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

Category: Support the troops

  • Delta Airlines welcomes troops home with $200 surcharge (Updated)

    A young staff sergeant made this video during his flight on Delta Airlines after they charged his unit $200 a piece to cover their fourth bag of luggage which was authorized on their travel orders upon their return from Afghanistan. The soldier in the video claims his fourth bag was his M4 carbine with a grenade launcher – something he really couldn’t leave behind if he didn’t have the $200 out-of-pocket to pay Delta for their arbitrary charge;

    I’ll admit that i have a real hard-on for Delta Airlines anyway. They arbitrarily decided that they wouldn’t allow duty-free liquor on a flight from Panama one year which screwed up my supply of Panama’s Abuelo rum for an entire year. A stewardess on the same flight told me she had been allowed to bring liquor on the trip – so I’ve decided to boycott them. This just reinforces my boycott.

    At their blog, Under The Wing, Delta writes;

    In the case of today’s situation, we would like to publicly apologize to those service men and women for any miscommunication regarding our current policies as well as any inconvenience we may have caused. We are currently looking further into the situation, and will be reaching out to each of them personally to address their concerns and work to correct any issues they have faced.

    Yeah, if they hadn’t made a stink, I doubt Delta would have done much of anything for these troops.

    You can file a complaint or comment at this webform.

    Thanks to ROS and Lou West for the video.

    UPDATE: Jeff Schogol sends a link from Stars & Stripes describing Delta’s complete capitulation to the power of the internet;

    By Wednesday afternoon, although Delta had been following the terms of its contract with the government, the airline decided to amend its policy. Soldiers traveling in coach will now be allowed to check four bags free instead of three, the airline said in a statement.

    Now, what about that year I went without my Abuelo Rum, Delta?

  • Doing The Right Thing

    Via The Sniper:

    VA trauma center treats most grievously wounded troops

    The centers have become a key element in caring for the wounded as the war in Afghanistan enters its second decade and the injured from Iraq continue to need care. They are the result of important medical insights gleaned from the long wars in the Middle East — that modern battlefield injuries, particularly those from bomb blasts, require a team approach from physicians and therapists.

    Sometimes The System works, this appears to be one of those times.

  • Korean War vet dies replacing flag

    James Catron, an 83-year-old Korean War veteran died of natural causes on Memorial Day replacing his old flag on his home in Ohio. the new flag was given to Catron by a neighbor according to the Richville Repository;

    A neighbor saw Catron slumped over atop the tower and called 911. Catron’s body was brought down by fire department paramedics.

    Perry Township Fire Chief Larry Sedlock told The Repository that firefighters with a ladder truck returned later on Memorial Day to replace the flag.

    I guess the best way to leave this life is to go out doing that which you care about most.

    Thanks to ROS for the link.

  • Memorial Day tributes

    StrikeFO sends us this really well-made video about Memorial Day and the people we honor (embeding is disabled).

    Jeff Schogol, our buddy at Stars & Stripes, sends us a link to to an article they did yesterday on the folks who came to Arlington to honor the folks from the War On Terror who lost their lives and now lay in that National Cemetery.

    He also sent this video of the official ceremonies at Arlington as well as interviews with visitors;

    I almost forgot; our buddy Alex Horton, formerly of Army of Dude and currently the new media guy at the VA penned an awesome Memorial Day tribute at Vantage Point. It makes me wish he’d go back to real blogging again.

  • The Saluting Marine

    There’s an active duty Marine who has become a celebrity of sorts at the annual Rolling Thunder Ride to the Wall in DC. He’s Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers, the Saluting Marine. Since 2002 SSG Chambers has planted himself in the middle of Constitution Avenue in DC and holds a salute as the hundreds of thousands of motorcycles and the veterans mounted atop pass him. He holds the salute for more than three hours.

    Tim stopped by TAH when I filmed Rolling Thunder in 2008. I think that was the year that President Bush invited him to breakfast at the White House.

    This year, Rolling Thunder paid for his trip to DC from 29 Palms and his family’s trip from Oregon. The local news reports that he had broken his wrist during training, but still held his salute yesterday as the heat took it’s toll on him.

    The local Fox 5 News did this report on SSG Chambers this morning;

    Marine Honors Military at Rolling Thunder: MyFoxDC.com

    Phil Scott at Military.com talked to him yesterday and asked him why he does it;

    As I walked away, it struck me that I hadn’t asked the most important question. I turned around and called him, “Sergeant Chambers, why the salute?” His response was effortless and profound, “It’s about the pain. A lot of these heroic guys still hurt and if I can relieve their pain for just one brief moment, then I’ve done my job.”

