There’s A Party Goin’ On

Hey all, I’m hanging out over at The Right Place this evening for the 2nd Annual Blogoweeniversary! Come see all the illustrious guests who have arrived! Join the fun!

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All Hallow’s Eve

“Cloud Ghosts I” by Richard Riemerschmid

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Valour-IT: An Amazing Program!

Valour-IT is a program created through Soldiers’ Angels. Anyone who has ever dealt with Soldiers’ Angels knows what an outstanding program it is in aiding our soldiers around the world. Valour-IT has become an important part of that aid and you can read about how it works here. It is time to help out our wounded soldiers once again! Here are the particulars thanks to Fuzzybear Lioness of Fuzzilicious Thinking (the amazing woman behind the scenes)! Personally, I want all the teams to win, because then the soldiers will get what they need! So, pick a team to support, post about it or just donate!

Valour-IT Fundraising Competition 2006

What: a friendly competition to raise money for Valour-IT.
When: October 30 to November 10.
Where: starting on blogs and spreading everywhere.

Where does the “friendly competition” part come in? We’ve divided the milbloggers into four teams, according to military service branch to see who can inspire donors to raise the most money. Anybody can join any team, and all the money goes to the same place–wounded servicemembers of any military branch. Team leaders are:

Army: Blackfive
Navy: Chaotic Synaptic Activity
Marine Corps: Villainous Company
Air Force: Op-For

If you’re a donor, click on a link above and donate to Valour-IT. If you’re a blogger, you can sign up and join a team here, then go visit your team leader for more info.

“At that time I had no use of either hand. I know how humbling it is, how humiliating it feels. And I know how much better I felt, how amazingly more functional I felt, after Soldiers’ Angels provided me with a laptop and a loyal reader provided me with the software. I can’t wait to do the same, to give that feeling to another soldier at Walter Reed. ”
–CPT Ziegenfuss, wounded in Iraq and recipient of a voice-activated laptop while hospitalized (Valour-IT’s inspiration)

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News About Iraq

This lovely video clip was emailed to me by my blogger friend, Judy Rose. She knows how much I love to share the good news in the world and especially the good news from Iraq and from our military. So, please, enjoy and thank you so much Judy Rose!

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Day of Rest

William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Wishing this is what I was doing right now! Maybe tomorrow will be a “normal” day!

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A Tale of Pirate Treasure!

It seems that we had a famous pirate here in the Great Lakes area! I must admit that I didn’t know this, but three young adventurers not only knew about this pirate, but have found some of his buried treasure!

The pirate is one Rummy Ray Willoe, the scourge of the British fleet! Born Raymond Alexander Willoe, he went from a poor boy who was very close to his brother, to a despised pirate and scoudrel! Rummy Ray decided the Great Lakes area, Lake Erie in particular, was the best place to hide his treasures, but before he could reclaim it, he met his bitter end.

Well, just this past weekend, three intrepid young men, Alex, Andrew and Adam, found a treasure map hidden in an attic. These clever boys were were able to decipher Ol’ Rummy Ray’s directions and codes and found some of his buried treasure!

You can read all about the boys’ adventure at The Official Website of the Lake Erie Pirate!

A special thank you to Officer Candidate Phil Van Treuren* for bringing this wonderful story to my attention! (*If his name is familiar, you may have read his posts at Camp Katrina and MilTracker.)

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The Auction is Over

The auction is over and the winning bid was $1,530.00! The bid was placed by “fletch 121086.” I don’t know who this person is, but a very large thank you goes out to you and all those who bid on the books!

Don’t forget, just because the auction is over doesn’t mean you can’t still help! You can continue to make donations through a PayPal button on SC Eagle’s blog A Storm in Afghanistan. Current Donations: $31,105.75!
Again, thank you to all who participated in the bidding and everyone who has donated to help this family!

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Beauty

I have a very hectic work day today, so I will leave you with some beauty.

