Afghanistan extensions announced; some dwell time cut
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 3, 2009 19:59:53 EDT
The deployments of the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters and the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade have been extended in Afghanistan to allow follow-on units have at least one year at home before deploying next summer, the Army announced Thursday.
The 82nd Airborne Division headquarters, operating in Afghanistan as Combined Joint Task Force-82, will stay for 52 additional days and return in June. The 3rd CAB, based at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., will be extended 14 days.
The 101st Airborne Division headquarters, which returned from Afghanistan in June this year, was slated to deploy in December 2010, but will return to Afghanistan six months earlier than expected, cutting its 18-month dwell time to 12 months. The headquarters will replace the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters in a transfer of authority scheduled for June.
The 3rd CAB will be replaced by the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Drum, N.Y.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/army_division_rotation_090309w/
Showing posts with label 82nd Airborne Division. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 82nd Airborne Division. Show all posts
Friday, September 4, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Fort Bragg soldier found dead
Fort Bragg soldier found dead
Posted: Aug. 15 10:02 p.m.
Fort Bragg, N.C. — A paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division died Friday morning after being found unresponsive in his barracks room, Fort Bragg officials said Saturday.
The death of Sgt. Jeffrey A. Van Us, 26, of Plainfield, Ill. is under investigation.
Van Us was an operations non-commissioned officer and later served as a Senior Vehicle Mechanic with Company B, 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.
more here
Posted: Aug. 15 10:02 p.m.
Fort Bragg, N.C. — A paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division died Friday morning after being found unresponsive in his barracks room, Fort Bragg officials said Saturday.
The death of Sgt. Jeffrey A. Van Us, 26, of Plainfield, Ill. is under investigation.
Van Us was an operations non-commissioned officer and later served as a Senior Vehicle Mechanic with Company B, 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.
more here
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Congress to CIA: Review Gulf War illness info
Congress to CIA: Review Gulf War illness info
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 23, 2009 18:44:44 EDT
After a former CIA employee told a team created to investigate Gulf War illness that 1.5 million documents exist detailing poisonous gas exposures during Operation Desert Storm, Congress is asking the CIA to review the secret classifications of those documents.
“Ill Desert Storm veterans have been waiting for years for our government to make public any information in its possession about the kinds of toxic agents they may have been exposed to during and immediately after the 1991 war,” Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., said in a prepared statement. “This is a long-overdue stop toward meeting that goal.”
The intelligence authorization bill now includes language that would require the CIA to review the classification of those documents, with the intent of declassifying them.
Studies have shown that veterans exposed to sarin — which the military accidentally doused troops with when the 82nd Airborne Division destroyed an Iraqi chemical weapons dump in Khamisiyah in 1991 — are more likely to suffer from symptoms of Gulf War illness.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/military_gulfwar_cia_062309w/
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 23, 2009 18:44:44 EDT
After a former CIA employee told a team created to investigate Gulf War illness that 1.5 million documents exist detailing poisonous gas exposures during Operation Desert Storm, Congress is asking the CIA to review the secret classifications of those documents.
“Ill Desert Storm veterans have been waiting for years for our government to make public any information in its possession about the kinds of toxic agents they may have been exposed to during and immediately after the 1991 war,” Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., said in a prepared statement. “This is a long-overdue stop toward meeting that goal.”
The intelligence authorization bill now includes language that would require the CIA to review the classification of those documents, with the intent of declassifying them.
Studies have shown that veterans exposed to sarin — which the military accidentally doused troops with when the 82nd Airborne Division destroyed an Iraqi chemical weapons dump in Khamisiyah in 1991 — are more likely to suffer from symptoms of Gulf War illness.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/military_gulfwar_cia_062309w/
Friday, May 15, 2009
5 more from 82nd to be tried in death of Luke Brown
5 more from 82nd to be tried in death of pfc.
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday May 15, 2009 14:58:13 EDT
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The Army says five more North Carolina-based soldiers accused in the death of a fellow paratrooper who had to be restrained after he became unruly outside a bar will receive separate trials.
The 82nd Airborne Division said Friday a trial date hasn’t been set for the soldiers in the July 20 death of 27-year-old Pfc. Luke Brown of Fredericksburg, Va. A decision wasn’t announced for a sixth soldier originally charged in the case.
go here for more
5 more from 82nd to be tried in death of pfc
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday May 15, 2009 14:58:13 EDT
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The Army says five more North Carolina-based soldiers accused in the death of a fellow paratrooper who had to be restrained after he became unruly outside a bar will receive separate trials.
