As a proud veteran, I cannot describe the respect and appreciation that I feel for those troops and military families who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our nation. I thank you. America thanks you.

Let us put aside differences and politics for a day - to remember our Soliders, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen who have given their lives to preserve peace, freedom, and our American way of life.

I’m jogging down to see the National Memorial Day Parade right now.

If you do not have the chance to participate in a parade or other Memorial Day event, please take one minute to remember the service and sacrifice for which the day represents.

The stars recognize participations in different phases of each conflict, a well-deserved recognition for troops who have deployed multiple times served during multiple campaigns. (See this more recent article in Army Times clarifying that a single deployment across multiple campaigns can result in multiple campaign stars.)

Army Times reported the details in the article pasted below - although the campaign stars apply across all service branches. Here is the link to the original article. 

New campaign stars for soldiers

Awards distinguish Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns
By Jim Tice - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 28, 2008 21:00:39 EDT

Campaign stars have been approved for wear on the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign Medals authorized for the nearly 805,000 soldiers who have served in those combat theaters.

The campaign stars recognize service members for participating in designated campaign phases — not multiple deployments — within the areas of eligibility. the two campaign medals were established in 2005 as replacements for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

Basic eligibility criteria requires that soldiers must have been assigned, attached or mobilized to units operating in the area of eligibility for 30 consecutive days, or 60 nonconsecutive days, to be eligible for the medals.

Aircrew members accrue one day of eligibility for each day they fly into, out of, or over the area of eligibility in direct support of military operations.

Soldiers also are eligible if they engage in combat, or are wounded or injured and require medical evacuation, regardless of the time, in a designated area.

The medals can be awarded posthumously.

Army leaders will issue implementation guidance by the end of May at the latest, said Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, spokesman for Human Resources Command.

“Our intent is to make sure the soldiers know the guidance as soon as possible,” he said.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael Deliberti of Fort Stewart, Ga., who recently completed his third tour in Iraq, said the new policy for campaign stars will be a morale-booster for his soldiers.

“For my guys I think it would be really good because a lot of them are young and a lot of them have done multiple tours,” said Deliberti, platoon sergeant for 2nd Platoon, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment. He took part in the initial invasion of Iraq, serving primarily in Baghdad from February 2003 to September 2003. He returned to Iraq in January 2005 for a year in Tikrit and spent 15 months in Ramadi beginning in January 2007.

Of the 19 men in his platoon during this most recent deployment, only four were in Iraq for the first time.

“I think it’ll be good … when anybody checks into a unit, at least their first sergeant or sergeant major knows they’re getting somebody with experience,” he said. “Of course, the younger guys get bragging rights, too.”

Other soldiers were nonchalant about the new policy.

“It’s not the badge or the medals that make the person,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Spainhour, a combat medic who served in Afghanistan from 2004-05 and now is stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.

“You could take all that away and you’re still going to have the exact same guy.”

Some soldiers interviewed at Fort Benning, Ga., downplayed the importance of campaign medals, noting they are not worn on the Army Combat Uniform and that other items, such as combat patches, signify war-zone duty.

“It is kind of overkill. It kind of gets to the point when you don’t even wear this stuff because we wear ACUs most of the time,” said Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Noell, who served as a platoon sergeant in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005 and in Iraq from 2006 to 2007. “I think it’s vanity.”

Information maintained by the Defense Manpower Data Center and Army Forces Command indicates that 666,000 soldiers have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and that 139,000 now are deployed to those areas — 24,000 in Afghanistan and 115,000 in Iraq.

Virtually all these soldiers are eligible for the medals and campaign stars.

Because the stars are authorized for service during specific phases of the wars, soldiers who have served multiple tours do not qualify for multiple stars unless their tours occurred during different campaign phases.

The Afghanistan Campaign Medal is authorized for soldiers who have served in direct support of Operation Enduring Freedom on, or after, Sept. 11, 2001, to a future date to be determined by the secretary of defense. The area of eligibility includes the land mass of Afghanistan and all airspace above that land.

Soldiers who qualify for the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal by reason of having served in Afghanistan during Sept. 11, 2001-April 30, 2005, remain qualified for that medal, but can elect to have it replaced by the ACM, which is now eligible for campaign stars.

However, soldiers are not entitled to both medals for the same period of service.