“Soul of the Rose”
John William Waterhouse

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An Auction on Behalf of a Military Family

(New posts and updates can be found below this one.)

UPDATE 10/26/06 6:00pm(EST): Just the other day the bid was $406 and we weren’t sure if it would go much higher before close of the auction, but Michelle Malkin and Hugh Hewitt have blogged about this endeavor and now…
Current bid: $1,530.00! <- the winning bid! Fletch121086! Congratulations!!
Donations: $30,647.72!
THANK YOU to everyone who has been a part of this! And it isn’t over yet!

Here’s the auction link:
BUZZ PATTERSON 3 BOOK MILITARY FAMILY BENEFIT AUCTION

(Let me know if the link doesn’t work!)

If you can’t bid, that’s okay…please consider posting this on your blog to further the word! Thank you so much!

This is a request to all my readers to help out this wonderful family and in doing so, you could be the owner of personally signed copies of Lt. Col. “Buzz” Patterson’s three books. You’ve read about Ellicia on my blog before here. So, you know that she and her family are facing a situation that would break most of us. They, however, are determined to make the most of each moment and they could use our help. Below are some of the details of the upcoming auction to raise money for this family. Andrea Shea King and Mark Vance have arranged this auction and are putting the word out not only on their blog, The Radio Patriots, but also on their radio show, Constitutional Public Radio. A giant thank you to both of them for taking on this wonderful endeavor!

Lt. Col. Robert “Buzz” Patterson, USAF (Ret.), Chief Operating Officer with the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is donating and will personally autograph a trio of his best selling books: “Reckless Disregard: How Liberal Democrats Undercut Our Military, Endanger Our Soldiers, and Jeopardize Our Security”; “Dereliction of Duty – The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America’s National Security”; and his most recent book “War Crimes – The Left’s Campaign to Eliminate the Military and Lose the War on Terror”, debuting in January ’07.

Patterson was the senior ranking officer of the five military aides serving in the Clinton White House, and carried the “nuclear football” – the top secret briefcase containing the launch codes for America’s nuclear weapons.

Constitutional Public Radio is honored to join Buzz Patterson in this benefit auction for Army Spc. Reid Stanley, “SC Eagle” of A Storm in Afghanistan, and his wife Ellicia, who is battling cancer of the brain, breast, and lungs. They have three young children. And mounting expenses.

SC Eagle writes at his website: “We have finally received word back from the military. Hospice care is not covered. Which means, any home care we provide Ellicia here will be out of our own pocket. This is going to be expensive. So, reluctantly, and humbly, we’d like to ask those of you who stop by… Please help. Anything will be appreciated. Ellicia will likely need home care as her mind shuts down. And she wants to be at home, not in a hospital… home, surrounded by our children.” And military insurance doesn’t cover that.

“SC Eagle”, stationed in Germany, was deployed to Afghanistan, and now faces another, more personal war, one with Ellicia’s life in the balance.

Patterson will autograph each book with a personal message to the top bidder.

Sure to make a thoughtful and personal Christmas gift for that special military guy or gal or your favorite veteran, the three-book set will be a historic keepsake for years to come, and help a military family in their time of need.

This auction will begin Thursday, October 19 at 10:00 pm (est). At that time I will post the URL for the auction site and I encourage everyone to bid! Let’s help this wonderful family stay together for as long as they possibly can.