The 82nd Airborne Division said Friday a trial date hasn’t been set for the soldiers in the July 20 death of 27-year-old Pfc. Luke Brown of Fredericksburg, Va. A decision wasn’t announced for a sixth soldier originally charged in the case.
go here for more
5 more from 82nd to be tried in death of pfc
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Missing Fort Bragg Soldier Found
Bragg soldier located in Little Rock, Ark.
By Jon Gambrell - The Associated PressPosted : Thursday Feb 19, 2009 11:23:08 EST
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sheriff’s deputies say they have found a North Carolina soldier missing since Feb. 10.
Hot Spring County sheriff’s deputies say they took 22-year-old Spc. Joseph E. Putnam into custody late Wednesday night at a mobile home park near the county line. Investigator Robert Terry told The Associated Press that Putnam was involuntarily committed and taken to a Malvern hospital for treatment.
Terry says Putnam, who has family in Bismarck, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving a tour in Iraq. He apparently left Fort Bragg and took a bus to Arkansas, where surveillance camera footage at an ATM showed him withdrawing money.
Putnam is a member of the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_ark_bragg_soldier_021909/
By Jon Gambrell - The Associated PressPosted : Thursday Feb 19, 2009 11:23:08 EST
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sheriff’s deputies say they have found a North Carolina soldier missing since Feb. 10.
Hot Spring County sheriff’s deputies say they took 22-year-old Spc. Joseph E. Putnam into custody late Wednesday night at a mobile home park near the county line. Investigator Robert Terry told The Associated Press that Putnam was involuntarily committed and taken to a Malvern hospital for treatment.
Terry says Putnam, who has family in Bismarck, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving a tour in Iraq. He apparently left Fort Bragg and took a bus to Arkansas, where surveillance camera footage at an ATM showed him withdrawing money.
Putnam is a member of the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_ark_bragg_soldier_021909/
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Fort Bragg, 10 soldiers exposed to asbestos
Army says NC soldiers exposed to asbestos
12/10/08
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - The Army says Fort Bragg paratroopers assigned to clean a barracks storage room were exposed unknowingly to asbestos, but a soldier's father said officials should have known about the material.
The Fayetteville Observer reported Wednesday that medical tests showed that up to 10 soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division were not exposed to dangerous levels. The exposure occurred when the soldiers in the 1st Brigade Combat team scraped floor tiles and carried out debris during the past three weeks.
click link above for more
12/10/08
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - The Army says Fort Bragg paratroopers assigned to clean a barracks storage room were exposed unknowingly to asbestos, but a soldier's father said officials should have known about the material.
The Fayetteville Observer reported Wednesday that medical tests showed that up to 10 soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division were not exposed to dangerous levels. The exposure occurred when the soldiers in the 1st Brigade Combat team scraped floor tiles and carried out debris during the past three weeks.
click link above for more
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Pfc. Luke J. Brown death at Fort Bragg under investigation
Non-combat deaths hit home locally
Military casualties hit home
BY ELLEN BILTZ
Date published: 7/23/2008
BY ELLEN BILTZ
Army Pfc. Luke J. Brown loved life and loved people, his older brother Paul Brown said yesterday.
"He could always pick me up when I was down," he said.
Luke Brown, a 27-year-old soldier from Spotsylvania County, was found dead Sunday morning at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he was stationed.
Brown was one of two servicemen with links to the Fredericksburg area to die in the past week. Marine First Lt. Jason Mann was killed when a roof collapsed on him Thursday in Afghanistan.
Brown, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, joined the Army in January 2007.
His brother said yesterday that Brown always joked about his size as a paratrooper: he was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds.
"He would say he was always the last one out of the plane and the first one down,'" Paul Brown said. "He could always make a joke."
go here for more
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/072008/07232008/396920
Military casualties hit home
BY ELLEN BILTZ
Date published: 7/23/2008
BY ELLEN BILTZ
Army Pfc. Luke J. Brown loved life and loved people, his older brother Paul Brown said yesterday.
"He could always pick me up when I was down," he said.
Luke Brown, a 27-year-old soldier from Spotsylvania County, was found dead Sunday morning at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he was stationed.
