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New Year 2008: A Time To Reflect & Remember
January 1, 2008
As we start off the year 2008, I think it’s a wonderful time to reflect and remember. To think about the accomplishments that our Troops have made in Iraq and Afghanistan and the great things they’ve done in both countries. It’s also a time to remember. To remember those who willingly stood up to serve our country and to remember those who lost their lives in service to our country. I’d like to highlight some of the things that we’ve covered here over the past year. I encourage you to look back over the stories I’ll be linking to below, as well as some of the others we posted over the past year. You can find them in the monthly archives links in the sidebar.
January 2007:
I began writing here at A Soldiers Mind in January. It’s been an interesting experience and one I hope that our reader’s have enjoyed as much as I have. I’m looking forward to another great year of sharing with our readers about the accomplishments of our Troops.On January 29th, we featured the news of the opening of the state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility, The Center For The Intrepid at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
February 2007: We had several exciting things occurring at A Soldiers Mind this month.
Bruce Crandall was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bush, for actions he took during the Vietnam War.
I shared about the actions of medics in Afghanistan, that saved the life of a pregnant woman and her unborn child, after the 9 months pregnant woman was shot in the abdomen by insurgents.
March 2007:
We shared our views about the media refusing to cover the rebuilding efforts in Iraq, one of the things that is top priority here at A Soldier’s Mind.We introduced our reader’s to efforts being made to ensure more safety for our Troops, by utilizing robots to sniff out bombs.
We shared the news of the honoring, so rightly deserved, by the Tuskegee Airmen. A honor they should have received years ago.
We told you about the memorial planned to honor Navy SEAL Danny Dietz and the controversy surrounding this memorial in Denver.
April 2007:
We discussed how Iraqi citizens were cooperating with our Troops in order to make their neighborhoods safer for themselves and their families.We told you about how the actions of one of our Soldiers was recognized and awarded by another country’s government, due to events that occurred while he was in Afghanistan, fighting alongside his German counterparts.
May 2007:
We shared our outrage over some of our Troops having to fight for custody of their children after returning from deployment and a bill that had been introduced to protect their custody rights.We reminded our readers on Memorial Day, the importance of remembering those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country, and how we needed to remember it’s meaning, that’s it is not just “time off” from work to party with friends.
June 2007:
We shared the story of a young Soldier who suffers from a Traumatic Brain Injury and how he’s using his experience to inspire others with similar injuries.We shared our disgust and outrage at the horrific images of Iraqi orphans whom US Troops found living in horrible conditions.
We remembered Fallen Hero, Sgt Mike Stokely when we told about the 1st Annual Ride To Remember, that was organized by his father, Robert Stokely and the wonderful things he hoped to accomplish in honor of Mike.
We introduced you to Marcus Luttrell and his story of the Lost Heroes of Navy SEAL Team 10 in his book Lone Survivor.
July 2007:
We introduced our readers to Major Scott Southworth and his adopted son Ala’a and his desire to help the Iraqi orphans we talked about in June.We shared about the progress of the Surge in Iraq, as Tribal Leaders joined forces with each other and our Troops in Diyala provice Iraq to combat the insurgency.
We introduced you to Josh Revak, an Iraq War Wounded Warrior, who honored his fallen comrades through his music.
August 2007:
We told you about the difficulties our Troops face in Afghanistan and Iraq, as they combat an enemy who not only use innocent civilians, but often times disguise themselves as innocent civilians.We told you about the Balboa Project and how it helps to return Wounded Warriors return to the workforce.
We shared the story about a US Soldier who is working to make things better for Iraqi children.
September 2007:
We shared two letters written by 2 different US Soldiers and why they feel it is necessary that our Troops are allowed to finish the job they started in Iraq.We shared with our readers the story of a team of Wounded Warriors led by Major David Rozelle, who competed in the Army 10 Miler.
We shared the findings of the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors and their recommendations for improving military and veteran healthcare, following the scandal at Walter Reed.
We shared the story of a Gold Star Father who turned his grief over the loss of his son in Iraq, to advocacy for the war efforts in Iraq.
We shared our outrage over the vandalism of the Vietnam Memorial.
