 | Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, speaks, April 12, 2011, at the White House launch of 'Joining Forces,' a national initiative that calls on all sectors of society to join forces to support and honor service members and their families, Addressing family members, Biden said, "You are all heroes -- from the moms and dads who keep your families together while your loved ones are serving overseas, to the grandparents who step in with much needed support, to the children who are stro DOD photo by Linda Hosek Download screen-resolution Download high-resolution |
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Call to honor service members and their families
Monday, April 11, 2011
Deal Averts Shutdown,
By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 9, 2011 - Government agencies are continuing normal operations after the administration, the Senate and the House of Representatives agreed to a fiscal 2011 budget.
"This agreement between Democrats and Republicans on behalf of all Americans is on a budget that invests in our future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history," President Barack Obama said last night from the White House. "Like any worthwhile compromise, both sides had to make tough decisions and give ground on issues that were important to them. And I certainly did that." There will be no interruption in operations for the Defense Department, DOD officials said last night. Service members and civilian employees will receive their pays as normal, and no operations will be curtailed or eliminated. "This is good news for the American people," Obama said during an address from the White House last night. "It means that small businesses can get the loans they need, our families can get the mortgages they applied for, folks can visit our national parks and museums, and hundreds of thousands of Americans will get their paychecks on time, including our brave men and women in uniform." The agreement calls for $38.5 billion in cuts from the government budget. This is $79 billion less than what the president proposed originally in February 2010. "Some of the cuts we agreed to will be painful," the president said. "Programs people rely on will be cut back. Needed infrastructure projects will be delayed. And I would not have made these cuts in better circumstances. But beginning to live within our means is the only way to protect those investments that will help America compete for new jobs – investments in our kids' education and student loans, in clean energy and life-saving medical research. We protected the investments we need to win the future." Obama thanked House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for their leadership in the process. "It's my sincere hope that we can continue to come together as we face the many difficult challenges that lie ahead, from creating jobs and growing our economy to educating our children and reducing our deficit," Obama said. "That's what the American people expect us to do. That's why they send us here." Had the government shut down, officials expected around 400,000 DOD employees to be furloughed and problems with pay and other fiscal obligations. The president announced the deal less than an hour before the continuing resolution would have run out and operations would have ceased. The last government shutdown occurred in 1996. | ||
| Related Sites: OMB Guidance: Anticipated Enactment ofa Continuing Resolution Transcript: Remarks by the President on the Budget Related Articles: Budget Deal Avoids Government Shutdown |
Army Brigade Commander Visits Wounded Troops
By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 8, 2011 - The conversation flowed easily this morning as Army Col. Sean M. Jenkins sat with several 101st Airborne Division soldiers, talking about everything from operations heating up in Afghanistan's Paktika province to the impact of a possible government shutdown on his deployed troops and their families back at Fort Campbell, Ky.
It was in a cafeteria here at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where Jenkins, traveling home for his mid-tour rest-and-recovery leave, paid a visit to check on his wounded troops. They gathered around the table, one in a wheelchair, one with a cane, another rubbing his steel-plated leg that always aches when the barometer drops, eager for news about the units and comrades they left behind. The 101st "Screaming Eagles" have suffered heavy losses during their deployment as part of the surge force in Afghanistan. The 4th Brigade Combat Team alone has lost 15 soldiers since it deployed last summer, with scores more wounded and more than 40 medevacced out for advanced medical care. So when Jenkins left Afghanistan for the first time in seven months for his mid-tour leave -- before seeing his wife Karin, his bubbly, blonde 3-year-old daughter, or his beloved golden retriever and black Labrador dogs at Fort Campbell -- he spent several days with his wounded warriors at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas; and Walter Reed. "I came to say thanks," Jenkins said, "and to talk with them about what is going on forward and how their teammates are doing." The chit-chat today in Walter Reed's cafeteria, hallways and the Military Advanced Training Center where soldiers receive intensive physical therapy treatments bounced from one topic to another. They praised a heroic private first class from the unit who was undaunted as his unit faced the enemy, discussed the