"For those I love I will sacrifice"

UPDATE
Wounded Big Red One Soldier continues to serve Army family
Army
By Mollie Miller, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs
January 9, 2012

FORT RILEY, Kan. (Jan. 9, 2012) -- Love can make people do some crazy, unusual, heroic things.

A dance outside in a rain storm, a midnight flight across the country, a dash into a burning home, none of these are outside the realm of what people will do for those they love.

For one 1st Infantry Division Soldier, his love for his family and his country led him into an Army recruiter's office, onto basic training, up the road to Fort Riley, Kan., and around the world to Afghanistan.

And then that love led him right to death's front door.

Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, joined the Army in the fall of 2010 after a summer full of friends, dirt bikes and post high school graduation parties. Joining the Army was the realization of a dream for the young man from Marietta, Ohio.

"I always wanted to serve my country, protect our freedom, to keep the life that all the ones I love live safe," the 19-year-old said recently.

Hockenberry's enlistment wasn't much of a surprise for his parents, Chet and Kathy Hockenberry.

"Being a Soldier was all Kyle ever talked about, even when he was little," Kathy said of her youngest son. "I still have all his G.I. Joe guys that he always used to play with because he didn't want me to get rid of them."

Kyle graduated from basic training in January 2011 and was assigned to the Big Red One's 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment "Pale Riders." The Pale Rider team was already busy making final preparations for a deployment to Afghanistan when Kyle arrived and the new Soldier began his own preparations for this upcoming mission -- a mission that would have him leaving Kansas in less than six weeks.

First on Kyle's list of deployment preparations was a visit to a tattoo shop in Manhattan, Kan.

"I had wanted a tattoo for a long time and I wanted to finally get one before we left," he said.

One evening, shortly before the deployment, Kyle and a few fellow Soldiers "went under the needle." One of the Soldiers had his children's names or birth dates tattooed, some had a lucky number or special picture done but Kyle selected a seven word phrase that had been rolling around in his head ever since he decided he was going to be a Soldier.

That night, the tattoo artist etched, "For those I love, I will sacrifice" onto Kyle's right side.

"I thought since I was in the military that it would be a good one to get," he said. "'Those I love' is for everyone -- for my parents, my brother and all my family but it really for everyone in the country."
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"For those I love I will sacrifice" pretty much sums up how they all feel. They are ready to face danger and ready to save a life even if it means they lose their own. If you want to see how much they care about each other, go to the link below and see the pictures going with this article. If you want to know why they are willing to do all of this, read it and know this isn't about killing. It is about caring.

Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, of 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Infantry Regiment, 1st Heavy Combat Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, who was injured in an improvised explosive device attack near Haji Ramuddin, is treated by flight medic Cpl. Amanda Mosher while being transported by medevac helicopter to the Role 3 hospital at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan on June 15, 2011. Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes

Calm in the midst of chaos is lifesaving protocol for medevac crew in southern Afghanistan
By LAURA RAUCH
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 25, 2011
FORWARD OPERATING BASE PASAB, Afghanistan — It was the worst of places, but the soldiers on the ground had few options when they marked the landing zone for the medevac helicopter. One of their buddy’s legs had been blown off by an Improvised Explosive Device near Pashmul South, and another had suffered a traumatic brain injury from the blast.

Grape rows, tree lines and mud walls surrounded the field. It was the perfect setting for an ambush.

Purple smoke billowed from the landing zone as the crew of Dustoff 59 sped toward a small band of 1st Infantry Division soldiers, waiting with their wounded. As pilot and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Marcus Chambers slowed for the landing, gunfire broke out and the all-too-familiar tat-tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat-tat pinged around them.

Chambers set the aircraft down and flight medic Staff Sgt. Garrick Morgenweck flung the door open to retrieve the wounded. As he stepped out, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade from close range, striking a mud wall and narrowly missing the helicopter as it blasted through.
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If you ask a Vietnam veteran why they did what they did, there are several reasons they may give to get you to stop asking them. The honest answer is "we did it for each other" and that is what they are all fighting for today in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Time had an update on this story

No Idle Boast: A Soldier's Tattoo Becomes Truth
Posted by Mark Thompson Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tattoos are as old as war. Lots of soldiers get them, with military motifs, girlfriend's names, or various guns, skulls or dragons adorning their skin. Some get something less ornate. Private First Class Kyle Hockenberry had For those I love I will sacrifice stitched into his flesh. He had no idea how prescient he was.

