Home for Christmas before Afghanistan!!! {UPDATED}

UpDate: It was announced that they've gotten their goal of the $35,000 needed and will be traveling home for Christmas before shipping out to Afghanistan!!!

These soldiers are coming from pretty high unemployment number counties in South Carolina. Why they're training in Wisconsin only the military can give that answer, what with all the bases in North Carolina and South Carolina you'd think they's have had regional training spots closer to home. This is also probably hitting other units in other parts of the country as well.

Christmas homecoming in jeopardy for Fort Mill soldiers

More than $35,000 must be raised to get guardsmen home before leaving for Afghanistan

But if wives and mothers like them can't raise at least $35,000, their men might not get home for Christmas before leaving for Afghanistan.

Snip

Guardsmen have dealt with similar situations in past deployments.

Under federal military guidelines, neither the S.C. National Guard nor the Army can pay for transportation for the soldiers on leave, said Lt. Col. Pete Brooks, spokesman for the guard. The government can pay for leave after deployment — such as travel home from the war zone — but not before the soldiers are actually deployed overseas.

Snip

The Fort Mill unit as a whole went to Iraq in 2003-04 and many went to Afghanistan in 2007-08. Many in the unit are readying for their second or even third deployment in the past six years to an Afghanistan war zone that is the most dangerous it has ever been.

Bonnie Hoagland, with a husband and two sons in the unit, said the system needs to be changed to allow the federal government to cover travel costs after the soldiers leave home before deployment.

“I don't know any families right now — at this time of year, in this economy — who have that kind of money to come home,” Hoagland said.

Snip

Want to Help?

To donate to the Fort Mill National Guard unit's return home for Christmas, contact:

Wanda Bennett with the Family Readiness Group at 803-519-6292

The Rock Hill National Guard Armory, Family Readiness Group, 126 Airport Road, Rock Hill, S.C., 29730.

The National Guard Association of South Carolina, 132 Pickens St., Columbia, S.C. 29205; 803-254-8456 or National Guard Association of South Carolina...>>>>>

In searching for the news video of the above story, couldn't find it yet at the local station I caught it on, I found another from early last month about North Carolina's Operation Home Front

Operation Homefront helps military families during holidays



The article link gives you what's said in the video if you can view that.

Word is like many groups that seek donations for a whole host of issues many helping the Soldiers, Families and Veterans are hurting as well. These shouldn't be having any problems, but it comes down to the citizens of this country and will cheer on these Wars then Occupations of Choice but if called upon to Sacrifice Themselves they go all 'teabag' meme's with waving "Don't Tread On Me" flags and packin loaded guns in large gatherings with children around!!

If the Military called for funding all these, outside of the Bloated Defense Budgets that no one complains about, these same types and like minded would be screamin foul just like they will in false outrage that soldiers and families of need to resort to asking for donations to have time with their families before going off to the long running occupation of others!!

You may want to find out if your state or locale have similar programs and if they too are struggling with funding.

Postage and Other Economic Outrages Against Soldiers

Letters, never a letter

I get no letters in the mail

I've been forgotten, yes, forgotten

Now I'm a soldier, a lonely soldier

Away from home through no wish of my own

-Bobby Vinton

I recently found that families of military people pay regular postage and shipping costs when they mail packages to soldiers in a war zone.

America ships soldiers off to Afghanistan and Iraq for free. If you come back in a body bag, they ship that back for free, too.

However, we make families who send soldiers socks, food and underwear pay shipping costs.

In a world where we spend billions to bail out Wall Street bankers and run trillion dollar government deficits, our government makes the families of soldiers pony up for postage.

That's not right...>>>>>

More Local Reporting Like This on S-22 Needed

Just caught a short local report from NBC 2 in Fort Myers Fla

Check in there every now and than as one of my sisters, and her family, live in the area, just to see what's happening.

The report was titled: Honoring vets through a new GI bill

There's a video at the report page that says the same as the written, so you can read and or watch.

