Wednesday Hero Blogroll

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Lt. Schneider

Cpl. Brian Downard


Brian Downard was 23 years old, a father, a country music fan, and a corporal of Marines. He joined the Marine Corps in July of 2005, and would do two deployments to two different scenic locales. The first was to Iraq, where he served from November of ’06 to April of the following year. While in Iraq, Brian suffered a concussion from an IED strike while patrolling. Undeterred, Brian stayed in the Marines and deployed to Burma in 2008 when Marines and sailors with the Essex Amphibious Readiness Group provided humanitarian assistance operations to aid the cyclone-stricken country. He would eventually leave the service just last July, after four honorable years of service.

One month after separation, he discovered that he had testicular cancer, and a very aggressive strain at that. The cancer spread quickly to his muscles and fatty tissues, and Brian suffered so greatly with the pain that they put him on morphine. He was released from the VA to enjoy his last days with the love from his mom and his 7-year-old son Jesse.

You can read the rest of Cpl. Downard's story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Interlude...

Well, I'm back in sunny AZ. I haven't had the time to blog or even peruse my normal reads for a while.

I'm busy looking for a job.

Y'see I am part of the 10% across the board defense spending cuts. Me and over half my division. We found out last Friday. I found out while I was waiting in the Billings airport to fly home. Not the best way to end my vacation, but at least I got to get away and enjoy myself for a week.

My last day with EPG is Thursday, September 30th. that's tomorrow.

So, when I have the time and ambition I'll be doing some posts about my vacation. In the meantime, say prayer and wish me luck.

I am a survivor and I've been down before. It just may be a bit rougher since I have more to lose now than I did in the past.

More later.

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Update from Big Sky Country

I have way too many pictures to think of posting them all here.

But Day 1 was 39 degrees and with fog as thick as pea soup...so nothing from day 1.

We stayed in Red Lodge on the first day and Day 2 we headed towards Yellowstone.

Welcome to Yellowstone!

Northeast entrance to Yellowstone.

We saw some mountain goats on the way in, but they only look like little white specks on my camera...go figure.

We saw some buffalo...no ALOT of buffalo on the way in.

This is only the first of several herds we saw on our way to Mammoth Springs.

Pretty amazing. There are no pictures that could possibly do this place justice. This is definitely God's Country.

I should have more time this week to post some pics since I'm now on the Reservation and I don't think we're going to do a whole lot more driving around. But today is errand day.

And it's time for Breakfast!

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Headed to Big Sky Country

Well, I'm taking a much needed vacation.

Headed to Montana!

Gonna spend some quality time with the parents. Most of the time I'll be in Southeast Montana, Crow Agency. Folks have a cabin there. And although there's no cell service...which suits me just fine, there is really good internet...go figure...hahaha!

So, y'all hold down the fort for me while I'm "gone". I will likely still indulge myself with a a little interwebz surfing while I'm there, gonna take lotsa pictures too...

Catch y'all on the flip side!

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AZ CD8

Well, despite the fact McCain won the senate primary, at least my man won the republican primary for CD8. Jesse Kelly.

I don't think I need to go into Jesse's background, I think anyone that reads this blog knows who he is. For those of you who don't know his Democrat opponent, she is one Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords.

Giffords went blitzkrieg on Jesse pretty much immediately after the primaries. Standard dirty truth twisting TV commercials that really hammered on the guy. Of course everything in those commercials was twisted to reflect poorly on him. Privatizing Social Security? I dunno, somehow the leftists think that's a bad thing, and rather than accept the fact that unless something like this happens, folks my age who've paid into the damn thing our whole lives won't have anything to draw on by the time we retire. Somehow it's ok to ignore us and target the already retired folks sensibilites thinking they're a bunch of ignorant rubes.

Jesse has fired back rather well, so hopefully those initial ads won't be too damaging.

I learned today that the Democrats are pulling national support for a few of the campaigns they think are strong enough that they don't need to get involved in, AZ CD8 happens to be one of them. Good for us, naive of them. So that's a bit of good news for us.

Also, my colleague pointed out to me recently that the youtube videos of Gabby's ads have all ratings and comments turned off...LOL. However, Jesse's are active so everyone can see what the people think of him. I think the fact her campaign is afraid to turn on comments and ratings of her videos just goes to show how "strong" her standing really is here.

