This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Real Soldiers

  • Battlefield promotion for SGT Penderman

    Battlefield promotion for SGT Penderman

    The Stars & Stripes reports that Jeremy Penderman, a multichannel transmission systems operator/maintainer, while serving in Iraq with Fort Bragg’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division as the brigade’s S6 communications shop leader, has received a battlefield promotion to Staff Sergeant. He’s occupying an officer’s duty position as a sergeant.

    Today, Penderman might have been a Marine if it wasn’t for one more discovery.

    “I found out about the airborne,” he said.

    Over spring break his freshman year – March 2010 – Penderman walked into a recruiting center and enlisted in the Army.

    At first, he wanted to be an airborne infantryman, but a recruiter instead guided him through a list of available jobs.

    He described Penderman’s current military occupational specialty, known as a 25Q, as “half infantry, half radios” and promised he could still become a paratrooper. Also, the job came with an enlistment bonus.

    Since enlisting, Penderman spent more than four years in Germany with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team before joining the 82nd Airborne Division about two years ago.

    He has seven years in the Army and plans to apply to become a warrant officer in the Signal Corps. While he wants to stay in the Army as long as possible, he said the skills he’s learned have opened the door to a bright future no matter if he wears the uniform or not.

  • Eugene Ruf; 108-year-old Army veteran

    Eugene Ruf; 108-year-old Army veteran

    Chief Tango sends us a link to the report that 20-year Army veteran Eugene Ruf celebrated his 108th birthday the other day in San Antonio, Texas and his shares his secret to longevity;

    “All I can say is good clean living. Lots of Heaven Hill and Budweiser.” Heaven Hill is a brand of Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey.

    Ruf is an Army veteran. He served in World War II and the Korean War, but he now spends his days playing Skipbo and leading a crossword puzzle group.

  • Ed Hooper: Iconic Medal of Honor discovered in Arkansas

    Ed Hooper: Iconic Medal of Honor discovered in Arkansas

    Someone sent us a link to the story that Ed Hooper tells about his search for the legacy of Buffalo Soldier First Sergeant George Jordan.

    Jordan was born in 1847 in Williamson County, Tennessee, enlisting in the Army six months after President Andrew Johnson signed the 1866 bill allowing African-Americans to serve in the post-Civil War Army. Jordan educated himself, learning how to read and write, and joined K Troop four years later. He remained there throughout his career, proving to be one of the best field commanders in the Army west of the Mississippi. No one buffalo soldier so epitomized their motto of “We can. We will.” The white officers in charge of the all-black units often trusted Jordan with half of their commands because of knowledge and skill in the field. He served 30 years in the Army and retired.

    Jordan was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1890 for his actions as a Sergeant, with Company K, 9th U.S. Cavalry at Fort Tularosa, N. Mex., May 14, 1880 and at Carrizo Canyon, N. Mex., August 12, 1881. His citation says;

    While commanding a detachment of 25 men at Fort Tularosa, N. Mex., repulsed a force of more than 100 Indians. At Carrizo Canyon, N . Mex., while commanding the right of a detachment of 19 men, on 12 August 1881, he stubbornly held his ground in an extremely exposed position and gallantly forced back a much superior number of the enemy, preventing them from surrounding the command.

    Hooper’s search leads to the discovery of Jordan’s Medal of Honor, which it turns out, had been used as a decoration on a Christmas tree in Arkansas;

    Jordan’s personal effects were placed in a barrel by his friends after he died and deposited with the Army to hold for his next of kin. None ever showed, and around 1909 a ranch manager’s widow in Nebraska bought the barrel at auction for $1. It was passed to her schoolteacher daughters, who never married and then willed it to their caretaker, Janet Mize, who later moved to Arkansas.

    Mize said during the time the sisters possessed the barrel, most of the old photos of black soldiers, personal items and Jordan’s military accouterments got parceled out. The Medal of Honor itself was saved only by the shining brass that made it a useful Christmas tree decoration in a historic home.

  • Staff Sergeant Victor Gomoimunn saving the world

    Todd sends us a story from the Stars & Stripes which tells the tale of Staff Sergeant Victor Gomoimunn in Osan, South Korea. the sergeant was driving with his family to the grocery store when he saw smoke coming from a home in his neighborhood. He encountered the home owner who told him that his wife, Sun Yong Helmer, and child were still in the apartment.

    “No one was doing anything — so I went,” Gomoimunn said.

    He climbed up what he thought was a water pipe but turned out to be for gas and reached Helmer, a civilian employee who was working as a nurse at Camp Humphreys. Helmer and her husband have since been transferred to Germany.

    Helmer was shocked to find a stranger outside her window.

    “I felt horrified, but he brought big comfort,” she said. “He tried to examine the rooms and see what he could do.”

    While initially hoping to bring Helmer and child down, Gomoimunn decided it would be safer to bring Helmer and her 10-month-old daughter to the balcony and wait for firefighters.

    Twenty minutes later firefighters arrived and escorted all three out of the building.

    […]

    “If my wife and kids were stranded in a fire and I wasn’t able to do anything, I would pray for someone who could,” he told Stars and Stripes Wednesday in a telephone interview from the southeastern port city of Pohang, where he is participating in a military exercise.

