Decisions! Tough ones sometimes! So the Department of Defense must do the same thing with a few more “interested parties”. National leadership, commander in chief, the taxpayers, and yes, you, our military community that sometimes can be the victim or beneficiary of a decision to reduce costs or change the plan.

So it was with interest that I joined the The DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable to meet with Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer Robert Hale to discuss the 2011 Military Budget as proposed by the President to Congress. Mr. Hale did a terrific job responding to queries and fully explaining the budget. I appreciate the time he took to talk to the Roundtable during a very busy time for him.

Secretary Hale highlighted the budget as a reform budget:


“This budget provides the resources to sustain a military at war. It takes care of our people, rebalances military capabilities, reforms what and how we buy, and supports our troops in the field”. (DoD slide)


I plan to write a couple of blogs about the proposed budget and today I will start with people programs which according to Secretary Hale is the number one priority. The military budget key themes include Taking Care of People as number one! As number one priority the budget includes specific programs for you! Let’s start with a pay raise that matches the rate of inflation (1.4%) but expands BAH (housing) by 4.2%! Secretary Hale, when I queried him about a housing budget reduction explained that the privatization of housing is a success story with 97% of US military housing privatized (200,000 units). With the increases in rent for on installation housing the contractors will be able to maintain the appearance and standards which we all want!

The medical story is a great one for this budget too, with additional funding for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome (PTSD) and other wounded warrior type programs to be $1.1 Billion! The proposed budget according to DoD fully funds the Defense Health Program with no increase in Tricare costs for beneficiaries! The development of Virtual Lifetime Electronic Records and Electronic Health Record systems are included to make it easier for transfer and maintenance of records. It will also include connectivity and closer ties with the VA! As a veteran who has gone through and continues to discuss issues with the Veterans Administration this could be a big step! The budget for the 9.5 million faces involved in the DoD health system is $30.9 Billion and would be a 5.8% increase over 2010!

Other family support programs mentioned in the discussion include Spousal/Community Support, Counseling, Child Care and the replacement/renovation of 103 DoD schools! There is $.5 Billion dollars tagged for schools! In addition, funding is included for the normalization of tours in Korea including housing, medical and other costs which I had written about earlier following a Roundtable with General Sharp, the Commander in Korea.

The proposed budget is 4.79% of our gross domestic product ($708 Billion) which includes the Overseas Contingency Operations (Afghanistan and Iraq). Without the OCO costs the percentage of GDP would be 3.5%. The numbers are staggering but what they support is the security of our country and the men and women and their families who defend it. Did you know that during WWII the defense budget was 34.5% of GDP and during the Korean War it was at 11.7%? We are fighting in two wars and in other hot spots and it is at 4.79%! I will remember those stats when I hear negative comments from the media etc.

I will follow up with additional themes of the military budget during future blogs including supporting our troops in the field, rebalancing the military, current wars, reforming what and how we buy. One important point to note about this budget proposal: Remember those family budget discussions I mentioned at the beginning? We just sat down at the table with some coffee. The discussions have just started and they can make changes happen. The budget will start on October 1st if Congress passes it and the President signs it. If you would like to see more information on the military budget process, please go to MilitaryAvenue articles discussing the military budget.


If you would like to listen to an audio of the Roundtable or read a transcript please go to DoDLive! Thank you Lt Cragg and the staff at the New Media Directorate of the Pentagon's Public Affairs office for making the Roundtable possible!

Photo Credit: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, brief the press regarding the 2011 budget request at the Pentagon, Feb. 1, 2010. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army

Wordless Wednesday: a 7 year-olds version of texting

*E* and I spent the evening 'texting', in his words, in the kitchen while I cooked dinner.

I hope the kids don't grow up too quick... this is the stuff happiness is made of!

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com

Exercise Cobra Gold - DoD Roundtable

As the world watches the humanitarian effort in Haiti we have come to appreciate the capability of the U.S. and allied military resources to respond with such effectiveness to a natural disaster of such magnitude. Despite the claims of some the US military was the only force capable of providing relief supplies and medical care on that scale in those conditions.


Meanwhile, 12 time zones away the U.S. military continues its efforts to build international support and cooperation with a large scale exercise in Thailand, the site of another catastrophic disaster several years ago when the tsunami struck. The Department of Defense Live (DoDLive) Bloggers Roundtable spoke with Lt. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander, U.S. Army, Pacific, to discuss Cobra Gold 10, an annual exercise taking place in Thailand.