She played the moderate "blue-dog" here for a few years and we tolerated her, mainly because she was pro-2nd amendment at least. And the wife of a veteran.

Well, she blew it big time. She held a town hall here in SV that I attended about the Health Care bill. She basically tried (unsuccessfully) to convince us it was ok, danced around the facts. The pro-healthcare bill folks were very organized and all had pre-printed signs and t-shirts and they all sat together in large groups which they made a point to occupy certain key areas of the auditorium. Astro-turf by any other name. Well, after the majority of us pretty much told her emphatically NO. She turns around and bad mouths us at a Biden fund-raiser in DE. We all now know what she thinks of her constituents.

And she voted for it.

She's done.

Now Jesse, when we elect you to represent us in November, don't let us down because we WILL be watching you. I am confident he'll do his best. But every politician has been warned. We've seen alot of upsets and if they don't take heed, we'll kill their careers as well.

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Wednesday Hero Blogroll

Pvt. Daren A. Smith
19 years old from Helena, Montana
3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry)
December 13, 2007


Pvt. Daren A. Smith was born in Butte, Montana and lived there until he reached middle school, when he moved to Helena. He graduated from Helena High School in 2006 and completed a semester at the University of Montana-Helena College of Technology. He joined the United States Army in March of 2007 and was deployed to Iraq on November of that year.

Pvt. Daren A. Smith died on December 13, 2007 of non-combat related injuries. His funeral was held on a cold 20-degree Winter's day but that didn't stop hundreds of mourners from his hometown lining the streets to honor him.

"He was the kind of guy who would do anything for you," said a friend of Pvt. Smith. "He was just a great guy."

All Information Was Found On And Copied From MilitaryCity.com

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

September 11: Today, Remember, and Honor, the Fallen. And Remember to Honor Your Oath

Remember ....

Today honor the brave folks who risked their lives for their fellow Americans. Honor them.

And honor your oaths as well.

We will never forget.

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Wednesday Hero Blogroll...

Day late and a dollar short, but I haven't posted these in a long time and figured i needed to stop being lazy and at least start posting the heros again.
~ Mjolnir

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Mike

Pvt. Barney F. Hajiro
93 years old from Waipahu, Hawaii
442nd Regimental Combat Team


On September 16 Mr. Hajiro will turn 94 years old. His family immigrated from Japan during WWI and he had to drop out of school and work to help support his family. After Pearl Harbor was attacked he was drafted in the United States Army. In March 1943, he volunteered to join the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed of Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) like himself. He was shipped to Europe in 1944 first to Italy then to France where, over ten days in October, Pvt. Hajiro repeatedly distinguished himself in battle by exposing himself to enemy fire while assisting an allied attack. On October 29, 1944 Pvt. Hajiro single-handedly destroyed two German machine gun emplacements before being shot in the shoulder and wrist partially paralyzing his left arm. For his actions he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. In 1948 he was awarded the Military Medal by the British government, in 2000 was was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton and in 2004 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur by France. Barney F. Hajiro is the oldest living Medal Of Honor recipient.

From his Medal Of Honor Citation:

For The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private Barney F. Hajiro, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company I, 3d Battalion, 442d Regimental Combat Team, attached to the 36th Infantry Division, in action against the enemy on 19, 22, and 29 October 1944, in the vicinity of Bruyeres and Biffontaine, eastern France. Private Hajiro, while acting as a sentry on top of an embankment on 19 October 1944, in the vicinity of Bruyeres, France, rendered assistance to allied troops attacking a house 200 yards away by exposing himself to enemy fire and directing fire at an enemy strong point. He assisted the unit on his right by firing his automatic rifle and killing or wounding two enemy snipers. On 22 October 1944, he and one comrade took up an outpost security position about 50 yards to the right front of their platoon, concealed themselves, and ambushed an 18-man, heavily armed, enemy patrol, killing two, wounding one, and taking the remainder as prisoners. On 29 October 1944, in a wooded area in the vicinity of Biffontaine, France, Private Hajiro initiated an attack up the slope of a hill referred to as "Suicide Hill" by running forward approximately 100 yards under fire. He then advanced ahead of his comrades about ten yards, drawing fire and spotting camouflaged machine gun nests. He fearlessly met fire with fire and single-handedly destroyed two machine gun nests and killed two enemy snipers. As a result of Private Hajiro's heroic actions, the attack was successful. Private Hajiro's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit, and the United States Army.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.