Thursday, February 24, 2011
Our Marine's little accident
Before reading any further,yes he is just fine! While at the gym working out one night he went to take a rest on a shoulderpress seat,not knowing it was unstable. Well, he sat down and it fell over knocking a bar (that was not supposed to be there in the first place) onto the ground which then fell over and knocked him right on his head! He said he remained calm and didn't even think it to be that bad. Fortunately there were two Naval doctors in the gym that night that rushed to his side and helped out. They took him to the surgical unit and put 4 staples into his head. He said there is no concussion just a slight headache,which is so understandable! We have a tough one on our hands. He did send over some pictures,which I warn are graphic. There's blood,quite a bit of it! So look on your own choosing. Other then this mishap Jeremy is in great health. He is missing home more and more each day but he's staying strong. Prayers for encouragement and peace are always appreciated,for both of us.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Photo updates from Jeremy
Below you'll find his living conditions,where they hang out most nights and the birthday cake I managed to ship out to him. As you can see,he's hanging in there :)
Padres' new camouflage jerseys could prove to be too realistic
Now you see them ... uh, now you dont? The San Diego Padres unveiled their new camouflage jerseys on Tuesday and there's already some speculation that the team's attention to detail might prove to be a little too effective in 2011.
While the Padres have worn two other camouflage jerseys since adopting the tradition in 2000, the previous versions used bolder prints worn by the Army and Navy. These new threads are meant to honor the Marines, but the MARPAT (short for "Marine Pattern") was designed by a computer and it features smaller splotches that are much harder to detect.
"Digitial camouflage," it's often called.
While these jerseys probably won't play major visual tricks on our eyes — it's not like the players are going to completely disappear from sight when framed against green grass — a few Marines say the Padres' tribute to the military won't be as easy to recognize as it has been in the past (see past examples below).
In other words, this is camouflage in its truest sense. From a distance, these new uniforms might simply look brown or green or whatever color the fabric has morphed into at that moment.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
The digital pattern creates no solid lines or edges and blurs the outline of the human profile. Even the seams have soft edges.
As a Marine wearing a MARPAT uniform moves around, the colors mesh with the background.
"Up close, they look great," said Jack Ensch, the Padres' retiring director of military affairs. "But they are going to blend in more on television and from the stands. Many fans aren't going to be able to tell that these are camouflage uniforms paying tribute to the military."
The Marines quoted in that article above say they're still honored that the Padres have adopted their pattern, but not everyone likes the continued use of camouflage on uniforms. Uni Watch's Paul Lukas made his case against the practice a few years ago and the Padres' alternates were recently named the third-worst uniform in sports.
While I haven't liked the Chicago White Sox or Cincinnati Reds donning copycat camo uniforms in recent years, the Padres' tribute has always seemed top notch to me. It's actually one of the better community outreach efforts by a team, considering the city's military history and the composition of its fan base.
What's even cooler is that the team made the effort to recognize a third branch with these new tops. The authenticity of the Marines' uniforms might cause problems, sure, but it's that commitment to realism that keeps it a tribute that is rooted in honor and respect
“The Bravest Families in America”
This was the first episode of the Oprah show that I've ever watched. Along with a visit from Michelle Obama, Oprah also brought on a few military families. Sgt. Corey Briest and his wife,a mother who lost her teenage son in Iraq and an Army wife/mother who spoke about the stress of the homecoming. Oprah was joined by Tom Brokaw and Bob Woodward. I'm glad I caught this episode and if you didn't,I suggest you go online and watch or be on the lookout for when it reruns. It's one that any American should see.
First Lady Michelle Obama will redouble efforts to shine a spotlight on the nation’s military families, in a campaign formally launching in March.
In an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” airing today, Mrs. Obama says that it’s not that Americans won’t help military families; it’s just that they are not aware of the pressures of deployment on families. This is something that she hopes to remedy.
“We’re going to ask the country to get ourselves together and be a part of reconnecting these families to be a part of the broader community."
So often, Mrs. Obama says, people see a happy homecoming between military families on TV but do not see the other “ramifications” to the deployment that are not talked out.
“And these families need some help and support to get through it.”
On Monday, President Obama announced new initiatives to help support military families across the federal government and declared that they are now “upping their game” in support. Mrs. Obama said that there are a lot of simple things that people can do to help – if you’re an accountant, helping a military family prepare their taxes for example, she said.
