From the Amy Forlitti, Associated Press:

Pvt. Francheska Velez

Velez, 21, of Chicago, was pregnant and preparing to return home. A friend of Velez’s, Sasha Ramos, described her as a fun-loving person who wrote poetry and loved dancing.

“She was like my sister,” Ramos, 21, said. “She was the most fun and happy person you could know. She never did anything wrong to anybody.”

Family members said Velez had recently returned from deployment in Iraq and had sought a lifelong career in the Army.

“She was a very happy girl and sweet,” said her father, Juan Guillermo Velez, his eyes red from crying. “She had the spirit of a child.”

Ramos, who also served briefly in the military, couldn’t reconcile that her friend was killed in this country just after leaving a war zone.

“It makes it a lot harder,” she said. “This is not something a soldier expects _ to have someone in our uniform go start shooting at us.”

Pfc. Kham S. Xiong

This undated picture shows Kham S. Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minn, a 2004 graduate of Community of Peace Academy who enjoyed hunting and fishing.

“The sad part is that he had been taught and been trained to protect and to fight. Yet it’s such a tragedy that he did not have the opportunity to protect himself and the base,” his father, Chor Xiong, told the Twin Cities news broadcast KSTP-TV through an interpreter.

Capt. John Gaffaney

Gaffaney, 56, was a psychiatric nurse who worked for San Diego County, Calif., for more than 20 years and had arrived at Fort Hood the day before the shooting to prepare for a deployment to Iraq.

Gaffaney, who was born in Williston, N.D., had served in the Navy and later the California National Guard as a younger man, his family said. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he tried to sign up again for military service. Although the Army Reserves at first declined, he got the call about two years ago asking him to rejoin, said his close friend and co-worker Stephanie Powell.

“He wanted to help the boys in Iraq and Afghanistan deal with the trauma of what they were seeing,” Powell said. “He was an honorable man. He just wanted to serve in any way he can.”

His family described him as an avid baseball card collector and fan of the San Diego Padres who liked to read military novels and ride his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Gaffaney supervised a team of six social workers, including Powell, at the county’s Adult Protective Services department. Ellen Schmeding, assistant deputy director for the county’s Health and Human Services Agency, said Gaffaney was a strong leader.

He is survived by a wife and a son.

Pfc. Michael Pearson

Pearson, 22, of the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, Ill., quit what he figured was a dead-end furniture company job to join the military about a year ago.

Pearson’s mother, Sheryll Pearson, said the 2006 Bolingbrook High School graduate joined the military because he was eager to serve his country and broaden his horizons.

“He was the best son in the whole world,” she said. “He was my best friend and I miss him.”

His cousin, Mike Dostalek, showed reporters a poem Pearson wrote. “I look only to the future for wisdom. To rock back and forth in my wooden chair,” the poem says.

At Pearson’s family home Friday, a yellow ribbon was tied to a porch light and a sticker stamped with American flags on the front door read, “United we stand.”

Neighbor Jessica Koerber, who was with Pearson’s parents when they received word Thursday their son had died, described him as a man who clearly loved his family _ someone who enjoyed horsing around with his nieces and nephews, and other times playing his guitar.

“That family lost their gem,” she told the AP. “He was a great kid, a great guy. … Mikey was one of a kind.”

Sheryll Pearson said she hadn’t seen her son for a year because he had been training. She told the Tribune that when she last talked to him on the phone two days ago, they had discussed how he would come home for Christmas.

Sgt. Amy Krueger

Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis., joined the Army after the 2001 terrorist attacks and had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden, her mother, Jeri Krueger said.

Amy Krueger arrived at Fort Hood on Tuesday and was scheduled to be sent to Afghanistan in December, her mother told the Herald Times Reporter of Manitowoc.

Jeri Krueger recalled telling her daughter that she could not take on bin Laden by herself.

“Watch me,” her daughter replied.

Kiel High School Principal Dario Talerico told The Associated Press that Krueger graduated from the school in 1998 and had spoken at least once to local elementary school students about her career.

“I just remember that Amy was a very good kid, who like most kids in a small town are just looking for what their next step in life was going to be and she chose the military,” Talerico said. “Once she got into the military, she really connected with that kind of lifestyle and was really proud to serve her country.”

Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka

Nemelka, 19, of the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, Utah, chose to join the Army instead of going on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his uncle Christopher Nemelka said.

“As a person, Aaron was as soft and kind and as gentle as they come, a sweetheart,” his uncle said. “What I loved about the kid was his independence of thought.”

Aaron Nemelka was proud to serve and felt keenly the responsibility of representing his nation and his family, said another uncle, Michael Blades. Blades said several of Nemelka’s relatives were in the military, including a grandfather who served in the Korean War and received a Purple Heart.

“He felt it was his duty to stand with them in defense of our country,” Blades said.

Nemelka enjoyed soccer, bowling and snowboarding, and was an avid fan of the Utah Utes, he said.

The youngest of four children, Nemelka was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in January, his family said in a statement. Nemelka had enlisted in the Army in October 2008, Utah National Guard Lt. Col. Lisa Olsen said.

Blades said Nemelka had a tremendous love for his family and a deep sense of duty.

“His mission is completed,” Blades said, his voice breaking. “He now serves a higher calling in heaven.”

