28 November 2007

Wednesday Hero 28 Nov 2007

The following is brought to you by the Wednesday Hero blogroll.

Sgt. Antwan L. Walker
22 years old from Tampa, Florida
2nd Forward Support Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division
May 18, 2005


Sgt. Antwan Walker was excited about coming home from Iraq to celebrate his 23rd birthday with his family and friends. His mother, Andrea Pringle, was busy planning the party when an Army official unexpectedly came to her house.

She said he told her Thursday that her son was killed the previous day by a bomb blast in Ramadi. The Department of Defense hasn't publicly confirmed his death.

Sgt. Antwan Walker, known as Twan to his friends and family, joined the Army in 2000. Pringle said her son joined to earn money for college.

"Twan had a lot of goals in life," She said. "He was very ambitious and very smart."

Sgt. Walker had been in Iraq for about a year. He called his family often but didn't want to talk about war. Instead, he talked about starting a real estate career and his three children.

"He was such a good dad," his mother said. "All he wanted to do was make a good life for his kids."

In April 2005, Walker wanted to talk about the fighting. He told his mother five soldiers he was traveling with were killed. His phone calls became more frequent after that.

Pringle said she had days when she couldn't eat or sleep because of her worries. But she never forgot to give her son her support.

"I always told him I'm proud and be safe".


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 blog, you can go here.

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27 November 2007

Rachael Ray & Dunkin Donuts Supports the Troops

From Everything Rachael Ray:

On this Saturday, December 1, 2007, Rachael Ray and Dunkin' Donuts will be providing holiday cheer and free transportation for New York City shoppers as part of the launch of the National Card Drive for a non-profit organization caled Soldiers' Angels.

Rachael will be at the New York Waterway Terminal on the Hudson River to greet holiday shoppers. Shoppers can get free samples of Gingerbread Lattes and Hot Chocolate and hop aboard old-fashioned trolleys providing free transportation for NY Waterway Terminal passengers to top shopping destinations in Manhattan.

Here's the 411:

Rachael will announce a one-ton donation of Dunkin' Donuts coffee to Soldiers' Angels, one of the nation's largest volunteer-based nonprofit military support organizations providing aid and comfort to our nation's deployed soldiers and their families. Rachael Ray will also greet armed services personnel and announce a national holiday card drive with Dunkin' Donuts and Soldiers' Angels.

New York City holiday shoppers will be urged to fill out holiday cards that will be sent to service men and women stationed outside the U.S. Shoppers can then hop on the Gingerbread Express, a trolley service offering free rides to top Manhattan shopping destinations.

And the timeline of events:

Saturday, December 1, 2007 from 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Coffee presentation and remarks by Rachael Ray to run from approximately 10:30 - 10:40 AM
Rachael Ray available for comment and photos 10:40 - 11:00 AM

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19 November 2007

Thank You, 2007 Team Air Force

The 3rd Annual Project Valour-IT Fundraising Competition has come to an end. While the total of checks has not yet been reported, the expectation is that the total will be over $200,000.

Many thanks to Team Air Force 2007:

The Mudville Gazette
Soldiers' Angels New York
Conservative Thinking
Lockergnome - Chris Short
chrisshort.net
THIRDWAVEDAVE
Stop The ACLU
MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Bear Creek Ledger
James Hudnall (Hud's Blog-O-Rama)
Right on the Right
Ironic Surrealism II
OPFOR
jCircadian
Charlie Foxtrot
Gazing at the Flag
No Angst Zone
The Splatter Zone
One Happy Dog Speaks
Townhall Blog
Banter In Atlanter
Thunder And Roses
Hot Air
SoldiersDad
ArmyAirForces.com
Exile in Portales
The WatchCat
Media Mythbusters
The Radio Patriot
Diary of the Mad Pigeon
The AnarchAngel
pjcountry
Moultrie Creek
Tink's Tribulations
The Lemon Stand
baldilocks
Murdoc Online
CoInSide
JTB in Texas
Greg from the Left
Unto the Breach
Lawyers, Guns and Money
get stewed
Air Force Pundit
Nice Deb
Leslie's Omnibus



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15 November 2007

Text The Troops

From America Supports You:

I’d like to share with you an exciting America Supports You initiative that will be taking place over the Thanksgiving holiday. It provides Americans the opportunity to quickly and easily give an expression of thanks to our military men and women.

Beginning at 6am EST on Saturday, November 17, and ending at midnight, PDT on November 22, Thanksgiving Day, Americans can text a message of thanks to 8-9-2-7-9. Within a matter of seconds, the sender will receive a reply from America Supports You on their cell phone. The reply message will come from a member of the Armed Forces who is currently serving, expressing his or her appreciation for the support, both personally and on behalf of others who are serving. All of the major mobile wireless providers—AT&T Wireless (Cingular), Verizon, Sprint (Nextel, Qwest), and T-Mobile provide access to The America Supports You Text Message program. There will be no upcharge.

Members of the military and their families, and we now have troops serving in 177 countries, not only will learn of the number of text messages, but also will be able to view many of them. You can help make this Thanksgiving outreach successful by sharing information about this campaign with your members, family and friends. Ask them to text and show their support.

Together we can help make this a special time of thanks for those serving our country.