Soldiers qualify for the Iraq Campaign Medal if they have served in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on, or after, March 19, 2003, until a date to be determined.

The qualifying area includes the land mass of Iraq, the contiguous water area out to 12 nautical miles, and the airspace above those land and water areas.

And, soldiers who are qualified to wear the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal as a result of service in Iraq during March 19, 2003-April 30, 2005, have the option of replacing it with the Iraq Campaign Medal and any campaign stars they may be eligible for as a result of the new policy.

When worn on a uniform, the ACM should be positioned below the Kosovo Campaign Medal and above the Iraq Campaign Medal.

The ICM should be positioned below the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and above the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

The campaign stars authorized for these medals are bronze or silver five-pointed stars, and are 3/16 of an inch in diameter. A silver star is worn in lieu of five bronze campaign stars.

A directive issued April 16 by Michael L. Dominguez, deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, designates three phases of Operation Enduring Freedom and four phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom as qualifying for a campaign star, from the beginning of those wars to current operations.

The Defense Department has directed that the Joint Staff, in coordination with combatant commanders, review Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign Medal criteria annually to determine closure and opening dates for campaign phases.

In authorizing the service secretaries to award the campaign medals and stars, Dominguez stipulated that “under no condition” shall soldiers receive separate campaign medals, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal or the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for the same action, time period or service.

Stars have been authorized for wear on campaign and service medals and ribbons for nearly a century, beginning with the World War I Victory Medal, and including the Asiatic-Pacific and European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medals of World War II, the Korea Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Southwest Asia Service Medal.

According to the Army’s awards regulation, 13 separate campaigns identified for World War I, 40 for World War II, 10 for the Korean War, 17 for the Vietnam War, three for the first Persian Gulf War, and two for the Kosovo campaign.

Campaign medals date even farther back, and over the years have been awarded for the Civil War, the Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the China Campaign, Cuban Pacification and Mexican Border Service.

———

Staff writers Gina Cavallaro, Brendan McGarry and Michelle Tan contributed to this report.

Judi Burns, the host, invites troops onto the show for interviews and updates. She “spreads the good word” about what our troops our doing and the dedication of our military families. The two-hour show is broadcast on Tuesdays at 4 pm eastern time.

Judi and I talked about how MyTroops is a great way for family, friends, and supporters to do their regular online shopping and earn rewards for the troops. Plus, many of our 400 participating merchants offer special coupons for MyTroops shoppers above and beyond their usual specials.

Kudos to Judi for a great show - and for keeping America informed about the service of our troops and military families.

Here’s the link to United We Roll World Tour Show.

National Commander Marty Conatser devoted an entire page to the importance of preserving the District of Columbia War Memorial, a long neglected memorial to those Washington, DC residents who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War I.

As Commander Conatser notes, the troops for whom the memorial was build deserve better than to have their memorial continue to deteriorate and decay. His plea to the National Park Service and Congress cannot go unanswered.

The honor and memory of our veterans depends on proper care of our military monuments.

The article is pasted below and here is the link to the original article.

COMMANDER’S MESSAGE: Washington’s forgotten memorial

The Doric-style marble temple is surrounded by dense groves of hardwood trees that were planted into West Potomac Park’s marshy soil nearly 80 years ago. Curious visitors only occasionally drift off the main pathway that leads from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol - the two-mile stretch of Washington known as the National Mall - and make their way to the unheralded District of Columbia War Memorial. They try to locate it, among America’s most beloved memorials and monuments, on their National Park Service maps.

Strolling from the World War II Memorial Plaza toward the great Lincoln statue, they can find the bone-white monument tucked behind a set of restrooms, beyond a canopy of low branches. Dead grass rises through the gaps of its walkway stones, and the marble is cracked and veined with age and water damage.

The D.C. memorial seems out of context with the rest of the mall. Although on federal property, it is specifically dedicated to 499 local Washingtonians who lost their lives fighting in what then was known as the Great War. Other sites along the mall, such as the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Wall and the new World War II Memorial Plaza, are more national in scope.

The deteriorating D.C. memorial is the mall’s only nod to World War I. The last living U.S. veteran of that war, 107-year-old Legionnaire Frank Buckles, recently visited it, and took note of its condition. He and a friend, Michigan photographer David DeJonge, are pushing for the memorial’s restoration and an expansion that may include statues of American doughboys positioned in the surrounding woods, as if on patrol.

