Military Monday - Task Force Born 9/11 Still Guards NY

I came across this article today on Military.com. The New York National Guard has a task force that has guarded New York City since 9/11. It was actually formed on September 11th, 2001. Joint Task Force Empire Shield is an active-duty force of 280 and some of the people have been on the force since day one.

One of those soldiers is Staff Sgt. Michael Wilson, who joined the Army because of the tragic events on 9/11. He was 19 years old at the time. He has spent most of his career with Empire Shield which includes a deployment to Iraq. He is shown here outside of Penn Station.

Empire Shield's mission is to provide homeland security and to support civilian authorities, as needed. They patrol randomly to keep the enemy off guard. They perform missions, such as patrolling John F. Kennedy International Airport, La Guardia Airport, Penn Station and other mass transit hubs. They join New York State Naval Militia and Coast Guard reserve colleagues on boats bought with homeland security money released after 9/11. They also conduct foot patrols in and around airports and nuclear power facilities.

It is nice to know this special unit is watching out for us. Please read the full story of Empire Shield.

Keep 'em Safe

I came across an article about an 11 year boy whose father is deployed to Afghanistan. Xavier Johnson misses his dad very much just as many other children that have parents  deployed to war zones.

Xavier found a way to cope by making a rap song about his father's deployment. He preformed the song at a number of military talent shows and he and his father, Capt. Alfonso Johnson made a video and posted it on YouTube.

I found it very inspriring and I am sure most of you will too. If you are military and have children please let them watch this video. Perhaps it will make them feel a little more comforted knowing they are not alone. Many of these kids feel exactly as Xavier does.

Even if you are not military please pass this video on.

Thank you Capt. Alfonso Johnson for your service and thank you Xavier for having the courage to express your feelings along with the talent to put it in a song.

Military Monday - Soldier Gets Silver Star for Afghan Battle

With blood gushing from his head and covering his legs, Staff Sgt. Sean Samaroo thought he was going to die.

So Samaroo said "good-bye to my wife and son" out loud.

But Thursday, 11 months after that searing battle in Afghanistan, the Army paratrooper, flanked by his wife, Natasha, and 13-year-old son, Dylan, received the Silver Star medal for heroism.

"There were a lot of heroes out there and some of them didn't get recognized as much as me," Samaroo said following a ceremony at Fort Jackson. "But I'm pretty thankful and honored."

The amiable 35-year-old Oklahoma native received the nation's third-highest award for his heroism during an early morning attack July 13 at Wanat, Afghanistan.

Badly outnumbered, Samaroo and some 50 U.S. soldiers stopped 200 Taliban fighters from overtaking their patrol base during a four-hour fight in the Waygul River Valley of Konar province.

The unit from Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, suffered nearly 75 percent casualties. When the fighting ended, nine soldiers were dead and 27 were wounded. An estimated 40 Taliban were killed and a comparable number wounded.

Samaroo is one of 11 soldiers who fought at Wanat to receive a Silver Star. Two soldiers were awarded the medal posthumously.

Congratulations fo Staff Sgt Samaroo and the rest of the 11 brave soldiers. Thank you all for your service.

Read the rest of the story here.

Gotta Love Mudpuppy

Mudpuppy is a soldier in Afghanistan that used to blog but decided to make his blog private. He still stays in touch with his adopted Mom Airman Mom. That way his followers still get a chance to hear about him. Airman Mom put up a post from Mudpuppy today.

Go here and read it right now.

 

See. Gotta love him.

Wordless Wednesday - US Army 234th Birthday 14 June 1775

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Pink is the New Camo

A soldier sleeping on his post in Afghanistan  was awakened by Taliban terrorists attacking the post. He rushed out to help his fellow soldiers defend the post. Not so unusual but there is a twist. He was wearing pink boxer shorts, a red t-shirt and flip-flops.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised Army Specialist Zachery Boyd on Thursday and said he would like to meet the young soldier who is only 19 years old.

Secretary Gates said, "Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage." He added, "I can only wonder about the impact on the Taliban. Just imagine seeing that: a guy in pink boxers and flip-flops has you in his cross-hairs. What an incredible innovation in psychological warfare."

Read the full story here.

Just another example of courage under fire. It takes quite a man to run out in pink boxers to defend our country. Thank you Spc. Boyd!

I just love this country!

Quote of the Week

Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats.
--Josephus Daniels--

Post-It Note - The King of Rock & Roll

Elvis was inducted into the US Army on March 24, 1958.

Hooah Mr. Presley. Thank you for your service!

My Daughter, My Soldier

When my daughter Cinderella came to me shortly after graduating high school and said she was going to join the Army I was only a little surprised. A few years prior as we sat in a high school gym watching her brother LCpl Honda compete in wrestling she turned to me and said, "I am going to do that next year mom." I thought, well ok. Needless to say she made good on her comment and even went on to pin a few boys during her wrestling career.

The day came and she left for boot camp and never looked back. Her reasons for joining were she did not really want to attend college right away because she was concerned about finances and knew she would probably be able to attain a better education after serving with her GI Bill.

Her goals were to do the best job for her country. Now this was pre 9/11 when people were not receiving the accolades for joining and serving that they do today. Not that we were not proud, but I for one was naive thinking the world would remain calm and war was not a possibility in the near future. Boy was I wrong.

Cinderalla says like any other job there are pros and cons. She cites job security, guaranteed paycheck, free health and dental insurance as pros for joining the military. For Cinderella the honor of serving her country was by far the biggest pro. She didn't cite two many cons but did say that nobody likes their job all the time and there were times she had rough days. She said it was tough working long hours on four hours of sleep but understood the job requirements.

Cinderella left the military because she had a young daughter at the time and thought it best to be a full-time mother to her. Would she join again? "In a minute!" she said. But Cinderella has chosen motherhood first. I have to agree with that decision.

Although she would still like to serve she has taken away a lifetime of experiences that a lot of people can't say they have. Cinderella spent three and a half years active duty as an MP attaining the rank of specialist in the US Army and one year as a specialist in the Army National Guard.

Thank you for your service Spec. Cinderella. We are proud of you!

This is my second post at Parent's Zone and was a special request. I was glad to oblige.

Please join me in celebrating Women's History Month. It is to honor past and present women that served in the military. Since Cinderella is a veteran soldier I thought I would do my part to honor her and other military women. I am going to interview Cinderella on her experiences being in the Army so look for that soon.

While I was looking for more information on the subject I ran across the website for the The Women In Military Service For America Memorial. If you have ever been to Washington D.C. this is one memorial not to miss. We were able to see it when were in D.C. two years ago.


I also ran across this article about First Lady Michelle Obama visiting the memorial on March 3rd to help honor our women veterans. I am impressed by Mrs. Obama's dedication to all of our troops.


Excerpted from washingtonpost.com

As part of her continued campaign to focus on military families, first lady Michelle Obama visited the Women's Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery today, where she thanked women for their years of service in the U.S. military and said she was honored and "deeply moved" by her meetings with military families in recent years. Please read the rest of the article here.


I always try and thank our vets and active duty military. This month try and pay special attention to our women vets too.

Thanks again Cinderella. Your family is proud of you!