A member of the 1st Infantry Division, Hockenberry's world changed June 15. He was on a foot patrol just outside Haji Ramuddin, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated nearby. In this photograph, by Laura Rauch for the military's Stars and Stripes newspaper, flight medic Corporal Amanda Mosher is tending to Hockenberry's wounds aboard a medevac helicopter minutes after the explosion.

Kyle Hockenberry, 19, lost both legs and his left arm in the blast.
read more here

Fort Riley soldier robbed and shot while jogging

UPDATE August 26, 2010

Not robbed, shot himself

Soldier Shot, Robbed While Jogging

No Arrests Made

August 8, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jackson County deputies are investigating the shooting of a soldier who was robbed while jogging on Monday afternoon.

Investigators said the 25-year-old Fort Riley-based soldier was on a four-day pass and had gone for a run on a trail in the area near Blue Mills Road and Little Blue Trace at about 2:30 p.m. when a man with a gun approached him.

After taking the soldier's water-bladder backpack, the robber got distracted and the soldier tried to jump into a weed-covered area.

"The victim thought he could get away so he ran away from the suspect, at which time the suspect fired a shot striking the victim in the back of the leg," said Jackson County Sheriff Mike Sharp.

Read more: Soldier Shot Robbed While Jogging

10 year old Kansas boy wants world to recognize his fallen father

Kansas boy wants world to recognize his fallen father
By Moni Basu, CNN
August 9, 2011 7:14 a.m. EDT

Bryan Nichols, left, is seen sitting with four of his Army buddies in front of a military aircraft.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Braydon Nichols, 10, sent in a photo of his father to CNN's iReport
His father, Bryan Nichols, was killed when the Chinook went down in Afghanistan
Braydon couldn't understand why the Navy SEALs were drawing attention, but not his dad
Bryan Nichols was to have come home on leave in nine days

(CNN) -- A young boy in Kansas was among millions in America who watched the horrifying news this past weekend about the Chinook that went down in Afghanistan's Wardak province.

That boy in Kansas soon found out that his father, a U.S. Army pilot, was aboard the doomed helicopter.

In the midst of his world shattering, he could not understand why the Navy SEALs drew so much attention. There were 30 Americans on board that Chinook. Why wasn't anyone mentioning his father, a chief warrant officer with Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 155th Aviation Regiment?

So he sent in a photograph to CNN's iReport of his dad, Bryan Nichols, sitting with four of his Army buddies in front of a military aircraft.

"My father was one of the 30 US Soldiers killed in Afghanistan yesterday with the Seals rescue mission," he wrote. "My father was the pilot of the chinook. I have seen other pictures of victims from this deadly mission and wish you would include a picture of my father. He is the farthest to the left."
read more here
Kansas boy wants world to recognize his fallen father

KC soldier who killed himself felt he ‘was just a number’

KC soldier who killed himself felt he ‘was just a number’

By BILL MURPHY JR.

Stars and Stripes

Jacob Andrews did well in the first months of his deployment in Afghanistan, where this photo was taken in 2009. But by the time of his discharge in 2010, he was a changed man.

By September, the Army had had just about enough of Jacob Andrews, so it gave the young infantryman a general discharge and a one-way bus ticket home to Kansas City.

Andrews had plenty to think about on the 30-hour trip from Fort Drum, N.Y.

There were the alcohol-fueled mistakes that had led to the end of his military career, memories of comrades killed in Afghanistan — including one close friend crushed to death — and the night Andrews tried to kill himself.

Despite clear signs that Andrews suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), family and friends say the Army punished and abandoned him after he had done his combat tour.

Once home, he was hounded to repay a re-enlistment bonus and then was incorrectly denied educational benefits needed for a new start. Andrews became part of the grimmest military statistic of our times — one of the 18 U.S. veterans, on average, who commit suicide each day.

In April, the 22-year-old was found hanged near his parents’ home in Kansas City.