October 2007:
We brought you the news about the jury award to a father of a fallen hero, who filed suit against the Westboro Baptist Church, for spreading their hatred at his son’s funeral.We told you how our Troops continue to reenlist despite the fact that our country is currently fighting two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We told you about Navy SEAL Lt Michael Murphy’s posthumus award of the Medal of Honor, for his actions in Afghanistan.
November 2007:
We brought you the story of the twice wounded Army Medic who despite her injuries, chose to remain in Afghanistan with her fellow Soldiers and to complete her deployment.We told the inspirational story of the last graduating class in the small town of Spade, Texas and how they honored a Korean War Veteran, by asking him to graduate with them, as he’d dropped out of school to serve in the military during the Korean War.
We told you how our Troops worked closely with Iraqi officials to preserve history by helping to restore and reopen the National Museum of Iraq.
We honored our Heroes on Veteran’s Day by reflecting on what their service means to our country and sharing Hank Brake’s song, Thank You.
December 2007:
We talked about our anger over the impasse in Congress over Defense Department funding and how that could impact not only military families but millions of civilian workers across the globe.We talked about the accomplishments of Marty’s unit, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division in Diyala province Iraq, as they brought stability to the province and helped to create jobs, concerned citizens groups in the region and how they continued their mission despite the heavy losses their brigade received.
We shared the wonderful news of a woman’s shelter that opened in Afghanistan, to help women who are victims of domestic violence in the country, or those displaced due to the war in Afghanistan.
We told you about the Army’s Wounded Warrior Project and how it is designed to provide support for the Wounded Warriors and their families for as long as that support is needed.
That’s my recap of the year 2007. 2007 has been full of many accomplishments for our Troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. While we celebrate those accomplishments, we need to always remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for those accomplishments. As we begin 2008, I’m looking forward to continuing to keep our readers in the know, as to the continuing hard work, dedication and pride that our Troops exhibit each and every day.
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7 Responses to “New Year 2008: A Time To Reflect & Remember”
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Thanks for remembering my boy, SGT Mike Stokely, in the June section of your recap. We had a successful 1st Annual “Ride to Remember…” and raised the $25,000 necessary to endow the scholarship in his name at his college, Georgia Military College, Milledgeville GA. . Now, we are planning the 2nd Annual “Ride to Remember…” and plan to use the money to honor five more of his fellow GA National Guard 48th BCT fallen soldiers with a scholarship in their memory. Five year project to honor all of Mike’s fellow 25 fallen soldiers.
Robert Stokely
proudly remembering my son
SGT Mike Stokely
KIA 16 AUG 05 near Yusufiyah Iraq
USA E 108 CAV 48th BCT GAARNG
Accomplishments rightfully noted and appreciated, yet such will inevitably be overshadowed by the plethora of devastating and predictable news that continues to flood from the region - e,g,.:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/1/122845/7877/444/428748
Mr. Stokely, it was my pleasure to honor your fallen Hero. What you’re doing in your sons honor is phenominal.
RYates, is that all the better you can do as far as a source? Thanks, but no thanks.
Sometimes the truth hurts, Terri, and as hard as folks try, they generally cannot escape it.
A trillion dollars, four thousand dead US soldiers, and countless seriously injured, either physically, mentally or both, all based on a pack of lies.
And George Bush still walks the streets a free man with a smirk on his face. Yes, the truth hurts!
You know Mr/Mrs Yates, having talked to Troops who have been or are in in Iraq, and have seen WMD for themselves, those reasons for going into Iraq are valid. Others have provided the links to proof that the WMDs existed and were whisked away into Syria and other countries bordering Iraq, prior to the invasion.
Being a former police officer, I’m also well aware of how information is gathered to present evidence in supporting a claim or in solving a crime. I know in this instance, for example, that President Bush provide information that was false, however, I also know that he wasn’t the person or persons who gathered that information.
I compare it to a public relations officer in a law enforcement agency who is providing a press release after, say a horrific homicide. If the information he provides to the press is later found to be untrue, it’s not he that is lying or however you want to term it. Instead the persons at fault at the persons who provided him with the false information.
I know that regardless of what any of us say, you’re going to believe what you’re going to believe. However, if you’re going to provide information to perhaps change our minds, do yourself a favor and use sources other than Daily Kos. The little I’ve read there makes it obvious that theirs is a source of information that I’ll avoid.
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