Spc. Jason Dean Hunt

Hunt, 22, of Frederick, Okla., went into the military after graduating from Tipton High School in 2005 and had got married just two months ago, his mother, Gale Hunt, said. He had served 3 1/2 years in the Army, including a stint in Iraq.

Gale Hunt said two uniformed soldiers came to her door late Thursday night to notify her of her son’s death.

Hunt, known as J.D., was “just kind of a quiet boy and a good kid, very kind,” said Kathy Gray, an administrative assistant at Tipton Schools.

His mother said he was family oriented.

“He didn’t go in for hunting or sports,” Gale Hunt said. “He was a very quiet boy who enjoyed video games.”

He had re-enlisted for six years after serving his initial two-year assignment, she said. Jason Hunt was previously stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

Capt. Russell Seager

Seager, 51, of Racine, Wis., was a psychiatrist who joined the Army a few years ago because he wanted to help veterans returning to civilian life, said his uncle, Larry Seager of Mauston.

Russell Seager’s brother-in-law, Dennis Prudhomme, said Seager had worked with soldiers at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Milwaukee who were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He also taught classes at Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee, said Prudhomme, who is married to Seager’s sister.

Larry Seager said his nephew’s death left the family stunned, especially because the psychiatrist only wanted to help soldiers improve their mental health.

“It’s unbelievable. He goes down there to help out soldiers and then he … ,” Seager said, his voice trailing off. “I still can’t believe it.”

Russell Seager is survived by a wife and 20-year-old son.

Prudhomme said Seager was scheduled to go to Afghanistan in December and had gone to Fort Hood for training.

“Our family has suffered a great loss and we are all devastated,” Seager’s sister, Barbara Prudhomme, said in a statement read by her husband. “We are very proud of the way Russell lived his life, both personally and professionally, and our hearts go out to all the victims and their families.”

Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow

DeCrow, 32, was helping train soldiers on how to help new veterans with paperwork and had felt safe on the Army post.

“He was on a base,” his wife, Marikay DeCrow, said in a telephone interview from the couple’s home in Evans, Ga. “They should be safe there. They should be safe.”

In a statement Saturday, she said her husband’s “infectious charm and wit always put others at ease.”

His wife said she wanted everyone to know what a loving man he was. The couple have a 13-year-old daughter, Kylah.

“He was well loved by everyone,” she said through sobs. “He was a loving father and husband and he will be missed by all.”

The couple were high school sweethearts who married in 1996. Marikay DeCrow said her husband was first stationed at Fort Gordon in 2000, and she had hoped they would reunite at their home in nearby Evans when another post there opened up.

DeCrow was stationed in Korea from September 2008 to August. He left in September to go to Fort Hood.

His father, Daniel DeCrow, of Fulton, Ind., said he talked to his son last week to ask him how things were going at Fort Hood.

“As usual, the last words out of my mouth to him were that I was proud of him,” he said. “That’s what I said to him every time _ that I loved him and I was proud of what he was doing. I can carry that around in my heart.”

Lt.Col. Juanita Warman

Warman, 55, of Havre De Grace, Md., was a military physician assistant with two daughters and six grandchildren.

She came from a military family, said her half-sister, Kristina Rightweiser. Their father, who died in 2007, was a “career military man,” Rightweiser served in the Air Force, and Rightweiser’s brother is in the Coast Guard. The two women didn’t grow up together, but reconnected after their father’s death, Rightweiser said.

Warman “loved the Army and loved her family very much,” Rightweiser said in a message sent through Facebook.

Warman volunteered with Beyond the Yellow Ribbon, a reintegration program for Maryland National Guard soldiers returning from deployment overseas, according to Guard officials. She provided mental health counseling and helped develop a program about the myths and realities of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“She was an all-around nice person as well as a very competent professional,” said Col. Sean Lee, a Maryland National Guard chaplain who worked with Warman. “We’re all going to miss her quite a lot.”

Lt. Col. Charles Kohler, a spokesman for the Maryland Guard, said Warman was at Fort Hood preparing for deployment to Iraq.

Warman had worked at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Perry Point Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Maryland.

Spc. Frederick Greene

Greene, 29, of Mountain City, Tenn., went by “Freddie” and was active at Baker’s Gap Baptist Church while he was growing up, said Glenn Arney, the church’s former superintendent and a former co-worker of Greene’s.

“I went to church with him, knew him all of his life. He was one of the finest boys you ever saw,” Arney said.

Arney worked with Greene for several years at A.C. Lumber and Truss in Mountain City. The company designs and builds trusses, which are structures that support the roofs and floors of houses and other buildings.

“He was a hard worker. He was a computer whiz. He could design a truss. He could do about anything,” Arney said.

His family released a statement Sunday calling him a loving son, husband and father, who often acted as the family’s protector.

“Even before joining the Army, he exemplified the Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage,” the family said.

Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo

Caraveo, 52, of Woodbridge, Va., arrived in the United States in his teens from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, knowing very little English said his son, also named Eduardo Caraveo.

He earned his doctorate in psychology from the University of Arizona and worked with bilingual special-needs students at Tucson-area schools before entering private practice.

His son told the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson that Caraveo had arrived at Fort Hood on Wednesday and was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. Eduardo Caraveo spoke to the newspaper from his mother’s Tucson home.

His father’s Web site says he offered marriage seminars with a company based in Woodbridge, Va.