Read more: KC soldier who killed himself felt he was just a number

"Not proud of lack of care our vets are receiving now"

There is only one "one size fits all" therapy for veterans and that is we do all we can to give them what they need. If a tiny program works for these veterans, do it. Don't find excuses to cut something that is helping them heal. Doing all we can is therapy for them because we prove they do matter. Cutting programs tells them they are not worth the price.

End of VA program spurs protests
Posted: April 22, 2011

By Ann Marie Bush
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
The elimination of a program at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center has some people concerned about the possibility of cuts to other veterans’ programs.

"The bottom line is the VA has closed some very important clinics," said Marvella Kreipe, of Tecumseh.

At issue in this case is the lapidary program, where rock cutting and polishing took place.

Kreipe and her husband, Bill, a Vietnam veteran, were two of six people protesting cuts outside of the VA hospital Thursday afternoon.

Georgia and James Bent, of Quenemo, also held signs protesting the closure of the lapidary program and the possible closure of other programs.

James Bent, who served in the Kansas National Guard, has had a lot of improvement during his time in the lapidary program, Georgia Bent said. James returned from Iraq a few years ago.

"My husband was in the military for over 20 years," Georgia wrote in an email. "He and I are both proud of that. What we are not proud of is the lack of care our vets are receiving now. My husband is not the same man he was prior to spending a year in Iraq. It has taken many, many months of counseling and treatment programs to get him where he is able to function normally."
read more here
End of VA program spurs protests

Army takes steps but deployments still strain families

Army takes steps but deployments still strain families
Story Highlights
As rotation of troops returns to Fort Riley, another gets ready to ship out

Military spouses say they meet deployments "as a challenge"

Suicides, divorce and domestic violence are all on the rise in military community

Families face another challenge when soldier returns and changes the rhythm


By John King
CNN Chief National Correspondent

Editor's note: On CNN's "State of the Union," host and Chief National Correspondent John King goes outside the Beltway to report on the issues affecting communities across the country.

FORT RILEY, Kansas (CNN) -- They are lined up neatly, but casually, waiting to be outfitted for another trip to the place they call "The Sand Box."


Snug new undershirts to wear under a newer, updated combat protective vest. New desert fatigues, even new battlefield identification cards. Several stops along the way, and then at the end of the line a briefing on how the new vest works -- and how it is different from the one many of these soldiers wore on their last deployment.

Yes, the United States is in the early stages of its plan to withdraw its combat troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010. But rotations still mean more troops are needed, and as Fort Riley prepares to welcome one unit home from Iraq in the days ahead, another is preparing to head out.

"I hate to say we get used to it, but we know it is part and parcel, and so we just accept it," Tricia Verschage said in an interview on base this week. "And we meet it as a challenge."

Her husband, Master Sgt. John Verschage is preparing for his second Iraq deployment. His 1st Infantry Division unit is scheduled to ship out in the next week.

"I'll have my one day of pity party and then I'll be OK," Tricia said. "And then it's a countdown. Once he is on the plane, then it's 364 [days] and so on."
read more here
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/20/sotu.fort.riley/

Kansas Vietnam Memorial Causes Wall Between Veterans

In Kansas, Proposed Monument to a Wartime Friendship Tests the Bond

By MONICA DAVEY
Published: August 2, 2009
WICHITA, Kan. — This city’s small population of Vietnamese-Americans imagined a new monument in Veterans Memorial Park, a peaceful slope along the Arkansas River blooming with monuments to soldiers gone.

They pictured an American service member, in bronze, his arm resting protectively around the shoulder of a South Vietnamese comrade — an appreciation, they said, of the Americans’ alliance in a war that shaped their lives.

But in an effort to remember an old friendship, the bond seemed to come apart a little.

To the surprise of the Vietnamese here, some American veterans objected to the plan. And after long, tense talks, a compromise emerged last month at City Hall: the monument will sit just outside the John S. Stevens Veterans Memorial Park (named for a former local official and veteran), set apart from the rest of the memorials by a landscaped, six-foot earthen berm, with no sidewalk between.
read more here
Proposed Monument to a Wartime Friendship Tests the Bond

Patriot Services Inc. enters guilty plea in government contracts charges

Georgia temporary staffing company pleads guilty in Kan. case
By Associated Press
9:42 AM CDT, July 20, 2009

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Justice Department says a Georgia temporary staffing company and its owner have agreed to plead guilty in a Kansas case involving government contracts at government agencies.

