"almost homeless"

Wearing 'almost homeless' sign, ex-executive seeks work

Paul Nawrocki says he's beyond the point where he cares about humiliation.

Paul Nowracki, jobless since February, stands on New York corners with a sign announcing his job search.

That's why he weekly takes a 90-minute train ride to New York, where he walks the streets wearing a sandwich board that advertises his plight: The former toy-industry executive needs a job.

"Almost homeless," reads the sign. "Looking for employment. Very experienced operations and administration manager."

Wearing a suit and tie under the sign, Nawrocki -- who was in the toy industry 36 years before being laid off in February -- stands on Manhattan corners for hours, hoping to pass resumes to interested passers-by.

"When you're out of work and you face having nothing -- I mean, having no income -- pride doesn't mean anything," Nawrocki said. "You need to find work. I have to take care of my family."

People look but don't often stop. A woman in the jewelry business paused as Nawrocki stood with his sign outside Grand Central Station recently.

"I feel sorry for him. I wish I could help him," she said. "I'll pray for him. I'll give him a prayer card."

U.S. nonfarm payrolls plunged by an astonishing 533,000 in November -- the worst job loss in 34 years -- the Labor Department reported Friday.

In addition to the 533,000 lost jobs, an additional 621,000 workers were pushed into part-time work and 422,000 simply dropped out of the labor force.
"This is almost indescribably terrible," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics. "The pace of job losses is accelerating alarmingly."
Over the past three months, 1.26 million jobs have been lost, a pace of job destruction exceeded only once since 1945.
"The threat of a widespread depression is now real and present," said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland.

And once again the devastating proof of the incompetence of those We Pay!

The Forgotten Storm

This week, almost three months after Hurricane Ike battered Texas, it was clear that the rebuilding and repair is happening far slower than the rest of the country imagines it to be. David Stall, the Shoreacres city manager we spoke with had a poignant observation in our Evening News piece when he mentioned that it seems like when the lights came back on in Houston, people just began to think that everything was all better. The facts are that for his community, and several others along the Texas coast, life is far from normal.

Coastal Texans pitch tents near padlocked FEMA trailers

When Hurricane Ike swallowed their beachfront home and all of their belongings, Darlene and Mark Pagels tried to hold it together.

They borrowed underwear and shoes. They slept in one-hour shifts at a local hospital. They ate free meals in a tent outside their church. And they waited, through September, then October, for a mobile home from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

When a FEMA trailer finally landed on the Pagels' property last week, it came with a padlocked door – and orders that they not move in until inspectors gave them the OK.

As the Economy Tanks Rapidly, and we still have Soldiers being killed and maimed in two occupations, add to All the rest that has happened, and not happened from the countries elected leaders, what is on the mind of the one sitting in the Oval Office and on our dime, along with his most loyal supporters, same ole same ole, Nothing, except what is most important to them:

‘Bush Legacy Project’

There’s an ongoing Bush legacy project that’s been meeting in the White House, really, with senior advisers, Karl Rove, Karen Hughes has been involved, current senior Bush administration advisers and they are looking at how to sort of roll out the President’s legacy.

As the minions of spin and propaganda are given their marching orders and talking points from this meeting of the goper minds, making sure it's spread far and wide and stated over and over, embeding the re-visionist history into the minds of their 'brownshirts', and hoping the historians, nixon reducs, but much bigger task!

Where bush retires to, clearing phony brush is to taxing:

Where bush, and cronies, need to live for us to deter future crimes:

We Can't make It Here

Brother Can You Spare a Dime

Five Blackwater Guards To Face Massacre Charges Next Week

Guards Told to Surrender to the FBI by Monday on Manslaughter, Assault Counts

Five Blackwater guards have been told to surrender to the FBI by Monday to face federal manslaughter and assault charges connected to the shooting deaths of 17 civilians at an traffic circle in Iraq last year, ABC News has learned.

Read Rest Here

Diary of a Suicide: Iraq Veteran

For two years Jason Ermer fought to make it home from Iraq. Last New Year’s Eve, he gave up.

It was just after midnight on Dec. 31, 2007, and bitterly cold outside, when two Ogden police officers knocked on the door of Jason Ermer’s home.