Michael Grant Cahill

Cahill, a 62-year-old physician assistant, suffered a heart attack two weeks ago and returned to work at the base as a civilian employee after taking just one week off for recovery, said his daughter Keely Vanacker.

“He survived that. He was getting back on track, and he gets killed by a gunman,” Vanacker said, her words bare with shock and disbelief.

Cahill, of Cameron, Texas, helped treat soldiers returning from tours of duty or preparing for deployment. Often, Vanacker said, Cahill would walk young soldiers where they needed to go, just to make sure they got the right treatment.

“He loved his patients, and his patients loved him,” said Vanacker, 33, the oldest of Cahill’s three adult children. “He just felt his job was important.”

Cahill, who was born in Spokane, Wash., had worked as a civilian contractor at Fort Hood for about four years, after jobs in rural health clinics and at Veterans Affairs hospitals. He and his wife, Joleen, had been married 37 years.

Vanacker described her father as a gregarious man and a voracious reader who could talk for hours about any subject.

The family’s typical Thanksgiving dinners ended with board games and long conversations over the table, said Vanacker, whose voice often cracked with emotion as she remembered her father. “Now, who I am going to talk to?”

ABC News:

At least seven people have been killed and at least 12 wounded in a mass shooting at a Texas military base by what officials believe was carried out by two gunmen.
Fort Hood shooting, map.
Seven soldiers are reported to be dead and at least 12 wounded in a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.

One gunman is reported to be in custody and a search is on for a second shooter, officials said.

The shooting took place at Fort Hood in Texas, the largest U.S. military installation in the world.

The massacre is said to have taken place at a soldier readiness processiong center where young recruits would be taken to be inducted into the military.

Latest report I’m hearing is on a 3rd shooter.

Possible terrorist attack?

Not much time to blog, so readers are welcomed to build upon this thread (other authors feel free to update and build up this post).

UPDATE @ 2:20pm PST

Check the comments below for realtime updates but the latest is that the shooter is Major Malik Nadal Hasan… a Muslim. 12 dead

Twelve people have been killed and 31 wounded in a shooting spree at a Texas military base by what officials believe was possibly carried out by an Army officer.

The suspected gunman was identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan. He was killed and two other suspects have been apprehended, Lt. Robert W. Cone said.

The gunman used two handguns, Cone said. He wasn’t sure if the shooter reloaded the weapons during the attack.

UPDATE @ 2:35pm PST

Check out Obama giving shout-outs prior to addressing the shooting…..unbelievable:

UPDATE @ 2:55pm PST

The suspected gunman in the Fort Hood shooting has been identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan. He was killed and two other suspects have been apprehended, according to Army Spokesman Lt. Robert W. Cone.

There are unconfirmed reports that Major Hasan was a convert to Islam and originally from Virginia. He was reportedly scheduled to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan and was unhappy about it.

Then what about the other two suspects? One individual going nuts this does not sound like.

Cheering at the death of our soldiers?

UPDATE @ 3:10pm PST

A defense official speaking on condition of anonymity to the AP says Hasan was a mental health professional — an Army psychologist or psychiatrist.

So true:

You know when it’ll be perfectly PC to speculate about Hasan? When cops find one of Glenn Beck’s books on his bookshelf

UPDATE @ 3:20pm PST

Metroplex Adventist Hospital received seven of the victims. One was under distress in route to the hospital and was later pronounced dead. Two are currently in surgery, one of which is an EMS paramedic. Four have been stabilized. Two were transferred to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple and two have been transferred to Seton in Round Rock.

Shooter?

Another possible Hasan.

UPDATE @ 3:35pm PST

Source tells Air Force Times that Hasan was a psychiatrist recently reassigned from Walter Reed to Darnall Army Medical Center @Fort Hood.

News Channel 25’s Natasha Chen has learned the suspected shooter Maj. Malik Hasan had “Allah” keyed into his car last week. He reported it as a hate crime.

per Drudge:

Obama’s Pet-Goat Moment

UPDATE @ 3:45pm PST

The general said there were “eyewitness accounts of more than one shooter,” and the others were tracked to an adjacent facility.

UPDATE @ 4:00pm PST

From This ain’t Hell, his ORB:

UPDATE @ 2:00am PST, 11/06/09

This appears to be his blog, according to CNN

A family photo that shows a little girl beside her father and his fellow soldiers in uniform as they prepare to go to war has resonated well beyond the tight knit Bennethum clan.

Four-year-old Paige Bennethum really, really didn’t want her daddy to go to Iraq.

So much so, that when Army Reservist Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum lined up in formation at his deployment this July, she couldn’t let go.

No one had the heart to pull her away.

Read more (video included) at A Soldier’s Perspective

I am 10 minutes late rushing off to work, but please check this out, regarding the soldiers at the two combat outposts that were overrun. They apparently lost everything except the clothes on their backs.

Today, I am reminded that our military are also toiling daily… sans days off and always on call. And while all deserve mention and our respect, I’m here to tell you the story of just one crew, from one crew member’s personal story.

On Sept. 14th, the Crew of Torqe 05, 40th Airlift Squadron, Dyess AFB, Texas, will be the recipient of the Lt. General William H. Tunner Award for 2009 in a ceremony at the Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition in Washington DC.