“The multilateral exercise, the largest in the world improves the U.S.’ and partner nations ability to respond to crises, like the Haitian disaster, faster. Other exercise participants include the Royal Thai Army, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia and Japan. Indonesia has already sent disaster-relief assistance to Haiti. CG10 improves military-to-military relationships between the United States and its Pacific partners. Stronger multinational cooperation fosters regional peace and stability. These relationships form the cornerstone of USARPAC’s support for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the Pacific theater.” (DoD Email)




General Mixon said this was the 29th annual Cobra Gold and that it involved 6,000 U.S. military personnel including participants in a field exercise conducting actual relief efforts in Thailand (construction of roads, schools, etc). Marines from South Korea, Singapore and the U.S. also participated in the field exercise with Army forces. The field exercise included training with United Nations relief standards such as checkpoint control. UN participants were observers and manned a UN headquarters for coordination efforts during the command post exercise.


This was the first deployment of an Army contingency command post designed specifically to interact with multilateral components of a disaster relief effort. Cobra Gold included a realistic command post piece of the exercise involving NGOs (non governmental organizations such as the Red Cross), the United Nations, the CG 10 participants and Thai national resources. General Mixon said the mobile command post fills a shortfall for Pacific Army forces. Designed to be moved by two USAF C-17 loads it can be quickly located in a disaster area to provide coordination of the relief efforts. CG 10 provided a great opportunity to evaluate the command post and international cooperation in the region as well as building new relationships!


General Mixon described the Southeast Asia area as of “vital importance” to the U.S. and said the morale of the soldiers involved was high. Many have faced multiple deployments to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan and the environment in Thailand was enjoyable. Due to the length of the exercise it did not create a family separation problem. Regional cooperation in the past has been super during natural disasters and Cobra Gold will improve this coordination and cooperation.


Please go to DoDLive to read a transcript or listen to an audio of the Roundtable!



Photo Credit: UTAPAO, Thailand (Jan. 30, 2010) - U.S. Navy Seaman David Harris, a builder and construction specialist assigned to the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion based in Gulfport, Miss., speaks with to a Royal Thai Army Soldier at the Baan Pu Plun School in the Petchaburi Province, Jan. 28. U.S. Marine Corps, Army and Navy engineers are working with Royal Thai Armed Forces engineers to build multi-purpose rooms for five schools in the Central Thailand region as part of exercise Cobra Gold 2010. Cobra Gold is a regularly scheduled joint and coalition multinational exercise hosted annually by the Kingdom of Thailand. This year marks the 29th anniversary for the exercise. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army



Photo Credit: PETCHABURI PROVENCE, Thailand (Jan. 28, 2010) – A contingent of Royal Thai Army Engineers, U.S. Navy Seabees and U.S. Army National Guard Soldiers work together during Exercise Cobra Gold 10 to construct a multi-purpose building at the Baan Plu Plun School in the Petchaburi Province, Thailand. The building is one of five Humanitarian Civic Assistance projects which are a part of the exercise. Cobra Gold 2010 is a regularly scheduled joint and coalition multinational exercise hosted annually by the Kingdom of Thailand. This is the 29th anniversary for the exercise, which consists of a Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative Exercise, Command Post Exercise, H/CA projects and field training exercises. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army

Happy (!?) Groundhogs Day

Dang ...

Apparently Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning. Six-more LONG weeks of winter ahead for us. I'm ready for sunny skies, bicycles, sidewalk chalk, and bubbles. Short sleeved shirts, suntan lotion, and deck chairs.  Ah yes, spring and early-summer are my glory.  My lifeline.  This winter thing in February ... March ... even April here in northern-Ohio bites the big one.

I guess for now I'll have to be content with fuzzy sweater, warm blanket and cup of hot-tea to warm my bones.

Stupid Stupid Traditions ... this one ranks up there with 'May Day' for me!

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com

February Featured Military Reward

This month has been extremely busy for the men and women of our armed forces! With Haiti relief in full swing and many deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq and other "hot spots" the community is feeling very stretched! We have decided to recognize this month's Featured Military Reward with a military spouse run business! We had many wonderful Rewards to choose from but hers stood out!

Thank you for your service as a military spouse Stephanie and for your wonderful Military Reward! The military community around Tacoma, WA can enjoy a great salon experience at a much lower cost while preparing for Valentine's Day!

If you know of a business offering a military discount tell them about MilitaryAvenue!

This Month's Featured Military Reward is given to:

Stephanie's Hair Services (Angelo Mendi)


Her Military Reward says:

I operate a Full Service Salon in Tacoma WA. I am offering GREAT Military Discounts including 50% off all Cuts, FREE hair cut with color service, and discounts on hair extensions and UpDos. Call Stephanie for app. Bless our Troops!

Click here to view the coupon featured at two Washington installations:
Ft Lewis and McChord AFB!

A special thank you to Stephanie's Hair Service and all of our MAPP partners for supporting your military community with your Rewards.

Why Should Your Business Offer A Military Discount?

We choose a Featured MilitaryReward each month to highlight our Partners and their wonderful support to the military community! Our military family team chooses one based on value for the military family and how well it sends the message "military friendly business".

