Thanksgiving Day Greetings

Would Like To Take This Time To Wish Everybody A Very Happy Thanksgiving !!!!!!!!!

Veterans Day Greetings

I Would Like To Wish Everybody A Very Happy Veterans Day !!!!!!!!!!!

Vet Centers Coming To 39 Communities

Combat veterans will be able to receive readjustment counseling and other assistance in 39 additional VA Vet Centers across the country.

The existing 232 centers conduct community outreach to offer counseling on employment, family issues and education to combat veterans and family members, as well as bereavement counseling for families of service members killed on active duty and counseling for veterans who were sexually harassed on active duty.

V.A. "Announces Homeless Assistance Grants"

Homeless veterans and those who help them received a significant boost in their efforts when the Department of Veterans Affairs made 55 new awards to public and private nonprofit organizations that assist homeless veterans.

The announcement of awards to 55 community-based organizations in 24 states will add over 1,000 transitional housing beds to the 9,400 beds already available for homeless veterans because of VA grants for the homeless.

For more information, visit the VA Website at www.va.gov.

Charges Against Marine Dropped

San Diego Calif. - A military judge at Camp Pendleton on Tuesday dismissed charges against Lt.Col. Jeffeey Chessani, the highest-ranking officer accused in the deaths of 24 Iraqis in 2005 in the town of Haditha.

Col. Steven Folsom, the judge, made his ruling in response to the motion from defense attorneys charging that undue influence was excercised on the convening authority in the case. Folsom dismissed the charges without prejudice, meaning the Marine Corps could refile them.

Friends Again

Hong Kong - The ships of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group docked in Hong Kong on April 3, making the first visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier since the carrier Kitty Hawk and its escorts were turned away from a scheduled Thanksgiving visit in a diplomatic swipe against the U.S.

The strike group includes about 7,000 sailors from the Nimitz and its air wing, as well as the cruiser Princeton and the destroyers Chafee, Higgins and John Paul Jones.

Jailed Ex-Seal Trainee Gets New Hearing

United States - A former Navy Seal trainee who has served 12 years in prison has been awarded a hearing on his claim that his co-defendant was solely Responsible for Murdering a Georgia college student vacationing in Virginia Beach, Va.

Dustin Turner, 33, is seeking to get his murder conviction overturned on the strength of Billy Joe Brown's 2003 admission that Brown acted alone in the 1995 slaying of Jennifer Evans outside a bar.

Under a 2004 law allowing inmates to present newly discovered evidence of innocence, the Virginia Court of Appeals granted Turner a gearing to determine the credibility of Brown's confession, a step rarely taken by the courts. The hearing will take place nm May in Virgina Beach Circuit Court.

In 1995, Brown and Turner were Seal "swim buddies" who each blamed the other for the murder.

- General : Army Needs Stop Loss -

Washington D.C. - It Will be more than a year before the Army can end the unpopular practice of forcing soldiers to stay in the service beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates, a top official said Monday.

Lt. Gen. James D. Thurman, deputy chief of staff for operations, said he hoped that wartime demand for troops will decline enough by around the fall of next year to end "stop-loss." He said there are more than 12,000 currently serving under the practice an action that critics have called a "backdoor draft."

Thurman also said that as officials continue to increase the size of the Army, it could be possible by the fall of 2011 for troops to be home two years for every year they are deployed.

- Army Moving Mojave's Tortoises From Base -

Fort Irwin - Scientists have begun moving the Mojave S-Desert's flagship species, the desert tortoise, to make room for tank training at the Army's Fort Irwin despite protests by some conservationists.

The controversial project, billed as the largest desert tortoise move in California history, involves transferring 770 endangered reptiles from Army land to a dozen public plots overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Fort Irwin has sought to expand its 643,000- acre training site into tortoise territory for two decades. The Army said it needs an extra 131,000 acres to accommodate faster tanks and longer-range weapons used each month to train some 4,000 troops.

Desert tortoises are the longest living reptiles in the South-west, with a potential life span of 100 years, and can weigh up to 15 pounds. Their population has been threatened in recent years by urbanization, disease and predators including the raven.

