173rd Airborne Brigade

National Memorial Ground Breaking

        While progress in building The 173rd Memorial is being made in a number of areas, including plans for Ground Breaking, actually scheduling the event is not one of those areas.

        The 173rd Airborne Memorial Foundation Board of Directors had hoped to announce in January 2008 a firm date for the ground breaking. However, due to the requirement to fully coordinate this even with other organizations, including the National infantry Foundation and their Museum construction project, we are unable to do so at this time.

Our goal, by late February 2008, is to finalize and announce a firm date for Ground Breaking.

Can AnyOne Tell Us who this Unit

Is or Was???

For 'The Rock,'

a long year ends

Staff Sgt Albert Chris Galvan (front), Sgt Tim Brumley (behind) and 3rd Squad prepare for an air assault into the Arghandab River Valley

                   When the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment first entered Zabul Province, they didn’t know what to expect. No other American battalion had been deployed to the province for a full year before the soldiers from Vicenza, Italy, arrived in April 2005.

                “I don’t know if I had any expectations on what a whole year was going to be like here,” Lt. Col. Mark Stammer, the battalion commander, said.

                “We thought we would be doing a lot more humanitarian work,” said Sgt. 1st Class David Cavataio, the top enlisted solider in Company C’s 1st Platoon. “But, after a few weeks, we were in our first firefight.” [ Read more ]

        By many measures, Afghanistan is falling apart. The Afghan opium crop has flourished in the past two years and now represents 93 percent of the world’s supply, with an estimated street value of $38 billion in 2006. That money helps bankroll an insurgency that is now operating virtually within sight of the capital, Kabul. Suicide bombings have risen eightfold in the past two years, including several devastating attacks in Kabul, and as of October, coalition casualties had surpassed those of any previous year. The situation has gotten so bad, in fact, that ethnic and political factions in the northern part of the country have started stockpiling arms in preparation for when the international community decides to pull out. Afghans, who have seen two foreign powers on their soil in 20 years—are well aware of the limits of empire. They are well aware that everything has an end point, and that in their country end points are bloodier than most.

     The Korengal is widely considered to be the most dangerous valley in northeastern Afghanistan, and Second Platoon is considered the tip of the spear for the American forces there. Nearly one-fifth of all combat in Afghanistan occurs in this valley, and nearly three-quarters of all the bombs dropped by nato forces in Afghanistan are dropped in the surrounding area. The fighting is on foot and it is deadly, and the zone of American control moves hilltop by hilltop, ridge by ridge, a hundred yards at a time. There is literally no safe place in the Korengal Valley. Men have been shot while asleep in their barracks tents.

        Second Platoon is one of four in Battle Company, which covers the Korengal as part of the Second Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment (airborne). The only soldiers to have been deployed more times since the September 11 attacks are from the 10th Mountain Division, which handed the Korengal over last June. (Tenth Mountain had been slated to go home three months earlier, but its tour was extended while some of its units were already on their way back. They landed in the United States and almost immediately got back on their planes.) When Battle Company took over the Korengal, the entire southern half of the valley was controlled by the Taliban, and American patrols that pushed even a few hundred yards into that area got attacked.

        If there was one thing Battle Company knew how to do, though, it was fight. Its previous deployment had been in Afghanistan’s Zabul Province, and things were so bad there that half the company was on psychiatric meds by the time they got home. Korengal looked like it would be even worse. In Zabul, they had been arrayed against relatively inexperienced youths who were paid by Taliban commanders in Pakistan to fight—and die. In the Korengal, on the other hand, the fighting is funded by al-Qaeda cells who oversee extremely well-trained local militias. Battle Company took its first casualty within days, a 19-year-old private named Timothy Vimoto. Vimoto, the son of the brigade’s command sergeant major, was killed by the first volley from a Taliban machine gun positioned around half a mile away. He may well not have even heard the shots.

Afghanistan

     A local solider was recently honored for his actions taken and injuries sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom VI. Staff Sgt Matthew Blaskowski was shot through his right thigh during a fire fight with Taliban rebels.

 [ Read more ]

     Three Silver Stars and three Purple Hearts were presented to the soldiers for actions taken and injuries sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom VI.

 [ Read more ]

173rD Airborne Brigade Memorial Page

                     Welcome All BunKer Visitors:

     This web site memorial is dedicated to the Paratroopers who were "Killed in Action" while serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Sep) in South East Asia during the Vietnam War.

      We at 173d.com make every possible effort to insure that our list of KIA's is complete. However, if you have information about someone who was KIA while serving with the 173rd and their name is not listed, please contact us immediately.

Many sincere thanks,

Paul Reed
"A" Co., 1st Bn.,

503rd Parachute Infantry

173rd Airborne Brigade (Sep.)
February 1968/February 1969

Comander & Chief doing a ~FLY-BY ?