Patriot Services Inc. and owner Stephanie Blackmon have agreed to plead guilty to making a false statement to the Small Business Administration.

The federal case, filed in Kansas City, Kan., is part of an investigation into fraudulent conduct involving contracts the Veterans Affairs' mail outpatient pharmacies at Leavenworth, Kan., and Hines, Ill.

Blackmon is black and a service-disabled veteran. She admitted she used that status to act as the figurehead owner so Patriot could secure government contracts specifically set aside for companies operated by socially and economically disadvantaged persons.

Pvt. Henry E. “Rickey” Marquez is finally home

Body of WWII soldier to return home Saturday

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday May 28, 2009 18:10:56 EDT

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A day after a different soldier’s remains were mistakenly escorted from Kansas City International Airport to a Kansas City, Kan., cemetery, the body of Pvt. Henry E. “Rickey” Marquez is finally home.

The remains of the soldier, who was killed in battle 64 years ago in Germany, arrived at the airport Thursday morning. They were taken to Highland Park Cemetery, where he will be buried Saturday with full military honors.

A mix-up Wednesday led to the remains of the wrong soldier being sent to the cemetery in a grand procession that included Patriot Guard motorcycle riders, Fort Leavenworth soldiers and local police. John Marquez says that when the procession reached the cemetery, military officers realized his brother’s remains were still in Hawaii.

Leavenworth spokesman George Marcec told The Associated Press on Thursday that it’s still not clear whose remains were taken from the airport the previous day. He said that body apparently was on its way to Iowa and that Kansas City was just a stopover.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/05/ap_wrong_soldier_funeral_052809/

Lightning Strike Kills Man on Motorcycle

Lightning Strike Kills Man on Motorcycle
Lawrence Journal-World
Troy Gentzler, 45, was volunteering for Bikers Against Child Abuse when he died.
(April 27) -- A Lawrence, Kan., man died Saturday after he was struck by a bolt of lightning as he and six companions rode their motorcycles through a rainstorm, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
Troy Gentzler, 45, was killed shortly after visiting an abuse victim for the northeast Kansas chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse.
The bolt struck as the group was traveling between the towns of Grantville and Perry.
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Lightning Strike Kills Man on Motorcycle

Physically whole but mentally torn: Veteran with PTSD

Memories of this come back.

A car bomb in Iraq

A car fire here

When they drive down a road here, they can remember there. When they hear a loud noise, they can remember them back there. It all comes back when they least expect it. This is what a flashback does. It takes them back to where their lives were in danger.

Physically whole but mentally torn: Veteran with post traumatic ...
KTKA.com - Topeka,KS,USA

Story by Mike Belt

12 a.m. Tuesday, November 11, 2008

There are certain roads Ted Lawyer won’t drive on when he’s alone. They remind him of roads in Iraq.

Driving under bridges also makes him nervous.

So do crowds. If Lawyer can’t avoid a crowd he tries to stay on its fringe.

And Lawyer has an anger problem. There have been times he’s gotten upset with other drivers so he followed them for several blocks, honking his horn and yelling at them. And he went home from work a few times because of his anger.

“I do anything I can to avoid a conflict with someone,” Lawyer said. “At the same time, if you do something to show disrespect or make me feel like I’ve got to fight, then it’s full game on. I go from flight to fight instantly.”

Lawyer, a Lawrence resident, hasn’t been the same mentally or physically since he returned from serving a year in Iraq with the Kansas Army National Guard. At age 57, Lawyer, then a 1st sergeant, arrived in Iraq in September 2005 with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery of the 1st Battalion, 127th Field Artillery. His company included 150 soldiers. Among their duties was providing security for top U.S. commanders and diplomats.

During the two years since he returned stateside, Lawyer has been diagnosed as having post traumatic stress disorder and various physical problems, including daily headaches and back, leg and neck pain. He’s had flashbacks and blackouts. A few weeks ago, a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury was added to the already-long list.

Lawyer is undergoing outpatient treatment for PTSD and taking part in physical therapy at Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Topeka. It all helps, he said. And he thinks he is making progress.

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Watch Hero After War on the side bar of this blog under my videos. You'll understand it more.