Brown was one of two servicemen with links to the Fredericksburg area to die in the past week. Marine First Lt. Jason Mann was killed when a roof collapsed on him Thursday in Afghanistan.
Brown, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, joined the Army in January 2007.
His brother said yesterday that Brown always joked about his size as a paratrooper: he was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds.
"He would say he was always the last one out of the plane and the first one down,'" Paul Brown said. "He could always make a joke."
go here for more
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/072008/07232008/396920
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Soldier dies on Fort Bragg Post
Bragg soldier dies on post
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jul 22, 2008 12:18:53 EDT
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The Army is investigating the death of a paratrooper who died over the weekend at his North Carolina post.
The 82nd Airborne Division said 27-year-old Pfc. Luke J. Brown of Fredericksburg, Va., died early Sunday. No details were given in the news release.
Brown was an intelligence analyst assigned to the Headquarters Company. He had been a member of the 82nd since January and had joined the Army a year earlier.
The division said he has not deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/ap_braggdeath_072208/
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jul 22, 2008 12:18:53 EDT
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — The Army is investigating the death of a paratrooper who died over the weekend at his North Carolina post.
The 82nd Airborne Division said 27-year-old Pfc. Luke J. Brown of Fredericksburg, Va., died early Sunday. No details were given in the news release.
Brown was an intelligence analyst assigned to the Headquarters Company. He had been a member of the 82nd since January and had joined the Army a year earlier.
The division said he has not deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/ap_braggdeath_072208/
Monday, July 14, 2008
After struggle, GI with TBI found fit for duty
After struggle, GI with TBI found fit for duty
By Joshua Coffman - The News-Enterprise via AP
Posted : Monday Jul 14, 2008 11:32:22 EDT
FORT KNOX, Ky. — Injured in Iraq nearly 14 months ago, Spc. Joshua Gracia’s military career has been a roller-coaster ride. Now he is ready to get back on track.
A step away from being medically discharged from the Army, he is preparing to return to duty as a combat engineer.
Gracia shipped out with the 19th Engineer Company from Fort Knox in August 2006 and worked alongside the 82nd Airborne Division building fortified patrol houses so infantry soldiers could leave their forward operating bases and communicate with Iraqis in neighborhoods.
While traveling in a piece of heavy construction equipment on May 30, 2007, a roadside bomb exploded directly beneath the 22-year-old from Archbold, Ohio. It marked the second IED attack Gracia had met with in a week and one of several explosions he endured during nearly 10 months in combat.
The blast disabled the 70,000-pound excavator and left him unconscious.
He was evacuated to a military hospital in Balad, Iraq, and, 10 hours after the explosion, his appendix ruptured. Gracia then was flown to a hospital in Germany where soon after he would be diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.
He was left with memory loss and slurred speech.
The medical determination left Gracia, the first on his father’s side of the family to serve in the military, down and out as his fellow combat engineers continued their tour of duty.
click post title for more
By Joshua Coffman - The News-Enterprise via AP
Posted : Monday Jul 14, 2008 11:32:22 EDT
FORT KNOX, Ky. — Injured in Iraq nearly 14 months ago, Spc. Joshua Gracia’s military career has been a roller-coaster ride. Now he is ready to get back on track.
A step away from being medically discharged from the Army, he is preparing to return to duty as a combat engineer.
Gracia shipped out with the 19th Engineer Company from Fort Knox in August 2006 and worked alongside the 82nd Airborne Division building fortified patrol houses so infantry soldiers could leave their forward operating bases and communicate with Iraqis in neighborhoods.
While traveling in a piece of heavy construction equipment on May 30, 2007, a roadside bomb exploded directly beneath the 22-year-old from Archbold, Ohio. It marked the second IED attack Gracia had met with in a week and one of several explosions he endured during nearly 10 months in combat.
The blast disabled the 70,000-pound excavator and left him unconscious.
He was evacuated to a military hospital in Balad, Iraq, and, 10 hours after the explosion, his appendix ruptured. Gracia then was flown to a hospital in Germany where soon after he would be diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.
He was left with memory loss and slurred speech.
The medical determination left Gracia, the first on his father’s side of the family to serve in the military, down and out as his fellow combat engineers continued their tour of duty.
Gracia will be assigned to the 911th Engineer Company, a unit activated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to perform rescue and recovery missions in stateside government buildings.
The unit does not deploy and a limitation on Gracia’s medical evaluation currently prohibits him from serving in overseas combat.