Media missed point of

Bush visit to Iraq


              The writer is a master gunnery sergeant and ordnance chief for Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 31 at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C.

   President Bush, the commander in chief, our boss, has been taking a lot of criticism lately. No matter what he says or does, the media will not give him a bit of credit for anything that goes well, and he gets all the blame for anything that goes bad.

I noticed this again with the negative fallout from his Thanksgiving Day visit to Baghdad. I was baffled to hear some suggest that his visit was a bad thing. It's a good indication of how little the media know about how members of the armed forces think about their commander in chief.

I remember when his father, the first President Bush, came to visit my ship on Thanksgiving in 1990, while we were in the Persian Gulf. It was just prior to the start of Operation Desert Storm. After almost a hundred days at sea, it was a big deal for us, and we crowded on the flight deck waiting for him to land. After a while, he landed and was escorted by Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Sen. Bob Dole and other members of Congress. First lady Barbara Bush also was with him.

I remember how tall and thin the president seemed in person as he moved hurriedly down the line of Marines and sailors, shaking hands and posing for few quick pictures.

I didn't get to speak to him or shake his hand, but I did get a good look at the expression on his face as he made eye contact with me for a second. In that brief moment, I was struck that this man had more responsibility on his
shoulders than I or most people ever would be able to comprehend, let alone handle. He had that look of deep fatigue that seems to come only under the burden of wartime leadership. You can see the same look in pictures of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.

Despite his tired appearance, it made me, and I think everyone around me , feel good to see our president, our leader, up close. It's a hard feeling to explain.
I've met a few movie stars and sports figures during my travels, but it's not the same thing. It's not a thrill that comes from the closeness to power, but rather a feeling that the man in charge is with us, no matter what. It's a feeling that we're in good hands, that he cares and that he is trying to do the right thing for our country and look out for our welfare at the same time.

Until you've experienced this, it's hard to describe, and though I have not met the current President Bush, I get the same feeling about him. I see the same concern in his face and hear it when he speaks. The troops need to see their leaders up close from time to time, especially when they are sent to do the nation's work in some far-off place. They need to see a leader without the filter of media talking heads telling us what he said after he says it - as if we're too dumb to understand on our own.

If there is one thing we in the military don't need any translation for, it is leadership. We live with the results of leadership day in and day out and can spot bad leadership like a pit bull can smell fear. Leadership is a priority in our lives, and maybe that is the reason we look and think about things so much differently than the rest of the population.

           So let me play the talking head this time and explain to the media the real scoop on the president's visit:

First, it's a great thing when our president visits us - period. Why? Simply put, he didn't go to talk about the budget, trade policy, politics, blah, blah, blah.

He went because that's what good leaders do. He went to see his troops and thank them personally for the sacrifices they and their families are making. It's important that that's done in person.

Second, if you don't understand why that's important to us, I can't explain it to you.

      But if you really want to understand, shave your head, take the oath and serve with us.

                    I guarantee you'll get it then.

 
     Since this only matters to democrats, and republicans already know,

here are a few FACTS about the  Bush's National Guard years.
                   Before you fall for Demo's spin, here are the facts:
 
 What do you really know about George W. Bush's time in the Air National Guard? That he didn't show up for duty in Alabama? That he missed a physical? That his daddy got him in?
      News coverage of the president's years in the Guard has tended to focus on one brief portion of that time to the exclusion of virtually everything else.
                   So just for the record, here, in full, is what Bush did:
 
     The future president joined the Guard in May 1968. Almost immediately, he began an extended period of training. Six weeks of basic training. Fifty-three weeks of flight training. Twenty-one weeks of fighter-interceptor training. That was 80 weeks to begin with, and there were other training periods thrown in as well. It was full-time work. By the time it was over, Bush had served nearly two years.
Not two years of weekends.

Two years.

     After training, Bush kept flying, racking up hundreds of hours in F-102 jets. As he did, he accumulated points toward his National Guard service requirements. At the time, guardsmen were required to accumulate a minimum of 50 points to meet their yearly obligation. According to records released earlier this year, Bush earned 253 points in his first year, May 1968 to May 1969 (since he joined in May 1968, his service thereafter was measured on a May-to-May basis).
    Bush earned 340 points in 1969-1970. He earned 137 points in 1970-1971. And he earned 112 points in 1971-1972. The numbers indicate that in his first four years, Bush not only showed up, he showed up a lot.