Retired Gen. Bernard W. Rogers, Former Army chief of staff dies

Former Army chief of staff dies

By Jim Tice - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 3, 2008 14:46:31 EST

Retired Gen. Bernard W. Rogers, one of the most accomplished senior Army leaders of the post-World War II era, died Oct. 27 at Falls Church, Va.

Rogers, 87, began his military career as an enlisted soldier with the Kansas National Guard. He subsequently was commissioned at the U.S. Military Academy in 1943 after serving as the first captain of the Corps of Cadets.

A Rhodes Scholar and graduate of the Command and General Staff College and Army War College, Rogers retired in 1987 after serving two four-year tours as the supreme allied commander, Europe, and command-in-chief, U.S. European Command.

Previous to his service in Europe, Rogers oversaw the creation of a 24-division force as Army chief of staff, and was a prime mover in establishing the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

Previous to his tour as chief of staff, Rogers commanded Army Forces Command, and previous to that was Army personnel chief just as the all-volunteer force was being established.

Rogers was a veteran of combat, having served in Korea as a battalion commander with the 9th Infantry, and as an assistant division commander of the 1st Infantry Division during Vietnam, where he earned the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star for Valor and 36 Air Medals with “V” device.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/army_rogers_110308w/

Too late for some to flee Hurricane Ike

Too late to flee Ike, Texas officials say
Water pushed ashore by the approaching Hurricane Ike has already flooded neighborhoods in Galveston, Texas. In nearby Houston, some 200,000 have fled ahead of the hurricane. Ike's storm surge could reach a deadly 22 feet, forecasters said. The center should make landfall early Saturday.
click above for more


More than 120 rescued from Ike's floods
Story Highlights
NEW: Coast Guard helicopters airlift stranded residents from Galveston area
NEW: Many of those rescued were motorists stranded on flooded roads
Coast Guard, Air Force unable to rescue 22 people stranded on freighter
Active-duty military has 42 search-and-rescue helicopters on standby
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Even with Hurricane Ike more than 100 miles away, authorities began rescue efforts Friday, picking up more than 120 people stranded by rising seas along the southeast Texas coast.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescues a person trapped in a car on Friday as Hurricane Ike hits Texas.

Most of the rescues occurred in Galveston County, where rising water and other effects of the storm began hours before expected landfall early Saturday.

Stranded residents have been airlifted from Crystal Beach, Bolivar Peninsula and other communities in the Galveston area. Many of those rescued were motorists stranded on flooded roads.

In Surfside Beach, police waded through chest-high rushing water to rescue five people trapped in their homes. One man refused to leave, said Surfside Beach police Chief Randy Smith. Watch rescuers save a motorist from floods »
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/12/ike.rescues/index.html
also

Kan. Guard members head to Texas for Ike helpThe Associated PressPosted : Friday Sep 12, 2008 16:15:37 EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. — Twenty-one Kansas National Guard soldiers and three helicopters are on their way to Texas to help with the response to Hurricane Ike.
They took off Friday. Their departure had been delayed a day by concerns about the weather and where Ike was headed.
Originally, the soldiers and helicopters, part of two Army National Guard aviation units, had planned to travel to Camp Robinson in Arkansas, outside Little Rock.
But the guard said they’ll travel instead to San Angelo, Texas.
About 600 guard members are in Louisiana, helping with hurricane relief efforts there, but some of them are supposed to come home this weekend.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_kansasguard_091208/

Group disputes military in religion case

Folks, time to open your eyes. This is not just about people pushing Christianity over other faiths. It isn't just about trying to convert an atheist. This is about one branch of Christianity trying to take it all over. It's as simple as that. There are so many divisions among Christians as it is that this should not be tolerated by any of us.

Do you believe in the Holy Trinity? Some Christians don't.
Do you believe in the divinity of Christ? Some don't.
Do you believe that God wants you to be rich financially? Some, most Christians don't.
Do you believe that we are all Saints or that we were already chosen? Some Christians believe that we are only redeemed by Christ and by choosing Him. That He was against setting our minds on financial gains instead of taking care of the poor.