Earlier that night, Danny Murchie, an addictions counselor at the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Salt Lake City office, had called Ogden police and asked for a courtesy check on Ermer, his 28-year-old client, a recent Iraq war veteran. Murchie had talked with Ermer and feared he might harm himself.

When no one answered at the Ermer home, police followed footprints in the snow a few blocks into the Ogden Canyon foothills. Near a large boulder, a man’s body lay in the snow, blood pooling near his head. His breathing was slow and gargly.

But Jason was scarcely the same man who had enlisted three and a half years earlier. He brought back to Utah constant pain from a parachuting injury to his neck and lower back, a growing addiction to painkillers and Iraq-fueled nightmares that wouldn’t let him sleep at night. One particularly graphic flashback plagued him—the last terrified look of an Iraqi child, who fell beneath the wheels of a Humvee Jason was driving near Mosul.

When he could hardly function anymore, Jason’s family says, he voluntarily entered the VA system for treatment. But the VA, after helping him with counseling, ultimately added insult to his injuries. In the early hours of Thanksgiving Day 2007, staff members suspected the confused veteran was high. In the emergency room, Jason later told his parents, he was held down and forcibly catheterized by several nurses and security personnel to obtain a urine sample for a drug test. His parents later obtained medical records from the VA that confirmed Jason’s story. The test, his parents add, came back negative. “Now I know what a woman feels like being raped,” he told his wife afterwards in tears. One month later, Jason was dead.

Jason was buried in frozen ground in Roy City Cemetery on Jan. 5, 2008. A military honor guard attended. As the last notes of Taps faded away under an overcast sky, two soldiers picked up the corners of the American flag draped over the casket and folded it into a triangle. A third pressed it to his chest, tucking in the edges. He knelt down before Brandi, then gave her the flag. She broke down in tears as Jason’s parents looked on.
Graveside service video below, provided by family

RIP Brother Jason, RIP

Read The Diary Here

Breaking: Fragging Charge Aquitted

U.S. Soldier Acquitted In "Fragging" Trial
National Guardsman Cleared Of Murder Charges In Deaths Of Two Superior Officers At Iraqi Base

(AP) A soldier was acquitted of murder Thursday in the 2005 bombing deaths of two superiors in Iraq, triggering loud outbursts and gasps from the slain officers' families.

A military jury found National Guard Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez not guilty of two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of Capt. Phillip Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis Allen. Both officers were killed when an anti-personnel mine detonated in a window of their room at a U.S. military base in Iraq in June 2005.

Really don't know how breaking this is, I just caught it at the CBS site and it's a recent post.

Have not seen it elsewhere as yet.

Witnesses had testified that Esposito and Martinez were at odds and clashed regularly because the officer thought Martinez was lax in his operation of the unit's supply room.

The Army reported hundreds of "fragging" incidents between 1969 and 1971, but only four soldiers have been court-martialed or charged with killing a fellow soldier since the Iraq war began in 2003.

I'm going to have to see some more on this, but in following it the recent reports didn't look good for the prosecution.

UpDate:

Experts:
'Fragging' verdict shows system works

"Invisible Wounds" a Documentary and Michelle Obama

Yesterday as I was searching out a few things I came across a recent documentary that was up on the UPI site in three parts, not long but another real good look at a subject many of us, especially Veterans, have been fighting a long battle to get into the public conscious, and stuck there once in, with the realization of the hidden damages, wounds, that Wars cause to those that are sent to occupy and the occupied.

American Life TV network brought this documentary into the homes, it aired on Oct 21st at 8pm est.. The following is what is posted on their site:

“INVISIBLE WOUNDS” ADDRESSES VETERANS POST TRAUMATIC STRESS SYNDROME

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that is developed after exposure to a traumatizing experience that is either physically harmful or threatening to a person. Events that cause PTSD include horrific accidents, natural disasters, personal attacks and most commonly military combat. People with this disorder usually have a difficult time controlling their emotions, feelings and thoughts. Frequently nightmares and frightening reoccurring images and memories cause people with this disorder to either feel emotionally numb or be easily startled. Following the Vietnam War, PTSD began to be seen and diagnosed much more frequently in soldiers. Since the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the U.S. government has been reviewing whether to provide benefits and compensation to those soldiers diagnosed with PTSD. Following the entry of soldiers into Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Marine Corps has instituted programs to help marines readjust to civilian life after returning from battle. In addition the Army has developed a medical program called Battlemind to aid and assist soldiers in their recovery from PTSD after their military involvement.