Weeks before the relocation, two conservation groups threatened to sue Fort Irwin. The Center for Biological Diversity and Desert Survivors contend that the land set aside for the desert tortoises is too close to an interstate highway and is plagued with off-road vehicles and illegal dumping that would disturb the animals.

The groups served Fort Irwin with a 60-day notice of intent to sue and plan to file the lawsuit after the desert tortoises have been moved.

"There's still a lot of work that needs to be done to make the relocation site more habitable," said Ileene Anderson, a staff biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

- Reunion - "B/Battery 6/14th Artillery "

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- Vietnam Veterans Records Online -

Washington D.C. - The National Archives is joining with a Web site to make historical records of tens of thousands of deceased Vietnam War Veterans available electronically for the first time.

The interactive site - www.footnote.com - is a Web re-creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall. The site allows access to thousands of pages of casualty records and agency photos.

People can search by name, hometown, birthday, tour date, or dozens of other categories. Such information now is typically found only at National Archives locations, including the headquarters in College Park. Md. and by poring through files organized by topic.

-Vietnam Veterans Will Get Overdue Honors -

Whittier Calif. - After years of trying to get a day to welcome home the men and women who fought in Vietnam, Jose Ramos will finally see such an event.

"Welcome home Vietnam Veterans" will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the California High School football field. The school is located at 9800 Mills Ave. in Whittier.

The free celebration will feature a color guard from different veterans posts, guest speakers including Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, live music, classic cars, military vehicles and booths.

- Bush Says "Lives Not Lost In Vain" -

Washington D.C. - President Bush called it a day of reflection. He never explicitly said why, but the reason was clear 4,000 U.S. dead in Iraq.

That is the new toll of the five-year old war, the kind of raw, rounded number that sticks in the public's mind.

So on a day that began with so much lightness Bush hugging the Easter Bunny, cheerful children frolicking on the South Lawn the president ended up offering sympathy for grieving families.

"One day people will look back at this moment in history and say, "Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve, because they laid the foundations for peace for generations to come, "Bush said in unscheduled remarks at the State Department.

Contractor's Bodies Found

Washington D.C. - The FBI said it has recovered the remains of two kidnapped U.S. contractors in Iraq.

The agency identified the contractors as Ronald Withrow of Raring Springs, Texas, and John Roy Young of Kansas City. Withrow worked for JPI Worldwide when he was kidnapped in January 2007. Young worked for Crescent Security Group when he was kidnapped in November 2006.

The FBI said it is continuing in its investigation.

- Philip Jones Griffiths, 1936 - 2008 -

Obituaries: - Photojournalist showed the face of modern warfare to the world !!!!

Philip Jones Griffiths, a photojournalist whose images from the Vietnam War helped crystallize opposition to the conflict, has died. He was 72.

Jones Griffiths, a longtime member and former president of the prestigious Magnum photo agency, died of cancer at his London home, according to Rhiannon Davies, the agency's commercial director.

Published in 1971, his book "Vietnam Inc." was considered one of the most detailed photographic studies of an armed conflict ever published. The first printing of nearly 40,000 sold put immediately and the book became a rare and valued commodity among photography fans and photojournalists.

Okinawa Protest Targets U.S. Forces

Japan - Several thousand Okinawa residents angry over recent reports of crimes allegedly committed by U.S. troops held a loud but peaceful protest. with many demanding the troops be withdrawn from the island.

The protest was followed by a march to the gate of a nearby U.S. Marine base.

The demonstration was sparked by recent reports of U.S. troop-related crimes, including the arrest of a Marine for allegedly assaulting a 14- year-old Okinawan girl in February. The Marine was released from Japanese custody and no charges were filed. Okinawa is home to roughly half of the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.

U.S. Deaths In Iraq Over 4,000

Baghdad - A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.

The grim milestone came on the same day that rockets and mortars pounded the U.S protected Green Zone, underscoring the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shite extremist groups despite an overall lull in violence.

A Multi-National division, also a Baghdad soldier also was wounded in the roadside bombing. The soldiers patrol vehicle was hit about 10 p.m. in southern Baghdad, according to a statement.

Identities of those killed were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The 4,000 figure id according to an Associated Press count that includes eight civilians who worked for the Department of Defense.