When it comes to faith, it should be up to the individual to decide and not be forced on any of us. Letting this happen to one, will allow it to happen to all. I don't know about you, but I want to be a member of the branch I was born into. I'm Greek Orthodox. I could convert to another form of the Christian faith but this is what I believe in. So please when you read this, stop thinking there is no harm in trying to force an atheist to convert. Even Christ didn't do that. When the Roman Centurion, a pagan, went to Christ asking for his beloved servant to be healed, Christ didn't tell him to convert first. So who is it in the military deciding to do this to any of their men and women? What right do they have to decide the faith of someone else? What would stop them from doing this to anyone else? Do you really want to have to defend your faith in court or lack of it? This is the kind of thing the founding fathers were talking about. We should all stand up and say stop it.

Group disputes military in religion case

By John Hanna - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 14, 2008 16:50:20 EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. — A Fort Riley soldier suing the military was rebuffed recently when he took complaints about violations of his religious freedoms to the post’s inspector general, an advocacy group involved in his lawsuit said Wednesday.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, based in Albuquerque, N.M., contends Army Spc. Jeremy Hall’s experiences undermine arguments made by the Justice Department in seeking to get the lawsuit dismissed.

Hall, who is an atheist, and the foundation allege the military permits religious discrimination by fundamentalist Christians who try to force their views on others, especially subordinates.

Their lawsuit, filed in March in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., names the Defense Department and Secretary Robert Gates among the defendants.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_militaryreligion_081408/

Atheist soldier sues Army for 'unconstitutional' discrimination

Atheist soldier sues Army for 'unconstitutional' discrimination
Story Highlights
Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was raised Baptist but is now an atheist

His sudden lack of faith cost him his military career and put his life at risk, he says

Hall sued the Defense Department; claims military is a Christian organization

Pentagon official: Complaints about evangelizing are "relatively rare"


By Randi Kaye
AC360° Correspondent


KANSAS CITY, Kansas (CNN) -- Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was raised Baptist.


Like many Christians, he said grace before dinner and read the Bible before bed. Four years ago when he was deployed to Iraq, he packed his Bible so he would feel closer to God.

He served two tours of duty in Iraq and has a near perfect record. But somewhere between the tours, something changed. Hall, now 23, said he no longer believes in God, fate, luck or anything supernatural.

Hall said he met some atheists who suggested he read the Bible again. After doing so, he said he had so many unanswered questions that he decided to become an atheist.

His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety.
click post title for more

Should the military support the faiths of the troops? Absolutely. That's why there are Chaplains in different faiths to meet the spiritual needs of the troops. Notice the plural? There are Muslim Chaplains as well as Christian ones. Whatever the faith they have, they should be equally served. Should they face a crisis of faith, then they should be served if, and only if, they seek it. Sometimes they have to work through it on their own. Faith is a personal issue. The troops are just like the rest of us with different beliefs and should be treated like the rest of us, with the ability to choose of our own free will.

Hall became an atheist while deployed into the horrors of combat. How did this change the job he was willing to do, the fact he was willing to risk his life for the sake of this nation formed for religious freedom?

If you need any more evidence that forcing someone to believe was not what God wanted, then you have not read the Bible lately or skipped over the parts you didn't like.

I am a Chaplain, not in the military but in the service of God. I am required to serve all people with the love of Christ within me and meet the needs of people where they are and what they are. After all, that is what Christ did. When the Roman Centurion went to Christ to have his servant healed, Christ did not ask him to renounce his pagan Gods first. He did not ask the Roman to do anything more than what he did. He went to Christ with the firm belief Christ could heal his servant.

It was not my practice to pray in public and I still have a hard time doing it, but there are times when I have to do it. Faith to me has been so sacred that I feel too inadequate to verbalize it. My family did not pray at meal times on a daily basis, yet we felt blessed with what we had and prayed for what we lacked. I still pray in the morning, throughout the day and at night, but I pray silently communicating with God thru my spirit. Even at that, I cannot count the times when my faith was so challenged that I wondered what was the point of praying. My faith has been challenged, tested and tried my entire life. While I have not renounced God or Christ, I can understand how others can be brought to that point in their own lives. You cannot force faith back into them.

CNN - Mother Teresa: Angel of Mercy
Mother Teresa: Angel of Mercy. A tribute to the "Saint of the Gutters". Mother Teresa 1910-1997, From Macedonia to Calcutta

Mother Teresa had many times when she doubted God. When looking back at her life, what she witnessed and lived through, it's not hard to see how this could happen. What was truly remarkable about her was that she did not stop doing the work she felt called to do.

