President Praises Fort Campbell Troops for Role in Terror War
November 25, 2008
Bush Praises Fort Campbell Troops for Key Role in Terror War
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25, 2008 – President George W. Bush kicked off his last Thanksgiving week as commander in chief today by thanking the soldiers of Fort Campbell, Ky., for the key role they’ve played in the war on terror and telling them they’re what he’ll miss most when he leaves office.
Bush visited the home of the 101st Airborne Division, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and 5th Special Forces Group soldiers, many recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Among them were the “Screaming Eagles” division’s 2nd Brigade, in the midst of returning early from Iraq because of decreased violence there.
“You have performed with courage and distinction on the front lines of the war on terror,” Bush told the soldiers, who erupted into cheers, applause and “hoo-ahs” throughout the address.
“You have returned on success,” he continued. “On behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to welcome home the Bastogne Brigade, the Strike Brigade, the Rakkasans Brigade. Job well done!”
The president praised the troops for actions that he said not only have brought new hope and opportunity to Iraq and Afghanistan, but also helped to make the United States more secure.
“[You] have gone on the offense in the war against these killers and thugs,” he said. “You have taken the battle of the terrorists overseas so we do not have to face them here in the United States.”
Meanwhile, as part of “the great ideological struggle of our time,” the Fort Campbell soldiers have brought a more hopeful vision of justice and liberty, he said. “With the soldiers at Fort Campbell out front, the forces of freedom and liberty will prevail,” he said.
The president recalled his first Thanksgiving visit to Fort Campbell, just two months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a month after the war in Afghanistan had started. Fort Campbell’s Rakkasans Brigade was the first conventional brigade to join the battle.
Since then, the 101st Airborne Division has continued to play a major role in the terror war, most recently as part of the troop surge in Iraq.
“Our troops conducted this surge with resolve and with valor, and nobody knows the impact better than the Screaming Eagles,” Bush told the soldiers. He noted the huge turnaround they helped to bring to Iraq’s Salahuddin province, which was struggling to recover from the Golden Mosque bombing when the division’s Bastogne Brigade deployed there last year.
“But you partnered with the Iraqis to restore security. Schools and businesses are now open. The Golden Mosque is being rebuilt,” Bush said. “And throughout the province, hope is returning. The terrorists are being driven out. The Iraqi people have the Screaming Eagles to thank.”
Bush noted similar successes taking place across Iraq, with violence and sectarian violence down dramatically and 13 of the country’s 18 provinces now under Iraqi security forces responsibility.
“Slowly but steadily, economic and political progress is taking place,” he said. “And Iraqis are working together for a more hopeful future.”
Bush vowed to continue reducing U.S. forces in Iraq as conditions on the ground continue to improve, a strategy he calls “return on success.”
So far, a Marine expeditionary unit, two Marine battalions and six Army brigades, including the Rakkasans, have returned from Iraq without replacement. “By the end of January, we’ll have brought home more than 4,000 additional troops,” Bush said.
Meanwhile, the president cited progress toward completing a strategic framework agreement and security agreement with the Iraqi government. Ultimately, these agreements will pave a way for future economic, diplomatic and military cooperation between the United States and Iraq.
Bush called ongoing debate about these agreements among Iraqi lawmakers a sign of Iraq’s strong democracy and a testament to the successes U.S. servicemembers have helped to bring about.
“War in Iraq is not over, but we’re drawing closer to the day when our troops can come home,” Bush said. “And when they come home, they will come home in victory.”
After the cheers subsided, the president thanked the soldiers for their historic accomplishments.
Success in Iraq will frustrate Iran’s ambitions to dominate in the region, deny al-Qaida a safe haven for new attacks and give millions of people in the Middle East the promise of liberty and democracy, he said.
But the impact of that success will resonate far beyond Iraq and the region, he added. “Success in Iraq will mean that the American people are more secure at home,” he said.
As he prepares to leave office, Bush said, he’s often asked what he’ll miss most about the job.
“Well, above all, I’m going to miss spending time with men and women who have volunteered to serve the United States of America — the fine men and women who wear the uniform,” he said.
“We are blessed to have defenders of such character and courage,” the president said. “I’m grateful to the families who serve by your side, and I will always be thankful for the honor of having served as the commander in chief.”
For my family - for my friends - for my comrades - for my son’s: De Oppresso Liber
Popularity: 29% [?]
Somali Pirates: Shed A Tear For Those Killed By Brits!
November 12, 2008
Royal Navy in firefight with Somali pirates
Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.
In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.
Popularity: 35% [?]
A Christmas Card Idea For Our Wounded Soldiers
November 11, 2008
From Spike…thanks!
