Weekend Plans: Gettysburg or Bust!

Well, I'll be driving my Mini, but hopefully the banner in this picture will make it back from Texas (signed by my mom's 5th graders) in time to motivate folks participating in this event. Folks like Chuck.

I'll be there along with other volunteers to hang banners, cheer the riders, and do whatever else needs to be done to make sure the event goes off without a hitch.

If you live between DC and Frederick, MD, look for riders on Saturday - stop and cheer them along if you're able. Do the same between Frederick and Gettysburg on Sunday.

Say a prayer for some cooperative weather, too, huh?

Plus, you can still make donations to help defray the expenses of participants who are members of our armed services. Go HERE, or see more about Chuck's effort HERE. You can make a donation to any one of the teams participating to help them reach their fundraising goals.

Benefits of Being An Angel

For me, there are a lot of intangible benefits to being a member of Soldiers' Angels. Being a part of one troop-support organization or another simply seems the right thing to do. Sometimes it's just a good outlet when war coverage is frustrating -- at least I can let one or two soldiers, sailors, airmen, or marines know how grateful I am for their service and how impressed I am with what they've accomplished around the world, regardless of what others are blathering on about at the moment.

Then there is something as grin-worthy as getting hooked on the Kellogg's Protein Bars that you'd been sending to your soldier in Iraq. Figure-friendly, reasonably priced, and the easiest way I've found yet to eat "well" for breakfast and lunch.

Thanks, T!

Greyhawk on Yon

Duh. I can't believe I forgot to link to Greyhawk's review of Michael Yon's new book.

His review of Yon's "Moment of Truth in Iraq - How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope" was published in the New York Post and can be found on-line HERE.

Order an autographed copy of the book HERE, or, for the budget-conscious, order HERE.


P.S. For those new here, Greyhawk rocks. Literally, too (go have a listen).

Medal of Honor for Spc. Ross McGinnis (HT: Badger 6)

Early word is spreading that Spc Ross McGinnis will be the next recipient of the highest valor award for actions in combat, the Medal of Honor.

Badgers Forward has more and a link to the story in the Army Times.

More on Spc McGinnis's story from a 2006 post at Blackfive.net (of course).

"Warriors...in their own words" (HT: Marty)

I hadn't seen anything about this yet.

The trailer for the documentary is powerful. Go have a look **HERE**.

Why did they make it? From their website:

"Help build our project to change the way America sees our Warriors - not as victims, but as intelligent, honorable, and brave people they are, standing in the way of the free worlds demise. Help us help our wounded warriors."

I'm in.

A DVD and a book to be released May 24th. I just pre-ordered mine.

P.S. *Tissue alert* for the trailer...
P.P.S Wouldn't you like to be an Angel to a warrior like this? Go HERE.

Put this at the top of your "Must Read" list

Want to know how things are going in Iraq? Want to get an idea of what Iraqis think of how we're doing in Iraq? How they view our soldiers?

Michael Yon, an independent reporter and photographer, has been reporting from Iraq on these kinds of questions for the last few years. He's been on the ground with our troops, dodging bullets and photgraphing the ongoing battle. Over the last year he's been in a lot of those same places and seeing the progress that's been made. In particular, he has given us a view inside the "non-military" solutions for Iraq... and shows you the role that our troops are still playing in that "non-military" solution. I linked to a couple of his stories over the last year, one here about Muslims asking to Michael to get the message to their former neighbors -- Christians who had fled persecution -- to ask their neighbors to come home now that things had improved so much.

He wrote about the cajoling of Iraqi officials to jump start food delivery and the bolstering of local officials in solving the simple problems of everyday life like trash pick-up and re-building damaged neighborhoods.

You may or may not have followed Michael Yon's reporting over the last few years, though he has shown up in major newspapers and magazines, on TV, on the radio, and all over the web.

Either way, I think you'll get something new out of his book: Moment of Truth in Iraq. He draws on previous reporting and adds more to give you an idea of where Iraq stands today.

I ordered one of the early autographed copies ("Michael Yon, Mosul, Iraq 2008" - cool, huh?), and just finished reading it early Friday morning. Whether you agree with all his analysis and assessments or not, he ends with this important message and question (p. 227):

"The war isn't over yet. Victory remains in question. The
choice is ours, the time is now - for a moment of truth in Iraq.

What are we going to do?"

A steal at $13.96 right now at Barnesandnoble.com -- buy yours before they sell out. AGAIN.

Get Michael Yon's book today.

364 (... and counting) Troops Hoping for an Angel

I wanted to update where we are... so I went **HERE**, as you can, to see how many troops have submitted requests for an Angel.

364 is MUCH better than 500+, but...

...in the time it took to type this post, the number went to 365.

Then to 366.

Can you help keep it down?

They'd really enjoy hearing from and really appreciate knowing that folks back home haven't forgotton about them.

Click ***HERE*** to adopt :-)

More details on the previous post below (here).

Come on, be an Angel to a troop!