Photo Credit: Military spouses enjoy an afternoon of free spa treatments and discount shopping during the 2008 Military Spouse Appreciation Day event hosted by Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation at the Nehelani, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Photo Credit: Spc. Kyndal Hernandez

Popular Articles: Week of January 24 - 30

Here were our top 10 most-viewed articles for the week on MilitaryAvenue.com:

Exercise LEADING EDGE 2010 -Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation - DoD Roundtable

Haiti Naval Task Force Commander - DoD Roundtable

Valentine Freebies and Give-away for our Military Families

MY Deployment Story

Operation Enduring Freedom: Index of articles related to Afghanistan

"No Other Place They Would Rather Be" Kentucky Air National Guard 123d Contingency Response Group - DoD Roundtable

Thankful Thursday: A HOT LONG Shower

Study Shows Deployments’ Impact on Army Wives

Tax Tips for Military Members

13 Tax Deductions You Can't Ignore

Visit our Reading Room to find more relevant news!
To find the most recent additions to MilitaryAvenue follow our RSS feed

Drum Roll Please! ... We have a winner

Thanks so much for all of the great entries for our Sony E-Reader contest!  I had the wonderfully fun task today of drawing a winner.  First of all THANK YOU for all of the great entries, the retweets, the facebook reposts and for the blog posts!  I have to admit the blog posts were great.  They gave me the opportunity to visit a few blogs I had not heard of (and quite a few that I had) and I added the new ones to our blog-list (on the right hand side of our blog...).  On a totally unrelated note, if you are not on my list of "Fellow Military Families", you are in fact a military family, and want to be listed, leave me a comment with your blog address.  I LOVE adding new fellow military-families.
But back to that drum roll...

Our winner is Christine.  She had a wonderful answer!

yes, I think this will allow me/my husband to buy more books. Too often I am reading a blog or something else and hear about a book I’d love to read but forget about it by the time I get to a book store. This would give me the opportunity to go straight to the borders and purchase it right away. Plus if the books are cheaper then I am more likely to buy even more! and just from a specific store (Borders) instead of going to any random store.

She also blogged about the contest on her blog, "A Leap of Faith".  Thank you, Christine.  We hope you enjoy your eReader as much as I have enjoyed mine.

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com

Valentine Freebies & Give-away for our Military Families

Tomorrow is the OFFICIAL drawing for a Sony eReader for our military families!  Enter today.  I received one last week and can I tell you how nice it is?!?!  I sat here in my comfy living room chair, logged onto my local-library's website, downloaded four eBooks and was reading one of them on my e-reader within minutes.  So very cool!  Enter here:  http://militaryblog.militaryavenue.com/2010/01/valentines-contest-for-our-deployed-win.html

Although it is too late to send a Valentines Message via Stars & Stripes print edition you can still submit one for online viewing.  Still very cool!  Read more here: http://militaryblog.militaryavenue.com/2010/01/send-your-true-love-valentines-message.html

This morning I ran across another great deal!  Thank you to Army Wife Network for bringing this to my attention:  "Send a Free Military Sweetheart’s Photo Book for Valentine’s Day"  You do have to pay the FedEx shipping but still a great deal!  You could print it up for free, ship to you and then include it in a care-package to your deployed loved-one.  What a wonderful touch of home!  Deadline is February 13th.  Read more here: http://www.simplephotogifts.com/free-military-sweethearts-photo-book/

Tonight Hubs and I are headed out for a Date Night.  Our 16 year-old is going to babysit his 2 younger brothers for just a few hours.  Believe it or not I think (or at least as far as I can remember) this is one of the first times he has had to watch them for more than 30 minutes.  But getting out as a couple is SO important ... and going out to eat without having to entertain younger ones is such a blessing.  If you are in arms reach of your spouse don't wait to Valentines weekend to woo your loved one... it should be an all year event.

Again a big thank you to all of those organizations that support our military-families!  Particularly, Borders, Stars & Stripes and LifePhoto.  It is nice to know when America supports the military family!

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com

The 18th Airborne and Ft Bragg are in Haiti! - DoD Roundtable

The soldiers in the XVIII Airborne Corps at Ft Bragg were the go to force as soon as the earthquake in Haiti occurred. During this super roundtable Col. Dick Kuehl and Col Ken Dyer gave a great report on their team’s efforts at Ft Bragg (and Pope AFB)to assist the Haitian people.

Col Kuehl is the G-1 who was responsible for aiding SOUTHCOM with filling critical personnel needs in addition to the Global Response Force that were specially requested by the Joint Task Force commander on the ground for the disaster relief and humanitarian assistance (i.e., linguists, mortuary affairs, engineers, etc.).