Below, and you can visit to watch all three parts there, is what is up over at UPI. But I bring the video's to you in the three parts with run times. They combine footage and veterans from WWII, Vietnam, and OIF/OEF Veterans along with a couple of Veterans Administration personal in discussion of PTSD.

Our Veterans: "Invisible Wounds"

A Documentary on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

"Invisible Wounds" is the powerful and moving documentary that portrays the suffering of combat veterans and their families from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Interviews with returning soldiers and their families bring to light the rarely discussed challenges they face back home. Further interviews with Vietnam and World War II vets add perspective to the problem, showing that it is not something new.

You can also watch all three video's at UPI site

"Invisible Wounds" Part 1 {This is about 11min long}

"Invisible Wounds" Part 2 {This is about 81/2min long}

"Invisible Wounds" Part 3 {This is 41/2min long}

Why Michelle Obama's name in the subject title, you might ask. Well we know that early on Barack Obama, the In-Coming President of these United States, though I'm beginning to wonder just how United, apparently was not only reading what was posted on the online political blogs but was also posting up his own thoughts on sites like Daily KOS, you can view his
two '05 posts here. We also know he likes his technology, so I'm only assuming here but I would think that Michelle also surfs the net and reads what others have on their minds, especially as to what the important matters are that face our Country and it's people, if not them than those who worked with them on their Campaign.

It became very clear, as Michelle traveled around the Country, that due to the two theaters of occupation this country has engaged in these last seven years that Military and Veterans Health Care and their Families were a Topic that Michelle has placed at the top of her agenda as the new First Lady of this country.

I've said it before, that with this technology, the interest in researching from us ordinary folks, combining with the ability to set up individual sites of information and thoughts, as well as sharing them with countless others on the interactive blogs, be they on specific subject material or combined with loads of other political and non political subjects, has forced what we call the main stream media outlets to start doing their own research and reporting through good ole leg work and investigative reporting.

Because of all of this a subject we Veterans have been fighting to get into the publics conscious has been Post Traumatic Stress or Combat PTSD, having little success as to the greater majority, but that has been growing rapidly these last few years. The others, concerning those of us who serve and are Advocates and Activist of, are the Veterans Health Care as well as the matters concerning the Families of those serving and those who have served.

Our success in getting these important subjects into the apathetic minds of the American Public, as well as the Worlds Populations, on matters like PTSD and TBI, seems to now have not only an ear to listen but a force to make things happen right at the top in the peoples White House in President Elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

Below you will find a few of the articles about Michelle and her start of the National Dialog and Actions planned. She will need our Help, as will Barack, on not only these important issues but the many others as we try and bring this country back from the brink of falling over the cliff of total societal destruction we have been led to!

Bolster military families

Thanks to Michelle Obama, the issue of their struggles is finally getting the attention it deserves

Michelle Obama has yet to move into the White House, but she has already begun to do our country a great service by beginning a critical national conversation about the struggles of many military families.

Thanks to intense media coverage, the public knows about the very serious health problems of returning war veterans and the difficulties they face returning to the work force. But the public is far less aware of the everyday difficulties that confront so many military families - whether their service members go to war or not.

Bases brace for surge in stress-related disorders

15,000 returning from war; one base nearly doubles its mental health staff

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Some 15,000 soldiers are heading home to this sprawling base after spending more than a year at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and military health officials are bracing for a surge in brain injuries and psychological problems among those troops.

Facing prospects that one in five of the 101st Airborne Division soldiers will suffer from stress-related disorders, the base has nearly doubled its psychological health staff. Army leaders are hoping to use the base's experiences to assess the long-term impact of repeated deployments.

Michelle Obama and Military Families

The incoming first lady is poised to make veterans' affairs one of her top issues -- and we could all take a cue from her.