To examine the honor of this award, we might want to first examine the man for whom it was named… Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner, the most outstanding authority on airlift operations of the United States Air Force (and Army Air Corp in WWII). The below are excepts from a biography, written by a grateful recipient of Tunner’s “Candy Bombers” in Germany as a young girl.

Lt. Gen. Tunner first helped orginally create, the “Air Corps Ferrying Command” divisions in the early 40s.

July 1942, the name “Ferrying Command” was changed to Air Transport Command. General Tunner, by now a Colonel, was made Commanding Officer of the Ferrying Division. At that time, this division was ferrying 10,000 aircraft monthly to the Allied Forces, which was of vital importance in the early days of World War II.

In Sept of 1944, then Col. Tunner was called to command “The Hump” airlift transport of supplies to the Chinese people in the China-Burma-India theatre of the war. It was there he demonstrated his exceptional abilities to organize efficient and successful airlift missions.

This was the legendary “Hump” airlift, so named because the airplanes had to clear the 16,000 foot high Himalaya Mountains. And even though all air traffic had to be channeled over this enormously high range, Tunner and his crews delivered 71,000 tons of material to China, far beyond what had ever been carried by air before. In OVER THE HUMP, published in 1964, he told of his experiences in this operation.

The Hump airlift laid the foundation for his next, and even more famous airlift mission four years later, The Berlin Airlift – a mission defying all odds and embarrassing the Russians by supplying what was then the fifth largest city in the world (2.5 million people plus 6000 occupation troops), by air alone. In a ten month period, over 2.3 tons of supplies were flown into the city, dwarfing even future airlift operations. For example, between 1992 and 1997, there was a total of 179,910 tons brought into Sarajevo – less than the amount flown into Berlin in merely one month.

The Berlin Airlift earned a later Maj. General William Tunner, and his airlift crews, the H.H. Arnold Award in 1949.

From all over the world, veteran Air Force personnel had been jerked from their peacetime homes and were now flying endlessly through three 20-mile-wide air corridors, which were the only means of access.

The immensity and the danger of the mission should never be forgotten. In the heavy-laden and slow cargo planes, the pilots would have been clay pigeons for Russian fighter aircraft if Moscow had chosen to block the air lanes, too. Day after day the planes kept coming. The runways were repaired. A third airport (Tegel) was built. The crews were rotated. The planes refurbished and augmented. And the tonnage crept upward and upward, reaching the 4,000 daily minimum, then exceeding it, and eventually, in the spring of 1949, reaching the old pre-blockade level.

There were bad weather periods, and hard weeks, and frightening moments, but the personnel and General Tunner continued to perform and enlarge upon the miracle, which was lovingly known as “Operation Vittles”. Because of the masterful direction by General Tunner and his crews, the airlift was succeeding far beyond all calculations. By May 1949 the battle was finally over and won. Once again General Tunner had set new records for tons of food, material and coal into Berlin, and flying a total of 124.5 million miles. He had also proven that great bodies of troops, or great numbers of civilians, could be sustained by air transport alone.

It was a William Tunner, with the rank of General by then, who was called in to repeat this extraordinary airlift performance during the Korean War… a success by both commander and crews that earned General Tunner an on-the-spot Distinguished Service Cross from General Douglas MacArthur.

By the time he retired from the Service May 31, 1960, he had successfully organized and commanded the three largest airlift operations up to that time.

The first recipients of this award I can find was a 1st SOW Combat Talon crew for mission “Urgent Fury” in 1983, and after Tunner’s death in April of 1983. This was a seven day operation, centered at Point Salines Airport, effecting the rescue of Americans from Grenada. Since then, many crews have been honored annually for their outstanding contributions. And indeed, there is illustrious company.

So today I pass on the story of the 2009 recipients of the Lt. General William H. Tunner Award.

Greetings all,

As you may know by now ( thanks mom), my last desert crew is the recipient of the Lt. General William H. Tunner Award for 2009, The Crew of Torqe 05, 40th Airlift Squadron, Dyess AFB, Texas.

“The award is given to recognize extraordinary achievement by the most outstanding airlift crew in the United States Air Force.” We will be presented with the award on Monday, September 14th at the Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition in Washington DC.

So how did we get this honor? Funny you should ask. Let me share a story with you.

So there we were, just a few minutes into a long flight from Kuwait to one of our bases in Africa. As our plane climbed out we detected a faint, but growing, odor in the aircraft. Strange smells in flight are rarely a good thing. As the odor got stronger we discussed returning to base. In the meantime, we were trying to find out the origin of the offending smell. We soon made the decision to don our oxygen masks and emergency depressurize the aircraft in order to evacuate the now very acrid fumes.

A little about donning oxygen in flight (for your education), we have helmets much like those seen on any cheesy war flight movie, with masks that fit over our headsets. There are also four portable oxygen bottles to use when we have to move about the aircraft. These portable bottles can be refilled from the aircrafts oxygen supply as needed. That point will be important later in my story. The passengers, we had five, two crew chiefs and three security forces, had to put what amounts to a plastic bag with an oxygen generating canister attached, over their heads.

As I said before, we made the decision to done oxygen, depressurize, open a top hatch and evacuate the fumes from the aircraft. This is standard procedure for smoke and fumes elimination. Unfortunately, in situations like this, things are rarely standard. As I began the procedure, blink, a loss of hydraulic pressure light illuminated. Now, I thought, I may have bigger problems. I called for the loadmaster in the back to check our #1 hydraulic system and make sure it has fluid in the reservoir. After all, it may just be a false indication. No, unfortunately, it was not a false indicator. We lost the entire system, which meant no flaps, no landing gear, and one-half of our hydraulic assist for the flight controls were gone. So we did have bigger problems!