“A lot of these women can use a girl’s night out, a manicure, a pedicure, a break,” she said, “There are things we can do as a nation big and small.”
Mrs. Obama first took up the issue of helping and highlighting military families during her husband’s 2008 presidential campaign.
“Everywhere I went there were stories that were completely unfamiliar,” Mrs. Obama told Oprah in an interview taped last week, “and those were the stories of military women.”
The First Lady said that in these families months go by where birthdays are missed, parents are struggling to raise kids alone and have to answer the questions for their children when mom and dad are coming home.
“Their stories took my breath away,” Mrs. Obama said, “and I vowed then that if my husband had the honor of serving our country that I would be that voice.”
The First Lady said that whenever she is feeling bad or sorry for herself she thinks of their courage and sacrifice.
“I suck it up because of these families,” the First Lady said, “Part of the challenge of getting the message out about military families is they never ask for help. They never ask for help because you don't do that when you're in the military. You get it done. That's how you're trained. That's what you're taught.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/01/michelle-obama-on-oprah-military-families-need-to-be-reconnected-to-the-broader-community.html
First Lady Michelle Obama will redouble efforts to shine a spotlight on the nation’s military families, in a campaign formally launching in March.
In an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” airing today, Mrs. Obama says that it’s not that Americans won’t help military families; it’s just that they are not aware of the pressures of deployment on families. This is something that she hopes to remedy.
“We’re going to ask the country to get ourselves together and be a part of reconnecting these families to be a part of the broader community."
So often, Mrs. Obama says, people see a happy homecoming between military families on TV but do not see the other “ramifications” to the deployment that are not talked out.
“And these families need some help and support to get through it.”
On Monday, President Obama announced new initiatives to help support military families across the federal government and declared that they are now “upping their game” in support. Mrs. Obama said that there are a lot of simple things that people can do to help – if you’re an accountant, helping a military family prepare their taxes for example, she said.
“A lot of these women can use a girl’s night out, a manicure, a pedicure, a break,” she said, “There are things we can do as a nation big and small.”
Mrs. Obama first took up the issue of helping and highlighting military families during her husband’s 2008 presidential campaign.
“Everywhere I went there were stories that were completely unfamiliar,” Mrs. Obama told Oprah in an interview taped last week, “and those were the stories of military women.”
The First Lady said that in these families months go by where birthdays are missed, parents are struggling to raise kids alone and have to answer the questions for their children when mom and dad are coming home.
“Their stories took my breath away,” Mrs. Obama said, “and I vowed then that if my husband had the honor of serving our country that I would be that voice.”
The First Lady said that whenever she is feeling bad or sorry for herself she thinks of their courage and sacrifice.
“I suck it up because of these families,” the First Lady said, “Part of the challenge of getting the message out about military families is they never ask for help. They never ask for help because you don't do that when you're in the military. You get it done. That's how you're trained. That's what you're taught.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/01/michelle-obama-on-oprah-military-families-need-to-be-reconnected-to-the-broader-community.html
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
US Marines Being Trained for Cultural Sensitivity Before Deployment
The U.S. military is expected to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014. But thousands of U.S. Marines will still deploy there within the next year to support the war.
To prepare them, the Defense Department has introduced culture training programs at several military bases around the United States. One such program is being conducted at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia - about 58 kilometers from Washington, D.C.
Marine Corps Captain Josh Parish, a civil affairs officer, will deploy to Afghanistan in 2011. His job will be to work with local tribes to build wells, roads and schools. But he will also work on understanding the sources of insurgency and how the Marines can win the trust of the local population. To get ready for his deployment he is attending a civil affairs class.
"There is a huge push right now towards winning the hearts and minds and the way I see it you know is, if we're able to drive a wedge between the Taliban and the local population than as a civil affairs guy that's when I can come in and using my tools, using my knowledge of their culture, I am able to figure out what are the areas of instability, what are the things that they need," Parish said.
The Marines started their culture learning programs in the aftermath of the Iraq war -- when experience on the ground showed US servicemen did not understand the customs of the country they were fighting in. In 2005, the Marine Corps started a flagship program to teach deploying troops some Arabic, Dari and Pashto, along with the religions, economies and social issues in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The Marines truly understand that the people are important to winning, they're important to stabilizing, they're important to the security of that region and because of that, because they understand and respect that, they're accepted better," said George Dallas, the director of the program known as the Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning.