He is set to link up with his new unit in October, but Gracia wants that day to come sooner.
click post title for more
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Paratroopers begin return from Iraq
Paratroopers begin return from Iraq
Staff report
Posted : Saturday Jul 12, 2008 6:46:46 EDT
The first of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team soldiers will begin arriving Sunday at Fort Bragg, N.C., after a 13-month deployment to Iraq.
According to an Army news release, approximately 300 paratroopers will be on board the aircraft scheduled to land at adjacent Pope Air Force Base Sunday morning.
The 1st BCT, which is centered on the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was initially tasked with the mission of securing the ground lines of communications and protecting key command-and-control and logistical nodes, as well as theater support convoys, the release said.
The brigade operated across a wide area of operations in the west, south and center of Iraq, and was later tasked with partnering with Iraqi security forces to provide security in three southern provinces: Dhi Qar, Muthanna and Maysan.
The paratroopers also provided security for the Convoy Support Center at Scania in southern Iraq, conducting combined operations with Iraqis.
During the brigade’s 13-month deployment, eight of its soldiers were killed.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/army_paratroopersreturn_071208w/
St. Michael is patron saint of those who serve others. If you look on the right side of this blog, you'll find the link to prayers for veterans and Paratroopers.
Staff report
Posted : Saturday Jul 12, 2008 6:46:46 EDT
The first of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team soldiers will begin arriving Sunday at Fort Bragg, N.C., after a 13-month deployment to Iraq.
According to an Army news release, approximately 300 paratroopers will be on board the aircraft scheduled to land at adjacent Pope Air Force Base Sunday morning.
The 1st BCT, which is centered on the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was initially tasked with the mission of securing the ground lines of communications and protecting key command-and-control and logistical nodes, as well as theater support convoys, the release said.
The brigade operated across a wide area of operations in the west, south and center of Iraq, and was later tasked with partnering with Iraqi security forces to provide security in three southern provinces: Dhi Qar, Muthanna and Maysan.
The paratroopers also provided security for the Convoy Support Center at Scania in southern Iraq, conducting combined operations with Iraqis.
During the brigade’s 13-month deployment, eight of its soldiers were killed.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/army_paratroopersreturn_071208w/
PRAYER TO ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
For Protetction from Evil
Great Archangel Michael Archangel, defend us in battle,
be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the
devil.
May God rebuke our enemies, we humbly pray; and
do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of
God, thrust into Hell the Adversary and all other evil
spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of
souls.
Amen.
When a divine spirit grants your wish, it is customary, to give an offering of some kind in return. Because Archangel Michael, Who is Like God, Bulwark of Heaven is generally depicted as the protector of the weak, it is considered appropriate to make a contribution to your local police force or community watch program, or to a shelter for the victims of violent crime, as a thank-offering.
http://www.luckymojo.com/archangelmichael.html
St. Michael is patron saint of those who serve others. If you look on the right side of this blog, you'll find the link to prayers for veterans and Paratroopers.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Honored soldier is plagued by memories of war
Video: Honored soldier is plagued by memories of war
David Edwards
Published: Saturday May 24, 2008
He was honored by President Bush with the second-highest award in the military, but Sgt. Christopher Corriveau does not feel like a hero.
CBS' David Martin reports that after his sniper team was ambushed and outnumbered 10 to one, Corriveau fought his way out. But his two best friends did not make it..
"They were some of the best friends I've ever had," he said. "I almost wanted to die on that roof that day with my brothers."
Corriveau's unit returns to Iraq this fall, but he will be staying in the US to attend college.
This video is from CBS's Evening News, broadcast May 22, 2008.
go here for video
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CBS_Honored_soldier_plagued_by_memories_0524.html
David Edwards
Published: Saturday May 24, 2008
He was honored by President Bush with the second-highest award in the military, but Sgt. Christopher Corriveau does not feel like a hero.
CBS' David Martin reports that after his sniper team was ambushed and outnumbered 10 to one, Corriveau fought his way out. But his two best friends did not make it..
"They were some of the best friends I've ever had," he said. "I almost wanted to die on that roof that day with my brothers."
Corriveau's unit returns to Iraq this fall, but he will be staying in the US to attend college.