This is a great idea!
When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to the address below. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people, who have sacrificed so much would get.
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001
If you agree….please pass this message along to your friends and family.
Popularity: 32% [?]
Veterans Day 2008
November 11, 2008
“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”
- Abraham Lincoln
Editor’s note: In the movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” General George C. Marshall read the quote above after deciding to remove Pvt. Ryan from the front-lines.
Popularity: 25% [?]
LtGen. James T. Conway, USMC: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Marines
November 11, 2008
“LATER IN THE ATTACK ON BAGHDAD THE 1 ST BATTALION, 8 TH MARINES GOT INTO A SERIOUS FIGHT IN AND AROUND THE IMAM ALI MOSQUE IN THE NORTH-CENTRAL PORTION OF THE CITY. THEY KILLED ROUGHLY 250 REPUBLICAN GUARDS, BAATHISTS, AND SADAAM FEDAYEEN AS THEY TOOK THEIR OBJECTIVES. FIRST CASUALTY REPORTS COMING IN ON OUR SIDE WERE ONE GUNNERY SERGEANT KILLED AND 41 TROOPS WOUNDED. THE NEXT DAY THAT FIGURE ZOOMED TO 1 KIA AND 73 WOUNDED. AS WE ASKED HOW THAT HAPPENED, WE LEARNED OF THE LCPL WHO CAME IN TO THE BATTALION AID STATION WEAK AND WITH A BLOODY ARM. THE CORPSMAN ASKED HIM HOW MANY TIMES HE HAD CHANGED THE BANDAGE AND THE MARINE TOLD HIM THAT HE HAD LOST COUNT. THE DOC, AS HE SHOULD, GOT IN THE MARINE’S CASE AND THE TROOPER SAID DOC I’M NOT THE ONLY GUY OUT THERE LIKE THAT. INDEED HE WAS NOT AND AS THE COMPANY COMMANDERS AND FIRST SERGEANTS EXAMINED THEIR MEN, THEY CAME ACROSS THE ADDITIONAL CASUALTIES. ASKED WHY THEY DIDN’T TURN THEMSELVES IN TO THE AID STATION FOR TREATMENT AND POSSIBLE EVACUATION THEY ANSWERED, “SIR, I AM THE ONLY AUTOMATIC RIFLEMAN LEFT IN MY SQUAD”, OR “SIR, I THOUGHT THERE MIGHT BE ANOTHER BIG FIGHT TODAY”, OR JUST “SIR, I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE MY BUDDIES”.
LADIES AND GENTLEMAN WITH TROOPS LIKE THOSE THE OUTCOME OF OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM WAS NEVER IN DOUBT.”
LtGen. James T. Conway, Excerpt from speech, October 8, 2004
Popularity: 24% [?]
Tribute To A Fallen United States Marine
November 11, 2008
“It is with the deepest sadness and most profound grief that I must report to you the loss of Daniel Wyatt, LCpl, Fox Co, 2nd Bn, 24th Marines, USMC. Daniel was killed in the line of duty, while conducting foot patrolling operations in Yusufiyah Iraq. Daniel was killed by a command detonated improvised explosive device. He died instantly, suffered no pain and was immediately recovered by his fellow Marines.
My command security element and myself personally recovered Daniel’s body and escorted him back to the forward operating base, and then onto the helicopter for the beginning of his final ride home. I cannot even begin to express to you the soul touching sight of combat hardened Marines, encrusted with weeks of sweat and dust, who have daily been engaged in combat, coming to complete and utter solemnity and respect in the handling of the body of one of their own. It puts on display a level of brotherly love you just cannot see anywhere else.
We conducted a memorial service for Daniel in the battle space owned by his fellow Marines, as well as one the following day at the Bn forward operating base. I have spoken with his fiancée and expressed the sorrow and sympathy of the entire Battalion.
If I might for a moment, I hear and see some of the media coverage. I hear the accusations and charges. I hear what could almost be labeled as hysteria over the situation in Iraq. Let me tell you something from ground level. The town of Yusufiyah that Daniel and his fellow Marines seized, had not seen government structure or security forces for over 8 months. FOREIGN FIGHTERS, TERRORIST AND THUGS have had free reign and have routinely murdered people in the market for no reason other than one day they MIGHT support a democratic process and speak for themselves. For nothing more than they MIGHT choose a version of religion even slightly different than the terrorists and foreign fighters. They live in squalor and fear. The Marines of Daniel’s unit have not had a shower since seizing the town. They have eaten MREs day on stay on. They live a Spartan existence that few can imagine. And, on all my trips to their position for planning, coordination and command visits, I ask them if they want to be relieved. To a man, they look me in the eye and tell me NO WAY. Why? Well, I am not going to soften it for anyone, the primary reason why is to kill terrorists. Please remember, that is what they are trained and paid to do. But, they also tell me, they want to help the people of Yusufiyah. They want to show all of Iraq that they can stand on their own feet, push back against extremism, and with our help live the life of freedom that all men yearn for. Yes, from the mouths of these young and hardened warriors, this is what they tell me. And then…and then…they ask me how I am doing! Unfreaking believable! They worry about everyone else but themselves.