Wait, this gets even better!

We continue the fumes evacuation, which never fully dissipates so we must remain on oxygen. I now have to use one of the portable oxygen bottles to work on getting the landing gear and flaps down. The pilots are calling back to the base, declaring an emergency so we can get priority landing, and have all fire and rescue ready as we turn back to base.

Oh, by the way, the passengers are now passing out!

Passing out! As if we didn’t have enough to do already. The passengers had put the EPOS, emergency personal oxygen system, ‘bags’ over their heads and were now passing out. Well there goes one of the two loadmasters to help these guys breath. We would find out later they were improperly activating the bottles rendering them useless, and suffocating themselves in the process. Five guys would eventually go through sixty EPOS’ before we landed. This had never happened before.

After we got the guys breathing again, it was time to try and get the flaps and gear down so we could land.

That’s where I come in with the portable oxygen canisters.

To lower the flaps I must go through a process to release the brake and then hand crank the flaps down. This takes some time and effort which means heavy breathing for a big guy. Heavy breathing while on portable oxygen meant that I would go through a bottle in about a minute. So, one loadmaster fills a bottle, takes about a minute, the other swaps mine out as soon as its empty, in about a minute, and the process continues over and over again. While I’m hand cranking the flaps down, we are in communication with the pilots to slow the aircraft so as not to over-speed the flaps.

OK, passengers are breathing, the flaps are finally down, and it’s time to lower the gear. This is a simple process on our aircraft so there’s not much to tell here. We can free fall the gear and just verify a down and locked position for landing. But since we lost the #1, or utility hydraulic system, we have no steering once we land! All we can do is hope we can stay on the runway! This shouldn’t be too bad really, as long as the pilot remembers not to touch the nose wheel steering and the crosswinds are mild. Either one would send us shooting off into the sand.

Obviously, we landed safely. You would have heard about this sooner if we hadn’t. As soon as we stopped on the runway, we got the hell off that aircraft. The cops that passed out were hauled off to the hospital to be checked out while we got a pat on the back and asked the question of the day, “we have another plane which can be ready in about ten minutes if you want to take that one to Africa.” We took it.

Al

Thanks to the training, and efficiency under duress, they and their precious human cargo are not being mourned by families. Nor are they fodder for the nightly news, and part of another statistic to be used for political purposes.

Instead they will be honored, along with others receiving various National Aerospace Awards. And I could not be more proud, and thrilled at the outcome. You see, this young Air Force crew member is my nephew… one of two serving our country in the USAF.

Wordsmith did provide some extra insight in his remembrance of Chris with a YouTube link, but I felt that Major General Mark Graham – Commander, Division West and Fort Carson, Colo – and his suicide prevention program needs to be broadened with a grassroots movement.

Below is the ACE card given to military members.. ASK, CARE and ESCORT. It’s an action plan when you see one of our warriors in trouble.

Like an omen, I happened to pick up a People Magazine my mother purchased as a fluke while I’m visiting her, and my Dad, in Florida. She wanted to read the cover story of Farrah Fawcett. Ironically, a non-cover story was about Major General Mark Graham, and his mission to prevent suicides of troops, along with his wife, Carol.

Even more ironic, August happens to be the military’s Suicide Prevention Month.

The Grahams have lost two sons… Army 2nd Lt. Jeff Graham died in February 2004, saving his platoon from a bomb on a bridge in Khaldiyah, Iraq.

But eight months earlier, they lost another son… ROTC cadet kevin Graham. Suffering from depression, he hung himself in his apartment at the University of Kentucky.

Excerpt from the People article:

Condolence calls and bouquets poured in [after Jeff's death]. They wondered, where were these mourners for Kevin? “Everybody is treating you totally different”, says Carol. Leaving a funeral home for the second time in eight months, the Grahams made a decision. At a stoplight, Mark Graham said, “The loss of the boys can either be the whole book of our lives, or it can be two tragic chapters.” Soon after, they started the Jeff and Kevin Graham Memorial Fund to prevent suicide on college campuses.

Years passed before he would discuss the issue among the ranks. In 2006, a military-family survivirs’ group, TAPS, asked him to speak. Losing a loved on in war is a frequent stopic on that circuit, and he expected they wanted to hear about Jeff. Instead, for the first time, he was asked to address suicide. It was a turning point: Since then, has has spoken about it often. “I hope it’s helped,” he says. “To be frank, it’s not easy. It’s horrendous.”

Our warriors are everywhere, and in various status of service. If a nation can be cajoled into spying on their neighbors for anti-Obama statements, I suggest it can even be easier to alert a nation to a warrior in trouble.

And to that end, I’d like to provide some suicide prevention resources.

For more information about Suicide Prevention Month or to request a suicide prevention presentation or to seek assistance for someone contemplating suicide, call the Employee Assistance Program at 842-0895 or 842-9897.

