Tag Archive
The Lighter Side of Service
Sometimes a soldier just needs to take a moment off and find the good things in life to laugh at – especially when on tour. As any one who knows someone in the military knows, our soldiers are often stuck “hurrying up to wait”. This is how they fill that downtime. Visit this website to... »
Surrounded By Taliban, But He Took Them On
This is the face of a truly brave man. I’m sure many, when faced with the challenges he faced, would not have been able to act with the level of bravery and skill that Staff Sgt. Lincoln Dockery did. It all started on an ordinary day in eastern Afghanistan. Dockery’s platoon had been ordered to... »
Soldier Killed In Helmand Explosion
Our thoughts are with this young man’s family. The latest British soldier to die in Afghanistan has been named as Corporal Simon Hornby, 29, from the 2nd Battalion, the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment. Cpl Hornby was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol in the Nad-e-Ali area of Helmand... »
Soldier Walks 1,000 Miles For Iraqi Children
Sergeant Gunnar Swanson joined the US Army and began serving in Iraq in 2003. During his time there, he and his fellow soldiers spent many hours playing with the local Iraqi children. They gave the kids toys and snacks, shared each other’s language, and played games with them. But months later, war reared its... »
Marine “Female Engagement Teams” Help In Afghanistan
I found this very interesting. These women are able to walk the lines between two cultures and open communications in places that our male soldiers have only had glimpses of. I’ve been reading a recent internal summary of how Marine “Female Engagement Teams,” or FETs, have worked in Afghanistan. The bottom line is that done... »
Man Turns Himself Into A Living Memorial
The picture says it all. Former soldier Shaun Clark made a promise to tattoo the name of every soldier lost in Afghanistan, and he’s holding true to that promise. He now has 232 names permanently inked onto his back. Mr Clark, who served with the 8th Battalion Light Infantry Regiment from 1989 to 1996, was... »
Women In Combat
As time goes on, more and more women are signing up to serve in the military. In previous years, the roles these women played were, more often than not, set far from the front lines. Now as they gain more traction in the military factions, women are beginning to appear on the front lines... »
Explosives Expert Killed While Defusing a Bomb
Staff Sergeant Olaf Sean George Schmid died at age 30 when he was attempting to defuse an IED (improvised explosive device) in Afghanistan this past Saturday. He had been deployed to Afghanistan only five months ago. In that time he had made safe 64 IEDs and found 11 bomb-making centres. His family and fellow soldiers... »
Soldier’s Sacrifice
I found this lovely essay written by a soldier’s mother. She has been lucky and hasn’t had the misfortune of losing her son in the field that so many military moms are facing. She reflects on this, and makes comparisons of her son to another young soldier who recently lost his life in Afghanistan. Click... »
Afghanistan In Photos
I found this site with some pretty spectacular photos from the front in Afghanistan. It helps give the sense of what the men and women in service are dealing with on a day to day basis. A window into their daily lives in service. Scenes from Afghanistan: The Sacramento Bee »