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

Category: Support the troops

  • Sully, President Bush’s service dog, trains for work at Walter Reed

    sullyGeorge H.W. Bush’s service dog Sully recognized for his service.
    By Nicole Darrah | Fox News

    Sully, former President George H.W. Bush’s service dog, has temporarily moved back to his birthplace before he heads to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center next year.

    The 2-year-old service dog, who captured Americans’ hearts after the 41st president died late last month, was welcomed back with open arms and a round of applause by America’s VetDogs on Wednesday.

    “We’re very honored that we had the opportunity over the course of the last six or seven months to work with former President George H.W. Bush,” John Miller, president and CEO of the organization, said at a press event in Long Island, New York.

    Miller said that Bush and his family, along with their team, “were first class in every way and worked very hard with us to make sure that Sully … served the president the best he could.”

    Sully’s final trainer and service dog program manager, Valerie Cramer, said she was the one who received the call from Bush’s team in April inquiring about a service dog for the onetime president.

    _ _ _ _ _

    When Bush died, “it was his wish that Sully serve other veterans,” she said. Bush’s wish will be granted sometime around February, when Sully will provide animal-assisted intervention at the military medical center in Bethesda, Maryland.

    Sully will visit with injured veterans and help to provide comfort during rehabilitation sessions, Cramer said. “He will be fulfilling President Bush’s request.”

    Several labs have been family members at la Casa de AW1Ed. They are friendly, loyal, playful, and don’t be fooled by that somewhat goofy personality; they are one of the smartest of the working breeds. What a great gesture of 41 and family. I can’t think of a better place for Sully to be.

    Read the article in its entirety at: Fox News

  • NIMBY

    This is in regard to finding a new place closer to the Chicago area than the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery at Elwood, IL, which is south of Joliet. That cemetery includes places for cremains, and has room for 400,000 burials. The Fort Sheridan Post Cemetery is limited to those who made a career in the military, and those spaces are dwindling. Part of Fort Sheridan’s acreage is also part of the Lake County Forest Preserve district, with regular guided tours for people who want to come and see the wildlife (mostly hawks) and the habitat. (Sorry, I don’t have a photo of the Lincoln Cemetery entrance.)

    What the VA wants to do, according to the article, is build a columbarium on a 15-acre site at Freeman and Mundhank roads, five miles east of the Arboretum (shopping center) of South Barringon, just off Interstate 90. It would offer room for 5,000 containers for cremains, along with a memorial marker, gravesite locator and parking.

    However, the potential neighbors of this proposal were adamantly against the idea, even though it will be near Paul Douglas Forest Preserve, named for the Senator from Illinois who was one of the oldest Marine seeing combat in World War II in the Pacific Theater. Mr. Douglas also helped to preserve the Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore.

    There are apparently all kinds of excuses: kids scared by the sound of blanks being fired from rifles, the sound of “Taps” depressing everyone, etc. but the NIMBY attitude is the real reason.

    Charles Selle’s article is here:  https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/opinion/ct-lns-selle-south-barrington-columbarium-st-1115-story.html

    As Mr. Selle, the author of the article, tells us, it is less about finding a final resting place for veterans. It’s about property values and that old bugbear NIMBY (not in my back yard!)

    From Zillow: The median home value in South Barrington is $759,700. South Barrington home values have gone up 2.0% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will fall -0.9% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in South Barrington is $210, which is higher than the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metro average of $166. The median price of homes currently listed in South Barrington is $865,000.

    I looked up current sales prices on homes in South  Barrington. They’ve gone up quite a bit since 1972, when I had a horse at a stable over in that area, something on the order of 1000% higher than back then. https://www.zillow.com/south-barrington-il/

    While I can understand the desire to have a place closer to Chicago than the rather long distance down to Elwood, there are other places that might welcome the plan and provide acreage suitable for a columbarian.

    One of those is land near the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, already purchased by the Lake County Forest Preserve District, and currently used as crop production until further notice. If the VA is paying for the development of this facility, then why not use land already in the FPD, with plenty of parking and access already in place?