Bush: Remember Others At Easter

Washington D.C. - President Bush urged Americans observing Easter Sunday to remember others, particularly in the military who are far from loved ones on a day "that beckons us homeward."

"I deeply appreciate the sacrifices that they and their families are making," Bush said Saturday in his radio address.

He added a special message for the U.S. troops who have been killed while serving their country.

"These brave individuals have lived out the words of the Gospel: Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends," Bush said." And our nation's fallen heroes live on in the memory of the nation they helped defend."

Air Force Wants To See Coal Fuel Take Off

Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. -On a wind swept base near the Missouri River, the Air Force has launched an ambitious plan to wean itself from foreign oil by turning to an unlikely energy source coal.

At its Malmstrom base in central Montana, the Air Force wants to build the first piece of what it hopes will be a nationwide network of facilities to convert domestic coal into cleaner burning synthetic fuel.

Air force officials said the plants could help neutralize a national security threat by tapping into the country's abundant coal reserves. By offering itself as a partner in the Malmstrom plant, the Air Force hopes to prod Wall Street investors nervous over coal's role on climate change to sink mone into plants nationwide.

We're going to be burning fossil fuels for a long time, and there's three times as much coal in the ground as there are oil reserves," said Air Force Assistant Secretary William Anderson. " Guess what? We're going to burn coal."

Tempering that vision, analysts say, is the astronomical cost of coal-to-liquid plants. Their high price tag, up to $5 billion each, would be hard to justify if oil prices were to drop. In addition, coal has drawn wide opposition on Capitol Hill, where some leading lawmakers reject claims that it can be transformed into a clean fuel. Without controls on emissions, experts say, coal-to-liquid plants could churn out twice the amount of green house gases that oil does.

"We don't want new sources of energy that are going to make the green house gas problem even worse," said House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills).

Doodlittle Raider Took The Gospel To Japan

- Obituaries - Jacob Daniel Deshazer 1912-2008 - The Rev. Jacob Daniel Deshazer, one of the participants in the historic Doolittle Raid on Japan during World War 11, died in his sleep March 15 at his home in Salem, Ore. He was 95.

After spending 40 months as a prisoner of war after the raid, Desjazer retured to Japan intent on forgiving his former captors and converting them to Christianity. During 30 years as a missionary, he helped start 23 churches in Japan.

Deshazer was born Nov. 15, 1912, to an Oregon wheat-farming family. He joined the Army Air Corps at 27, two years before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. A month after the attack, he volunteered for a secret mission. Then a corporal, he was the bombardier aboard the "Bat out of Hell," one of 16 bombers under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle that launched a surprise attack on Tokyo and other Japanese targets on April 18, 1942.

- Happy Easter -

I Would Like To Take This Time To Wish Everybody A Very Happy Easter !!!! And Also To Thank Everyone For Their Great Response Concerning This Blog !!!!

Fallouja Rises Again From The Ashes Of War

Fallouja, Iraq - The one lane bridge over the Euphrates River where a mob hung the charred bodies of slain Americans four years ago is now a focal point in th revitalization of this war-ravaged city.

The Iraqi government and the U.S. plan to widen the pedestrian pathways on either side of the bridge so shoppers can stream into Fallouja, western neighborhood and buy food, clothing and other goods from stores that again line the streets of a city once given up for dead.

The comeback of Fallouja, the site of two major battles between Marines and insurgents in 2004, surprises even the most optimistic U.S. planners.

"It continues to outpace all expectations," said Navy Capt. John Dal Santo, part of a State department-funded effort called the Provincial Reconstruction Team for Fallouja.

-Officer's Unit Discovered Enemy Tunnels In Nam -

Obituaries - Robert Haldane 1924 - 2008

Robert Haldane, an Army officer who led the battalion that discovered the infamous Cu Chi tunnels during the Vietnam WAR, died of cancer March 5 at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 83.

Lt. Gen. Haldane was a lieutenant colonel Jan. 7, 1966, when he was in charge of the American infantry contingent of the 8,000 man U.S. - Australian Operation Crimp. His troops came under fire as soon as they landed near a rubber plantation about 25 , miles northwest of Saigon and were mystified when the large numbers of enemy soldiers seemed to vanish in relatively open terrain.

