In Baghdad, a terrorist who was in the middle of conducting a training for future militants, accidentally blew up an entire class, killing 21 of his students, and himself. The group was part of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the terror group that has been participating in a string of attacks in the United States.

The incident may be viewed as a metaphor for the many lives lost in the wake of foreign and domestic terrorists’ relentless attempts to convert the nation into an extreme-religious state. In this turn of events, it appears that many innocent lives may have actually been spared. In fact, in one recent attack alone, 7 innocent people were killed.

According to recent reports, it was rumored that the instructor was in the process of showing his students how to use a suicide belt. As he was teaching, the live suicide belt actually detonated, resulting in mass fatalities.

In 1864 the Union Army established a cemetery on the grounds of Arlington House, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s family estate, which had been seized for use in the defense of Washington.

The first burials took place around the rose garden of the general’s wife, Mary Custis Lee.  Since then, Arlington National Cemetery has become the nation’s premier military cemetery.

Over 400,000 soldiers, prominent Americans and their spouses have been buried there.

The schedule for events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the cemetery can be found at Arlington 150

XENIA, Ohio — On a winding road, past a stand of sycamores outside his Ohio home, CBS News found Jim Martin, 70 years after his first trip to France.

Jim was one of the first Americans in combat in Europe.

“They called us the tip of the spear,” he says.

Jim was a private in the 101st Airborne, one of the paratroopers dropped behind German lines in the hours before the D-Day landings.

“We wanted to get out of the plane quickly, because it was hitting the plane,” he says. “Planes were blowing up, and we wanted to get the hell out of there.”

They were inviting targets as they drifted toward the ground and the enemy.

Asked what was going through his mind as he slowly descended through the clouds into hostile territory, Jim says, “Fascination, because of all of this fire coming up towards us.”

“It was absolutely fascinating to see all these various colored tracers coming up there,” he says.

Their mission was to keep the Germans from reinforcing their troops on the dunes. Jim and his comrades landed right in the middle of those German reinforcements.

“That was a slaughter house,” he recalls. “There was SS all over the place, and they just slaughtered us. My colonel was lost. My company commander was lost.”

But what was supposed to be three days of fighting in Normandy went on for a month.

Jim Martin was one of the first Americans in combat in Europe.

“That’s the way we were trained, we accepted that,” Jim says. “And no matter how many people are there against you, what the odds are doesn’t matter. We’re going to win.”

Jim went from Normandy to fight in Holland, where he was wounded; from Holland to the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium; and from Belgium to Berchtesgaden, Germany — Adolf Hitler’s retreat in the Bavarian Alps.

Jim says he thought he was going to die “every day.”

“You just have to accept it,” he says. “If you’re going to worry about dying all the time, you can’t fight.”

Jim is 93 now, one of the few left who can talk firsthand of a time when he says right was right and wrong was wrong, and everyone knew the difference.

And here’s the best part: This week, he’s going back to Normandy, where he intends to parachute — yes parachute — onto the same soil he touched seven decades ago.

“I’m not usually looking for records or anything, but that would give me a great deal of satisfaction,” he says.

Bon voyage, Jim.

Source: CBS News

Thanks to JS for the link. HooRah

Army Vet Helps Develop Life-Saving Device for Treating Battlefield Wounds

By Angel Canales | ABC News Blogs

Growing up in Erie, Penn., John Steinbaugh loved the outdoors, guns and hunting, he recalled, so becoming an infantryman seemed a natural fit. So, he joined the Army in 1987 as something to do out of high school. “The plan was to join the infantry, be there for 4 years, get out and go to college,” Steinbaugh said.

While in the Army, he discovered the Special Forces. “When I joined Special Forces, I joined with the intention to be a weapons guy or something tactical similar to the infantry,” he said.

But Special Forces had a different plan for him. After the selection process, he was chosen to be a medic. Continue reading →

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