The experiences of vets like my cousin Lang are about to gain more prominence. In recent interviews with major media outlets -- from 60 Minutes to Glamour Magazine -- Michelle Obama has been hinting that she may use her access and power come January to improve the state of affairs for military families and veterans. When Steve Kroft of CBS asked how she would "imprint" the job of first lady, Michelle Obama responded, "Well, the thing we've learned, you know, as we've watched this campaign, is that people, women, are capable of doing more than one thing well at the same time. And I've, you know, had to juggle being mom-in-chief and having a career for a long time. The primary focus for the first year will be making sure that the kids make it through the transition. But there are many issues that I care deeply about. I care about military families."

Michelle Obama first in line to be criticized

She’ll face public scrutiny but can turn to former first ladies such as Rosalynn Carter for advice

“The primary focus for the first year will be making sure that the kids make it through the transition,” she said, sitting alongside her husband. “But there are many issues that I care deeply about.” She cited two that she focused on during the campaign: Military families and the work-family balance.

And I pass this announcement on as well, to take place this afternoon, for those who might be interested:

PTS in Military Families‏

Coming Home Project Event

Join us this Thursday, Dec. 4th 12-2pm pdt
For A Live Video Teleconference
Treating Post Traumatic Stress
in Military Families

Herbst Hall at UCSF, Mount Zion Campus
1600 Divisadero St. - 2nd floor

The impacts of war-related trauma don't reside solely in the Soldier,
Marine, Sailor, Airman or woman. Because humans are wired to
connect, the ripples radiate out and affect many, in particular those
close to the veteran: including his or her spouse, children, siblings,
parents, marital relationship, extended family, and significant others.
In this training, two experts on the dynamics of post traumatic stress
in military families and their treatment will provide a clear review that
will help us understand and treat the impacts on couples and families
of PTSD.

***
If you have questions related to the topic, you can have them
addressed on air by sending them to: Coming Home Project

Viewing options:

* In Person at UCSF,Mount Zion {NO REGISTRATION NECESSARY}

* Watch live online or on Dish Network channel 9412.

* To view past programs go to UCTV's website

Part of "Treating the Invisible Wounds of War: Iraq and Afghanistan
Veterans, Families and Care Providers" series, a collaboration among
the Coming Home Project, UCSF, and UCTV.

"Stain on America" - Much More Than Just That, Much More....

* US Interrogator in Iraq Says Torture Policy Has Led to Deaths of Thousands of American Soldiers *

We speak with a former special intelligence operations officer who led an interrogations team in Iraq two years ago. His nonviolent interrogation methods led Special Forces to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He has written a new book, How to Break a Terrorist: The US Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq. The publication date for the book was delayed for six weeks due to the Pentagon's vetting of it. The soldier wrote it under the pseudonym, Matthew Alexander, for security reasons. He says the US military's use of torture is responsible for the deaths of thousands of US soldiers by inspiring foreign fighters to kill Americans.

Listen/Watch/Read

The Interrogator and Author was also on MSNBC last night, you can Watch The Interview Here

I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq

I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The large majority of suicide bombings in Iraq are still carried out by these foreigners. They are also involved in most of the attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans.

"A veteran is someone who,at one point in his life wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life".

"that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic"

Action Plan for each Veteran esp. Gulf WAR I

The OpEd:

The Ghosts of Desert Storm

The Plan:

Veterans all especially Gulf War Veterans Please post this on websites and forward to others that you know. We need a massive effort. The Agent Orange Vets and Atomic vets went thru this and unfortunately we are 17 almost 18 years in to this battle against our own government. I believe each veterans, their family members and spouses can have a huge impact if we all respond now. I am asking for three simple actions that each of you have the ability to do. If you think you cannt then think of General Mich, Major Donnelly and his family they were severly ill and in motorized chairs with respiratory support but they did not give up.

We may have gotten a bum deal so far but this is not about one of us individually but all of us and for the survivors that have already lost a loved one. This is about making a change now that will not be forgotten! You can do these three things from where you live for very little cost! But if we all do it in each state it must result in an impact!

For some reason each of us has some mission in our larger lives and maybe this is it.
For the current and future!

1. Tommorrow or tonight I am requesting each of the gulf war veterans and their families to write a letter to the editor of your local paper...you can find them all on line and can submit them on line. The American people need to hear from you the injuried what it has been like!!!! Tell them what your veterans day or Thanksgiving was really like dont hold back let the emotions and truth flow!