Other suicide intervention resources include:

Fox Army Health Center’s Behavioral Medicine, 955-888, ext. 1930;
Chaplain Services, 842-2174, 842-2176 or 541-6359;
Military One Source, 1-800-342-9647;
Huntsville/Madison County Mental Health Services, 533-1970;
National Suicide Prevention Hotline, 1-800-273-8255;
Hope, 1-800-784-2433;
and VA Readjustment Counseling Services, 1-800-271-1000.

You can see Major General Graham’s quick clip on the ACE program at the DOD’s Military Health System website.

Warning Signs: When a Soldier presents any combination of the following, the buddy or chain of command should be more vigilant and consider help:

• Talk of suicide or killing someone else
• Giving away property or disregard for what happens to one’s property
• Withdrawal from friends and activities
• Problems with girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse
• Acting bizarre or unusual (based on your knowledge of the person)
• In trouble for misconduct
• Soldiers experiencing financial problems
• Soldiers who have lost their job at home (such as Reservists or Guardsmen)
• Soldiers leaving the service

When a Soldier presents any one of these concerns, the Soldier should be seen immediately by a helping provider:

• Talking or hinting about suicide
• Formulating a plan to include acquiring the means to kill oneself
• Having a desire to die
• Obsession with death (music, poetry, artwork)
• Themes of death in letters and notes
• Finalizing personal affairs
• Giving away personal possessions

Risk factors are those things that increase the probability that difficulties could result in serious adverse behavioral or physical health. The risk factors only raise the risk of an individual being suicidal – it does not mean they are suicidal.
Risk factors often associated with suicidal behavior include:

• Relationship problems (loss of girlfriend or boyfriend, or divorce)
• History of previous suicide attempts
• Substance abuse
• History of depression or other mental illness
• Family history of suicide or violence
• Work-related problems
• Transitions (retirement, permanent change of station or discharge)
• A serious medical problem
• Significant loss (death of a loved one, loss due to natural disasters)
• Current/pending disciplinary or legal action
• Setback (academic, career or personal)
• Severe, prolonged and/or perceived unmanageable stress
• A sense of powerlessness, helplessness and/or hoplessness

Suicidal risk is highest when:

• The person sees not way out and fears things may get worse
• The predominant emotions are hopelessness and helplessness
• Thinking is constricted with a tendency to perceive his or her situation as all bad
• Judgment is impaired by use of alcohol or other substances

There are no words. Wow, amazing, these kinda things just don’t say it.

Thank you both. That’s all I can say-that, and CONGRATULATIONS!

The remains of Navy Captain Scott Speicher, a pilot who has been missing since being shot down during the 1991 Gulf War, have been positively identified. The Pentagon has released a statement:

The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) has positively identified remains recovered in Iraq as those of Captain Michael Scott Speicher. Captain Speicher was shot down flying a combat mission in an F/A-18 Hornet over west-central Iraq on January 17th, 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Captain Speicher’s family for the ultimate sacrifice he made for his country,” said Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy. “I am also extremely grateful to all those who have worked so tirelessly over the last 18 years to bring Captain Speicher home.”

“Our Navy will never give up looking for a shipmate, regardless of how long or how difficult that search may be,” said Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations. “We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Captain Speicher and his family for the sacrifice they have made for our nation and the example of strength they have set for all of us.”

The statement goes on to recount the details of how Capt. Speicher’s remains were found, and the likelihood that he died on impact. I am so glad that the remains have been identified, and the mystery solved.

Much like the disappearance of Etan Patz, the Speicher case has been weighing on my mind. While every missing person and serviceman is important, some cases take on a special meaning in our consciousness. I’m glad that Capt. Speicher’s family has the certainty of knowing what happened, and of burying him in the U.S.A

How does a son say goodbye to his father? While this is a profoundly painful question to ponder, in this instance, the answer is really very simple – by honoring my father’s request to be buried and celebrated as a great Marine.

To Ed’s millions of fans around the world, he was an entertainment icon who’s brilliant and colorful career spanned some 70 years and included work as a bingo caller in a traveling carnival – yes, that’s right, Ed spoke Carnie.  Ed also worked in radio, theater, movies, and of course television.  Ed was the quintessential pitchman – selling everything from the famous Morris Metric Slicer to Budweiser Beer and even some of Mr. Carson’s jokes that didn’t always work as planned.  In Ed’s words: “jokesters joke, actors act, entertainers entertain”.  Ed was a consummate entertainer.

However, those who knew Ed best knew that while he loved being an entertainer, he truly loved being a Marine.

Ed’s Marine Corps career began during World War II and lasted 23 years.  At the end of it all, Ed was promoted to Colonel – he considered this to be one of the greatest accomplishments of his life; amazing when you consider the body of his work.

Over the years, Ed told me that he wanted to be remembered as: “a good entertainer, but a great Marine!” Considering Ed was an entertainment giant, this speaks volumes in regards to his love of the Marine Corps, with its inherent brotherhood and Corps values of respect, honor, and integrity – the defining elements of Ed’s character.