For three days, the battalion combed the area. They found a large trench, cache after cache of rice and salt, a classroom for 100 men, minefields, foxholes and antiaircraft artillery emplacements. The area was clearly home to a regiment-size force, but few Viet Cong were seen. Yet snipers continually harassed the Americans from within their own lines.

- Pentagon Says Top Bin Laden Aide Detained -

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - A high-level Al Qaeda operative who helped Osama bin Laden escape from Afghanistan in 2001 during the U.S. military operation has been captured and sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon and CIA said Friday.

Muhammad Rahim, an Afghani was captured last July in Lahore, Pakistan, by Pakistani authorities, who quickly handed him over to the CIA, according to sources familiar with Rahim's detention. Ramim was then kept in secret custody by the CIA until he was handed over to the Pentagon and to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay this week.

CIA spokesman George E. Little said he could not comment on where Rahim was held since last summer, what kinds of interrogation techniques he was subjected to, and what he might have told his interrogators.

Some of the other suspected senior Al Qaeda leaders in CIA custody have been subjected to controversial coercive methods of interrogation techniques, including a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding.

I cannot characterize what he may or may not have said while in CIA custody, Little said. His detention by the CIA was part of a lawful program that has yielded valuable information in the nation's efforts to fight terror.

- Woman Soldier Honored For Valor -

Camp Salerno, Afghanistan - A 19- year old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second female soldier since World War 11 to receive the silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor.

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.

After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, the military said.

-Soldier Arrested After Dual Killings -

Tacoma, Washington - A Fort Lewis soldier has been arrested on suspicion of killing a military couple and abducting their 7-month-old girl, sheriff's deputies said.

The 22 year-old woman was booked into the county jail Sunday night on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping, said Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.

The woman is an active-duty soldier with 1 Corps at the Army base south of Tacoma and a member of the honor guard, Troyer said.

- Sioux Receives Korean War Medal -

Washington D.C. - President Bush apologized Monday that the country waited decades to honor Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble for his military valor in Korea, giving him the Medal of Honor more than 25 years after he died.

Keeble, a Sioux, is the first full blooded Native American to receive the nations highest military award. But it came almost six decades after he saved the lives of fellow soldiers. Keeble died in 1982.

"On behalf of our grateful nation, I deeply regret that this tribute comes decades too late," Bush said at the White House medal ceremony.

Baghdad Iraq -

Baghdad --- Three neighborhood security guards were killed and two injured early Friday when U.S. attack helicopters fired at their checkpoint south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said. It was the latest in a series of complaints about errant strikes, which have stoked tensions between the citizen security groups in central and northern Iraq and their American backers.Mohammed Ghuriari, who heads the so called Awakening Councils that supply fighters to protect neighborhoods in the north of Babil province, said it was the third U.S. led strike on their checkpoints in less than two months. He said 19 people had been killed and 14 injured."the U.S. led forces should learn from their mistakes." Ghuriari said in a telephone interview, "such repeated attacks will make the Awakening Councils review their stance in the agreements they signed with the U.S. forces."

----- Army Sniper On Trial For Killing Iraqi ----

Baghdad - Army Sgt. Evan Vela held back tears as he said at his court-martial Saturday that he had killed an Iraqi man who stumbled into his sniper teams camp.

Vera told the court on the second day of his trial that his superior officer, Staff Sgt. Micheal A. Hensley, ordered him to shoot the Iraqi.

I thought he was going to let him go, said Vela, who is charged with murder, planting a weapon and making false statements. I heard the word shoot. My next memory is the man dead. It took me a minute to realize the shot came from my pistol in my hand. I don't remember pulling the trigger.

Vera's case is the last of three murder trials involving the sniper team. Hensley and another one of his soldiers, Jorge G. Sandoval Jr. have been convicted on lesser charges and demoted Hensley is now a sergeant, and Sandoval, a specialist at the time of the shooting, is a private.

The shootings have raised questions about the supervision of the snipers. On Friday Hensley described planting weapons on bodies as an accepted tactic. Soldiers at pretrial hearings for Vera described seeking clearance for a baiting program. In which snipers shoot Iraqis who picked them up, but it was never implemented.

