“...those of us who did make it

have an obligation to build again,
and to teach others what we know,

and to try with what’s left of our lives
to find a goodness and meaning to this life.”

—Oliver Stone

“Platoon”

    071219-N-4515N-159 NORFOLK, Va. (Dec. 19, 2007) The nuclear-powered

aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) pulls into its homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, after a six-month deployment. The Enterprise Carrier Strike Group deployed to the 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility to support theater security cooperation and maritime security operations. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Joshua Adam Nuzzo (Released)

ENTSG Returns from Deployment
Story Number: NNS071219-11
Release Date: 12/19/2007 4:12:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joseph R. Wax, USS Enterprise Public Affairs

           ABOARD USS ENTERPRISE (NNS) -- Enterprise Strike Group (ENTSG), led by the strike group commander, Rear Adm. Dan Holloway, returned to its homeport of Norfolk, Dec. 19 after a five-month deployment in support of Maritime Security Operations, Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF), Iraqi oil platform protection, anti-piracy operations and the struggle against violent extremists.

The more than 5,500 Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) traveled approximately 48,646 miles throughout the course of the deployment, doing everything from combat operations to diplomatic relations missions in the 6th and 5th fleet areas of responsibility (AOR).

"The Enterprise Strike Group team is at the top of their game," said Holloway. "They are all MVPs on a forward deployed all-star team. We are blessed with the best the Navy has to offer world wide. Our men, women, Sailors and Marines are the face of the Navy and the nation."

After getting underway on July 7, Enterprise and all of its embarked members traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and into the 6th Fleet AOR, where they hosted the French Chief of Naval Operations as well as the U.S. Ambassador to France to observe a historic landing and launch of a French Rafale F2 jet.

This was the first time a French strike aircraft had landed on board a U.S. carrier. Enterprise then became the first American carrier to pull into a French port in six years when it stopped for a three-day port visit in Cannes, France.

Enterprise then shifted its focus East to combat operations in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility in support of OIF and OEF, where it would spend 55 straight days at sea before making the first of its three port calls in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.

During its time in combat, ENTSG aircraft flew more than 7,500 missions and made more than 6,500 arrested landings. In support of the troops on the ground, ENTSG pilots dropped 73 air-to-ground weapons and fired 4,149 rounds of 20mm ammunition.

"This was the second extended combat deployment for Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 in a mere 20 months and the team performed superbly," said Capt. Mark Wralstad, CVW-1 commander.

For members of the strike group's leadership, there was one event during the deployment that defined not only what ENTSG is all about, but also what the carriers bring to the Navy and the nation.

              While conducting operations in the North Persian Gulf in support of OIF and OEF, Enterprise received an order to make an immediate change to the mission at hand.

"Admiral Holloway called me on the phone at 1:30 in the morning and said, 'Captain, after the helo (helicopter) lands, we need to turn south, out through the Straits of Hormuz, to conduct Operation Enduring Freedom flight ops,'" said Enterprise's Commanding Officer, Capt. Ron Horton. "Thirty-six hours after he made that call to me, we were launching aircraft into Afghanistan."

There are a lot of little things that need to be done to keep a warship like Enterprise and a strike group like ENTSG going throughout a deployment.

The Sailors and Marines on board completed 26 underway replenishments, receiving more than 12 million gallons of fuel; cooked and served approximately 4 million meals totaling more than $11 million; performed more than 4,200 preventative and corrective maintenance actions on the catapults and arresting gear to keep CVW-1 aircraft in the sky; transferred 3,960 pallets of cargo and hosted 303 distinguished visitors during 19 visits.

"The ability of our Sailors, in all the departments, to overcome the challenges is amazing," said Horton. "Because of the skill, the dedication and intestinal fortitude of this crew, we overcame every challenge."

The crew members of the ENTSG were able to accomplish more than just success in combat. Approximately 1,300 Navy College Program for Afloat College Education classes were completed; more than 300 Sailors were advanced; Sailors earned nearly 900 warfare pins and 304 Sailors reenlisted for almost $11 million in reenlistment bonuses.

However, nothing can be accomplished underway if things aren't being taken care of back at home. The leaders of ENTSG expressed their deepest, heartfelt gratitude to all family, friends and loved ones who's sacrifice and effort made the deployment possible.

"We want to thank all those families, loved ones and friends who have provided us their thoughtful prayers and loving and caring support during the entire 2007 year and especially during this combat deployment," said Holloway. "We could not sustain the level of focused, full spectrum combat operations without the enduring support of our loved ones. We thank them from the bottom of our heart. The loved ones at home allow us to focus so we can safely do our jobs as we serve this great nation."