A few of the notable highlights of Ed’s service in and life-long involvement with the United States Marine Corps include:

• Eating powder eggs during Officers Candidates School – even though they were billeted on a farm with hundreds of chickens – some things in the Corps never change!
• Being commissioned as a 2nd Lt.
• Being made a flight instructor while still in flight school.
• Earning his Naval Aviator wings on 4/4/44.
• Flying the hottest fighter in WWII – the F4U-Corsair.
• Being placed in hack for conducting “training missions” over his girlfriend’s house.
• Becoming a test pilot.
• Being placed in hack for conducting “training missions” over his girlfriend’s house again.
• Teaching carrier landings.
• And yes, being placed in hack for flying “training missions” over his girlfriend’s house AGAIN.
• Telling NBC he’d love to sign a big contract to be their next star– but he had just received orders to report to Korea.
• Meeting Marilyn Monroe prior to deploying to Korea and having her impishly tell him: “Ed, I’m not wearing anything underneath”.
• Flying 85 combat missions in Korea as an artillery spotter – Ed earned six Air Medals for his tenacity and proficiency at closing with and destroying the enemy.
• Cornering the market on food and alcohol by becoming his squadron’s Officer-in-Charge of the Mess Tent and Officer’s Club.
• The 3-day long party in Tent 7 with 55 gallon drums of “truce juice” when the armistice was signed.
• Participation in creating the Toys for Tots program.
• Being promoted to Colonel.
• Promoting his son to the rank of Corporal.
• Passing a flight physical at age 70 and flying the Harrier Jump Jet.
• Working with The Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation to cement the legacy and traditions of Marine Corps Aviation.
• And being Major General Lenhert’s Guest of Honor at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Ball in 2005 – Sir, he had tremendous respect for you and was humbled to be your guest of honor.

Colonel Edward Leo McMahon – Dad – on behalf of a grateful nation, fiercely loyal United States Marine Corps, assembled friends, loving family, and me – a devoted son – it is the highest honor of my life, to fulfill your request to be buried as a Marine.  I wish you Godspeed, as you pull chalks and embark on one last mission in your Corsair – destined for the final rally point– Valhalla – warrior heaven.  I salute you!

Today, I had the great pleasure of celebrating the opening of a renovated home that will serve the various needs of homeless veterans in Philadelphia.

Thanks to HGTV and Rebuilding Philadelphia!

Limited engagement showings in some cities now….and you can request a showing in your town here.

During her visit she visited different historical and not so historical sites and met the residents of Auburn: (h/t to Conservative 4 Palin)

Bistro One got a very last-minute reservation request Thursday. But this was one they wanted to make room for.

Former vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin participated in a breakfast event Friday morning at the Auburn restaurant. The event, which was attended by area supporters, kicked off a day of activities for the Republican governor at various local businesses, parks and organizations.