Col. Ken Dyer is the acting G-4. The logistics piece, like the personnel piece, is a delicate balance of identifying where the equipment and supplies that the JTF commander needs on the ground are against what we have here and/or across the Army or if we have to resort to purchase over the counter. He can also speak about the process to determine how and when supplies and equipment could be delivered. (US Army email)

Ft Bragg has sent 3,100 soldiers to Haiti during the initial relief efforts and continues to provide resources. They sent $3,000,000 worth of medical supplies; a Brigade Combat Team (BCT) was deployed by air and 250 vehicles left last night by rail for Jacksonville, FL and is being loaded now for delivery by barge now that the Haitian ports are more capable. Since the start of the “Unified Response’ Operation in Haiti the team at Pope AFB and Ft Bragg have loaded and deployed 79 C-17 sorties and 54 C-130 sorties of soldiers, equipment, relief rations and medical supplies. The colonels said the “Air Force did yeoman work” to get their soldiers and equipment into Haiti. The Army’s heavy equipment riggers have prepared 84 CDS (Container Delivery System) bundles of water for airdrop and 64 CDS bundles of rations from C-17 aircraft.

The Col Kuehl said that service operations went from individual service focus years ago; to joint efforts; to multi agency efforts with US AID, etc and multi national groups now. The 18th has a civil affairs team working with international groups including non governmental organizations and other government agencies as well. In addition, there are now 14 Army installations involved including all three Army components – Active, Guard and Reserve.

When asked about sustainment of the efforts and need for medical supplies they said a C-17 left this morning with eight additional pallets of medical supplies. The 18th Public Affairs Officer, Lt Col Harper, commented that it has been an “incredible operation” with donations from the surrounding community and that the “soldiers and airmen are working around the clock”. With 40% of Ft Bragg deployed Col Kuehl asked for continued support of the military community and in particular for their families!

Thank you to DoDLive and Army Public Affairs for making these soldiers available to tell us more about the Haiti relief operations at Ft Bragg and Pope AFB.

For the latest reports on DoD efforts in Haiti please go to the following MilitaryAvenue Article: Index of the US Military Response (chronologically listed).

To see a transcript of the Roundtable and/or listen to an audio please go to DoDLive.



Photo Credit: Spc. Brent Nailor of the 82nd Airborne Division 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, passes out packaged meals to women and children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 16, 2010. The squadron established a forward operating base at an abandoned and damaged country club near the U.S. embassy. Photo Credit: Fred W. Baker III


Photo Credit: Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, pass out meals to women and children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 16, 2010. The squadron established a forward operating base at an abandoned and damaged country club near the U.S. embassy. A survivor camp of thousands. Photo Credit: Fred W. Baker III

Thankful Thursday: A HOT LONG Shower

I got this email from my son's preschool (I abbreviated names for purpose of OPSEC).  The 'big school' referenced is the main-school which is grades K-8.  My son is part of the preschool, which is ages 3 - 5...

This week in the "big school", the students have been doing many different projects for Haiti. This has included hourly prayers, fasting and almsgiving. We would like the preschoolers to participate in a service project for Haiti as well, and we have found a project to help one of our own.

As many of you know, JM, Mrs M's husband, is a member of the United States Coast Guard. His unit was activated and deployed to Haiti. He left for Florida last Wednesday where he prepared with his unit and then continued on to Haiti on Saturday. Since he has been there, he has called Mrs. M with several items that he needs while he is there. For example, the military is bathing out of buckets and he requested liquid Dial soap. Our thought is that if one member of the unit needs it, then all of them do.

We are putting a box for donations from his list of requests in the modular. Please keep an eye out as you are doing your regular shopping for these items. Once the box is full, we will ship the box to his unit in Haiti to be distributed among our military as they help out with the devastation to Haiti. Know that these items will be sent to directly to J and his coast guard unit and not through any type of agency. After each shipment, we will put a new box out. Hopefully we can keep care packages going over to our military while they are helping this country that has so much need.

Here are items that have been requested:
Gatorade packets to pour into water bottles
unscented baby wipes
laundry detergent sheets
protein bars
baby powder
chicken in a can (in the tuna section)
microwaveable macaroni and cheese, spaghettios, ravioli and beefaroni
dry snacks that will not melt (i.e. graham crackers)
gum
hard candy
liquid Dial soap
Vicks Vap-O-Rub

I have asked J to continue to let us know as new things arise and I will post updates accordingly. As with all of our service projects, this is completely optional. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thank you!

How cool is that?!  I have heard so much about support & aid for the people of Haiti.  But I just LOVE that *C*'s school wants to support the service-member, far away from home without the amenities we so enjoy!  I'm struck with gratitude.

So the next time I step into my nice, hot-shower, and lather up with my favorite freesia smelling soap - I'll think about our service-members - all around the world using BUCKETS to take a shower.

Thank you, J, for being a member of our proud US Coast Guard!  And thank you H.T. School for being a supporter of our military-members!


- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com