2. Then I also am requesting that if you live in your capitol of your state to hand deliver a copy of the downloaded RAC report to your governor.

Write a short letter and ask them to address the issue in an editorial, ask them to direct their legislatures to have one hearing with their Senate and House VA committee at State level.....ask for a resolution from your state house and signed by governor that 17 years is long enough that the gulf war veterans should get compensated and rapidly. Ask them to support the call for medical research funding thru the DOD CDMRP program as is explained in the report.

3. Then ask them the Governor to have a meeting with the gulf war veterans and the chancellor of your medical school in your state....Share the RAC report with them....Ask for a meeting with the heads of their departments....neurology, hematology, cardiology, immunology, bio chemistry, pharmacology.....Present the findings to them and describe to them the symptoms and problems you have had. WE need to actively find the best of the best to submit research grants in the next cycle....we just had one....but that is okay you want them discussing between departments and getting informed and forming a interdisciplinary team to work together on their submissions. Remember biomarkers, diagnosis, treatment trials(small at first to prove the point and effectiveness)....
YOU CAN MAKE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT AS ILL GULF WAR VETERANS THAT Dont just want compensation but CARE and treatment and a way to get better and have a quality of life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is how you can really have a mission!

This battle is not done and each of you can play a significant important role to help not only yourselves but other gulf war veterans.

Enjoy the article below and please get energized because to carry this thru and get the job done is going to take all of us working and doing a little each day....

YOU CAN AND MUST DO THIS...a
handful and a committeee RAC/Adv comm on GWV can not accomplish this without you

Sincerely,
Denise
DSNurse1.

Hmmm, WBT gives the boot to conservative

Could this be part of the 'Change' we're not only looking for but this Country needs?

Just caught a short report on Charlotte's local news at WCNC 36, not up on the site yet, about the firing of a Conservative Radio talk show host, one Jeff Katz.

Don't know him and never listened to him, frankly conservative radio and tv news shows give me a freakin headache, and I don't get headaches, no news just blathering opinion, which we find way too much all over the span of the mainstream outlets now, as they say "like assholes, everyones got one!".

As it wasn't up on the WCNC TV news site I visited the Charlotte Observer where I found this:

Jeff Katz, whose conservative zeal and verbal swordsmanship have been a mainstay of afternoon drive time for two years, was fired Monday by WBT-AM (1110).

Rick Jackson, WBT general manager, said he could not discuss the reason.

Which is also what the TV News report stated, and the only hint given for the possible firing was this:

In 2007, a local Muslim group called for an advertising boycott of his show, complaining Katz spewed hateful remarks about their religion.

Could that be the reason, or just one of many? Are we going to start seeing a return towards journalism and discussion, respectable debate of idea's and ideologies? Could what has been sold as conservative opinion blathered over the public owned airwaves actually be turning to real conservative ideal's and not hate talk and the drum beat of fear?

Maybe maybe not, but we can hope we start seeing and living in a more civil society with moral standards, can't we!

Katz, 44, was named to the “Heavy Hundred” list of top talk show hosts in the nation by the radio trade magazine Talkers this year, but his combative nature with callers who disagreed with him led to occasional on-air friction.

Katz will be replaced by Tara Servatius, a Creative Loafing columnist. The paper 'Creative Loafing' went defunct, from my understanding, not to long ago as did the many found in cities around the country. I'm north of Charlotte so only was able to grab it on rare occasions, but it's still online as I'm sure the others are as well.

is there a trend starting, hopefully, towards real journalism with facts not conjecture? Maybe this description of Servatius may shed a little light, at least on the local scene here in Charlotte:

Jackson said Servatius, who comes from a journalistic background, will bring a new style to the afternoon shift.

“She spends hours combing through the files researching her points,” he said. “People want facts rather than someone spouting an opinion. We may see a new kind of a talk show host in Tara.”

Hummm, sounds abit Maddow or KO, and a some others, style. Or a shift to what most NPR type discussions are, you know real journalism, real debate.

Apparently this afternoon Charlotte can find out abit more as

Jackson said he and Bill White, WBT's program director, will go on the air Tuesday in Katz's afternoon shift to talk to listeners about the change.