Her tour of the area precedes today’s first-ever Founders Day, which celebrates local history. During the Auburn festival, Palin will take part in a parade, speak at the city hall and attend a fundraiser luncheon at the Seward House.

~~~

One of about 40 in attendance at the breakfast was state Assemblyman Gary Finch. Finch said Palin gave a nonpolitical talk, and she expressed gratitude to the local community for inviting her.

Finch said that Palin, who brought her husband, Todd, daughter, Willow, her sister and nephew along, made sure to speak individually with each person at the event.

“She certainly conveyed to everyone that she is very glad to be here,” said Finch, who will also participate in Saturday’s festivities.

“She was very real, very genuine,” Finch said.

She also visited the Harriet Tubman Home:

At 10:15 a.m., a black SUV took her to the Tubman House for an unannounced tour away from the media pool. Palin’s family was shown through Tubman’s Home for the Aged, and site manager Paul Carter pointed out a print of a guardian angel leading a child. Carter said it reminded him that Tubman was “the guardian angel of us all.”

“That’s beautiful,” Palin said. “That says it all.”

In the Tubman visitor center, after hearing about Tubman’s resilience as she fought slavery, Palin called over her nephew Karcher, who is autistic, and said, “This is something for you, anytime you go through something tough. Keep going.”

And the Women’s Rights National Historic Park and the National Women’s Hall of Fame:

Shortly before noon, Palin’s party was led to the National Women’s Hall of Fame by Executive Director Christine Moulton. Moulton pointed out a number of inductees (including Ruth Colvin, founder of Literacy Volunteers in Syracuse) who had made great contributions to society after raising a family.

“That’s very hopeful for a lot of young moms today, who have to put things on hold,” said Palin, whose 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is raising a child.

At the Hall of Fame, Palin — wearing a Blue Star Mom pin and bracelet for her son Track serving in Iraq, and showing red toenails in open shoes — posed for pictures.

Moulton gave Palin flowers. Nozzolio gave Palin a DVD of Ken Burns’ series on Anthony and Stanton (”Not for Ourselves Alone”). Palin congratulated Seneca Falls Mayor Smith for being “a good mommy mayor” and “setting an example for young women who want to affect positive change.”

At one point, Palin said she shared with Susan B. Anthony a desire for the protection of women. “For me, that includes our youngest sisters, girls in the womb,” she said.

And one reaction from a resident needs to be repeated:

Adams and his daughter, Erin, got up at 5:30 a.m. to be in Auburn this morning. By 9 a.m., they were seated in folding chairs and talking with other Palin fans. John Adams likes Palin’s politics.

“She makes me think of Ronald Reagan,” John Adams said.

“For the first time since Reagan, I’ve found a candidate that … sounds like Reagan and that has some Reaganesque qualities,” said Adams, 56. “She’s not the speaker Reagan was, but she believes the same things Reagan believed and talk that way, and that inspires me.”

Later she led a parade through Auburn where 20,000 people showed up to cheer her on and gave a speech which definitely contained some red meat. As she reached the podium you can hear people yell “run Sarah run.” The video’s of the speech is below but a few spots of interest, at about the 2:20 mark in part 1:

We never need to fear that though we’re not a perfect nation, that we must apologize for being proud of ourselves.

Later in part 1 she honors a few Auburn son’s who gave the ultimate sacrifice fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq asking them to join her in “promising the gold star moms that our soldiers deaths are not in vain and we will continue to fight for our security, our democracy, our freedom.”

And she takes on those who criticized her for not taking the strings attached stimulus money from the federal government (part 4 below):

I recently turned down, or vetoed, stimulus dollars that were tied to implementing…some mandates from the federal government trying to take away more control of our local governments, and our families, and our businesses. In this case, implementing universal energy building codes that some claimed after I vetoed the money “oh, she’s just trying to make a political statement.” And, no, I’m actually trying to use some common sense here, and some may be uncomfortable with that, but it is the right thing to do.

You know the response I got when I vetoed these dollars? “Girl, are you crazy, the federal government is handing out free money and if you don’t take it another state’s going to spend it.” Oh this borrowed, debt ridden, government growing money – it is not free money, and taking it takes away anything that is free.

So many in Congress warned the states about the ramifications of accepting the money, and most legislators went around governors who didn’t want to take all the money, and they resolved via resolutions to take the money anyway. But opportunity for development and local control, that is what’s taken away when all of these dollars are accepted without questioning them, because, believe it or not, there are fat strings attached to this borrowed money. See that attitude of free money is wrong.

Finally I have just conceded, I’ve said ok, I just won’t claim that there are strings attached. I won’t use that term anymore. Because the more we dig into these mandates, these connections that the money would have that we would spend coming from the federal government, including the string attached to these dizzying federal debts that we are handing to our kids and to their kids to pay off for us – I can’t say strings attached anymore, now I say they are ropes…They are debt building, binding, controlling ropes and it is bigger government that ultimately will take away our opportunities and our freedoms.

And now precedent says government will bail you out, depending on the decisions that you’ve made if you’re not prudent with your business dollars. Government will buy you out. Anyone need a car? And this is a problem because we cannot afford this government largess and control and unrestrained spending. I don’t think that’s what Seward had in mind. And I do not believe it’s the will of the people.

Lastly she also speaks about the part Alaska plays in our national defense (part 5 below). Watch them all, great speech and a great lady.

SARASOTA – Wearing a T-shirt that read “My Dad is a Hero,” 3-year-old Alexander “Beans” Hernandez tried to sit still, as one speaker after another praised the courage of the National Guard soldiers standing in formation in the center of the room. But with his father only 10 feet away, Beans finally burst out of his chair and gave Master Sgt. Jose Hernandez a hug before family members whispered and motioned for the little boy to return.

Alicia Potts of Orlando gets a heartfelt hug from her nephew, Hunter Francis, 6, during the deployment ceremony. The group of 24 guardsmen will be leaving for Afghanistan, where they will be running radar to keep an eye on American fighter jets and aircraft in the region.
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No one in uniform seemed to mind as they greeted with smiles the unscheduled and tender moment Saturday in what was a ceremony filled with pride and solemnity.

I’ve often wondered where do we get such men and women, the people who give up their daily lives, too often their full lives, to travel to far away distant lands, to surround themselves by hateful, barbaric humans, and to do it all for a country that too often ignores them-or worse, uses them as partisan political pawns to boost votes one way or the other. The better query isn’t, “Where do we get such men and women?” No, the better question is,
“Where do we get such loving children?”

Godspeed to those headed into harm’s way, and to those headed home.

WASHINGTON – The United States could fight an old-fashioned war against North Korea if necessary, even while newer forms of conflict against terrorists and extremists continue, the Army’s top officer said Thursday.

Asked whether the United States would be prepared to fight if war broke out between South Korea and North Korea, Gen. George Casey replied, “The short answer is yes,” then added that “it would probably take us a little bit longer to shift gears” away from the type of counterinsurgency fighting that now occupies the Army.

Casey said his usual rubric for how long it would take the Army to gear up for a new “conventional” war is about 90 days. That doesn’t mean it would take 90 days for the U.S. to effectively fight the North’s million-man army, he said.

“We’d move forces as rapidly as we could get them prepared,” Casey said during an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

North Korea has threatened war following condemnation of its underground nuclear test this week, and the United States has a long-term commitment to South Korea’s defense.

“This is a combat-seasoned force” that can pivot quickly, Casey said.

“He told us … `I don’t want you to remember me in tears,”‘ his mother, Gail Johnson-Roth, told about 250 mourners at his funeral at Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood. “`I want you to remember me with laughter.”‘
-from the Daily Breeze, two years ago

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood.

Not long after arriving, as I was walking through the cemetery, a particular gravesite stood out because it was embraced by flowers and balloons. I guessed it was a recent soldier who had died. Walking over to it, I recognized the name of who I stumbled upon: Daniel Patrick Cagle. I had put together a post when he was buried two years ago, moved by the above photo. It had caught my attention on the front page of a local paper (Torrance, actually; but still part of the greater LA area), The Daily Breeze, as I was waiting in a diner.

Here are a few photos I took yesterday:

I do hope and pray that Cagle’s family and friends can remember him with laughter amidst the tears.