‘My Hero’: Voices of military children

By Terri Barnes (Stars and Stripes Scene)

It’s unusual to find two Democrats and a Republican in agreement, particularly when their names are Carter, Clinton and Bush.

However, three former presidents, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, did agree on one thing — giving a voice to military children.

Each wrote an endorsement for "My Hero: Military Kids Write About Their Moms and Dads," a book of children’s essays and artwork. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf wrote the forward for the book.

"They were all very moved by what the children said," said Mike Rothmiller, who co-edited the project with Allen Appel.

"It’s about the children. That cuts across all lines," Rothmiller said from his office in Colorado. "The most liberal or the most conservative — they understand that children have feelings."

The creations were entries in an essay and art contest conducted by the Armed Services YMCA, a non-profit organization serving military families in the U.S and overseas.

Essays and artwork for the book were selected by Rothmiller and Appel, independent of the contest judging.

Choosing from thousands of submissions was an emotional process, Rothmiller said.

"Going through the essays, we found that we either were laughing or at the point of almost shedding a tear," he said. "I spent 10 years as a cop, and I’ve seen almost everything, and you never shed a tear, but these were very touching."

Kanyon Wilson, 12, whose essay appears in the book, wrote about his mother, Regina Duch.

"I just thought about what she did and how she made me happy, and I just wrote it down," Kanyon said from his home in Ohio.

There was friendly competition in Kanyon’s blended family, with two parents in the Active Guard and Reserve.

"Two of us wrote about our step dad, Andy," said Kanyon. "Me and my sister, Alexis, wrote about Mom. When (my mom’s) won, she was happy, because Andy likes to win everything."

Tyara Isbell, 15, of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, wrote about her Coast Guard father, John Isbell.

Tyara told me she wrote about him "because, like the story said, he saves people’s lives, and he’s practically a hero for everyone when he saves their lives."

Rothmiller said he and Appel developed this book to tell the civilian world about the life of military children, in their own words.

"Children of the military need to have a voice," he said. "We wanted get it out there to show everyone outside the military that these kids have feelings and concerns just like everyone else."

The essays in the book reflect the young writers lives.

Butler Nicklus, 7, whose dad is a Marine, expressed pride in his mom, who "cooks good food every day" and can hotwire a car – her own, naturally.

"No matter how late he gets home, he always kisses us goodnight," wrote Benjamin Gardner, 11, of his Army dad.

Another contributor is Matthew McMahon, son of Army parents Lt. Col. Michael J. McMahon and Col. Jeanette McMahon.

"My father was killed in Afghanistan on November 27 (2004)," wrote Matthew, 13.

Just because he went to war and died is not the only reason he is my hero. He was always there for me in life and death. He always knew what was right and kept me on task."

Matthew also wrote about his mother. "My mom was always there for me … Anyone who can go through all that and still come out on top of things is my hero."

Some proceeds of the book, published this month, will benefit the ASYMCA. For more excerpts and more about the book, see the Spouse Calls blog. For more about ASYMCA, go to www.asymca.org.

WarDAWGS day

Good Morning families, spouses and friends of the WARDAWGS,
Talking about WARDAWGS, many Soldiers came up to me and said that, we need to change our "Call Sign", because it is not original. We need something new for a new beginning, a new name that fit our own identity. If we change the call sign, there is not going to be www.wardawgs.blogspot.com but will be something else. We have been WarDawgs for so long now, I hate to change the name, but changes are inevitable and good changes for the most part will probably be the right thing to do. It may be painful in the beginning, but it will produce good results in the long run.

The Website that host the picture upload is currently under maintenance, so I will upload the picture another day.

Today, the Platoon conducted the APFT, Army physical fitness test. For the most part, we all did pretty good. Soldiers as of now, either sleeping, just woke up, hanging out at the MWR or playing video games at the day room.

Talking about the day room. There are many good things that is happening at the day room. We got a extremely nice refrigerator; the refrigerator that is 6-feet tall and about 3.5 feet wide; it may even store up to 200 bottles of water. The Iraqi cable is not working now. We got the TV-Cable from one of our interpreter just 2 months ago, and I will have to request for the service and keep the Soldiers entertained since internet is down at the moment (for a whole week already).