Hall did not stop wanting to do the job he felt called to do when he enlisted. Trying to force faith back into him was not the job of the military. If anything it may have prevented him from finding his way back on his own.

Trying to force atheists to believe in God or accept Christ will not work. Christ did not try to force anyone. You cannot guilt them into love. You cannot make their lives so miserable they want to seek what you claim to have. It does not work. What it does do is push people who may be leaning toward accepting God away from doing it. When was the last time you heard Billy Graham tell his volunteers to drag someone up to the front to accept Christ into their lives?


So how can it be that this nation, the safe haven for Pilgrims seeking a place where they could worship God according to their own calling, has become a place where anyone who does not worship a certain way, is treated like this?

Sgt. 1st Class William K. Beaver earns Silver Star

E-7 to receive Silver Star for actions in Iraq

By John Milburn - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jun 18, 2008 19:55:29 EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Army will honor a former Fort Riley sergeant this weekend for his valor in combat during action in Iraq that claimed the lives of two of his fellow soldiers.

Sgt. 1st Class William K. Beaver, 31, will be presented with the Silver Star, the Army’s third-highest honor for combat valor, during a ceremony at Fort Riley. He also will be reunited with other members of his military adviser team.

In January, the advisers were attacked by insurgents in Diyala Province. Capt. Thomas Casey, of Albuquerque, N.M., and Maj. Andrew Olmsted, of Colorado Springs, Colo., were killed.

Olmsted, who had been writing a blog from Iraq for the Rocky Mountain News, had asked a friend to post something Olmsted had written in the event he was killed.

Maj. Ed Callahan, a former adviser now training teams at Fort Riley, said Saturday’s event will be the first time Beaver has seen the members of the team that trained in Kansas since he left Iraq six months ago.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_silverstar_061808/

Longer deployments taking toll on soldiers

'The human psyche can only take so much'
Longer deployments taking toll on soldiers as combat stress, suicides, depression and family pressures soar
By Kirsten Scharnberg Tribune correspondent
May 5, 2008
FT. RILEY, Kan.—On this historic Army post where more than 7,000 soldiers have been deployed to Iraq on extended tours of duty, virtually everyone has a story about how the long absences have affected those back home.

The young wives who decide the lifestyle is too hard and pen "Dear John" letters before packing up.

The families that begin to unravel when a soldier comes home mentally or physically damaged from more than a year in combat.

The chaplains who work round-the-clock to staff new family intervention programs: for war-strained marriages, for suicide prevention, for kids missing their parents.

"The human psyche can only take so much," said Capt. Jeff Van Ness, a chaplain who returned from duty in Iraq just two weeks ago. "And a 15-month deployment seems to be where we really began to see some breaking points."

Just over a year ago, the Defense Department announced that the Army would shift from 12-month tours to 15-month tours to support a surge of forces into Iraq. Since then, there has been constant debate about how well that gambit worked militarily and politically.

But it is on Army installations like Ft. Riley, a sprawling base in the heart of Kansas, where officials are taking stock of the human toll these extended tours have taken on tens of thousands of Army families nationwide.

Suicide rates are up, with the Pentagon reporting that some 20 percent more troops committed suicide in 2007 than in 2006. Divorce rates, which have been escalating since 2003, remain at about 3.3 percent, up from 2.9 percent before the start of the war. Incidences of combat stress are soaring, with a new independent study finding that as many as 1 in 5 service members are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression, a reality that deeply affects their families. And numerous posts, including Ft. Riley, are beginning to study whether there are correlations between deployments and domestic assaults, sexual assaults and alcohol offenses.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-military-families_frimay05,0,7557849.story

Soldier Tim Sanders, proud of country, not of VA

Iraq vet a one-man picket against VA

By Mike Hall - The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP
Posted : Monday Apr 14, 2008 12:39:04 EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. — Walking up and down the sidewalk near the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center, Tim Sanders looks like a model for the “Army Strong” ad campaign.

Except, that is, for the placard he is holding high proclaiming, “Vets are losing their benefits.”

Sanders, an imposing 6-foot-3 inches tall, isn’t the picture of health he appears to be. After tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, he is considered 50 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He suffers physical, emotional and now bureaucratic problems.

