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When military recruits speak of their reasons for enlisting, many cite family pride and tradition as their strongest motivation. The desire to follow in a parent's footsteps has prompted many soldiers to enlist into the National Guard. For recent enlistee Pvt. Larry Gravius, a 39-year-old Massillon, Ohio, resident, family tradition was a definite factor in his decision to become a soldier. But this time, the parent was following in the child's footsteps. ... "I have always wanted to serve, seeing both of my brothers serve during the current war, and watching my daughter enlist was a sign for me that it was time to join up," Gravius said.

That is one of the best reasons for joining the military. Both father and daughter will have each other to look up to and to lean on for support. Mostly a parent is the role model for the child to do extra-ordinary things. Would you follow your children into the military if they joined?

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Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr intends to disarm his once-dominant Mahdi Army militia and remake it as a social-services organization, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The transformation would represent a significant turnaround for a group that has been one of the most destabilizing anti-American forces in Iraq. A new brochure, obtained by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by al-Sadr’s chief spokesman, Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, states that the Mahdi Army will now be guided by Shiite spirituality instead of anti-American militancy. The group will focus on education, religion and social justice, according to the brochure, which is aimed at al-Sadr’s followers. The brochure also states that it "is not allowed to use arms at all," The Journal noted.

The proof is in the pudding. A leopard never changes it's spots. All these come to mind, and yet with the recent scramble by Al-Qaida to get the heck out of Iraq maybe Al-Sadr is getting scared and doesn't want to end up like the rest of the terrorists in Iraq, dead. If he was really smart he would call for the disarmament and then call heresy on any of his followers that keep their weapons. In fact if he is really going to do this he should have his Mahdi Army turn all of their weapons over to U.S. forces. Does this sound like a ruse, or is it for real?

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A Mexican national on Texas' death row is awaiting possible last-minute intervention from the Supreme Court, just hours before he is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday for two brutal slayings. Jose Ernesto Medellin's execution by lethal injection could be the final act in an unusual capital appeal that pitted President Bush against his home state in a dispute over federal authority, local sovereignty and foreign treaties. Medellin was 18 when he took part in the June 1993 gang rape and murder of two Harris County girls, Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16. He was convicted of the crimes and sentenced to death.

Texas has it right, if you come into our country and rape and murder our children you will die. No one has even tried to say that this piece of human refuse is innocent. The anti -death penalty crowd doesn't believe the crime should fit the punishment. When he dies by lethal injection he will be getting off easy, he should have to suffer just as much as his victims. The Governor of Texas should mobilize the Texas National Guard and post the in an interdiction line near the Mexican border, with more stationed in larger cities just in case. Once this case is settled there are several more of this killer's gang that are up for execution. Just keep the Army on the border and we don't have to worry about illegals anymore either. Should it have taken 15 years for this killer to finally meet his maker?

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An internet message from al-Qaeda has apparently confirmed that the group's top chemical-weapons expert, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, has died. The al-Qaeda message did not specify the cause of his death, though he was widely reported to have been killed in an airstrike in Pakistan last week. Taleban officials had told the BBC he died in the raid, but false reports of his death have circulated in the past.

Maybe the death of this terrorist will help the spirits of the 17 American Sailors rest in peace. One can only hope that this "leader" saw it coming and couldn't escape his fate. It is amusing though because while Al-Qaida admits his death, the Taliban are still denying it. Who should we believe in a time like this?

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Faced with a shrinking pool of eligible young recruits, the Army is getting into the business of granting diplomas at its own homegrown high school. In a pilot program scheduled to begin Aug. 4 at Fort Jackson, S.C., qualifying high school dropouts will start a four-week curriculum at the new Army Preparatory School to earn a general equivalency diploma.

Faced with an ever increasingly incompetent government school system, the Army is probably the best place for these young men and women to actually learn something. Anti-military group will call this the exploitation of the uneducated, but you don't ever see any of those groups offering a suitable alternative do you?