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14 November 2007

Soldiers' Angels Receives Effort Award

On Saturday, November 10, Patti Patton-Bader received the Microsoft Above & Beyond Effort Award.

From the press release:

...Earlier in the day Microsoft and the USO honored the winners of the Microsoft Above and Beyond Awards with a lunch at the Rainbow Room. The awards recognize the contributions of the military support community — friends, family and other individuals — who brighten the lives of U.S. troops and their families throughout the world.

Celebrities who took part in the day included actresses Connie Britton and Minka Kelly from the NBC show “Friday Night Lights”; actresses Joely Fisher, Selena Gomez, Ali Landry and Connie Stevens; Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling; actors Lenny Clarke, Mike Lombardi and Jim McCaffrey and actresses Sherri Saum and Callie Thorne from the FX Networks show “Rescue Me”; Miss Teen USA, Hilary Cruz; Miss USA, Rachel Smith; and Miss Universe, Riyo Mori.

...Landry presented the Effort Award to Patti Patton-Bader of Pasadena, Calif. Patton-Bader, a mother of a soldier, started a group for volunteers to “adopt” soldiers. The group has now sent tens of thousands of care packages and hundreds of thousands of letters to make sure no soldier is forgotten while serving.

AP Photo

...The centerpiece of the day was a private, complimentary performance of the 75th celebration of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Microsoft sponsored an entire performance of the Christmas Spectacular as a special thank-you to more than 5,500 troops and their families.

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Wednesday Hero 14 Nov 2007

The following is brought to you by the Wednesday Hero Blogroll.

Cpl. Jordan M. Moehnle
Cpl. Jordan M. Moehnle
21 years old from Los Angeles, California
Company L, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6 ("Darkhorse" Battalion)


Cpl. Jordan M. Moehnle takes time out of leading his squad in a patrol through Fallujah's Nazaal district to spend some time interacting with local children. Moehnle, who is on his second tour in Iraq, said the changes he has witnessed since he was last here in 2006 have been dramatic. "The city was like the Wild West, we'd put our heads and and drive down (the middle of Fallujah) and hope not to get shot," he said. "Since we've been here (this year), we can stop and shoot the breeze."

You can read more 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 blog, you can go here.


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07 November 2007

Protect & Defend

Additional auction item being offered for Valour-IT:

A signed, first edition of Vince Flynn's latest novel, Protect and Defend.

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06 November 2007

Romance Novels vs. Thunderbirds Memorabilia

So, I just took a look at the Valour-IT auctions page and found it quite interesting that bids on this:


Are doing better in the auctions than this:



Or this:



Or this:


I'm not sure what that means. Personally I think Thunderbirds stuff is way hotter than a romance novel any day, but that's just me.

Also, I find it really strange that there is not one single bid on the book Small Unit Actions, which you cannot buy anywhere else since it is not available to the public.

So, come on people, get bidding! It's for a good cause!

Project Valour-IT (Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops)

Every cent raised for Project Valour-IT goes directly to the purchase and shipment of laptops for severely wounded service members. As of October 2007, Valour-IT has distributed over 1500 laptops to severely wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines across the country.

Valour-IT accepts donations in any amount to support the purchase and distribution of laptops, but also offers a sponsorship option. An individual or organization may sponsor a wounded soldier by completely funding the cost of a laptop and continuing to provide that soldier with personal support and encouragement throughout recovery. This has proved to be an excellent project for churches, groups of coworkers or friends, and members of community organizations such Boy Scouts.
Originally Valour-IT provided the voice-controlled software, but now works closely with the Department of Defense Computer/electronic Accommodations Program (CAP): CAP supplies the adaptive software and Valour-IT provides the laptop. In addition, DoD caseworkers serve as Valour-IT’s “eyes and ears” at several medical centers, identifying possible laptop recipients. Wounded military personnel can also directly request a laptop through the sign-up form or through the Valour-IT/Soldiers' Angels representatives at the following medical centers:

* Balboa Naval Hospital

* Brooke Army Medical Center

* Madigan Regional Medical Center

* National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda Naval Hospital)

* Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton

* Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital (29 Palms)

* Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Thanks to the efforts of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Valour-IT is also able to reach patients in VA hospitals who would benefit from a Valour-IT laptop.



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05 November 2007

Fall Foliage

Taken on a recent ride, somewhere in Upstate, New York:






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04 November 2007

Not The Kittens!

Oh, no.... the fate of kittens depends upon you donating to Valour-IT Team Air Force! Please...save a kitten!

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Enlistments

Thirdwave Dave is taking enlistments. Check it out and follow his lead.

Also, don't forget to tune in to the Andrea Shea-King show tonight. Mrs Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette, fearless leader of Team Air Force, and Beth at Fuzzilicious Thinking will be on to discuss Valour-IT.

Tune to tonight's show by clicking here. To join the "live" chat room, click here. The show begins at 9 PM ET on AM 580 WDBO, Orlando, Florida--streaming "live" on the internet.

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02 November 2007

Inspiration!

The US Air Force Thunderbirds have been called inspirational.



We need some air superiority here, people!

Make a Donation.

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01 November 2007

Here bidderbidderbidder

Auctions are up! Current listings for Team Air Force:


List will be updated as new items are added.

Make a Donation.

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