For more news from USS Enterprise, visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn65/.

America's Veterans Honored at Vietnam Memorial Wall

25 Years Later

Sunday, November 11, 2007

WASHINGTON —   They are lined up like footnotes to the names etched on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial's polished black granite, leaning against its base, some a collective tribute to the fallen, others bearing a message for just one of the dead.

      An American Legion uniform cap from Kansas, a police patch from a town in Georgia, a note to "GRAMDADAD" that appears to have been written by the unpracticed hand of a young child. A homemade plaque with plastic red poppies pasted to it, dedicated to a "Band of Brothers." Poems from middle school students…

      "We met once when you played golf with my dad," reads one note, written hastily on a piece of yellow notebook paper, addressed to a Major Shaw. "You served together in Vietnam. He made it back to us. I'm saying goodbye."

      Since the memorial was completed in 1982, it has become a de facto shrine with more than 100,000 offerings for the dead and messages from survivors left by the millions who visit it each year.

            That number is likely to grow in the coming days. National Park Service officials say milestones like Veterans Day this Sunday and the memorial's 25th anniversary on Tuesday inevitably lead to floods of new items at the wall, as veterans gather at the site on the National Mall and the memories of the war that ended more than 30 years ago are renewed.

     The nature of the mementos has changed. In the beginning, it was mostly veterans who dropped off unit patches, Purple Hearts, photos of lost soldiers or old pairs of Army boots. But with many veterans now in their 60s, members of a younger generation — including grandchildren of veterans and the fallen — are making contributions.

     On a recent day, a baseball card from a boy named Nicholas was propped against the wall, with a note that read "For my grandfather."

     The practice wasn't foreseen by the memorial's planners, but the first offering came even before the monument was completed, a Purple Heart laid in the foundation by the brother of a dead soldier.

     At the beginning, a memorial staffer collected the items on the belief that people would want them back.

     When they continued to pile up, with little sign of abating, the Park Service decided in 1986 to treat the items as museum pieces.

     "It was unheard of for people to come to a site over a protracted period of time and leave objects," said Duery Felton, the collection curator and a Vietnam veteran. "These objects became a collection. Before that, they were just things left at the memorial."

         Jan Scruggs, a veteran who came up with the idea for the memorial and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, said the wall changed the way people pay respects and grieve at memorials and at the sites of tragic events — such as the World Trade Center in New York and the bombed federal building in Oklahoma City.

      "It is a beautiful thing," Scruggs said. "It shows that those who we know and who were a part of our lives and who aren't with us any more still have an impact on us."

       Park Service workers collect the mementoes every few days and ship them to a temperature-controlled warehouse in an office park in suburban Landover, Md., about 20 miles away.

      Each piece is catalogued. Some are kept in locked cabinets, others alongside long shelves of antique furniture from other historic sites. The warehouse holds more than 45 different collections, and the Park Service says there is no easy way to say how much it costs to store the mementoes from the wall.

       Even seemingly mundane items are kept, like a Washington Metro subway ticket with 15 cents on it, to avoid discarding something that might have a hidden meaning. Some show significant forethought, like a carefully made homemade replica carousel; others seem to be tokens left by people unexpectedly moved by the monument. Flowers and other perishables are not kept.

       "We get messages on Popsicle sticks and bubble gum wrappers," said Pam West, director of the repository.

Much of the trend likely stemmed from the diverse backgrounds of U.S. troops, some of whom came from cultures where such items were a part of burial traditions, said Kristin Hass, a University of Michigan professor who wrote a 1998 book on the practice of leaving messages and mementos at the wall.

"They are speaking to the dead and to the place of the dead in culture," she said.

       There are notes between buddies who served together, and messages of uncertain meaning like the unbroken, dry cigarette or the roll of toilet paper. Felton said both would be precious to a soldier spending days in the bush.

       Others are stark testaments to the Vietnam experience. Felton pointed to one of the dozens of pairs of worn combat boots pairs left at the memorial.

      "These boots have character, they tell a story," he said. "I walked and walked, I fell down the side of the hill, the monsoon came in, I went through the rice paddies, I pulled leeches off of me, I jumped in the ditches, I jumped out of helicopters. They tell a story."

      The collection includes items taken from the enemy — a dented canteen, an ammunition belt for an AK-47. There is a letter from an American soldier to the North Vietnamese soldier he killed that asks: "Why you didn't take my life I will not know."

     Felton pulls out a whole drawer of Purple Hearts, another of military patches, and a shelf of uniform caps. There is a plaque made by a group of veterans in a post-traumatic stress therapy class, along with a series of barbed wire garlands to memorialize the eight women on the wall.