Other branches of the US military have had similar training programs for their special forces or intelligence units. But the Marines' program is the first to give all deploying troops wide access to language and culture training.
Dr. Paula Holmes-Eber, an anthropologist who teaches in the program, says in the beginning, culture was a strange concept for a military used to conventional warfare.
"If you take a Marine who's grown up in Iowa, 19-years-old, never left the US, he will see hese things and not understand them at all. So the hope is that by giving them a framework to think about, there will not be this gut reaction, 'oh, these are strange and awful people' but 'yes, it's different but I can do something about that and I can help them,'" she said. Holmes-Eber says the progress in Iraq's Anbar province provides the best example of how cultural understanding and working with local people turned around the country's most violent province.
To prepare them for future deployments, the Marine Corps now trains its troops about all areas of the world so they are ready for crises, like Haiti, or small conflicts anywhere. "The Marine Corps has a long history of being involved in small wars that range back to early in our history. Since we never really know what the next war is going to be, the next conflict or affected area, making sure that we have this capability of adapting to a population is really critical to our overall success," said Major Jonathan Kenney, an academic planner at the expeditionary warfare school in Quantico, Virginia.
So far, the impact of the Marines' program is hard to measure. But as the 2014 withdrawal deadline gets closer, the Marine Corps believes it will achieve not only the long-term strategy of stability and peace but a better understanding of a culture that until a few years ago was foreign to the troops being sent there.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Deploying-US-Marines-Trained-for-Cultural-Sensitivity-112824719.html
To prepare them, the Defense Department has introduced culture training programs at several military bases around the United States. One such program is being conducted at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia - about 58 kilometers from Washington, D.C.
Marine Corps Captain Josh Parish, a civil affairs officer, will deploy to Afghanistan in 2011. His job will be to work with local tribes to build wells, roads and schools. But he will also work on understanding the sources of insurgency and how the Marines can win the trust of the local population. To get ready for his deployment he is attending a civil affairs class.
"There is a huge push right now towards winning the hearts and minds and the way I see it you know is, if we're able to drive a wedge between the Taliban and the local population than as a civil affairs guy that's when I can come in and using my tools, using my knowledge of their culture, I am able to figure out what are the areas of instability, what are the things that they need," Parish said.
The Marines started their culture learning programs in the aftermath of the Iraq war -- when experience on the ground showed US servicemen did not understand the customs of the country they were fighting in. In 2005, the Marine Corps started a flagship program to teach deploying troops some Arabic, Dari and Pashto, along with the religions, economies and social issues in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The Marines truly understand that the people are important to winning, they're important to stabilizing, they're important to the security of that region and because of that, because they understand and respect that, they're accepted better," said George Dallas, the director of the program known as the Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning.
Other branches of the US military have had similar training programs for their special forces or intelligence units. But the Marines' program is the first to give all deploying troops wide access to language and culture training.
Dr. Paula Holmes-Eber, an anthropologist who teaches in the program, says in the beginning, culture was a strange concept for a military used to conventional warfare.
"If you take a Marine who's grown up in Iowa, 19-years-old, never left the US, he will see hese things and not understand them at all. So the hope is that by giving them a framework to think about, there will not be this gut reaction, 'oh, these are strange and awful people' but 'yes, it's different but I can do something about that and I can help them,'" she said. Holmes-Eber says the progress in Iraq's Anbar province provides the best example of how cultural understanding and working with local people turned around the country's most violent province.
To prepare them for future deployments, the Marine Corps now trains its troops about all areas of the world so they are ready for crises, like Haiti, or small conflicts anywhere. "The Marine Corps has a long history of being involved in small wars that range back to early in our history. Since we never really know what the next war is going to be, the next conflict or affected area, making sure that we have this capability of adapting to a population is really critical to our overall success," said Major Jonathan Kenney, an academic planner at the expeditionary warfare school in Quantico, Virginia.
So far, the impact of the Marines' program is hard to measure. But as the 2014 withdrawal deadline gets closer, the Marine Corps believes it will achieve not only the long-term strategy of stability and peace but a better understanding of a culture that until a few years ago was foreign to the troops being sent there.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Deploying-US-Marines-Trained-for-Cultural-Sensitivity-112824719.html
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