  • That “Two Americas” crap again

    TSO sends us a link from USAToday by Gannet columnist Chuck Raasch which declares that “There are two Americas on Memorial Day“. It’s the same old crap that pops up every Memorial Day – a smaller portion of the population which has actually served in the military since we dumped the draft, so most Americans don’t appreciate the sacrifice of our troops.

    OK, lets’ use this blog’s audience as an example; all of you who have never served in the military raise your hand. See, look around at the hands…there are more of them than us on a military-oriented blog. So why are they here? Because they don’t understand, but they want to understand. About 8,000 people visit TAH every day, according to my server, many from other countries, but mostly Americans. Very few (about 8%) come from military or government networks, the rest are private citizens who want to learn about the military. That’s why there are milblogs.

    This I found most disturbing in Rasssch’s piece;

    The greatest scene in Saving Private Ryan is that moment when the aging soldier becomes emotionally overwhelmed in the cemetery above the Normandy beach, and his family gives him space before comforting him. The scene captured both the old veteran’s grief at the sacrifice of comrades and the awe and separation of the unknowing. Connecting those two worlds ought to be the goal of everyone on Memorial Day.

    Yeah, that’s one of my favorite scenes ever to come out of Hollywood;

    You can see that the family holds back, not out of being the “unknowing”, but because they understood all too well, the deeply personal moment. Who among us would have interfered with that moment?

    yes, there are people who will spend this weekend, barbecuing and shopping instead of at Memorial Day celebrations…but what American fighting person would deny them that choice? I mean, that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? And it says more about the individuals than it does about our country.

    Yes, I wish that every American would drop down on their knees in front of a soldier’s grave and tell that soldier how they hope that they have “earned what you all have done for me”. But that will never happen, nor do I expect it to happen. Neither should Raasch, who somehow thinks he’s better than most of the country because he writes for us about our buddy Jake Diliberto who will spend all day at Arlington with his bible praying for a solution to the war in Afghanistan that is against our national interests.

    I wonder what Raasch was doing the Memorial Day weekend when I attended EVERY event in Washington all weekend. I’m sure he didn’t go shopping and barbecue with his family. In fact, I wonder if that’s what he’s doing right now, because he thinks that his article somehow bought him some measure of absolution.

  • Long Island Power Authority charges town for pole rental

    Claiming they “have no choice” the Long Island Power Authority is charging the town of Shelter Island for hanging American flags from power poles during a memorial parade for one of the community’s fallen sons, according to the local Fox affiliate;

    “I was pretty shocked,” said Peter Reich, a councilman in the Long Island community of Shelter Island. “It’s the most ludicrous thing.”

    The flags were hung last year for the funeral of Army 1st Lt. Joseph Theinert. The Shelter Island native was killed while on active duty in Afghanistan. He sacrificed his life to save his platoon and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart for his actions.

    Last week, Theinert’s platoon gathered in Shelter Island for a reunion. To welcome the troops, the American Legion, along with the owner of the local hardware store, decided to once again line the parade route with American flags.

    Local residents donated the $8,000 needed to purchase the flags, and the town’s superintendent of highways posted them on the utility poles. But someone from the power company reportedly saw a story about the flags in a local newspaper and informed town officials of the $5-per-flag fee.

    A spokesperson for the Long Island Power Authority did not respond to repeated requests for a comment and instead demanded to know, “Why is this a story?”

    Um, because you’re a member of the community that Lt. Joseph Theinert died protecting, too?

    To his credit, the LIPA COO has offered to pay the fee out of his own pocket, but the community says it’s not about the money, it’s the principle of the issue. Apparently, they also hung flags from some poles owned by Verizon and Verizon has decided they’ll waive the fees they normally charge. Seems simple enough, doesn’t it?

    Thanks to TSO for the link.

  • The 7th Annual National Memorial Day Parade

    For those of you who plan to be in the DC area over the Memorial Day weekend, you may want to plan to be at the 7th Annual National Memorial Day Parade. The good folks at the DC Chapter of the 82d Airborne Division Association tell me that this year’s Honorary Parade Marshals include film and TV Stars Pat Sajak, Gary Sinise, Joe Mantegna and Miss America Teresa Scanlan.