Mark's First Report

For all who are reading this:
First, thank you. I know whether you post or not, you are praying for my Mark. As well as the other men and women of our armed forces.
It is not easy being away from your family, letting your loved one go. None of us wanted this war, and we don't glory in it. It is our military and their ones who pray the hardest for peace; for we know how dear the cost of war really is.
I spoke to Mark last evening. We are so blessed to have this time, though it is 30 minutes. I stay up for that call. He calls just as he day begins.
He is pretty much over the flu and now out in the field.
For those who don't know, Mark is a Civil Affairs officer. His job is not only to serve, defend and protect, but he also works with the locals to rebuild their country. Mark is very much a Nehmiah: he has blueprints in one hand and his weapon in the other. He is the bridge between the local leaders and the army. Mark is part of the 'winning heart's mission of the army. Winning the War, one heart at a time.
From time to time (like last night) I wonder is what we are doing makes a difference. And after speaking to Mark, the answer is still: yes.
Right now, Mark is working with a few of the villiages to get them a fresh water supply. Also, he will be working with a clinic to get it back up and running to meet the locals medical needs.
This is the thing Mark loves doing: for by helping the people learn to depend not on the Taliban or even us, but themselves. This is one of the things that will break the hold of the Taliban.
True, not everyone wants us there or is grateful for all we do. But many are.
Like Greg Mortenson (his story is told in Three Cups of Tea) Mark's mission to promote Peace...one school (he started two schools in Iraq) one football, one Water Well, one Clinic at a time.
So when you take a sip of water, thank G-d for that preious gift. And pray for Mark as he bring fresh water to thristy folk.
The Captain's Lady

The Military Family

As with any group, there is always a perception of military spouses and families.
Often times we wives are pictured as hot mama who right after seeing their husbands off to sea or overseas, are off at the bars, drinking and looking for someone to keep their bed until hubby returns home. Or, grossly overweigh with five or six children and another on the way. Backward kids who don't know how to make friends or behave because of always moving. Girlfriends hanging onto their guy with the hopes of marrying him and getting all of the military goodies.
Ok.
That might be true of some, but not all.
I once read how stupid military wives are. If they made it to High School it is a miracle, having no job skills, their only worth is baby making.
Hmm...
Husbands who's wives are deployed are finding comfort in the arms of another, leaving the kiddos with grandparnets.
Really?
These are not the families I know.
I know a father, a very loving father who started his own home business to be there home while his wife was out to sea. He knew how to braid his little girl's hair, knew the little boy's favorite stories by heart and every week would sit down as a family to makeup a CarePackage for mum, including letters and cards.
I know wives who use this time to go back to school to learn a new skill or craft. Some start home busniesses that are easy to travel with easy move. Some who decide to offer their time to work in Soup Kitchens, tutor children, visit the elderly in nursing homes.
Children who keep journals for their parnets to read when they return home. Who delight in making CarePackages, writing letters, draw pictures and yes, even school reports about their mum or dad. I still have the letters Mark's nephew wrote him during his first deployment. Each family has its ups and downs and its struggles. But there is a pride that for the most part each has in the serviceperson(s).
Like every family, there is s favor, a colour each family has.
Cookie Cutter we are not.
Butter, Suger, Spice, Chocolate Chip with and without Nuts, we make up a wonderful assortment that is worth partaking of.
Like any other family.

Roses and Roachs: Which?

It is now early morning in Afganistan.

Mark is getting, saying his morning prayers and getting to call me.

In the meantime, I am about to shower, have a hot drink and settle in for the evening waiting for his call before I say my prayers, read scripture and go to bed.

He hears my voice before he goes to work.

I hear his voice before I go to sleep.

It is part of military life.

Bittersweet.

I have heard it same that the Military has destroyed marriages. I don't believe that is so. Like any career, it is a part of your life and it is the couple that for the most part controls how much powere their career(s) has in their marriage.

Yes, or both can be so driven in their careers that they forget to wom they are truly committed to. This is true of men and women who are doctors, nurses, lawyers, rabbis, pastors, businesspersons, rockstars, etc.

The military, like anything else, shines sunlight into your lives, showing up the cracks, revealing the true nature. Roachs run from the light. Roses look ups.

The question; which are you?

The Military. That is your job, what you do to put bread to the table and shoes on the baby. But isn't your life. Your life is the person you chose as your life mate, the one you believe G-d gave you to have and to hold, honour, cherish and love. Your life is family, friends, faith.

It is true, we cannot control when and where Mark is deployed or for how long.

But either the President of the Untied States or Uncle Sam is the Head of our Home.

G-d is.

And as long as He remains our center, as long as we are commited to each other and our marriage, the love is there and nothing, not even the U.S.Mililary has the power to destroy our marriage.

It just give us more creative ways to grow more and more in love and to keep the passion growing.

And going.

Where My Heart is.