Washington D.C. -

Washington D.C. - Pentagon Won't Detail Its War Spending Plan -

When the Pentagon unveils its budget request Monday for the next fiscal year, it will back away from a commitment it made to Congress just a year ago to estimate how much the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to cost.

Last year, for the first time since the wars began, department budget officials detailed war spending plans for the year ahead at the same time it told Congress what its normal operating expenses would be.

But this year, although the Pentagon will go into great detail about how it plans to spend the billions of dollars it gets to run its normal operations, it will include only what officials call a "place-holder" for war funding.

Slain Marine Laid To Rest - R.I.P. -

Vandalia, Ohio - Family and friends wept and prayed Saturday at the funeral Mass for a pregnant Marine found slain in North Carolina.

The service for Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach drew hundreds of mourners to St. Christopher Catholic Church near Dayton.

Four uniformed Marines wheeled Lauterbach's coffin down the aisle to the strains of "Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory". A small silver casket bearing Lauterbach's unborn child, who she had named Gabriel, was placed next to it.

Federal authorities have said the man suspected of killing her, Marine Cpl. Cesar Lauren, has likely fled to Mexico.

Washington D.C. -

Washington D.C. - The Top U.S. military officer on Friday described the airstrike that killed a leading Al Qaeda commander in Pakistan as an important victory, but he refused to say whether the U.S. government had anything to do with it. Te strike was a very important one, it was a very lethal one," Navy Adm. Micheal G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference. He brushed aside questions about any role the Pentagon may have played. The CIA and the Pakistani government also refused to say who might have fired the missile or missiles that are believed to have killed Abu Laith al Libi and perhaps other Al Qaeda leaders in a small compound in northwest Pakistan this week.

Washington D.C. -

Washington D.C. - The chairman of the joint Chiefs Of Staff said Friday that no decision had been made to stop the withdrawal of troops in Iraq this summer, a subtle rebuke of the top U.S. commander there, who suggested that reductions would pause after the current round of cuts was completed in July. The comments underscore the divergent views among top Defense Department officials over the long term troop commitment to Iraq. Differences have become increasingly apparent ahead of new recommendations to the White House and Congress planned as early as next month.

The World - Baghdad -

Baghdad - Bombs tore through two popular pet markets here Friday, killing 77 people, in Baghdad since a U.S. troop buildup reached its peak in July. The apparently coordinated attacks, occurring within 10 minutes of each other, were reminiscent of large-scale suicide bombings before the buildup and underscored what U.S. military officials have warned are the shifting tactics of insurgents. At least one woman with explosives strapped to her.Some Iraqi police officials said women carried the bombs at both markets.

Washington D.C. -

Top Al Qaeda Commander Killed - A top Al Qaeda commander who trained and led foreign militants assisting the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan has been killed in neighboring Pakistan, officials said Thursday in what appeared to be a significant victory for U.S. led forces hunting members of the terrorist network. The death of Libyan born Abu Laith Al Libi was reported on militant websites, which praised him as a martyr who died helping lead a "holy war" against the West. While Al Libi's death had not yet been confirmed by forensic evidence, a Western counter-terrorism official said intelligence agencies believed the postings were authentic, and that the militant had been killed within the last few days.

Washington D.C.

Gen. David Petraeus isn't ready to commit to additional force reductions until after the 30,000 extra troops added last year leave this summer, U.S. military officials say Instead, Petraeus will tell Congress and the White House in April what he thinks the overall security situation in Iraq will look like, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a military spokesman in Iraq. Then Smith said, Petraeus will have to "confirm that assessment" after the initial cuts in U.S. troops are completed in July. President Bush has said he could accept a recommendation from Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, that did not include a continuation of the drawdown after July.

U. S. Death Toll -

As of Wednesday morning, 3,929 U.S. service members and 8 Defense Department civilians had been identified as having died in the Iraq war: 3,204 from hostile action and 733 from non-combat related incidents.


Latest deaths identified:

Army Sgt. Mikeal W. Miller, 22 Albany, Ore.: died Sunday at the National Naval Medical Center in Maryland of wounds suffered July 9 in Baghdad when his vehicle encountered an improvised device; 2nd Infantry Division.