Also, we would like to congratulates SSG Borressen, our Platoon Sergeant. As of 01 July 2008, he will received the rank of Sergeant First Class. As of now, he is probably is Kuwait, waiting impatiently to get home with his wife and children.

Today, SPC Mueller, SPC Dow and SPC Ariola are attending the Promotion Board and we are pending the result. They will be soon joining the Non-Commission-Officer Corps and be given even more responsibilities.

I'm proud of all the Soldiers for all of the hard works that they have done through out the deployment. When we think about this, we are almost done with the deployment already. It is the same thing like reading a book. The first 1/4 of the book are longest to read, But one 1/2 of the book is finished, the remaining pages thiner and thiner as we flip the pages.

We are going to have some good fun at the Range tomorrow. God Blesses you all, and if you have any story to share on the website, or any word of encouragements to the Soldiers please send me an email and I will post it and read it to the Soldiers.

SOME IRAQ PICTURES

Human Intelligence

In the Vicinity of these location, there is an IED. The Patrol got there and discovered the IED. Where is the Human Intelligence come from? It must not have come from the Iraqi Army or Iraqi Police because they would have taken care of the IED themselves. It must, therefore, came from civilians. Somebody must care and had enough courage to report the incident to authority and wanted the IED man away. Nonetheless, kudos to whom report the incident.

Reclaiming Basra

By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post

BASRA, Iraq - The Iraqi army soldiers walked with confidence into this city's notorious Five Miles neighborhood. Shiite militiamen once greeted them with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Now, smiling children waved, and a nearby market pulsed with energy. "Nobody before was able to get in here," said Col. Bilal al-Dayni, surveying the battle-scarred landscape.

For Dayni, a barrel-chested former officer in Saddam Hussein's military, the scene was a vindication. The Americans disbanded Hussein's army after the 2003 invasion. Under British administration, Basra fell into the grip of zealots and gunmen. But nearly three months after the Iraqi government launched an offensive to reinstall authority, about 30,000 Iraqi soldiers control Basra, providing a glimpse of what might happen when the bulk of U.S. troops depart Iraq.

"The Iraqi army is like an antique vase," said Dayni, beaming. "When you remove the dust, you will find a diamond."

As the two countries pursue contentious negotiations over the future role of the U.S. military in Iraq, the evolution of Basra suggests that Iraqi troops, when deployed in large numbers in areas without deep sectarian divisions, can provide security largely on their own.

For Iraqi army commanders in this strategic southern Shiite city, where much of Iraq's oil flows to the rest of the world, the Basra offensive has reinvigorated their sense of pride.

"Iraqis feel sensitive to the presence of foreign troops, so of course people will deal differently with Iraqi forces," said Brig. Gen. Mohan al-Freiji, the former top Iraqi army commander in Basra. "We understand Islamic society, our soldiers know the language, and we connect better with our people.

Dayni stepped out of his Humvee and walked to a corner of a wide, traffic-choked highway that led toward Baghdad. Before the offensive, residents called it the Road of Death. Dayni knew why: In early April, a bomb killed his battalion commander, Brig. Gen. Wisam Salih Mahdi, a few yards from where Dayni stood.

"The militias in Basra are finished," Dayni said. "What remains are the last fugitives, like their last breath."

The Basra offensive, by all descriptions, was a haphazard affair. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki consulted neither his political allies nor Iraq's parliament. American generals knew of the operation a few days before its launch. In the initial days, hundreds of Iraqi army soldiers fled their posts, forcing Maliki to bring in reinforcements. Clashes erupted across southern Iraq and in Baghdad's Sadr City district, the stronghold of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

But outside forces came to Maliki's aid. British and American warplanes bombarded Shiite militia targets, and U.S. military advisers assisted Iraqi commanders. Sadr urged his fighters to stand down and obey a cease-fire he imposed last August.

But Basra's sudden transformation, from a city under the control of fundamentalist militias to one in which simple freedoms like playing music can be enjoyed again, has brought praise for the Iraqi army. In interviews across the city, Basrans also expressed anger at the British, who steadily slashed their forces from a high of 43,000 in 2003 to a current level of 4,000.

Many Basrans believe the British did not take a forceful stand against the militias because they were wary of high casualty counts in a war that is unpopular in Britain.