     The Park Service does not try to research the origin of the items or explain why they were left. When they are exhibited, it is with scant written explanation, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions.

     But Felton wonders about some. He pulls out an open bottle of champagne with two glasses. Are they a statement about what could have been but was lost? Do they symbolize dreams and hopes derailed?

     John Rowan, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, says seeing the names is what motivates people to leave things behind, a way to commune with the dead. Rowan left the only poem he wrote at the memorial in the 1980s.

It's a personal connection.

It's a way to attempt to reach through the wall to a person's whose name is there.

The Wall

I walked along that long black wall, with names as far as I could see.
Friends I knew in childhood now etched in memories.
I've touched their names so many times, remembered them with love.
I walk along, the rain pours down, tears from heaven above.

I watch a Vet, deep in thought, pain across his face.
He walks a mother to the wall; he's taken his friend's place.
She reaches out to touch a name, the one that was her son.
They pause together in the rain, their memories a bond.

The men who fought, the men who died, their names for all to see
Their lives so brief, fallen short, a page in history.
We can't forget what they had done, so many years ago.
Sacrifices they have made the bravery they showed.

I walked along that long black wall, crying in the rain.
For all those men who've touched our lives, we'll never see again.

Something like that.

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Nigeria, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is.  

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them.  Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

       Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet.  It’s interesting that a soldier on their third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes. 

          Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground. 

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated. 

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense. 

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people.  So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity.  Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites. 

Luckily this country is still a democraZy.

People still have a voice.  People still can take action.

Our BunKer~s certainly Hopes that

more people Wake up and use those

Voices for a better future.

DRտլGrafiX

The Green Zone holds our new

104 Acre American Embassy

which we will need to protect forever.

This is a highly trained American sniper with his .50 caliber rifle which is his best friend.  His assignment is to protect the 'Green Zone' in Baghdad, Iraq (basically his job is preventing the terrorists from sneaking into the compound).                 One day Achmed tried to breach the perimeter and got tagged from 1500 yards out before he could do any mischief.  Note the vest laden with explosives! Achmed won't be doing this shit anymore... Who's Next....!

"Survivor"

Painting by Norm Bergsma

Who Can Have PTSD?

Since the Vietnam War, a growing body of information has been gathered on the effects of trauma on the human soul. What used to be called "shell shock" or "battle fatigue" has been seen as the lingering effects on the mind and emotions of the powerful trauma of war. Intrusive flashbacks, triggered emotional reactions to loud noises, nightmares are all symptoms of what came to be known as

 "Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."

With the terror of September 11, 2001 still fresh in our national psyche, millions became aware of these reactions to trauma firsthand as their eyes were fixed to the television sets and collectively experienced "9/11." Across the media, psychiatrists and psychologists have been explaining the symptoms of PTSD to the nation.

Unfortunately, these reactions to trauma are not limited to war or terrorist acts. They are altogether too familiar to many survivors of family abuse — emotional, physical and sexual. If experienced early in life these events can actually fracture the soul. These traumatic events indeed do "break the heart." This is why relationships are difficult to maintain and resume as normal for survivors of such

experiences.

Books written on the subject of PTSD have been primarily for veterans by design. Please forgive us if you are not a veteran of military service and suffer from PTSD. I can only hope that you will find the information intended for my brothers-in-arms as useful as many of them have.

Best to you,   Chuck Dean

 
After Action:
The Italy Trip

Chuck Dean

“...those of us who did make it

have an obligation to build again,
and to teach others what we know,

and to try with what’s left of our lives
to find a goodness and meaning to this life.”

Iraq:

 What Went Right

The New York Post

By Ralph Peters

November 21, 2007

           The situation in Iraq has improved so rapidly that Democrats now shun the topic as thoroughly as they shun our troops when the cameras aren't around.

          Yes, Iraq could still slip back into reverse gear. And no, we're not going to get a perfect outcome. But the positive indicators are now so strong that the left's defeatist lies are losing traction among the American people.

         Attacks of every kind are down by at least half - in some cases by more than three-quarters. A wounded country's struggling back to health. And our mortal enemies, al Qaeda's terrorists, have suffered a defeat from which they may never fully recover: They've lost street cred.
       

          Our dead and wounded have not bled in vain.
       

        What happened? How did this startling turnabout come to pass? Why does the good news continue to compound?
       

        Some of the reasons are widely known, but others have been missed. Here are the "big five" reasons for the shift from near-failure to growing success:

        We didn't quit: Even as some of us began to suspect that Iraqi society was hopelessly sick, our troops stood to and did their duty bravely. The tenacity of our soldiers and Marines in the face of mortal enemies in Iraq and blithe traitors at home is the No. 1 reason why Iraq has turned around.