So believe what you want. That is your right as Americans. But I am telling you, there are no heroes on any football fields, basketball courts or halls of government. Their are honorable and decent people all over America. However, the heroes are on the battlefields of Iraq. Suffering, killing and DYING that others might live, and live in FREEDOM. Americans free from terror, Iraqis free from oppression and tyranny.
I am an under-educated gun toter from Indiana who is just lucky there is an organization like the USMC where a half-wit like myself with some rudimentary combat skills can succeed. But I do know heroes! I am surrounded by over a thousand of them. And I am not the least bit ashamed to tell you I have wept like a baby for Daniel Wyatt. Because when one of these heroes falls, it is as if an Angel of God himself has fallen from heaven!
I will not profess glory of battle or any other such hype. I will profess duty and sacrifice. Daniel showed us all true duty and ultimate sacrifice. I have no doubt that the instant he died, he was whisked to heaven on the wings of Angels and placed before the unapproachable light of Jesus, who himself said: “greater love hath no man, than a man lay down his life for his friends.”
GOD BLESS AND KEEP DANIEL WYATT, HIS FAMILY AND FIANCEE AND GOD BLESS AND KEEP ALL THE FAMILIES OF 2/24.
Yours in profound sadness
Mark A. Smith, LtCol, TF 2/24 Cmdr, Mahmudiyah, Iraq
Power Point presentation, which includes this letter is available on The Strategy Page.
Popularity: 27% [?]
Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert H. Barrow
November 9, 2008
U.S. Marines from Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., serve as the funeral detail for former Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert H. Barrow in Saint Francisville, La., Nov. 3, 2008. Barrow, who served in the Marine Corps for 41 years, was known for his contributions to reforming Marine Corps recruiting and training procedures and the development of new rapid response strategies. (DoD photo by Cpl. Anthony Ortiz, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)
Popularity: 25% [?]
The Fairness Doctrine’s End Result: Censorship
November 9, 2008
CLICK TO ENLARGE Please visit Diversity Lane HERE.
Popularity: 26% [?]
101st Airborne Division’s 2nd BCT Sending 3000 Soldiers Home Early
November 6, 2008
‘Screaming Eagles’ to Go Home Early
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2008 – About 3,000 soldiers assigned to the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team will leave Iraq nearly two months earlier than planned, military officials said.
Improved security and decreased violence across the unit’s area of operations in northwestern Baghdad is enabling the early redeployment of the soldiers back to Fort Campbell, Ky., Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters today.
The unit is commencing pack-up operations, Whitman said, and its return window is around the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season.
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, U.S. Central Command chief, and Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, recommended the early departure of the unit based upon conditions on the ground, Whitman said. Another U.S. brigade that was earmarked for deployment to Iraq recently was diverted for duty in Afghanistan.
Violence in Baghdad has drastically decreased, military officials said, compared to the level of violence experienced at the height of fighting in 2006, prior to the 2007 surge of forces. A total of 20 U.S. brigades were in Iraq during the surge.
The 2nd BCT, Whitman said, was scheduled to leave Iraq in January after serving 15 months of duty there.
In other Iraq news, Whitman said, senior U.S. officials have delivered to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a draft document of the U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement that contains changes U.S. officials are suggesting. The draft in its present form, he said, contains legal protections for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. Whitman said he wouldn’t get into specifics of possible points of contention regarding the negotiations.
Whitman fielded another reporter’s question about new reports of civilian casualties in Afghanistan allegedly caused by U.S. military actions. The United States, Whitman said, always takes measures to prevent the killing or wounding of any civilians during all of its military operations.
Regarding the pending transition of presidential administration at the Defense Department, Whitman said DoD continues to “lean forward” in preparing to welcome and assist President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. Whitman later led reporters on a tour of three newly renovated Pentagon offices that contain work space, telephones and other equipment suitable for the use of nearly 30 people.
Related Sites:
Multinational Corps Iraq News Release
Popularity: 29% [?]