The D.C. memorial was more than a local attraction in its day. Completed in the depths of the Depression, after Congress authorized construction in 1924 and $200,000 in local funds were raised, it would become the first such monument to include the names of blacks and women among those of white male troops.

The memorial was designed and built to comfortably seat the Marine Band on Armistice Day 1931, when it was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover. Thousands attended. Among the speakers was Gen. John “Blackjack” Pershing. John Philip Sousa, at age 77, wore his Navy uniform as he led the Marine Band in “The Stars and Stripes Forever” during the ceremony, which was broadcast nationally on the radio.

The memorial was used for concerts and ceremonies for years after its dedication. In more recent times, it has fallen into such disrepair that the D.C. Preservation League has listed it among the “Most Endangered Places” in the district. The American Legion passed a national resolution last summer calling upon the National Park Service to elevate the memorial on its priority list, to repair and maintain it.

To allow its further decay is no way to bid farewell to this generation of veterans, now reduced to one, that founded The American Legion on the values of never forgetting freedom’s costs. They are the values we honor on Memorial Day, and they are etched into the marble of a Doric-style temple in West Potomac Park.

The article from Marine Corps Times has some interesting give and take about whether one of the nicknames used by the Marines - Devil Dogs - will continue to be used or instead become another historical reference.

It would be great to have some comments posted by Marines about the article. I’ve pasted the entire article below and here’s the link to the original article in Marine Corps Times. 

Once-proud ‘Devil Dog’ moniker is taking a beating

By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 22, 2008 12:24:06 EDT

Listen up, Devil Dogs.

Oh yeah, that got your attention. Perhaps it even got your blood boiling? Or maybe you didn’t notice the big double-D.

Lately, reactions to the Corps’ longtime nickname generally depend on the age of the Marine listening.

A generational divide is opening around the term “Devil Dog,” which came into use 90 years ago on the battlefields of France. While it’s been a term of colloquial endearment for generations of leathernecks, some of the newest and youngest Marines say they’re tired of being called Devil Dogs. They even take offense at the term.

That came as a surprise to former Staff Sgt. Glenn Kirst, a 34-year-old financial advisor in Milwaukee who joined the Corps in 1991 and spent 10 years on active duty. He was out shopping with his girlfriend a few weeks ago when the pair passed a Marine in the parking lot of a Best Buy store.

Kirst grinned and nodded at the Marine, sporting a “USMC” T-shirt and close-cropped hair as he walked with a girlfriend.

“I said ‘Hey, there’s another Devil Dog,’” Kirst recalled. The Marine gave him a blank stare and the Marine’s girlfriend got angry. “She started shouting at me. ‘Before you make a comment like that, why don’t you grow some f—ing balls and serve your country.’”

“I was stunned,” Kirst said. “I called my friend, who is a Marine captain in the infantry. He told me the term ‘Devil Dog’ is not used much anymore, and is usually used in a negative manner. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“When I was in the Corps, I used the nickname Devil Dog like a badge of honor.”

Lots of folks shop at Sears for appliances (Kenmore and beyond), tools (Craftsman, Dewalt, and other top brand), and a great electronics selection. We’ve also got links for Sears gift cards and the specials in their closeout and clearance section.

MyTroops makes it easy to shop online at 400+ of your favorite stores, save money with great coupons, discounts, and deals, and earn reward for our military personnel. Shop online and earn rewards for our troops. That’s MyTroops!

Coolest patch I’ve ever seen? The slogan on the 711th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) - an Air Force Reserve unit that flies AC-130 Spectre gunships - takes the prize… “After Five And Weekends.” As a Reservist, you gotta laugh at that one.

Anyway, if you enjoy cool patches and have an interest in secret squirrel, black ops, or spook stuff, check out the photo essay in Newsweek - Badges of Secrecy- by Trevor Paglen.

Most of us mere mortals have never seen any of these patches. For those who have, they’re still really entertaining.

Beyond traditional veteran’s hiring preferences for government jobs and special recruiting programs in the private sector, take a look at this article to see some of the ways that a franchise could be right for you.

The article is pasted below and here’s the link to the original article.