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President Bush declared progress in the Iraq war Thursday, saying terrorists "are on the run" and a generally improved security environment should permit further U.S. troop reductions. Standing on the Colonnade outside the Oval Office of the White House, Bush also announced that effective Thursday, the duration of troop tours in Iraq will be cut from 15 months to 12 months. Bush said this reduction "will relieve the burden on our forces and it will make life easier for our wonderful military families."

Looks like the anti-war crowd are going to have to start working over time to find a way to sabotage a victory in Iraq. Maybe after we win Iraq they will focus on trying to get us to surrender in Afghanistan? This really is great news for everyone that serves in the military. More family time, and less war zone time are always good things. Should we start considering 9 month rotations in Iraq?

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U.S. combat deaths in Iraq appear headed to the lowest monthly level since the start of the war as the U.S. commanding general there said overall violence is declining toward normal levels. According to The Associated Press, the U.S. military has reported nine troop deaths so far in July. But the official death toll for the month is 11. The figure includes the recovery of the bodies of two U.S. soldiers kidnapped last year. The lowest prior number was eight in May 2003, according to USA Today figures.

As is not being reported in the Mainstream media, we are winning in Iraq. This also means that we are losing less and less of our best and brightest. I really hope that one day that number is zero. That lofty goal will not happen as long as we have enemies, and as long as we have enemies our bravest will be out there fighting them

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Retired Sgt. Maj. Albert Brunson has known the racism of "Jim Crow." He can recall the South Carolina of his birth and childhood, where buildings had separate entrances for "Coloreds" and "Whites." But in 1965 Brunson, by then in Pennsylvania, found a life and culture that was as close to the society Martin Luther King envisioned -- where people would be judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin -- as then existed. What he found -- more accurately, what found him -- was the Army, which 60 years ago this month became fully integrated.

There will always be small minded people in this world. There will always be people who hates those who are not like them. The color of a persons skin cannot tell you what type of person they are. No matter the skin color, religion, ethnicity, and language there will always be good people and those who cannot and will not see the larger world around them. It is merit, what you have done and what you have proven, that we should be judged by, not the color of our skin. It is all Army Green on the outside.

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The Military Postal Service Agency is preparing measures for this election season that officials say will help absentee ballots move through the military mail system. From Sept. 1 to Nov. 25, the military mail will prioritize absentee ballots, which will be specially marked and tagged, and personnel will be instructed to deal with those parcels first. Postal personnel involved will be briefed and trained soon, according to Faye Johnson, MPSA chief of operations. They will be instructed that "whenever they see trays, tubs or anything with absentee ballots, that is to be expedited."

Since the last two elections have resulted in a debacle of miscounted military absentee ballots, the military in a burst of quickness that only took 8 years will now expedite military ballots. The biggest question that comes to mind is why wasn't this done the first time they allowed the military to use absentee ballots? This should have been a policy that was enacted years ago. What else can the military do to increase the likelihood that a soldiers ballot will be counted?

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The House Appropriations Committee is poised to approve a retroactive $500 monthly allowance for troops whose military service was extended by stop-loss orders. Up to 120,000 people would receive a payment for each month that their separation or retirement was delayed by stop-loss orders since October 2001, according to congressional sources working on the 2009 defense appropriations bill. Most of the people affected are in the active Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve, although the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps also used stop-loss for brief periods from 2001 to 2003 in the early days of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An appropriate gesture to the men and women who are held over the expected enlistment period. Most of these personnel are in mission critical specialties, which requires the military to keep them longer than planned. This is part of the original contract which all sign as a part of joining the armed forces. It is nice to see that there will be some type of monetary compensation for these troops. Is $500 dollars enough?

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Al-Qaida's foreign fighters who have for years bedeviled Iraq are increasingly going to Afghanistan to fight instead, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States said Wednesday. "We have heard reports recently that many of the foreign fighters that were in Iraq have left, either back to their homeland or going to fight in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is now seeming to be more suitable for al-Qaida fighters," said Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie. Al-Qaida had training camps and a headquarters in Afghanistan, under the protection of the then-ruling Taliban, until the U.S. invaded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. With al-Qaida forced out of Afghanistan, the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 quickly drew outside fighters there.