Army Program Reinvents Wounded Care
November 6, 2008
A new building serves as headquarters for the Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III
Staying Power: Army Program Reinvents Wounded Care
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2008 – When the first news stories broke in February 2007 detailing a breakdown in soldier and family care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., senior Army leaders scrambled into action.
Headlines screamed of neglect as the nation’s highest leaders, from the Pentagon, Congress and the White House demanded an answer as to how this could have happened.
In fact, there was no single answer. And Army officials soon discovered that the problem was systemic and not isolated at Walter Reed.
Five-and-a-half years of combat on two fronts, coupled with historically high combat survival rates, had thrust hundreds of soldiers, battered and broken, and their families, into a bureaucratic health and rehabilitation system that had all but lay dormant for nearly 30 years.
“Once we became engaged in the two wars, when we started to look for those rehabilitative capabilities, they really didn’t exist,” said Army Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek, the Army’s assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition. “We didn’t take good care of the families. We weren’t watching out for the soldiers. … We also really didn’t know what was going on.”
Soon, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates would proclaim that, next to fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, taking care of wounded warriors was to become the Defense Department’s highest priority.
What followed was an all-out Army assault on the broken systems, substandard living conditions, scattered family support programs, and even passive leadership that had contributed to the breakdown in wounded warrior care.
Over the past 20 months, the Army has reinvented its wounded warrior care program, creating a system that puts soldiers and family members at the center of care, surrounded by protective layers of leadership, case managers, doctors, support specialists and senior leader oversight.
Transformation Goes Full Circle
The model for the transformation began at the same place the problems were first discovered. The first newly-designed wounded warrior brigade stood up at Walter Reed only three months after its hand-picked top leaders put boots on the ground there.
“We have made tremendous progress here at Walter Reed, and even more importantly, across the Army in establishing systems that provide much more comprehensive care for our warriors,” said Army Col. Terrance McKenrick, the brigade’s first commander.
McKenrick arrived at Walter Reed on March 2, 2007. Three months later, he had a fully operational brigade – a warrior transition unit – with three companies and more than 200 cadre in place to take care of 700 warriors.
Outpatient soldiers who had been scattered in apartments off post with little or no supervision were consolidated in one massive, renovated barracks on the hospital complex where they would be within walking distance of medical care.
Before the brigade was in place, platoon sergeants, who often also were patients, would care for about 50 soldiers each, McKenrick said.
“Most of his day was spent just trying to get accountability,” McKenrick said. “He did not have the time … to be able to help individual soldiers and families with all of their issues.”
Each platoon sergeant there now has three squad leaders who care for about 12 soldiers each. The squad leader is the point man in what the Army has coined the “triad of care.” Central to the newly formed layers of support, every soldier has a squad leader, a nurse case manager and a primary care physician.
Before, there were 24 case managers handling an average of 55 soldiers each. Now, there are 39 case managers watching over about 18 soldiers each, McKenrick said.
“It’s a much more proactive involvement … in helping individual warriors,” he said. “They now have the time to do that well and manage those care plans a lot closer than they did in the past.”
Delivering Quality Care
There were no primary care physicians in the past, either, McKenrick said. If a wounded soldier needed to see a doctor for something other than his main injury, specialists at the hospitals had to fit those appointments into their already packed schedules. Now each company has an assigned primary care physician who takes on no other patients. Each cares for about 230 soldiers.
The nurse case managers and the physicians are supported by about 20 other staff in a newly renovated warrior clinic housed on the first floor of the main hospital. The area is only for wounded warriors and gives them a central location for all of their primary medical needs. Appointments with specialists throughout the hospital are scheduled by the nurse case managers and squad leaders to ensure the soldiers know when and where to make their appointments.
Also new is the development of a comprehensive transition plan. Launched across the Army’s medical command in March, the plan is a collaboration of doctors, case managers, occupational therapists, specialty care providers and the soldiers. The idea is to map out goals that are needed for each wounded soldier to successfully transition either back into the Army or into civilian life.
The plan is in place within a month of the soldier’s arrival at the transition unit in outpatient care, said Army Lt. Col. Suzanne Shaw, the senior case manager for the Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed.
“Every warrior … is here because they are going to have a major life change. We like to start from the very beginning … with developing a plan for the future,” Shaw said. “This will really help focus our warriors away from illness and injury and on to productive civilian life or returning to duty.”
The warrior in transition units now serve as the Army-wide model. In the past, there were 300 cadre taking care of wounded warriors in companies spread out across the Army. Now there are 2,500 cadre caring for 12,000 wounded warriors in 35 transition units and nine community-based health care groups across the United States. The Army plans to build 21 transition complexes that will place the staff, barracks, hospitals and support services in one central location. The first will be built on Fort Riley, Kan., where construction is slated to begin next year.