Franchises give veterans a break

By Erin Kutz, USA TODAY
On a typical weekday, Jason Dethier puts his 5-year-old daughter on the school bus and watches his two younger children at home, while his wife, Marka, leads fitness classes for bouncing toddlers at the Rolly Pollies gym franchise they opened three months ago. At lunchtime, they switch roles.

Their lives might have taken a different course if not for a magazine story they ran across last summer when they were interviewing for corporate jobs ahead of their discharges from the Air Force. The story was about two Navy veterans who had left corporate life to start Rolly Pollies, a young company that was franchising gymnasiums and activity centers for young children.

John Mann and Joseph Dondero had started the first Rolly Pollies in Severna Park, Md., in 2002 and were looking for entrepreneurs to take their concept to other communities.

“It looked like fun,” Marka Dethier says. “We joked about how funny it would be if we did this.”

The Dethiers opened their Summerville, S.C., franchise in November, using the year’s salaries they received after taking buyouts from the Air Force and a small loan, Marka says.

Rolly Pollies helped, too. The company actively recruits veterans to their business by providing them a 15% discount off the regular $40,000 franchise fee. Veterans own five of the seven Rolly Pollies franchises currently open, Mann says.

Rolly Pollies is just one of almost 300 businesses providing financial benefits to honorably discharged veterans looking to open a franchise, through the Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative, or VetFran. The program is a collaboration of the International Franchise Association (IFA), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration (SBA) and The Veterans Corp.

More than 1,000 veterans have opened franchises through the program, says Terry Hill, vice president of communications for IFA. A typical VetFran discount ranges from 15% to 25% off franchising fee costs. Total start-up costs can run from $15,000 to millions of dollars, he says.

Variety of participants

VetFran companies offer assistance to recently discharged veterans as well as those out of the armed services for decades. They include fitness centers, repair services and restaurants, such as:

•UPS (UPS) and its Mail Boxes Etc. stores, which has opened the most franchises through VetFran, 135.

•Pizza chain Little Caesar Enterprises, which offers the more moderate $10,000 discount to all qualifying veterans, but gives a $68,000 break to service-disabled veterans. Little Caesars founder Michael Ilitch created that discount in honor of Robbie Doughty, an Army officer who lost both legs while serving in Iraq, according to Little Caesars President David Scrivano. Start-up costs for a Little Caesars franchise range from $50,000 to $150,000, according to VetFran’s website.

•Aamco Transmissions, which takes $5,000 off the franchise fee of $31,500, VetFran’s website shows. Start-up costs for an Aamco franchise are $60,000.

VetFran began during the 1991 Gulf War but ended about as quickly as the war did, Hill says. It relaunched after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Most VetFran franchisees require additional financial assistance and loans through agencies such as the SBA, Hill says. The SBA guarantees more than $1 billion in small-business loans annually to veterans.

The average Rolly Pollies franchisee faces start-up costs of $75,000 to $90,000, Mann says. The total investment required for a franchise can run from $200,000 to $290,000.

The money from their military buyout and a loan were critical to get started, Marka Dethier says. But they would have been less likely to open the franchise without the $6,000 veterans discount, she says.

“We took one look at (Rolly Pollies) and thought this would be huge,” she says. “But this was scary for us because we were used to the steady income and health care. … In the military, I could have a good day or a bad day, and I’m going to get a paycheck.”

While Rolly Pollies does not lend any direct financial aid once the veterans’ franchises are up and running, it will extend the 15% start-up discount if a veteran wants to open a second franchise, Mann says.

Rolly Pollies’ preference for military veteran franchisees is an extension of the camaraderie experienced in the military, Mann says.

“The money helps, but it’s also the mentality,” he says. “We’ve got the instant mutual respect for one another. They really trust that we’re looking out for them and that we’re going to do everything in our power for them to succeed.”

Market for military values

The original VetFran program was founded by Donald Dwyer, the now-deceased owner of several home-repair companies, who sought veterans for positions in his companies because he valued the work ethic and management skills they learned in military service. Last month, the company even created a director of military development position to specifically target veterans for recruitment.

“Sometimes it doesn’t work out perfectly,” says Dina Dwyer-Owens, Dwyer’s daughter and CEO of The Dwyer Group. “But veterans just really absorb systems. We haven’t had a big challenge with them.”