merits of the leadership novel, "Once an Eagle," talked about improvements in military housing and heard news of the new 120 mm precision-guided mortar munitions round the brigade just received in Afghanistan. But beyond the casual and sometimes not-so-casual conversation, Jenkins worked to gauge how his soldiers are faring as they recover from lost limbs, shattered bones and other devastating injuries. "I try to open up a stream of conversation with them about how they are doing, how they are being treated, how their medical care is going and what their concerns are," he said. Throughout his conversations, he pulled out a pocket-size notebook to jot down names, email addresses and messages to pass on or requests to follow up on. "These guys deserve everything we can do for them, and nothing less," Jenkins said. "They need to understand that we are here for them, whatever it is they need." Once of the most welcomed things Jenkins delivers to the troops -- whether his own or members of another 101st Airborne Division element -- is reassurance that they haven't been forgotten. "They are still part of the team," he said. "And that is part of the message. I tell them, 'Just because you are back here, attached or assigned to one of the hospitals for a period of time, you are still part of the unit.' It is important they understand that linkage is not broken." Many of the wounded warriors call that some of the best medicine they could get. "It's very important to me. It's part of your mental fitness," said Army 1st Lt. Aaron Palmer, a 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment soldier whose femur was broken in three places and his iliac artery destroyed during an enemy attack in October. "I can't tell you how close we are overseas," Palmer said. "Your unit becomes like your family, and it's really great when that family keeps in touch with you....Every time I see that [Screaming Eagle] patch, I know it's a brother." "It helps me a lot," agreed Army Sgt. Anthony Verra of the 4th BCT's sister 2nd "Strike" BCT who lost both legs to an improvised explosive device in September. "Visits like this are really motivational." Army Pfc. Corey Kent, another "Strike" soldier, said he's been "blown away" by the outpouring he's received from his fellow Screaming Eagles since arriving at Walter Reed in mid-July, just three weeks into his deployment. Kent was on a patrol near Kandahar, called in to provide security for another unit that had been hit by an IED. He suffered the same fate, losing two legs, one above the knee and one at the hip, as well as all the fingers on his left hand. Today, he told Jenkins he had hoped to make the military a career and still plans to explore options the Army may open to him. "I'd feel like I was giving up if I just leave," Kent said. Jenkins said he encourages his soldiers not to let their wounds prevent them from striving for their dreams. "There are no closed doors," he tells them. "Only you close the door if you physically want to close the door." | ||||
| Related Sites: Walter Reed Army Medical Center 101st Airborne Division 4th Brigade Combat Team Related Articles: Security Improves in Afghanistan's Paktika Province | ||||
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Taking a water break
During a small arms weapons qualification course
Friday, April 08, 2011
Skeena is story of discovery, death and determination
According to media Fauzia is a South Asian Canadian writer of fiction and poetry. Her English and Punjabi writings have been published in Canada, Pakistan, and on the Web. Print titles include novel ‘Skeena’ (Punjabi, Lahore 2007) and anthology ‘Aurat Durbar’ (English, Toronto 1995).She maintains sites and blogs on Punjabi literature and art, ‘honour-killings’, blasphemy laws, and the environment. A selection of her English and Punjabi poetry ‘Passion-Fruit/Tahnget-Phal’ is due to come out in 2011.Fauzia will read from the Punjabi edition of her novel ‘Skeena’. Randeep Purewall says 
Skeena is the story of one woman inhabiting four worlds.If, to borrow the words of Kishwar Naheed ‘Skeena is a novel on patriarchy that never uses this word’, it is also the story of an honour killing where not one drop of blood is shed. Instead, it takes the reader and one woman of a village, from the gradual Islamization of law and society in Pakistan to the social politics of post-911 Canada.It treats the familiar themes and experiences of a South Asian woman in Pakistan and Canada without conforming to or selling stereotypes to the public.It moves flowingly almost screenplay like reproducing vivid scenes, such as the punishment of a villager in Skeena’s village, in the reader’s imagination.Telling a story of discovery, death and determination, Skeena is inspiring without being overblown, political without being ideological, and heart-rending without being tragic.Skeena is a novel by Fauzia Rafique to be launch on Saturday, April 9 · 2:00pm - 4:00pm at Surrey Public Library, Newton Branch. Fauzia started this novel in 1991 and continued the writing till it's completion in 2004. Fauzia devoted the golden period of her life to write this novel. After completing the pen work she started the next face of struggle for its publication. it was her good luck due to her continued devotion Amjad Saleem of Sanjh publication took the pains and novel published in 2007 by Sanjh publications Lahore in Punjabi with Shahmukhi script. Novel was published in a beautiful form, released in 9 cities and hit the stalls.