Five soldiers with the Armys 4th Infantry Division died Monday from wounds suffered when their unit encountered an improvised device in Mosul:

- Sgt. James E Craig, 26, Hollywood Calif.
- Staff Sgt. Gary W. Jeffries, 37, Roscoe, Texas
- Spc. Evan A. Marshall, 21, Athens, Ga.
- Pfc. Brandon A Meyer, 20, Orange Calif.
- Pvt. Joshua A.R. Young, 21, Riddle, Ore.
-

Statford Connecticut

A vacant 79 acre defense plant here could have a future in movie production. Mayor James Miron says that several businesses are considering bidding on the property, and that at least one movie business put up a required $1 million to demonstrate serious interest in obtaining the site from the U.S. Army.

Nashville Tennessee -

U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs medical clinics in Middle Tennessee and south central Kentucky reopened after water from a broken pipe this week damaged computers that manage information for the clinics. Of Nashville, Chattanooga and Fort Campbell, where the 101st Airborne Division is based.

The Pentagon - Washington D.C.

Pentagon - Contractors Meet Over Rules - Under pressure to exercise greater control over private security contractors in Iraq, Bush administration officials outlined stricter rules for these armed guards during a meeting at the Pentagon with 20 companies. The meeting was hosted by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. Chris Isleib, a Pentagon spokesman, said the closed door meeting was a chance for both sides to exchange ideals. The session comes nearly four months after an incident involving Blackwater Worldwide that left 17 Iraqis dead. The incident led to a December deal between the Defense and State Departments that gave the U.S. military a stronger hand in managing security workers.

Medical Research

Combat Brain Injuries Often May Be Stress - Pentagon and Army medical personnel are examining how they handle mild brain injury from combat after new research said symptoms in these cases are often from post-traumatic stress disorder and not brain damage The research, published in the New England Journal Of Medicine, says that soldiers who test positive for brain injury months after combat may actually be suffering from PTSD and depression. The study calls into question how the Army defines and screens soldiers for brain injury months after combat. The research was led by Army Col. Charles Hoge, a psychiatrist and epidemiologist who has conducted landmark research on PTSD.

Across The Nation

Judge: Army Corps Immune In Katrina Suit - A federal judge in New Orleans threw out a class action lawsuit Wednesday against the Army Corps of Engineers over flooding from a levee breach on the 17th street canal following Hurricane Katrina. Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the corps should be held immune over the failure of the canal wall, which caused much of the flooding of New Orleans in 2005. The ruling relies on the Flood Control Act of 1928, which made the federal government immune when flood control projects fail. Joseph Bruno, a lawyer for the plaintiff, said the plaintiffs would appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,Kathy Gibbs, a corps spokeswoman, said "the corps agrees with the dismissal of the case" but declined to comment further because other lawsuits are pending over Katrina damage.

Camp Pendleton -

A 24-year old former Marine was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas for allegedly stealing $39,000 from the bank accounts of 15 enlisted Marines while they were deployed in Iraq. Edgar Alejandro Hermosillo allegedly got access to the Marines account numbers at the Camp Pendleton credit union while he was on active duty. Using those numbers he allegedly arranged for the money to be sent to accounts in Texas, New Mexico and Nevada, authorities said.

Camp Pendleton -

The general who soon will lead 25,00 Marines in Iraq said Wednesday that " the experts " were wrong when they predicted that repeated deployments would strain military families to the breaking point. Reenlistments among Marines remain high, which would not be the case if families objected, Maj. Gen. John Kelly told several hundred Marines who are set to deploy soon to Anbar province west of Baghdad.The old adage says you enlist the Marine but you reenlist the wife and family, said Kelly, whose two sons are Marines who have served in Iraq. Many Marine families have weathered two, three, even four deployments, and Marine officials say they are well aware of the stresses on them.

Irvine Calif.

A Day For The Marines - More than 600 Marines soon to depart for Iraq and their families are being invited to a free day at Boomers recreation center on Saturday. The Marines are from the 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, 1st. Marine Division based at Camp Pendleton. Irvine adopted 2/11, an artillery unit, last April. Marines and sailors of 2/11 are expected to ship out for Iraq in February.

Happy New Year - 2008 -

I would like to take this time to wish everybody a very happy new year !!!!!!