"The presence of the British forces in Basra was a tragedy," said Ayad al-Kanaan, a tribal leader in the city's Tannouma enclave, once a stronghold of the Mahdi Army. "We believed there was a deal between the British and the militias: 'Don't attack us. And we won't chase you.' "

In al-Andalus Park, Abdul Ridha Ali, 55, was strolling between swings and slides with his daughter, an action he had been too afraid to take under British control. Then, militiamen routinely patrolled the park and attacked anyone they deemed un-Islamic.

"The British didn't understand us," Ali said. "Iraqis know their ground, their neighborhoods, their people. The government is from our people."

Dayni's convoy of Humvees proceeded to a market in the center of Five Miles. He got out and walked without a bulletproof jacket past stalls, stopping to chat with shopkeepers. He asked about their lives, their businesses. He joked with children. One shopkeeper approached him and told him that several shops down the road had been damaged during the offensive.

"When are we going to be compensated?" the shopkeeper demanded.

Dayni smiled, and cupped his fingers and thumb together in an Iraqi gesture that signifies patience. "I'll do my best for you," Dayni said, avoiding confrontation.

Earlier that morning, Dayni and his soldiers solved a dispute between two groups of young men by using traditional Iraqi tribal negotiation. "If it happened before we were in Basra, there would have been rivers of blood," Dayni said.

His soldiers surrounded him, heavily armed. One carried a rocket-propelled grenade launcher on his shoulder. But for many of the vendors, the show of force bolstered confidence. "Believe me, we are satisfied and comfortable as long as you are here," another shopkeeper told Dayni.

Iraqi Violence Down; War's Root Causes Unresolved

By ROBERT H. REID Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

BAGHDAD-Signs are emerging that Iraq has reached a turning point. Violence is down, armed extremists are in disarray, government confidence is rising and sectarian communities are gearing up for a battle at the polls rather than slaughter in the streets.

Those positive signs are attracting little attention in the United States, where the war-weary public is focused on the American presidential contest and skeptical of talk of success after so many years of unfounded optimism by the war's supporters.

Unquestionably, the security and political situation in Iraq is fragile. U.S. commanders warn repeatedly that security gains are reversible.

Still, Iraq is by almost any measure safer today than at any time in the past three years. Fears that the country will disintegrate have receded — though they have not disappeared.

The wave of sectarian massacres that pushed the country to the brink of all-out civil war in 2006 has calmed.

Shiite-Sunni reprisal killings still occur. But gangs of Sunni and Shiite death squads no longer roam the streets at night with impunity, seeking out victims from the rival religious community.

Many Sunni insurgents have stopped fighting and turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, which U.S. commanders say still remains a threat.

But those Sunni groups — loosely organized and still armed — could resume the fight if the Shiite-dominated national leadership fails to deliver on promises of economic help and a share of power. Critics believe U.S. support for such groups, known collectively as "awakening councils," could set the stage for future conflict.

In the meantime, Sunnis who once shunned politics are gearing up to contest provincial elections this fall.

Shiite militiamen are reeling after military setbacks in Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City districts this spring. But it's unclear whether militia chief Muqtada al-Sadr has given up violence entirely as his Shiite rivals seek to undermine his support among the majority Shiite community.

Despite the signs of progress, recent opinion surveys show that more than 60 percent of the American public opposes the war and believes it will end badly. Democrats lashed out at presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain for saying it was "not too important" when American troops leave Iraq.

Some analysts also question whether the limited political accommodation among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds can be sustained if America withdraws its forces quickly. Iran's interest in using Shiite extremists to stir up trouble is another question mark.

With so many uncertainties, many Iraqis themselves fear the relative calm won't last — even though monthly death tolls have been declining since the middle of last year.

That may prove true. Most of the root causes of the war — notably the power struggle between Sunnis and Shiites— remain unresolved.

U.S. troops have managed to suppress the conflict in Baghdad, maintaining an uncertain calm behind massive networks of blast walls that separate rival communities.

Political progress has lagged far behind security gains, some of them made at the risk of sowing the seeds of future conflict.

Fear and mistrust lie just beneath the surface.

Reasons behind the decline in violence include the U.S. "surge" troop buildup of 2007, the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq and a cease-fire called by al-Sadr last August.