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Novel Skeena touched the sky at all book counters. Fauzia was happy but not satisfied. its publication is Gurmukhi script was still a challenge. she was not in the mood to compromise for its publication without royalty. ultimately novel published in Gurmukhi script also by the same publisher Sanjh of Lahore. Now you may read it in English (Roman words) also. If possible must partricipate the event. You wil meet and listen the Guest Speakers like Ajmer Rode, Bhupinder Dhaliwal, Sadhu Binning, Surjeet Kalsey, Dr. Saif Khalid and Shahzad Nazir Khan.
Poetry Manolis Readings will also take place by Yannis Ritsos and 'Vernal Equinox') Event Host at Facebook is Sana'a Janjua.Cutter Commander Shares Haiti Experience
By Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy Tamargo U.S. Coast Guard Academy Public Affairs NEW LONDON, Conn., April 7, 2011 - U.S. Coast Guard officers are presented with many challenges and opportunities. Normal operations may quickly turn into a life or death mission that challenges their training and experience.
A few months earlier Durham had put her experience to the test as commander of the Coast Guard Cutter Forward. She and her crew were pressed into action in response to a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck less than 15 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 12, 2010. The Forward was on deployment, Durham recalled, and recently had arrived in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when the earthquake occurred. "The duty section and off-duty crew onboard were jolted by unusual movement of the ship and quickly gathered to respond to an onboard emergency," she said. "We learned that it was an earthquake, and soon after, we learned of the devastation in Port-au-Prince. "The crew was recalled from various points around the base," Durham continued, "and we were underway by 10 p.m. We made best speed through the night." Durham's cutter was the first U.S. vessel to arrive in Haiti for the earthquake response mission. During the response, Durham said her crew members conducted numerous missions, including search and rescue, air traffic control, port assessments, damage assessment overflights and medical evacuations. Durham and her crew were recognized for their exceptional work during the response effort. On July 4, 2010, Durham represented the Coast Guard at the White House and was commended by President Barack Obama for the Haiti relief efforts. "We salute the United States Coast Guard, including a Coast Guardsman who commanded the first U.S. vessel to arrive in Haiti after the earthquake, helping to pave the way for one of the most complex humanitarian efforts ever attempted, Cmdr. Diane Durham," Obama said. At the height of the response in mid-January, the Coast Guard had up to eight cutters in Haiti's ports, in the Caribbean and in Florida waters. Air assets included a HC-144A Ocean Sentry aircraft, five HC-130 Hercules aircraft, three MH-65 Dolphin helicopters and three MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters operating in Haiti with more than 800 Coast Guard members providing assistance on shore, afloat on the cutters and in the air. Durham said she emphasized an open and honest command climate built on trust and communication. "Being on a cutter requires people to embody the term shipmate," she said. "You live together, work together, struggle together and succeed together for long periods of time. You become a family." This command climate directly impacted Durham's crew. "Commander Durham is very dedicated to the overall mission of the Coast Guard. I have sought after her council for stressful situations on several occasions," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Nicole Rose, the command chief on the Forward. "What makes a good leader is looking out after your people, dedication, motivation, compassion and the ability to expertly handle difficult situations. This is a talent too few have and many more need." Durham has served more than nine years at sea during her 21-year career on the Coast Guard cutters Rush, Decisive, Resolute, Tampa and Forward. Durham said she now brings her knowledge and experience from the fleet into the classroom to train and teach cadets, officer candidates, prospective commanding officers and executive officers. "It's important to have officers from the fleet as instructors because they know what is expected of junior officers in their first tours and what will help us achieve success when we enter the workforce," said First Class Cadet Amanda Cousart, a marine and environmental science major at the academy. "Teaching cadets and other Coast Guard personnel is a way to make sure all of the information Commander Durham has learned is passed on so future officers can make the Coast Guard thrive." First Class Cadet Dana Prefer echoed Cousart's sentiments. "I think that Commander Durham is a wealth of knowledge because she has done almost everything you can do in the afloat community," Prefer said. "When she told us about her past jobs, I was very impressed that she held that many command positions and highly-sought-after billets. I believe that due to her diverse career path," Prefer added, "she is able to get through to her students effectively, and I see her as a very good model of what a leader should be." | ||
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