This video is from CBS's Evening News, broadcast May 22, 2008.
go here for video
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CBS_Honored_soldier_plagued_by_memories_0524.html
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Sgt. Andrew Perkins remembered at Fort Bragg
All-American Week returns as 82nd Airborne mourns
By KEVIN MAURER | Associated Press Writer
2:07 PM EDT, May 21, 2008
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - The return of the steady tromp of 16,000 jogging soldiers this week means the rhythm of life is right again at Fort Bragg, home to the Army's storied 82nd Airborne Division.
All-American Week is back at the base, a renewal of the 82nd's traditional homecoming that was canceled last year because the entire division was fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The celebration also provides a balm this year, which follows a particularly tough one for the division -- the 82nd lost 87 paratroopers in 2007. About 150 members of "Gold Star" families, relatives of those killed, are to join President Bush on Thursday for the division's review ceremony and a rededication of a growing granite memorial to the 82nd's fallen.
Among those to be remembered is Andrew Perkins, a 27-year-old sergeant whose father clings to the stories of his son's heroism in Samarra, north of Baghdad. How he grabbed the fire extinguisher. How he rushed into the explosion three times. How the equipment was melting in his hands before a second blast hit.
"I'd go to Samarra if I could just to stand on the same ground," Walter Perkins said.
He has come instead to Fort Bragg, to stand among the dozens of other fathers without sons, wives without husbands, children without parents.
"Did I come here to get some closure? Yep. Am I getting it? Yep. And it surprises me how easy it is coming to me," Perkins said. "It helps that I am talking to guys who knew him."
The 82nd Airborne's 87 fatalities last year are more than in any other year since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. Three separate times in Iraq last year, seven or more paratroopers were killed at once. Sgt. Andrew Perkins died March 5 with six others outside of Samarra.
The paratroopers were on patrol when their lead truck hit a roadside bomb. The blast killed four of the paratroopers almost instantly. Perkins and two other paratroopers searched the flaming wreckage for survivors, a second bomb detonated -- killing them and wounding several others.
click post title for more
By KEVIN MAURER | Associated Press Writer
2:07 PM EDT, May 21, 2008
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - The return of the steady tromp of 16,000 jogging soldiers this week means the rhythm of life is right again at Fort Bragg, home to the Army's storied 82nd Airborne Division.
All-American Week is back at the base, a renewal of the 82nd's traditional homecoming that was canceled last year because the entire division was fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The celebration also provides a balm this year, which follows a particularly tough one for the division -- the 82nd lost 87 paratroopers in 2007. About 150 members of "Gold Star" families, relatives of those killed, are to join President Bush on Thursday for the division's review ceremony and a rededication of a growing granite memorial to the 82nd's fallen.
Among those to be remembered is Andrew Perkins, a 27-year-old sergeant whose father clings to the stories of his son's heroism in Samarra, north of Baghdad. How he grabbed the fire extinguisher. How he rushed into the explosion three times. How the equipment was melting in his hands before a second blast hit.
"I'd go to Samarra if I could just to stand on the same ground," Walter Perkins said.
He has come instead to Fort Bragg, to stand among the dozens of other fathers without sons, wives without husbands, children without parents.
"Did I come here to get some closure? Yep. Am I getting it? Yep. And it surprises me how easy it is coming to me," Perkins said. "It helps that I am talking to guys who knew him."
The 82nd Airborne's 87 fatalities last year are more than in any other year since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. Three separate times in Iraq last year, seven or more paratroopers were killed at once. Sgt. Andrew Perkins died March 5 with six others outside of Samarra.
The paratroopers were on patrol when their lead truck hit a roadside bomb. The blast killed four of the paratroopers almost instantly. Perkins and two other paratroopers searched the flaming wreckage for survivors, a second bomb detonated -- killing them and wounding several others.
click post title for more
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Father's Fort Bragg video causes Army wide inspections!
Army-wide barracks inspection ordered
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 18:26:05 EDT
The Army’s senior leadership recently ordered a service-wide barracks inspection to make sure its billets are in better shape than the dilapidated quarters 82nd Airborne Division soldiers just came home to from Afghanistan, Army installation heads said today.
The impromptu walk-through carried out by all major commands occurred this past weekend in response to a video posted recently on YouTube that shows peeling paint, mold and a bathroom drain plugged with what appears to be sewage in the barracks that paratroopers from the Fort Bragg, N.C., unit were housed in after returning from a 15-month combat deployment.
“Folks, we let our soldiers down; that is not like us,” Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, the deputy director of Operations & Facilities of Army Installation Command, told reporters. “There is no good excuse for what happened.”
