Archive for January, 2007


Army Sgt in Iraq orders mats, receives insult

Sergeant Hess, a member of the U.S. Army currently serving in Iraq, is tired of sleeping on the “cold ground, which contains sand mites, sand flies and other disease carriers.” So Sergeant Hess tried ordering some mats to sleep on from Discount-Mats.com. He emailed the company asking if they ship to APO addresses. The reply [...]

Public Storage sells Army Specialist’s belongings while deployed in Iraq

After serving a year in Iraq, Army Reserve Spc. Patrick Rogalin came home and found that everything he had put in a storage locker - essentially everything he owned - had been sold.
Several payments for the locker had bounced because someone emptied his checking account while he was gone.
“It’s really insulting, after all I went [...]

US Flag and POW/MIA Flag

Was parked outside a post office in Brighton, MA on a very windy day and saw these flags above my head.

Watada’s pre-trial hearing for court martial begins today

Back in June 1st Lieutenant Watada (Army) publicly refused to deploy to Iraq for the Iraq War, saying that he believed the war to be illegal and that it would make him party to war crimes. His court martial is set to begin in February, but the pre-trial hearing begins today.
Recently, journalist Kevin Sites attempted [...]

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Doesn’t Work?

A Zogby Poll from last month supposedly indicates a shift in military attitudes concerning the longstanding “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Some interesting statistics from the poll:
. . . Of those in combat units, 21% said they know for certain that someone in their unit is gay or lesbian, slightly less than for those in [...]

Every U.S. military branch exceeds its 2006 reenlistment goals

Buried at number 8 on Time Magazine’s Top 10 list of underreported stories of 2006:
MORE U.S. TROOPS WILLING TO REENLIST
While there was much talk about the Army raising the maximum age for new recruits from 35 to 42, the lesser-known development is that the Pentagon managed not only to meet, but to exceed its 2006 [...]

From Father to Son, Last Words to Live By (NY Times)

This article was written by the fiancé of First Sgt. Charles Monroe King. First Sgt. King was killed by an IED in October.
He drew pictures of himself with angel wings. He left a set of his dog tags on a nightstand in my Manhattan apartment. He bought a tiny blue sweat suit for our baby [...]