Ran with permission from: One Marine's View
The Battle of Midway June 4-7 1942
Posted: 05 Jun 2009 04:11 PM PDT
Hummer Excluded from GM Sale
Posted: 05 Jun 2009 04:12 PM PDT
Army: Military Versions of Hummer Excluded from GM Sale Officials said some people called the Pentagon, Capitol Hill and AM General LLC, the company that makes the military vehicles, asking if the rights to the Humvee had been sold to the Chinese.
The U.S. Army is assuring people that General Motors' deal to sell its Hummer brand to a Chinese company has nothing to do with the military version of the rugged vehicle. Officials said some people called the Pentagon, Capitol Hill and AM General LLC, the company that makes the military vehicles, asking if the rights to the Humvee had been sold to the Chinese. Steve Clawson, spokesman for the South Bend, Ind.-based AM General, said the military and civilian programs are separate. "GM's proposed sale of the civilian Hummer brand would have no impact on the military Humvee program," he said. The Army's news service posted a story to clarify the situation on its Web site Wednesday, a day after news of the sale was announced. "We really wanted to clarify in the minds of our own soldiers as well as the general public what was happening, just so we were clear on the difference," said Lt. Col. Martin Downie, an Army spokesman. Staffers at the House Armed Services Committee contacted the Army after hearing the sale news and were reassured that the military vehicles would not be affected, said Josh Holly, spokesman for the committee. "I think the committee will continue to watch it just in case, but at this point I haven't seen much concern from members on the military side," he said. General Motors Corp. announced Tuesday that it had a tentative agreement to sell the Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., a 4-year-old company with just 4,300 employees based in China's mountainous southwest. GM bought the rights to sell Hummers to civilians from AM General in 1999, and GM hired the company to build the H1 model at a plant in Mishawaka, Ind. The hulking, inefficient vehicle, which dwarfed most other vehicles on city streets, was based on the military Humvee. Later, the automaker designed the Hummer H2 civilian vehicle, and AM General continued to build it. A smaller version, the H3, was built by GM at a plant in Shreveport, La. AM General is privately held, owned by private equity firm The Renco Group Inc., and MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, both of New York. The company, born of Jeep heritage, was once part of American Motors Corp. It began designing the Humvee in 1979, and since then has sold more than 200,000 to the U.S. military and friendly nations, the company said on its Web site. The vehicles became famous in the 1991 Gulf War. Tengzhong, which is keeping production of the Hummer in the United States, will face daunting hurdles in reviving the vehicle, known in Chinese as "Han Ma," or Bold Horse. Soaring gas prices have battered sales of the boxy trucks, which roar along on oversize tires and can weigh up to 5 tons. GM sold 341,000 Hummers to civilians worldwide through 2008, but U.S. sales have dropped dramatically this year. GM sold only 5,113 Hummers through May, down 64 percent from the first five months of last year, according to Autodata Corp. In a chat on GM's Web site Thursday, GM CEO Fritz Henderson was asked how a Chinese company with no experience building personal vehicles was able to buy Hummer, and Henderson wrote that GM had limited interest in the brand. "The potential buyer Sichuan Tengzhong offered the best overall alternative, and we did not have broad portfolio of other buyers," Henderson replied.

The White House Said Little About This

Police Say Arkansas Shooter Targeted Military
June 01, 2009Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A man with "political and religious motives" killed a soldier just out of basic training and wounded another Monday in a targeted attack on a military recruiting center, police said. The shootings were not believed to be part of a broader scheme.
The soldiers completed basic training within the past two weeks and were not regular recruiters, said Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis of the Oklahoma City Recruiting Battalion, which oversees the Little Rock office.
William Long, 24, of Conway, died, and Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, was wounded and in stable condition, Police Chief Stuart Thomas said.
Both men were from nearby hometowns and volunteered to work at the recruiting center to attract other locals to the military. "They can show the example, 'Here's where I was, and here is where I am,'" Artis said.
Police arrested Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, along a crosstown interstate moments after the shootings at the Army-Navy Career Center in a shopping center in west Little Rock.
Muhammad acted alone, the police chief said, and based on an interview with officers, the suspect "probably had political and religious motives for the attack." He lived in an apartment just 1.5 miles from the recruiting center. A search warrant had been obtained for the apartment.
Thomas said Muhammad, previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, would be charged with first-degree murder, plus 15 counts of committing a terroristic act. Thomas said those counts result from the gunfire occurring near other people.
The accused shooter's father, Melvin Bledsoe of Memphis, Tenn., hung up on a reporter who called about his son's arrest Monday night.
Witnesses told police that a man inside a black vehicle pulled up outside the recruiting center and opened fire about 10:30 a.m. Long fell onto the sidewalk outside the center while Ezeagwula was able to crawl toward its door.
Police said Muhammad's vehicle was stopped on Interstate 630 a short time later and the suspect was taken into custody. Police Lt. Terry Hastings said the suspect surrendered without incident. Police found an assault rifle and other weapons in the vehicle.
Jim Richardson, the manager at a drug store around the corner from the Army-Navy center, said people at the store didn't realize anything was amiss until hearing sirens outside.
"Nobody heard any gunshots," Richardson said.
Steven Johnson, an 18-year-old recruit, was on his way to take a qualifying test when he found police cars at the center. By early afternoon, Johnson was waiting patiently outside the yellow police tape.
"I'm going to check and see if they're all right," he said.

Freedom

Shortly after we were married, Mark gave me this T-shirt. I wear it with pride. Because those words are short, but powerful.
"I have my rights!"
"I have the right to....!"
"It's a free country!"
"If I want to talk trash about the sitting President or the former President, I can. Freedom of speech, baby!"
There are men and women who made the final formation and now laying a rest, in G-d good earth, who laid down their lives so that you can enjoy your hot dog and fireworks this weekend.
Freedom is' free. It was paid for the blood of Marines, Sailors, Air Men and Soldiers. It was sealed by the tears of spouses and family members who laid them to rest.
I still miss you, daddy.