While the walk-through is not yet complete, Rogers said that garrison commanders have reported so far that “soldiers are being housed to the Army’s standard,” but stopped short of describing the poor barracks conditions some soldiers are living in at Fort Bragg as an isolated incident.
“I would hope that it is an isolated condition, and we will figure that out,” Rogers said. “If there are issues; we’ll fix them. That’s what we are going to do, we are going to fix them,” Rogers said. “We are still going through the data, and we will know by the end of the week.”
In addition to the walk-through, Army installation officials have stood up a Senior Non- Commissioned Officer Facilities Forum to make an assessment of Army barracks conditions. The forum, which will meet monthly, will be chaired by Command Sgt. Major Debra Strickland of Installation Management Command. It will inspect barracks and make recommendations for correcting current and future upkeep problems.
The video, shot by the father of Sgt. Jeff Frawley on April 14, caught the attention of Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., on April 25. She said she contacted the Army secretary after learning of the barracks’ condition.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/army_barracks_roundtable_042908w/
Don't anyone ever say it with a straight face again that one person cannot make a difference. This father just did!
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 18:26:05 EDT
The Army’s senior leadership recently ordered a service-wide barracks inspection to make sure its billets are in better shape than the dilapidated quarters 82nd Airborne Division soldiers just came home to from Afghanistan, Army installation heads said today.
The impromptu walk-through carried out by all major commands occurred this past weekend in response to a video posted recently on YouTube that shows peeling paint, mold and a bathroom drain plugged with what appears to be sewage in the barracks that paratroopers from the Fort Bragg, N.C., unit were housed in after returning from a 15-month combat deployment.
“Folks, we let our soldiers down; that is not like us,” Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, the deputy director of Operations & Facilities of Army Installation Command, told reporters. “There is no good excuse for what happened.”
While the walk-through is not yet complete, Rogers said that garrison commanders have reported so far that “soldiers are being housed to the Army’s standard,” but stopped short of describing the poor barracks conditions some soldiers are living in at Fort Bragg as an isolated incident.
“I would hope that it is an isolated condition, and we will figure that out,” Rogers said. “If there are issues; we’ll fix them. That’s what we are going to do, we are going to fix them,” Rogers said. “We are still going through the data, and we will know by the end of the week.”
In addition to the walk-through, Army installation officials have stood up a Senior Non- Commissioned Officer Facilities Forum to make an assessment of Army barracks conditions. The forum, which will meet monthly, will be chaired by Command Sgt. Major Debra Strickland of Installation Management Command. It will inspect barracks and make recommendations for correcting current and future upkeep problems.
The video, shot by the father of Sgt. Jeff Frawley on April 14, caught the attention of Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., on April 25. She said she contacted the Army secretary after learning of the barracks’ condition.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/army_barracks_roundtable_042908w/
Don't anyone ever say it with a straight face again that one person cannot make a difference. This father just did!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Pair to hike 2,000 miles to help homeless veterans
Pair to hike 2,000 miles to help homeless veterans
By Terry Karkos , Staff Writer
Monday, February 18, 2008
JAY - After a four-year commitment with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division that included a 15-month tour in Iraq, a North Jay man and his Army buddy will head to Georgia next month on another mission.
Only this time, former Sgts. Jarad Greeley, 25, and Marshall Berry, 28, of New Hampshire, will be raising awareness and resources for the nation's homeless veterans by through-hiking more than 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail to Maine in four to five months.
"This may seem like a long hike, but put into perspective with the number of homeless veterans that we are trying to help, (it) seems minor," Greeley said Friday afternoon at his home off Route 4 in North Jay.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 195,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, while nearly 400,000 experience homelessness during the course of a year.
click post title for the rest
By Terry Karkos , Staff Writer
Monday, February 18, 2008
JAY - After a four-year commitment with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division that included a 15-month tour in Iraq, a North Jay man and his Army buddy will head to Georgia next month on another mission.
Only this time, former Sgts. Jarad Greeley, 25, and Marshall Berry, 28, of New Hampshire, will be raising awareness and resources for the nation's homeless veterans by through-hiking more than 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail to Maine in four to five months.
"This may seem like a long hike, but put into perspective with the number of homeless veterans that we are trying to help, (it) seems minor," Greeley said Friday afternoon at his home off Route 4 in North Jay.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 195,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, while nearly 400,000 experience homelessness during the course of a year.
click post title for the rest
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