                                                     Did you know that?
    That brings the story to May 1972, ?the time that has been the focus of so many news reports when Bush "deserted" (according to anti-Bush filmmaker Michael Moore) or went "AWOL" (according to Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee).
    Bush asked for permission to go to Alabama to work on a Senate campaign.
His superior officer said OK. Requests like that weren't unusual, says retired Col. William Campenni, who flew with Bush in 1970 and 1971.
    "In 1972, there was an enormous glut of pilots," Campenni says. "The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Air Force was putting pilots in desk jobs. In '72 or '73, if you were a pilot, active or in the Guard and you had an obligation and wanted to get out of it, there was no problem. In fact, you were helping them solve their
problem." So Bush stopped flying. From May 1972 to May 1973, he earned just 56 points… not much, but enough to meet his requirement. Then, in 1973, as Bush made plans to leave the Guard and go to Harvard Business School, he again started showing up frequently. In June and July of 1973, he accumulated 56 points, enough to meet the minimum requirement for the 1973-1974 year. Then, at his request, he was given permission to go. Bush received an honorable discharge after serving five years, four months and five days of his original six-year commitment. By that time, however, he had accumulated enough points in each year to cover six years of service.
 
     During his service, Bush received high marks as a pilot. A 1970 evaluation said Bush "clearly stands out as a top notch fighter interceptor pilot" and was "a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to for leadership."
 
     A 1971 evaluation called Bush "an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot who continually flies intercept missions with the unit to increase his proficiency even further." And a 1972 evaluation called Bush "an exceptional fighter interceptor pilot and officer."
 
     Now, it is only natural that news reports questioning Bush's service  in The Boston Globe and The New York Times, on CBS and in other outlets  would come out now. Democrats are spitting mad over attacks on John Kerry's record by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
    And, as it is with Kerry, it's reasonable to look at a candidate's entire record, including his military service or lack of it. Voters are perfectly able to decide whether it's important or not in November. The Kerry camp blames Bush for the Swift boat veterans' attack, but anyone who has spent much time talking to the Swifties, gets the sense that they are doing it entirely for their own reasons. And it should be noted in passing that Kerry has personally questioned Bush's service, while Bush has not personally questioned Kerry's.
 
       In April before the Swift boat veterans had said a word, Kerry said, "Bush has yet to explain to America whether or not, and tell the truth, about whether he showed up for duty." Earlier, Kerry said, "Just because you get an honorable discharge does not, in fact, answer that question." Now, after the Swift boat episode, the spotlight has returned to Bush.
      That's fine. We should know as much as we can. And perhaps someday Kerry will release more of his military records as well.

     Byron York is a White House correspondent for National Review. His column appears in The Hill each week. E-mail: byork@thehill.com

Who are Todays warriors???

              They’re probably just recent High School graduates; probably average students, pursued some form of sport activities, drive a ten year old jalopys, have a steady girlfriend/boyfriend that either broke up with them when they left, or swears to be waiting when they return from half a world away. They might listen to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer. They are 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when they were at home because they are working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

                         Many of You may be lucky enough to not have any children Overseas for whatever reason and may not be Interested...

                            But let Us tell you something...   

What goes on Over Here,               

                 Depends on what Happens  Over There!                                     

                    Please Support Your Military, Especially when they Come Home because that's when they need it the most! Wether they are stationed in the States or Overseas, everyone plays an important role in keeping this Country Free and Safe from Terrorist.When you see someone in uniform, don't Ignore them, but say Hello, Give them a smile and say Thank You!        That will have an Effect that will last them a Lifetime!

    Of all the Gifts you could give them, That and your Prayers are the

 Very Best.

It's Gotta Mean Something !!!

           FALLUJAH, Iraq April 11 -- When the U.S. troops entered the abandoned factory shed Sunday, they found a hastily abandoned campsite full of jumbled clothing and bedrolls, scattered sneakers and gym bags, broken eggs and dirty cooking pots.

      But there were other, less innocent objects half-hidden in the gloom. Sacks full of chemical-coated rocks. Leather belts stuffed with explosive putty, and one smeared with dried blood. Boxes of batteries with wires taped to them. Instructions for making bombs.

      "This was a 16-man terrorist cell," pronounced a Marine captain, rifling through the mess. "See? All the bags and sneakers are brand new, all the same make. This took money and planning. Someone sponsored them."

      Among the debris were more intimate clues to the identity and motives of the suicide squad that had lived, prayed and made bombs in the shed, preparing to do battle with the 2,500 Marines who entered sections of this turbulent city one week ago.

      The evidence -- Islamic books, pamphlets, tapes and farewell letters in Arabic -- suggested that some of the men were not Iraqis from the area, but foreign Sunni Muslims who had traveled to this urban Sunni stronghold to fight and die in a holy war, both against the U.S. forces and the country's Shiite Muslim majority.

      "I say goodbye with tears in my eyes and heart, and I ask God for victory," read one letter, which suggested the writer's parents had tried to stop him from leaving home. "Father, don't blame yourself. I am happy to be here," it said. "Mother, don't be weak. Raise your children to be martyrs for the cause."

