Deployed Soldier in Afghanistan, Life of the Parties Back Home,,,,Sort of

Permanently on parade! Soldier returned from Afghanistan to find he'd been on a simultaneous tour of duty at home after his friends took a cardboard cutout of him to weddings and parties so he wouldn't feel left out
US soldier sergeant Aaron Mast, 29, spent nine months in Afghanistan
He had a cardboard cutout of himself made for wedding he would miss
Friend's then took the model to every major event he couldn't attend
The cutout went to weddings, birthdays, and Halloween events
Daily Mail
By SAM MATTHEW FOR MAILONLINE
23 December 2014

Soldier Aaron Mast thought he had missed out on nine months of weddings, birthday parties and even Christmas while serving in Afghanistan.

But when the 29-year-old returned he discovered he had been on a simultaneous tour of duty at home after his friends took a cardboard stand-in of him to every big event.

Mr Mast had made the cutout for a friend's wedding that he couldn't make, but he was shocked to learn it became a project for his friends and family.

''It really sucked being away from my friends and family for such a long time and I hated missing out on big events like weddings and birthdays,' said the solider from Dover, Delaware, said.

'But I had no idea that it would turn into such an amazing project for all my friends and family to keep me in their thoughts while I was away.'

After enlisting in 2003, Mr Mast served two tours in Iraq, the first in 2005 and the second in 2008. Last March he was due to go overseas for his third tour as a sergeant in a communications unit when he realised he would be away for the marriage of his good friends Christina and JJ.

Fed up of missing out on wedding photos, Mr Mast decided to have cardboard cut-out of himself made and left it in the care of his friends so he could still feature in the snaps on their big day.
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Fallen Marine's Medals Stolen from Widow

Thieves take fallen Marine's medals
By David Hill, Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal
December 22, 2014

Cpl. Christopher D. Bordoni, a native of Ithaca, died in April 2012 from wounds suffered while serving with the Marines in Afghanistan.
(Photo: Courtesy photo)

"The Purple Heart was pinned on Christopher's bandages in the hospital just minutes before he died. The Marine Corps Achievement Medal of valor was presented to the family just a couple hours after we laid him to rest," his mother said.

Medals given to Cpl. Christopher Bordoni, the U.S. Marine from Ithaca, N.Y., who died from wounds suffered in Afghanistan, and his family were stolen during a break-in at his widow's North Carolina home.

Jessica Bordoni discovered the burglary when she came home Wednesday evening in Wilmington, N.C., and saw that the back door and a bedroom window were broken, according to Christopher Bordoni's father, Tim Bordoni, and mother, Carol Bordoni Sprague, both of Ithaca.

The thief or thieves took Christmas presents under the tree, earrings, a watch, clothes and other items, according to a Wilmington police incident report. But the biggest losses were Corporal Bordoni's Purple Heart and Achievement Medal with Valor awarded by the U.S. Marine Corps.

Christopher Bordoni died April 3, 2012, of wounds sustained the previous Jan. 18 while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan.
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Lockheed Contractor Must Repay $27.5M for Overcharging Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

Lockheed Contractor Must Repay $27.5M for Overcharging Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
Defense One
Charles S Clark
December 22, 2014

A defense contractor producing products and services for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan agreed on Friday to repay the government $27.5 million to settle overbilling charges brought under the False Claims Act.

The Justice Department announced on Friday that Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems overbilled the Pentagon for work performed by employees who “lacked required job qualifications” but whose work was billed at the rate for qualified ones, allegedly to inflate profits.
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War Ink Veterans Stories of War and Finding Peace

War Ink: Stories of war veterans “coming all the way home”
Richmond Confidential
Bonnie Chan
December 22, 2014

Jason Deitch has a tattoo on the underside of his forearm that reads, in three parts, “First I served. Then I healed. Now I serve that cause.”

Deitch is an Army veteran, military sociologist and veteran advocate whose tattoo encapsulates his life’s mission to help war veterans readjust to civilian life and “come all the way home.” Last year, along with Contra Costa County Library senior manager Chris Brown, Deitch embarked on a journey that would become his greatest piece of advocacy for veterans yet: a project called War Ink.

War Ink, which launched on Veterans Day, is an online multimedia exhibit that seeks to offer an authentic documentation of veterans’ experiences coming home from war. Using video, still photography, audio and text, the exhibit features Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans from across California – each with their own personal story, spelled out in ink on skin.

“Warfighter culture has become a very different thing than civilian culture, and a lot of the aspects of warfighter culture are antithetical to civilian culture,” Deitch said.

Deitch said a tenet and survival mechanism of military culture is a wariness of expressing pain and emotion – hence the nonverbal expression through body art common among war vets.

Army veteran Noah Bailey, who lost both legs below the knee during an IED attack in Afghanistan in 2005, has a tattoo on his chest of his Chuck Taylor shoes flying up to heaven.
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80 Veteran Families Received a Bit of Christmas

Veterans receive support, holiday meals for Christmas
Corpus Christi Caller Times
Michael Zamora
Dec 22, 2014

CORPUS CHRISTI - More than 80 families received a bit of Christmas on Monday as members of the American GI Forum handed out holiday meals at the American Legion Hall.

Patsy M. Vazquez-Contes with the Beatrice T. Perez Robstown Women's chapter of the American GI Forum said her organization partnered with H-E-B and various veterans groups to make Christmas Dinner Package Giveaway happen for the second year. She said often veterans and their families don't want to ask for help or don't think they deserve a donation for what they have done.

"This is just a very small token of appreciation to our military veterans and their families," Vazquez-Contes said. "This is the least we can do."

Vazquez-Contes said she reached out to politicians like County Commissioner Joe A. Gonzalez and State Rep. Abel Herrero to find veterans most in need.
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