  • A Brief History of Women in the Army

    Recruiting women for the WAAC started in 1941, very shortly after Pearl Harbor. The object was to recruit women to fill positions usually held by men so as to release them to combat duty.  Unfortunately, because the WAAC was an auxiliary service, the women who were serving at home or overseas did not have any of the benefits that men in the regular Army had, which include housing, food and medical benefits.  Since some of them were posted to war zones such as London, they had to pay for everything out of pocket.

    Congressional  hearings on the subject of converting the WAAC to the Women’s Army Corps opened in March 1943.  WAACs became WACs (regular Army) on 3 July 1943.

    http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/WAC/WAC.HTM

    At the time, the attitude of the press toward these women was patronizing at its best.  In general, the American press had reported favorably, if rather frivolously, on the WAAC. Although editors devoted an inordinate amount of space to the color of WAAC underwear and the dating question, the press was usually sympathetic to the adjustments made by women to military life and the exciting job and travel opportunities awaiting those who enlisted.

    However, there were exceptions. In the well-known column, “Capitol Stuff,” carried nationwide by the McCormick newspaper chain, columnist John O’Donnell claimed that a “super-secret War Department policy authorized the issuance of prophylactics to all WAACs before they were sent overseas.” O’Donnell insisted that WAAC Director Oveta Culp Hobby was fully aware of and in agreement with this policy. The entire charge was, of course, a complete fabrication and O’Donnell was forced to retract his allegation.

    Not much of that attitude has changed, has it?  The derogatory chatter about women serving their country stemmed partly from men who did not want to be released to combat duty overseas, and their families.

    The damage done to the WAAC by this column, even with the rapid retraction, was incalculable. WAACs and their relatives were outraged and humiliated. The immediate denials issued by President and Mrs. Roosevelt, Secretary Stimson, and Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell of the Army Service Forces mitigated the feelings of some but did little to alleviate the shock of many. The inevitable general public discussion led Congress to summon Director Hobby to produce statistics on WAAC pregnancies and the frequency of venereal disease. Upon learning of the exceptionally small percent cited, Congress commended Major Hobby and the WAAC.

    The attached video is a 9-minute recruiting film showing women doing the stateside jobs that men had been doing, including testing artillery before shipping it overseas.  I don’t know who the General is at the end of the film, but perhaps someone can identify him.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enYgk47gQi8

     

     

     

  • Well Done, Marine

    In October 2014, Anthony L. Colantonio died.   He was cremated.

    His third wife was the only person at his memorial service.  She was given his cremains afterwards.

    About a year later, his third wife also died.

    Last month, a former Marine – Charles “Mike” Gustin – found both the cremains and Mr. Colantionio’s death certificate.  They had been placed in a box; the box had been discarded in an alley, like common trash.

    Mr. Gustin contacted local police, but they said they were unable to help. Local sanitation workers refused to pick up the cremains.

    So Mr. Gustin decided he’d find Mr. Colantonio’s next-of-kin himself – and offer to return the cremains to them.

    It turns out that Mr. Colantonio had a daughter named Tracy. However, Tracy hadn’t seen her father in 25 years.  She’d been separated from and out-of-touch with her father since she was 6, apparently due to a divorce.

    Nonetheless, Mr. Gustin was able to locate Mr. Colantonio’s daughter Tracy relatively quickly.  He contacted her; she indeed wanted her father’s  cremains.

    On Valentine’s Day of this year, Mr. Gustin delivered Mr. Colantionio’s cremains to his daughter.

    This Fox News article has more details. If you choose to read it, you might want to have a tissue or two handy.

    Well done, Marine.   Damn well done.

  • Matt Uhrin honored for rescuing flag from protesters

    Matt Uhrin honored for rescuing flag from protesters

    Matt Uhrin, a FedEx driver in Iowa City, was honored by the American Legion for rescuing a flag from protesters last month, according to The Gazette;

    Matt Uhrin of Cedar Rapids, was given a membership to the post in Marion. He also received a certificate of appreciation from the national Legion headquarters. during a Sunday ceremony in Des Moines.

    The awards follow Urhin’s action on Jan. 26 when demonstrators were attempting to burn American flags on the Pedestrian Mall in Iowa City.

    Uhrin, wearing his FedEx uniform, used a fire extinguisher on the flames and took away one of the flags. The action was captured in a video by the Iowa City Press-Citizen, which went viral.

    Uhrin, who served with the Army in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011, said he spotted the protesters while making deliveries. When he realized what was happening, he said he “just couldn’t let it happen.”

    “My mind went back to having to load one of our sister company’s soldiers to an aircraft going home for his final flight. He was killed by a sniper,” Uhrin said.

    “I flashed back to it, and I remember seeing his coffin on the cargo flight going home,” he said. “To me, it wasn’t just a flag. It was that flag. It was his memory being disgraced, and I couldn’t let it happen. It just wasn’t going to happen while I was there.”

    From the original story in the Press-Citizen which quoted the stank-ass hippy cowards;

    The flag burning was not intended to be anti-veteran, members of the group said, but instead meant to protest racial and social injustice and U.S. imperialism, they said.

    “When I see the flag, I see racial injustice,” said Paul Osgerby of Iowa City. “I see social injustice from Native American genocide to African-American slavery to failing to recognize women as citizens until the 20th century.”

    Yeah, well, when I see someone burn a flag, I see a coward drama queen who wants attention.

  • Cameron Gamble and Don Shipley; the 7-part series

    Here, I put all of the Gamble/Papini/Shipley videos in one post;

    1.

    2.

    3.

    4.

    5.

    6.

    7.