Another Rolly Pollies franchisee, former Marine pilot Marty Fisher, opened his Mooresville, N.C., franchise in July and expects the business to turn its first profit this quarter. He has about 200 children enrolled in his fitness programs.

The Dethiers haven’t seen profits for their fitness center yet, but they are just shy of covering all expenses, Jason says. They have about 100 children enrolled in their nine-week fitness classes; parents pay $13 a week for each child.

The Dethiers hope their business will be profitable by the end of the year, Jason says. For now, they’re enjoying the family time they sought with a return to civilian life.

“We’re working more hours in aggregate,” he says. “But the quality of time spent with the children is a lot better. We can bring them to work if necessary. It’s a nice touch, something you can’t do at a normal job.”

What’s changing now? The Army is expanding its efforts to muster soldiers in the IRR to perform basic records checks and enhance the potential role for those troops who maintain a contractual obligation to remain in the IRR.

Overall, this is a big deal for the Army - as it expands the potential pool of troops when mission needs require additional forces.  

The original Army Times article is pasted below and here’s the link to the article.

Thousands to activate for musters

Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Mar 4, 2008 11:49:37 EST
  
About 10,000 members of the Individual Ready Reserve will be briefly activated this spring to participate in one-day musters at Army Reserve Centers throughout the United States, and some overseas locations.

Soldiers typically become members of the IRR upon successful completion of a tour of duty with the Regular Army or Army Reserve. They remain members until their military service obligation expires.

Veterans who are unsure of their status in regard to the IRR should call the Human Resources Command Communications Hub at 1-800-318-5298.

While the Army is required by law to continuously screen and provide training to members of the IRR, it did not conduct a major physical muster of the force until 2007 because of a lack of funding.

Three types of musters will be conducted this year by the Human Resources Command in coordination with the Army Reserve Command as follows:

Readiness Musters
During March through June, readiness musters for soldiers who have been in the IRR for 12 months or more will be held at Fort Devens, Mass.; Los Alamitos, Calif.; Fort Lawton, Wash.; Fort Totten, N.Y.; Decator, Ga.; Arlington Heights, Ill.; Grand Prairie, Texas, and Fort Meade, Md.

The one-day muster will consist of a reserve components briefing, record review, security clearance updates, medical and dental screening, ID card issue and briefings on training and unit opportunities.

Personnel Accountability Musters
Beginning in March, selected soldiers who were assigned to the IRR within the past year will be mustered at 450 stateside and overseas reserve centers to receive briefings on IRR participation requirements, and training and unit opportunities. They also will be offered the Post Deployment Health Reassessment Program, and will be required to update their personal information.

Unit Affiliation Muster
New this year as a pilot, this program will require selected IRR soldiers to visit a local reserve unit in addition to participating in regular muster activities. They will be paid $190 for successfully completing the muster.

Sounds to me like another way of saying, “One team. One fight.” 

The entire article is pasted below and here’s the link to the original Washington Times article.

Army manual stresses nation building

By Sara Carter
March 3, 2008

The new Army Field Manual puts nation-building as a military task alongside combat operations, and top commanders warn that the war on terrorism will be lost if other government agencies don’t do their fair share.

Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, commander of the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, who was involved in writing the manual, said in an interview with The Washington Times that achieving victory against extremist groups requires cohesive ties among U.S. agencies in war-torn regions.

“This manual says that the only way we’ll win the war is if other government agencies that need to be involved are involved,” said Gen. Caldwell, who released the manual — which was written at Fort Leavenworth — Thursday in Florida.

“The days of conducting military operations alone are over,” he said.

The 2008 Army Field Manual on Operations, known as FM 3-0, is the first revision to the Army’s doctrinal blueprint since before the September 11 terrorist attacks. Touted by Gen. Caldwell as “revolutionary” and the “blueprint” for how the Army will operate for the next 15 years, it makes the “stability of a nation” just as vital to success as offensive or defensive combat operations.

The manual’s third directive, titled “stability operations,” focuses on nation-building and reflects the lessons learned during the past six years of fighting al Qaeda, the Taliban and other Islamist insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But other military commanders are saying it’s not the role of the military to rebuild nations.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely said, however, that current efforts to rebuild in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed a serious financial strain on an Army whose job is to “win war” not “build nations.”