“It's kind of a face-the-music thing for us, for people who want to call and vent,” he said.

Could that last sentence be another hint into the firing, maybe after he might have been carrying the hate/fear message way to far? Will other outlets start seeing the "face-the-music" meme?

You can stream the station live and listen in this afternoon, this Katz spot was the 3PM to 6 PM EST slot, to find out more.

Lets hope it's a trend that cleans up the airwaves and the 'Change' we need in that area of this Society!!

Torture, Not Acceptable!!!

I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq

I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The large majority of suicide bombings in Iraq are still carried out by these foreigners. They are also involved in most of the attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans.

Snip

Americans, including officers like myself, must fight to protect our values not only from al-Qaeda but also from those within our own country who would erode them. Other interrogators are also speaking out, including some former members of the military, the FBI and the CIA who met last summer to condemn torture and have spoken before Congress -- at considerable personal risk.

We're told that our only options are to persist in carrying out torture or to face another terrorist attack. But there truly is a better way to carry out interrogations -- and a way to get out of this false choice between torture and terror.

Snip

1980s: Iraq: Reagan Administration

CNN found that intervention is often weighed against political and economic costs.

Declassified U.S. government documents show that while Saddam Hussein was gassing Iraqi Kurds, the U.S. opposed punishing Iraq with a trade embargo because it was cultivating Iraq as an ally against Iran and as a market for U.S. farm exports.

According to Peter Galbraith, then an idealistic Senate staffer determined to stop Hussein from committing genocide, the Reagan administration "got carried away with their own propaganda. They began to believe that Saddam Hussein could be a reliable partner."

Once-secret Reagan administration documents on Iraq

NPR Journalists Narrowly Escape Car Bombing

Ever wonder why we get so little actual reporting from the streets of Baghdad or the rest of Iraq and even Afghanistan, this may explain the reality of why!!

NPR.org, November 30, 2008 · An NPR correspondent and three members of NPR's Iraqi staff narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt in Baghdad on Sunday after a hidden "sticky" bomb exploded underneath their parked, armored BMW.

The car exploded in a pillar of flame and was totally destroyed. No one was injured in the attack.

“I was supposed to die here, but it seems my life is longer than this. I will be back, habibi.”

NPR videographer Ali Hamdani

Watch a video shot about 30 minutes after the bombing.

Listen: Ivan Watson reports on the neighborhood and bombing on 'Morning Edition'


Listen: Ivan Watson Discusses The Attack On 'All Things Considered'


Photo Gallery

Some of the Other Realities of War..

A visitor no family wants

A knock at the door … two soldiers in Class A uniforms standing outside. It’s something every family of a deployed soldier dreads.

And The Family

Donovan Brooks / Special to Stripes
Avery Gamboa, 4, places a flower on his father's grave

Alone and left to plan a new future

Spouses of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan who want to stay in their overseas homes face a complex set of requirements to remain longer than the typical 90-day limit following a spouse’s death, military officials said. Donovan Brooks / Special to Stripes
The grave of Army Staff Sgt. Joseph D. Gamboa on Guam, where his wife and five children moved a few months after he was killed in Iraq.

The Women Who Serve,

To Often Not Mentioned

Last night, on CBS 60min, they had a report on about an very young Lady who is an Army Medic.

How Pvt. Monica Brown Won A Silver Star

Some, in her unit even, question her receiving the 'Silver Star', I don't especially if what they all say happened. She's a professional, despite her age, in the Military Medical Professions and will continue to be so, in or out of the military!

Lara Logan Interviews A Young Woman Who Won A Silver Star For Exceptional Valor At Age 18

Private Monica Brown is only the second woman to be awarded the Silver Star since World War II. She's an Army medic who risked her own life to save two critically wounded paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan.

Under Army regulations, women cannot be assigned to frontline combat units. But, as correspondent Lara Logan reports, in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq today, that's exactly where they often end up.

Some male soldiers aren't so happy about that, including members of Pvt. Brown's own unit. But her superior officers say she is a hero - a hero who earned one of the military's highest awards for exceptional valor when she was only 18 years old.

We seem to always talk about Soldiers who are male, as the majority are, and often leave out mention of the women who serve and especially those who are killed or maimed, and especially those who show Heroics!