A bill now sitting on President George W. Bush's desk aims to expand the GI Bill and improve the path to college for those who serve. NBC2 looked at the costs to attend Southwest Florida's two largest colleges and why many claim the current GI Bill just doesn't add up.

That's the leadin.

This is a comment from a WWII Vet:

"Just go back to World War II. Look at how many people got educated and the type of people that did get educated that would never have been able to do that. An awful lot of good people came out of that GI Bill program," said Colom of the Marine Corp League.

What built this country, and it's economy, were the Technical Trades, manufacturing, innovation, product developement, etc., and those that learned them, worked them, started the small companies that grew. If we as a Nation are to sustain the economic engine good paying Technical jobs should still be the mainstay. They aren't so these types of technical schools, like the industries have disappeared.

So, as they disappeared, retraining was ans is needed. Retraining of older workers is a must, but Training of those comming back from Serving is even more important!

As this young Vet states:

"All the veterans today, they are coming back, they're all beat up, they need schooling," said Marine Corp Veteran Rob Oney.

S. 22: Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007

An Iraqi Gives His Side

Let me get this straight, we invaded a Country for No Reason At All, or if you are to believe the civilian and some military leadership a Number of Reasons that Kept Changing!

We're now into the Sixth Year and We're Training{?} a new Iraq Military Force as well as a Police Force!

Well lets hear, once again, the Iraqi side,

Desertion or a Break? An Iraqi Gives His Side

He was not deserting his men, the Iraqi Army captain insisted Wednesday. He had left his 70 soldiers in the midst of a battle in Sadr City the day before to take his long-overdue three-day break.

Hey everyone needs abit of R&R in the heat of battle, in ones own country, against ones own people, which probably played more into it than just a long-overdue break.

He had not been paid in two months and was overwhelmed by the problems of commanding his company, part of the 1st Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division. He was considering not going back to the fight in Sadr City.

Not Paid? Who's running this Debacle, the one who thinks he's the Greatest CEO ever to come along? Sounds like thw way he ran his other businesses, All His Life, that daddies friends had to keep bailing him out of.

I'd take more than a Break if I didn't get paid, I'd send my resume to the competition, seems they're getting better funding or at least better with the capital they got.

On the phone they had read a roster of names of the men in his battalion. “I don’t even have access to that,” he said. “They could only have gotten it from my senior commanders.

“Our senior officials, they are thieves,” he said.

Hey maybe We Are Training them right, at least at the civilian and military leadership positions!

“The Mahdi Army, they have much better equipment than we do.”

He said most of his men had only two 30-round ammunition magazines each, magazines that sell for less than $12 on the streets of Baghdad.

“During the battle, my soldiers’ bullets are finished and they have to stop fighting,” he said. While the militia has mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, he said, “Three of my six machine guns are not working, and I have no mortars.”

Lesson of Occupation: Train, but don't supply, a countries, you invaded, forces, so you can keep your own forces in place to kill and be killed while leadership and supply contractors reap Huge Contracts with Huge Bottom Lines of Profit!

“Most of my soldiers have family inside Sadr City,” he said. “Their tribes and cousins and relatives are there. They can’t fight in Sadr City.”

Lesson two: Kill and Maim tens of thousands of the innocent citizens of the country occupied than tell citizens of same they now Must Fight Against Each Other while Puppet Government, set up by occupiers, Reap their share of the Blood Money!

Everyones 'Happy' but the Citizens of the Country who now Live their daily lives in Death, Destruction,Homeless, Families Destroyed, Neighbors Destroyed, Neighborhoods Destroyed and Walled In, Culture and Country Destroyed, Innocence Destroyed,.....................................................................!!!

Oh, and Torture anyone you wish, creating the Growing Hatreds of the Past Failed Policies around this planet, Towards Us!

Oh

And you might want to read this:

Bush Defense Secretary Admits 9/11 Was Blowback

“We were attacked from Afghanistan in 2001, and we are at war in Afghanistan today, in no small measure because of mistakes this government made--mistakes I among others made in the end game of the anti-Soviet war there some 20 years ago.”