When President Bush ordered the "surge," U.S. officials said the goal was to bring down the violence so that Iraqi Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians could forge power-sharing agreements necessary for long-term stability.

The lack of substantial power-sharing agreements has often been cited as a failure of the surge strategy.

In recent weeks, however, the factious, Shiite-led Iraqi government has won a measure of public support by standing up to Shiite and Sunni gunmen — even if a list of other goals such as constitutional amendments and a new oil law remain unfulfilled.

A new sense of confidence has emerged after recent Iraqi-run military operations against Sunni extremists, including al-Qaida, in the northern city of Mosul and against Shiite militiamen in Basra and Baghdad.

At first, the Basra operation stumbled badly, with al-Sadr's militiamen fighting government troops to a standstill as their Shiite allies in Baghdad launched attacks against the U.S.-protected Green Zone. American and Iraqi troops rushed to Basra from as far as western Iraq after local army and police units failed to perform.

But a combination of military force and political pressure on al-Sadr produced a cease-fire, enabling Iraqi security forces to expand control of part of Baghdad and Basra that had been under militia domination for years.

Brimming with confidence, Iraqi forces are turning their attention to southern Maysan province, long believed a hub of a smuggling network bringing weapons from Iran to Shiite extremists in Iraq.

The newfound prestige could be short-lived, however, if the government does not move quickly to undermine support for the militants by improving public services and creating jobs.

Family Picture Day

SPC Mueller and SPC Dow will be attending the Promotion board in a few days. The platoon will have a good stand out day to conduct training also in a few days as well and once the training are done, so is the month of June and the Month of July will be just around the corner. Many of us will be leaving for home and reconnect with families through Rest and Relaxation break. We are doing quite well these days. The weather is getting better as the dust has cooled off somewhat. I would like to says thanks for some of you put up the comments for the blogs. You all have a wonderful day and enjoy these pictures. Some of those pictures are pretty sad, like how we would not want to call recovery until three vehicles got stuck in the mud. There are something wrong with us. We know that we would not be able to self recover but we kept on trying and trying and refusing to call Recovery. We don't need no help...but once recovery showed up, all it took is 10 minutes and Magic happened...All vehicles on the road ready to roll...These pictures are taken in April, 2007.

Volleyball-All Star Game

Intelligence Collection Agency

Iraqi Troops Begin Operation In Militia Stronghold: Iraqi troops fanned out across the Shiite militia stronghold of Amarah Thursday and gunmen tossed their weapons onto the streets or into canals as the government officially launched a military crackdown on the area. It's the fourth such U.S.-backed Iraqi military operation launched against Shiite and Sunni extremists in recent months as Prime Minister Maliki seeks to assert government control over the country ahead of provincial elections, expected in the fall.

Emboldened Iraqi Tipsters Reveal More Weapons Caches: Weapons caches are turning up with increasing frequency in public places in Iraq -- from a bakery to a fish farm as recent security gains embolden more civilians to come forward with tips, U.S. and Iraqi military officials say. "These are people who in the past weren't willing to come forward because of the threats from militias," said Major General Jeff Hammond. "Now they're telling the IA they've had it with the militia."

TROJAN HORSE

Owja is right outside of COB Speicher, south of Tikrit. And also the place that we know by heart, and here is the story about Trojan Horse. Enjoy

in a day of renewed violence in Iraq, insurgents converted a water tanker into a latter-day Trojan horse to carry out a surprise attack on a checkpoint near Saddam Hussein’s birthplace, Awja, Iraqi police said Thursday.

They said the police responded with heavy fire, killing 14 attackers, while two officers were seriously wounded. The American military said the police killed eight insurgents. Also dead was the truck driver, who detonated a suicide vest.

The attackers hid inside a Mercedes truck originally built to carry drinking water and cattle, which had been modified to hide the gunmen, a police spokesman said in Tikrit.

An American military spokesman in Tikrit said the truck initially attacked a checkpoint manned by Sunni volunteers near Owja, where Mr. Hussein is buried. But when Iraqi and Arab fighters emerged from the interior and opened fire on the checkpoint, the volunteers were joined by Iraqi police officers and soldiers who killed all the attackers and destroyed the truck.