        Without their valor and sacrifice, nothing else would've mattered. Key leaders were courageous, too - men such as now-Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno. Big Ray was pilloried in our media for being too warlike, too aggressive and just too damned tough on our enemies.

        Well, the Ray Odiernos, not the hearts-and-minds crowd, held the line against evil. Only by hammering our enemies year after year were we able to convince them that we couldn't - and wouldn't - be beaten. If the press wronged any single man or woman in uniform, it was Odierno - thank God he was promoted and stayed in the fight.

       Gen. David Petraeus took command: Petraeus brought three vital qualities to our effort: He wants to win, not just keep the lid on the pot; he never stops learning and adapting, and he provides top-cover for innovative subordinates.

        By late 2006, mid-level commanders were already seizing opportunities to draw former enemies into an alliance against al Qaeda. Petraeus saw the potential for a strategic shift.

       He ignored the naysayers and supported what worked.

        Oh, and under Petraeus our troops have been relentless in their pursuit of our enemies. Contrary to the myths of the left, peace can only be built over the corpses of evil men.
       

       The surge: While the increase in troop numbers was important, allowing us to consolidate gains in neighborhoods we'd rid of terrorists and insurgents, the psychological effect of the surge was crucial.
        Pre-surge, our enemies were convinced they were winning - they monitored our media, which assured them that America would quit. Sorry, Muqtada - that's what you get for believing The New York Times.

        The message sent by the surge was that we not only wouldn't quit, but also were upping the ante. It stunned our enemies - while giving Sunni Arabs disenchanted with al Qaeda the confidence to flip to our side without fear of abandonment.
       

        Fanatical enemies: We lucked out when al Qaeda declared Iraq the central front in its war against civilization. Our monstrous foes alienated their local allies so utterly that al Qaeda in Iraq is now largely a spent force - the hunted, not the hunters. The terrorists have suffered a strategic humiliation.

        Religious fanatics always overdo their savagery - but you can't predict the alienation time-line. Al Qaeda's blood-thirst accelerated the process, helping us immensely.

        The Iraqis are sick of bloodshed and destruction: This is the least-recognized factor - but it's critical. We still don't fully understand the mechanics of black-to-white mood shifts in populations, but such transitions determine strategic outcomes.

        What we do know is that, when tyrannical regimes collapse in artificial states such as Iraq (or the former Yugoslavia), a lot of pent-up grudges play out violently. People seem to need to get suppressed hatreds out of their systems.

        The peace-through-exhaustion mood swing happened abruptly in Iraq. Suddenly, the people have had their fill of gunmen and gangsters who claim to be their defenders. Heads-down passivity has morphed into active resistance to the terrorists and militias.

       We're all sober now, Americans and Iraqis. And peace is built on sobriety, not passion.

As Thanksgiving approaches, consider a vignette from Baghdad:

        As part of its campaign to eliminate Iraq's Christian communities, al Qaeda in 2004 bombed St. John's Christian church in Doura, in the city's southern badlands. By last spring, local services had stopped completely.

        Our Army's 2nd Battalion of the 12th Infantry stepped up. Under Lt. Col. Stephen Michael (a Newark native), our soldiers methodically cleaned up Doura - no easy or painless task - and aided the reconstruction of the church.
       

        Last week, a grateful congregation returned for a service that was, literally, a resurrection. Fifteen local Muslim sheikhs attended the Mass to support their Christian neighbors. Could there be a more hopeful symbol?

        Those long-suffering Iraqi Christians will celebrate Christmas in their neighborhood church this year. "Peace on earth" will mean more to them than mere words in a carol.
       

       As for the grunts of 2-12 Infantry who made it all possible, their motto is "Ducti Amore Patria," or

 "Having been led by love of country."

   On Thanksgiving Day, be thankful for such men.

 When Ranger Andy left the 75th Infantry Rangers, he felt like an astronaut on a weird, alien planet.  Since 1976, in fifteen years, he`s had fifteen jobs, with none of them having a happy ending. In all that time, he thought he didn’t have a problem. He felt the rest of the world had the problem and they were out of sync with him.

                   Great, what the fuck is PTSD? A label to hang on my head saying that I was fucked-up? Just what I really need!

        He was angry, frustrated and confused.  He felt dysfunctional! On a piece of paper, He wrote in big giant bold letters, “Dysfunctional Veteran-Leave Me Alone!”  

At first, it was meant as a warning, but as time went by, he started to laugh at his own words.  Today, he still hides in his “Hobbit Hole” selling hats, T-Shirts and pins.

Visit Ranger Andy Here

and get YOUR hat or patchs!!!