For starters, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He also has back and knee problems from paratrooper duty.

“The transition from combat veteran to civilian was very difficult for me,” he said.

Now 32, he is entitled to care at the VA medical center and normally receives a VA check for $730 each month. This month his check was reduced to $196. He can’t pay his rent or other bills.

The VA asserted he owed money for medical expenses he incurred in 2006. The VA began retrieving the money from his monthly allotment. But Sanders insists he doesn’t owe the money and believes the error is being corrected, thanks to the efforts of a Veterans of Foreign Wars representative who went to bat for him.

Sanders still hasn’t seen the missing money, but even if it arrives soon, he is on a mission to bring public attention to what he considers the VA’s insensitivity to the needs of veterans like himself.

So, he continues picketing as a matter of principle.

“I believe our government is being a tyrant. I’m proud of my country. I’m not proud of my government,” he said.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_againstva_041208/

Wounded veterans battling for VA benefits

Anthony S. Bush / The Capital-Journal
Tim Sanders, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stands vigil at S.W. 21st and Gage near the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center in protest of the loss of benefits to veterans. Veterans, he says, aren't being taken care of.

His war is over, but not battle
Army veteran fights for his VA benefits
By Mike Hall
The Capital-Journal
Published Friday, April 11, 2008
Walking up and down the sidewalk near the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center, Tim Sanders looks like a model for the "Army Strong" ad campaign.

Except, that is, for the placard he is holding high proclaiming, "Vets are losing their benefits."

Sanders, an imposing 6-foot-3 inches tall, isn't the picture of health he appears to be. After tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, he is considered 50 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He suffers physical, emotional and now bureaucratic problems.

For starters, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He also has back and knee problems from paratrooper duty.

"The transition from combat veteran to civilian was very difficult for me," he said.

Now 32, he is entitled to care at the VA medical center and normally receives a VA check for $730 each month. This month his check was reduced to $196. He can't pay his rent or other bills.

The VA asserted he owed money for medical expenses he incurred in 2006. The VA began retrieving the money from his monthly allotment. But Sanders insists he doesn't owe the money and believes the error is being corrected, thanks to the efforts of a Veterans of Foreign Wars representative who went to bat for him.

Sanders still hasn't seen the missing money, but even if it arrives soon, he is on a mission to bring public attention to what he considers the VA's insensitivity to the needs of veterans like himself.
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http://cjonline.com/stories/041108/loc_267324204.shtml

Jay Fondren On A Mound of Faith

On a mound of faith
April 4, 2008

By Will Parchman
Sports editor
When Jay Fondren's wheelchair crests the Baylor Ballpark mound on Saturday to throw out the first pitch for Baylor's baseball game against the University of Kansas, not everyone will know his story, one that's equal parts tragic and triumphant.

But as a soldier with scars to show, he remembers all too well where he was a scant three years ago.

From his earliest memories, Fondren entertained thoughts about being a soldier. He'd been a talented soccer player in high school and showed proficiency for military life upon enlisting.

After beginning his service in March 2004, he was promoted to staff sergeant as a 24-year old in October of that year and appeared on a track for higher positions.

And then disaster struck and forever altered his course.


Bombs over Baghdad

While in a convoy in 2004 near the dangerous Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, a roadside bomb skidded below the undercarriage of Fondren's Humvee and detonated. It was the day before Thanksgiving. Fondren's lower body absorbed a direct hit.

As Fondren drifted in and out of consciousness, his squad-mates worked feverishly to shear off his 2-year-old wedding ring and cut through his riddled and bloodied battle fatigues.

"Hang in there!" the doctors shouted.

When a chaplain approached him at the aid station, ready to read him his last rites, he waved him off.

"Sir, I'm not going to die here," he said. "I told my wife before I left that I'd be back home."

Fondren lost both his legs in the blast, and severe shrapnel damage to his arms caused the amputation of his right thumb. But he was alive, and he'd return home like he promised.

When Fondren's wife Anne first heard the news, she cried for 10 minutes and "automatically knew" he'd lost something, a limb or perhaps something even deeper, something harder to quantify.

So when she first saw Fondren in Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C., the only thing she could think to do was pray.
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http://www.baylor.edu/lariat/news.php?action=story&story=50276