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America’s Bald Eagle
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING AND WORTH YOUR FEW MINUTES TO VIEW….
CHECK OUT THE Bald Eagle video below …
‘Challenger’ is his name (in honor of the lost space shuttle crew) & is cared for by the non-profit American Eagle Foundation (AEF).
He’s a ‘human-socialized’ bird accidentally raised by the people who rescued Him – after being blown from a wild Louisiana nest in a storm as a baby in the late 1980’s. Declared ‘non-releasable’ by federal and state wildlife Authorities, he was trained by the AEF to perform educational free-flight demonstrations at high profile public events.
He’s the first Bald Eagle in U.S. History that learned to free-fly into Stadiums, arenas and ballrooms during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. The celebrity eagle has appeared at numerous major sporting events like the World Series, Pro-Bowl, All-Star game, BCS National Championship, Fiesta Bowl, Men’s Final Four, etc.
This eagle named Challenger has also flown before 4 U.S. Presidents!
Thanks to RE for the link. HooRah
50 Years Ago in the War
- June 20 – General William Westmoreland assumes command of all U.S. forces in Vietnam.
- July 6 – Some 900 Viet Cong attack Nam Dong, a U.S. Special Forces camp defended by 12 Green Berets, about 300 South Vietnamese and a few other allied fighters, who force the enemy to retreat. Captain Roger Donlon receives the first Medal of Honor presented in the Vietnam War.
- Aug 2 – U.S. destroyer Maddox, in the Gulf of Tonkin to gather intelligence from electronic transmissions, is attacked by three North Vietnamese P-4 class motor torpedo boats and suffers minor damage.
- Aug 3 – The Maddox returns to the Gulf, along with another destroyer, the Turner Joy.
- Aug 4 – The destroyers pick up radar and sonar signals that their crews interpret as North Vietnames vessels moving in for an attack. The U.S. ships begin firing. (Later investigations indicate that the Maddox and Turner Joy were not attacked.)
- Aug 5 – President Lyndon B. Johnson orders airstrikes agains North Vietnam.
- Aug 7 – Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving Johnson “all necessary measures to repel any attack against the enemy forces of the United States to prevent further aggression.”
President Lyndon B. Johnson, Aug. 5, 1964, in a speech at Syracuse University in New York, after a North Vietnames attack on the U.S. Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin:
The world must never forget – that aggression unchallenged is aggression unleashed. We of the United States have not forgotten. This is why we have answered this aggression with action.
4th Infantry Statue
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS? OR WHERE THIS IS?
This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace, now home to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped home and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas. The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.
Kalat was so grateful for the America’s liberation of his country; he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam and made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiers and their fallen warriors.
Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.
To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrades in arms.
Suicide Bomber
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 The Beginning
In the beginning…
God created Slicks giving them the mission of Medivac, rescue, re-supply and transport and He said this is good, but the Slicks will need protection, so He created Gunships to protect the Slicks and He said this is good, but the Gunships needed targets, so He created Scouts to find targets for the Gunships and He said this is good.
Upon surveying His works, God realized that He needed crews for his creations, so He populated the Slicks with the best and most disciplined Aviators,
He populated the Gunships with lesser disciplined Aviators, and with what was left over He populated the Scouts.
He looked upon His creations and said this is good, now My Slicks will be properly protected and supported in their missions.
God spoke to the assembled Slicks, Gunships and Scouts, saying unto them; go forth and support My most favored creation……….the Grunts.
ANON
…courtesy of Fred Baker [Veterans for a Stronger America]
Arlington Turns 150
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
Charlie Company Vietnam 1966-1972 