The 12,000 soldiers in the transition units now represent a cross section of illnesses and injuries, and all are not necessarily combat related. Of those 12,000, only 1,500 are Purple Heart recipients. The move to include all wounded, ill and injured was made, said officials, so they can offer the same level of health care to all soldiers.
“I suppose we could consider a special program for only our [combat] wounded soldiers. But then when I have a soldier who has three combat tours and he’s injured in a motorcycle accident, he’s not eligible,” Cheek said. “Do we not have an obligation to take care of him?”
Wounded Warrior Program Adds Oversight
For some seriously injured soldiers, the Army also has added another layer of advocacy and oversight.
The Army’s Wounded Warrior program, or AW2, includes in its fold soldiers who have a single disability rating of 30 percent or a combined disability rating of 50 percent. If a soldier is injured and is anticipated to receive either of those disability ratings, he is entered into the program even before the rating is awarded.
More than 3,000 soldiers and veterans are now in the AW2 program and of those, about 900 have a 30 percent disability rating. Army officials expect the program to grow as they work to incorporate those with the combined 50 percent rating.
The AW2 program began in 2004 as The Disabled Soldier Support System, but later changed its name because soldiers didn’t view themselves as disabled, officials said. All soldiers in the program have been injured since Sept. 11, 2001. The program encompasses soldiers injured in combat, as well as in training and off-duty accidents.
The soldiers and families are assigned an AW2 advocate that oversees their care, even as they are still being cared for at the transition units by the “triad of care.”
“I’ll be frank. A number of leaders have asked ‘Isn’t that redundant?’” said Col. Jim Rice, the AW2 program director. “I’ll admit to some redundancy. What makes us unique is that advocate will be with that soldier and family when the [transition] leadership is no longer responsible for them.”
An Advocate for Life
Over time, the role of the AW2 advocate increases as the nurse case manager’s role decreases, so that by the time the medical board makes a determination, “the person working with them most is the one that is going to be with them for the rest of their life,” Rice said.
In fact, the advocate will continue to work with the soldier and family as long as needed, even if the soldier transitions back to active duty, Rice said. So far, 70 soldiers have returned to duty, he said. Most have been medically retired and have returned to their communities where they receive care at Veterans Affairs facilities.
There are about 80 advocates stationed around the United States, Rice said. Some advocates are stationed at major military treatment facilities, others at VA rehabilitation centers, and still others are in remote locations, working out of their homes. All advocates are civilians, either contractors or civil servants, and many are retired military. Some have medical backgrounds, but not all, Rice said. They manage about 40 cases each, but the Army’s goal is to get that down to about 30 each, he said.
The advocates typically are generalists and their powers lie in knowing whom to call when there is a problem. They become community-based experts and they have access to senior military leaders in the beltway that soldiers and families don’t have.
Even as the soldier begins his treatment in the military hospital, it is the advocates who give him a picture of the options for the future. Using an elaborate software program, the advocates input factors like rank, age, number of family members, finances and education and create financial predictions for their future based on the data.
The advocates are required to contact their soldiers and families monthly. While they are in the transition unit, contact could be more often, Rice said. There is no requirement for increased interactions, but the advocates make the judgment based on need, he said.
Many soldiers and families have successfully transitioned to active duty and back to their communities and case management is no longer needed, Rice said. For those who do still need it, contact is made every month, at least for now, he said.
“There is no real graduation from the AW2,” Rice said. “The last thing we want to do is leave someone out there who needs some support.”
Senior Army officials agree that there is more work to be done in the programs, mostly in the way of fine-tuning the massive overhaul. When surveyed this year, nearly 80 percent of the 12,000 soldiers in the warrior transition units said they were satisfied with the Army’s efforts, Cheek said.
“I think the difference for families from February 2007 to now is night and day,” Cheek said. “We have simplified things. We have given them single points of contact. We take care of them from day one and work with them through the entire process.”
While soldiers recognize the Army’s investment, they also will give honest assessments of the program, Cheek said. “It’s not all milk and honey from them,” he said. “Soldiers are going to tell the things they like and don’t like.”
For Rice and his AW2 program, success is measured as all or nothing.
“I can’t be satisfied until we go out with a survey to all 3,000 and every one of them says … ‘I’m getting everything I need,’” Rice said.
(Editor’s note: This is the 2nd article in an AFPS special report about seriously wounded servicemembers who return to active duty).
Related Sites:
Staying Power: Seriously Wounded Warriors Return to the Fight
Army Wounded Warrior Program
Popularity: 27% [?]