*sarcasm*This is because of the shift in political winds in Iraq. It is because the Sadr militia stood down and the Sunni tribes decided to flip and work with us instead of with Al Qaeda, it has nothing to do with U.S. Forces. They haven't done anything.*sarcasm* Please note the sarcasm tags. There is only one thing that can be said for this. The troop surge worked. Good job to our American troops, their Commanders, and above all the Commander in Chief President George Bush. At least the President had the cajones to stick with it after so much negativity and personal slander. GOOD JOB to all of the armed services. If this report is true then we can change our focus to eradicating Al-Qaida from the face of the earth, without sitting down to talks. Should we even consider having talks with terrorist groups?

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Russia would cross "a red line for the United States of America" if it were to base nuclear-capable bombers in Cuba, the nominee for Air Force chief of staff has warned. "If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," said Gen. Norton Schwartz. He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba, and possibly establishing a base there.

Can you say Cuban missile crisis? This sounds very familiar for some reason. Most of this posturing comes from Russia being toppled as a super-power and trying as hard as it can to make the rest of the world pay attention to it as it puffs out it's chest and acts like the Russia most of us know and love. Should the U.S. even worry about Russia in this day and age?

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Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez is on a shopping spree for military hardware from Moscow, and already has a few energy deals in hand. On Tuesday, Chavez called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect his country from the United States, having repeatedly accused Washington of plotting an invasion to destabilize his government. The United States denies such a plan, and a State Department official downplayed the suggestion of a deeper Venezuela-Russia partnership. "We've repeatedly communicated concerns with Russia about Chavez's arms build-up in the past, and we're going to continue to do so," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said during a press conference, adding the U.S. also questions "whether such acquisitions are in line with Venezuela's defense needs."

Like the U.S. doesn't have enough to worry about. What would the U.S. want with Venezuela? More than likely because we continually ignore his breast beating, Hugo had to go drool on somebody else's pant leg. Should the U.S. even pay attention to this clown?

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He is tired of waiting to become a U.S. citizen. Julian Polous was born in Mosul, Iraq, graduated from college and learned to speak four languages. But he fled Saddam Hussein’s army and found asylum in the United States. He got a green card and joined the Army. He served an extended tour in his homeland of Iraq. He earned several medals, including a Purple Heart. He passed multiple background checks. Yet the United States is not ready to let him become a U.S. citizen. His application for citizenship has been circling in naturalization purgatory since April 2007, caught in a backlog of FBI name checks.

Our government bureaucracy at it's finest. Instead of welcoming this hero with open arms and allowing him the fruits of his labor. We have shuffled him into line behind the illegal aliens and others that only talk about freedom never pursuing it's defense. Maybe this should be the citizenship test for those able bodied enough that want to enjoy the fruits of U.S. Citizenship. You want it defend it. As for this Soldier, the Army should start kicking collective butt till his application is processed.

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The Army on Friday was holding an exercise involving shooting live pigs and treating the gunshot wounds in training it says is critical to saving soldiers' lives but which has sparked outcry from animal-rights activists. The training, held at Schofield Barracks for Iraq-bound troops, is being conducted under a U.S. Department of Agriculture license and the careful supervision of veterinarians and a military Animal Care and Use Committee, said Maj. Derrick Cheng, spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division. "It's to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury," Cheng said of the medical trauma training. The soldiers are learning emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facilities nearby, he said.

Will this save the lives of soldiers in combat? That should be the only question. If this is the best training technique and it has been proven to save lives then it is very hard to argue against. It is not an easy scenario to imagine but in this scenario if 1 soldier is saved for every pig who is shot then isn't the cost worth it? By the way the pig are under anesthesia and the medics are doing their best to save them just like they will be doing with our soldiers. Live patients just like in thee field. Now really what is more important the pig or the soldier?

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