    The VA is taking public comment on the cemetery through Nov. 26, with a final environmental assessment due next month. However, as Mr. Selle indicates in his article, the VA can build the columbarium without village approval.

    Here’s the link to the pdf of the VA’s proposal: https://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/docs/EA/ALNC_Columbarium_Draft_EA.pdf

    I could not find any VA contact info specific to this, but you could call their general number and ask about how to provide your input on it, if you like.

  • Armistice Day 1918 is Veterans Day 2018

    11th November 1918 – Armistice ending World War I is signed.

    General John Pershing continued the attacks on the Germans, because he did not know when/if the peace treaty (Armistice) would be signed. The HistoryNet article is well worth the time it takes to read it. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the Armistice ending World War I went into effect. Signed by all parties at 05:00 hours that morning, it meant that hostilities should have ended quickly. But troops were still sent into the field to fight and artillery was still fired to get rid of unspent munitions. GEN Pershing is quoted in the article below.

    http://www.historynet.com/world-war-i-wasted-lives-on-armistice-day.htm

    From the New York Times files below are archival photos taken on Armistice Day and after. You bubbleheads will note the crew of the USS Calumet, a submarine patrol, returning to the Brooklyn Marine Base from sea duty, taken on Nov. 17, 1918.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/world/europe/armistice-day-100th-anniversary-photos.html

    These photos cover an expanded period of time and are from various source, including London and Paris. Note the US troops in the parade through London’s Great Arch.

    Armistice Day became an official holiday in the US in 1938, and in 1954, following World War II and the Korean War, President Eisenhower changed the name of the Armistice Day holiday to Veterans Day. The date was moved around several times but finally resettled on November 11, where it belongs. Note the differences in the VA health care system between 1930 and now.

    World War I was supposed to b e the war to end all wars.

    It was not.

    There is no such thing.

  • Amazon founder donates $10 million to get more veterans elected to Congress

    MastRep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., walks to a meeting with fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill on July 14, 2017. Mast, a combat veteran and bomb disposal technician, lost both legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan in 2010.

    Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is donating $10 million into a political action committee (PAC) dedicated to getting more veterans elected to Congress.

    The donation comes just two months before the contentious November midterm elections, and is a major funding and publicity boost for the PAC veteran advocacy group With Honor, which has already endorsed a bipartisan slate of 33 House candidates.

    Fox News reports group founder Rye Barcott tells how the Bezos family’s donation supports With Honor’s idea of building a “cross-partisan coalition” of lawmakers who can overturn the partisan infighting in national politics today.

    Bezos, has not made any similar major campaign donations in the past. The With Honor fund has a stated goal of creating “a government that works for and is trusted by Americans, where principled veterans represent a significant percentage of elected positions at all levels.”

    While I generally disagree with Bezos’s left-slanted activities, this donation to a PAC dedicated to getting vets into politics seems like a good idea. Until I think of Tammy Duckworth, that is.

  • Hometown Hero, Army First Sgt. Brie Kotula

    Welcome Home

  • Braveheart Beer announces POW/MIA beer coming

    Braveheart Beer announces POW/MIA beer coming

    We just got word that Braveheart Brewing, LLC has announced that their POW/MIA beer is coming soon. They’ve promised that a percentage of their profits will be donated to the National League of POW/MIA Families.

  • Almost home; a short film

    Our buddy, Doc Simpson, asked us to share this short film with you;

    ALMOST HOME – Short Film from BJ Golnick on Vimeo.

  • Selfless Arlington employee helps veteran visit his wife’s grave

    Selfless Arlington employee helps veteran visit his wife’s grave

    According to Fox5, 96-year-old George Boone, a B-24 pilot who became a POW when he was shot down over Romania in 1943 wanted to visit his wife grave during an Honor Flight trip to Arlington. Somehow his wheel chair didn’t make the trip. A selfless employee at the National Cemetery offered to carry the frail veteran on his back;

    The employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, did just that. Boone’s son, Jon Boone, documented the scene as the employee brought him to his wife’s gravesite.

    “He was such a caring young fellow, I felt like a toy in his arms,” he told FOX5…”I would like him to know how greatly I appreciate what he did,” he said. “His kindness was overwhelming.”