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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”,…
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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…
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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…
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Exercise LEADING EDGE 2010 -Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation – DoD Roundtable
International forces continue many WMD proliferation security initiatives (PSI) with exercises such as LEADING EDGE 2010 held in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 25-28. Thirty nations participated in three different phases of this exercise from a table top portion, a port security piece and a maritime interdiction live exercise. LEADING EDGE is a USCENTCOM-hosted and USG Interagency (IA)-supported multinational PSI exercise designed to develop WMD interdiction capabilities with partner nations to deter and disrupt illicit transfers of WMD-related material, technology, expertise and equipment, to include addressing the challenges of suspect material inspection, seizure, and disposition. This exercise represents an opportunity for the U.S. and 30 other nations concerned about WMD proliferation…
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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…
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Haiti Naval Task Force Commander – DoD Roundtable
The DoD Blogger Roundtable hosted U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Ted Branch, commander, Carrier Strike Group One aboard USS Carl Vinson off the coast of Port-au-Prince to discuss the overall naval effort to Operation Unified Response-Haiti. Admiral Branch said the effort of the sailors and marines has been outstanding and that they felt that it was “important work” and they did “make a difference in peoples’ lives”. He felt that it was “heartwarming” for those making contact with the Haitians to see their response and appreciation. The ships engineer groups have been able to assist with infrastructure problems such as generators, wells, pumps, roads, etc to better provide resources and reduce…
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From Africa to Haiti USS Gunston Hall Changes Course – DoD Roundtable
This was an extremely unique opportunity to discuss the efforts in Haiti due to the international staff on board the USS Gunston Hall! Captain Thebaud’s staff included naval officers from Nigeria, Senegal, Italy, Britain and Ghana who were embarked for an Africa Partnership Station (APS) West training event when diverted to Haiti. The ship was originally scheduled to head for Africa to work with West and Central African nations to improve their maritime security and cooperation, but this mission in support of Operation Unified Response changed that and became a lesson all its own. Since arriving off the coast of Haiti they have been working to improve conditions at the…
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Detainee Operations in Afghanistan – DoD Roundtable
U.S. Navy Vice. Adm. Robert S. Harward, commander of Joint Task (JTF) Force 435 located in Kabul, Afghanistan spoke to the DoD Bloggers Roundtable and answered questions concerning Detainee Operations in Afghanistan. JTF 435 was established by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on September 18 to assume responsibility for detainee operations in Afghanistan. The admiral arrived in Afghanistan in November and the Joint Task Force stood up on 7 January 2010! The Task Force provides oversight of detainee review processes, programs for the peaceful reintegration of detainees into society, and coordination with other agencies and partners for the promotion of the rule of law in Afghanistan. The TF is leading…
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Clearing the Roads in Afghanistan the “Houn Dawg” Way – DoD Roundtable
The DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable met with Lt. Col. Tony Adrian and Command Sgt. Maj. Steven Stuenkel of the 203rd Engineer Battalion, the Houn Dawgs, a Missouri Army National Guard unit. The battalion as currently manned in Afghanistan is primarily an Army National Guard unit with active Army and Army Reserve components. The Command Sgt Maj. Said they had had more volunteers than positions for the deployment and the Missouri Guard is manned at 112% of its end strength right now! The unit was deployed to Iraq twice prior to this deployment which started in October. According to their press release, the Houn Dawgs have a proud history whose mission in…
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“No Other Place They Would Rather Be” Kentucky Air National Guard 123d Contingency Response Group – DoD Roundtable
“No other place they would rather be” was the message that Lt. Col. Hilbrecht wanted me to tell his fellow Kentuckians and Americans! He is currently deployed to the Dominican Republic in support of Operation Unified Response, the humanitarian relief mission for Haiti. The Kentucky Air National Guard currently has about 50 members deployed including the 123rd Contingency Response Group in the Dominican Republic and members of the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron in Haiti. Since last Friday, the Kentucky airmen have processed in excess of 575 tons of supplies at Baharona, Domincan Republic to include an emergency shipment of plasma that was delivered by air into Haiti. Special Tactics airmen…