Other bloggers posting:
Aisch
Alabama Improper
The American Pundit
Anna’s Clue Tank
Army Wife Toddler Mom
Bill’s Bites – Small Town Veteran/Old War Dogs
Blackfive
Blogmeister USA
Brainster
Castle Argghhh!
Cold Fury
Common Sense America
Confederate Yankee
A Craigslist Entry
Dave Lucas’ Notes
Degree of Madness
Dispatcher Journal
Dodgebloggium
Freedom Folks
Gawfer
Hillary Needs a Vacation
Hugh Hewitt
Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog
Kasee267
Katie Favazza
A Lady’s Ruminations
Leading the Next Inquisition
Life at the Dust Bunny Ranch
Llano Estacado
Lone Star Pundit
Lord of Kobol
Marathon Pundit
Michelle Malkin
The Mike Church Show
Milblogging.com
Ms. Underestimated
Most Certainly Not
Mudville Gazette Milblogs
My Life As A Military Spouse
Not Ready for My Burqua
Op-For
The Radio Patriots
The Right Place
Save the Soldiers.com
The Scratching Post
Screw Loose Change
Semper Gratus
Soldiers’ Angel – Holly Aho
Soldiers’ Angel – Kathi
Some Soldier’s Mom
State of Nature
A Swift Kick and a Band-Aid
ThirdWaveDave
Two Babes and a Brain
Unconsidered Trifles
Warm & Fuzzy Conserva-Puppies
Web of Support
Wide Open Spaces
Wizbang
You Bet I’m A Proud Army Mom

Trackbacked at:
Blue Star Chronicles
Woman Honor Thyself

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Gentle Warrior

UPDATE 10/25/06: This is from an email I received from Chief Gebhardt. Words cannot express my gratitude for men and women like him who are over there helping and healing the soldiers and the people of Iraq.

“…I suspect about the time of my departure she was transferred to an Iraq medical facility, Balad AFTH is a trauma center and not set-up for long-term medical care that she will require. She was not the first casuality of the war that captured the hearts of all the medics and I’m sorry to say she will not be the last. I can assure you that everything that should and can be done for her is being accomplished. The care and compassion of all service members is as true and as deep as yours or mine and takes place 24 hours a day everyday for Americans and the Iraq people.

…I’m a simple Airman and have been blessed with being surrounded by great people. The below was written while I was deployed and well before the picture; I’m sending it along to give you some insight of who/what I believe and what we do…
Anyways keep doing what you believe in.
V/r
jjg”

This is the article he wrote and refers to in the email: “Lead, Follow, Get Out of the Way”. I encourage you to read it as it really does let you into his thoughts and feelings about what he does and who he is.

UPDATE 10/23/06: Here is another photo…h/t: Op-For

UPDATE 10/20/06: I received a comment from Chief Gebhardt and I wanted to post it here so everyone could read it. I still hope to find out about the baby, but if we don’t please know that there are many, many other children who have been helped by our men and women in uniform and others. Despite what you might hear, there is so much good being done in Iraq!

Thank you for your kind thoughts and words on behalf of all service members. While you only see two people in the picture this picture represents countless other great Americans and coalition forces fighting the war on terrorism around the world in and out of uniform who give of themselves today so our children’s, children’s will not have to pick up a sword to defend freedom further down the road.
Again thank you for supporting your service members.
jjg

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln

UPDATE: This photo and story appear on the front page of Stars & Stripes (European Edition) for October 6, 2006!

This is an email that came from Trish, a frequent commentor here on the blog. And it really needed to be shared! (The original email was dated just two days ago 9/25)

Got a tough, but heartwarming story and a picture of John Gebhardt in Iraq.

For those that did not know John, he was our former Med Group Chief…Dave Nordel replaced him.

Anyway, his wife talked with mine last evening and sent this picture. Mindy related that this little girl’s entire family was executed…they intended to execute her also and shot her in the head…but they failed to kill her. She was cared for by John’s hospital and healing up, but has been crying and moaning. The nurses said John is the only one she seems to calm down with, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both sleep in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.

John comes home in early October.

LaMarr (CMSgt Conley)

Which was followed by these comments:

Picture and write up says it all. Pass along.

TEAM:

FYI,

Outstanding stuff from your former Chief…This is why we do what we do!!

ONE TEAM! ONE FAMILY! ONE FIGHT!

David (LtCol Nelson)

Thought you would enjoy this, David worked with the Chief, read the message below. This picture really does show how much people give of themselves over in Iraq, too bad the media doesn’t share this kind of story.

Deedee (Nelson)

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