      The urban guerrillas battling Marines since last Monday have put up a fierce and well-organized fight, and Marine officials said early last week that they believed foreign Islamic fighters had joined the local insurgents. On Thursday the Marines shot and killed a sniper who was wearing a suicide belt, and they have since discovered seven suicide bomb devices in various hiding places.

      But so far they have not conclusively established that any of the insurgents were foreign infiltrators. Several detained Sudanese nationals turned out to be longtime workers here, and Marine officials said Sunday that they had used grenades and bombs to explode the corpses of two snipers shot while wearing suicide devices, which made them impossible to identify.

      But the unearthing of the Islamic documents among the bomb-making materials Sunday, while two foreign journalists and an Arabic interpreter were present, suggested that at least some of the suicide squad members were not from Iraq.

      Some letters referred to repaying old debts, patching up quarrels and acquiring false passports. Others read like sermons, and one contained a poem saying that "the blood of martyrs smells sweet." Most were in blank envelopes, and some were signed with Islamic noms de guerre such as Abu Ahmed. They were apparently intended to be delivered home by messengers.

      In one letter, dated April 4, a man urged a friend to leave behind worldly concerns and come join a "beautiful" war against Shiite "nonbelievers" and Americans. "This is like Iran, there are many Shiites and we need to fight them," he wrote. "We are in another Kandahar, and we will burn the Americans." Kandahar, a city in Afghanistan, was the religious stronghold of the Taliban, the extremist Sunni militia that was toppled by U.S.-led forces in 2001.

      There were also notebooks with instructions on how to make a bomb and where to launch attacks against American facilities in Baghdad, 35 miles east.

      As they listened to the letters being translated, the young Marines looked incredulous. Then someone opened a wallet that contained drawings of U.S. military insignia, evidently meant to pick out important targets. "I see captain and lieutenant, but no warrant officer. Guess I'm safe," said one Marine with a nervous laugh.

      The squad examining the shed also inspected several other weapons caches in the abandoned factory zone Sunday, including a freezer full of mortar rounds and a pile of rice sacks from Vietnam that contained machine-gun ammunition. Officers said most of the material would be destroyed.

      After the troops finished their work, they left several riflemen on guard, wishing them a happy Easter, and headed back to their command post in an empty pottery and carpentry workshop. Some rested in dust-covered armchairs; others gathered around a corporal who was being treated for a shrapnel wound in the knee.

      "When I saw those [suicide] vests, I thought those people obviously don't value life," said one staff sergeant, shaking his head in bewilderment. A 20-year-old corporal, Philip Dennis, said he had expected to be building schools in Iraq, not dodging mortar shells.

      "I'm a humanitarian person, and I don't believe in killing for no reason, but I guess this is the job that needs to be done," he said. On his first day of combat, Dennis recounted, he climbed onto a roof and was astonished to see dozens of black-robed insurgents with AK-47 rifles. "I had no idea they had so many people, and I realized this was very big." He paused and added, "We killed a lot of them."

      A few minutes later, a Navy chaplain arrived at the command post in a Hum-vee to hold a brief Easter communion service, which he repeated at two more front-line posts.

      "God, we pray that our actions here give some glory back to you," said Navy Chaplain Wayne Hall, 36, who set up his communion vessels on a factory workbench. "We live in grace even here, and we are not afraid of death. . . . None of us wants to die here, but death is the blink of an eye, and you wake up in paradise."

      One young corpsman, tending to an injured man in his command post, said he had little time to think about Easter but a great deal to live for. Picking up his helmet, he displayed a snapshot of his baby son glued to the inside.

      He also said he was keeping a war diary that he would eventually take home to California. One entry was addressed to his wife, in Spanish and dated April 6 -- two days after the suicide squad member had written to his friend in Arabic, urging him to become a fellow martyr in the "beautiful" war against Shiites and Americans.

      "Hello my dear, how is my precious boy?" the Marine's letter began.

    "We are in the middle of the most dangerous operation in the world. Thousands of Marines are united in this battle to eliminate terrorists from this city. Last night we got in a fierce firefight and I could see the explosions and rockets going up in the sky. Tonight I expect an even more dangerous mission, and I hope I can write you again tomorrow and tell you how it went."

We Went to War...

With No Objective.

With No Neglect.

For No Respect.

With No Hope of Reason.

With No National Support.

For No Communisim.

                For The People's Army.

      With Out a Problem.

With No Regrets.

        For No Military Value.

       For Taxe Payers Cost.

We did Not Ask

"Why?"

Travel`in       Through    Our Bunker`s

Visit Our Casper`s Friendly Pilots!