Tag Archives: Military

The 11/10/13 Joy Jar

10 Nov

Today is the 238th Birthday of the U.S. Marines. Here is the Birthday Message from James F. Amos General, U.S. Marine Corps:

The Marines are celebrating their 238th birthday Sunday. To mark the occasion, Commandant of the Marine Corps, released a birthday message:
For 238 years, The United States Marine Corps has proudly served our great Nation with unfailing valor – bolstered by the enduring fortitude of our fellow Marines, our families, and our friends. This is why each year on November 10th, Marines from all generations gather together, in groups large and small, to celebrate the birthday of our Corps and to reflect on the proud legacy and warrior ethos we share. This is what unites us as Marines. From our first battle at New Providence to today in Afghanistan, Marines have always shown that they were made of tougher stuff – that when the enemy’s fire poured in from all angles, and the situation was grim, Marines unequivocally knew that their fellow Marines would stay behind their guns, fight courageously, and drive the enemy from the battlefield. We have always known hardship, fatigue, and pain…but we have never known what it is to lose a battle!
Marine of generations past built our reputation as the most disciplined and honorable warriors to ever set foot on a battlefield, and we have triumphed in every battle because our Corps has always focused on iron discipline and combat excellence. This is who we are…this is what we do! It matters not whether you carried an M-1, and M-14, or an M-16. It matters not whether you fought on a lonely island in the Pacific, assaulted a citadel in the jungle, or marched up to Baghdad. It matters not whether you are a grunt, a pilot or a loggie. What matters most is that, when the chips were down and things got tough, your fellow Marines could count on you to stand and fight…and fight we did!
This year, we celebrate the anniversary of several epic battles in our celebrated history: the 70th anniversary fo the 2nd Marine Division landing on Tarawa, the 45th anniversary of the Battle of Hue City, and the 10th anniversary of the “March Up” to Baghdad. Marines who fought in these legendary battles each made their mark upon the history of our Corps. They have passed a rich and illustrious legacy on to us – a much heralded reputation. It is ours to jealously guard, and it is up to us to make our own marks and thus proudly pass it on to the generations of Marines who will follow.
Sergeant Major Michael Barrett joins me in congratulating each of you. Because of you, your selfless service, and your many sacrifices, our Corps remains strong and ready to respond to any crisis. Throughout history, Marines have faced tough times and there will be tough times ahead, but there is no challenge we cannot overcome if we remain honorable and always faithful to our Nation, our Constitution and each other. Happy Birthday, Marines!
Semper Fidelis
James F. Amos
General, U.S. Marine Corps
Commandant of the Marine Corps
http://fox59.com/2013/11/10/marines-celebrate-238th-birthday/#ixzz2kJe4KOqg

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the U.S. Marines.

There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army

Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share.
Ned Dolan

A Marine is a Marine. I set that policy two weeks ago – there’s no such thing as a former Marine. You’re a Marine, just in a different uniform and you’re in a different phase of your life. But you’ll always be a Marine because you went to Parris Island, San Diego or the hills of Quantico. There’s no such thing as a former Marine.
General James F. Amos, 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps

The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight!
MGen. Frank E. Lowe, USA; Korea, 26 January 1952

Why in hell can’t the Army do it if the Marines can. They are the same kind of men; why can’t they be like Marines.
Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, USA; 12 February 1918

For all of those that have son’s or daughter’s at bootcamp let me pass on what I found. Let me give you a little back ground first. When my son left home he had no motivation, he was lazy, slobby, no pride, no self worth. This is the boy that got off the bus March 18th at Parris Island. The man that I met on Thursday for parents day is AWESOME. There is no way I can describe to you all the difference. He looks different, he walks different, he talks different, he has such a sense of bearing and pride all I could do was look at him in awe. Oh yes, the training is hard, what he went through is unimaginable to any one that has not been there. They are definitely taught to be Warriors. Let me tell you the surprise of what else they are taught. My Marine son has better values, better morals, better manners than any one I know. It is so much more than Yes Sir, Yes Mam…so much more. He cares about how he looks, he cares about what he does, and its not a boastful, bad ass thing. He is a true gentleman. I saw patience, and a calmness in him that I have never seen. I could never express my gratitude enough to the Marine Corps for what they have given my son. I know this, I have an 11 year old Devil pup still at home. When the time comes for his turn if I had to I would take him kicking and screaming all the way. Although I’m sure that will not happen. The hero worship I see in my younger sons eyes for his Marine brother tells me I will have two Marines in the family, and I will be one very proud mother.
“Cybil”, Mother of a Marine writing to the myMarine Group

I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!
General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur; Korea, 21 September 1950

The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!
Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, 1945

Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don’t have that problem.
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States; 1985

Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They’re aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense. They’ve got really short hair and they always go for the throat.
RAdm. “Jay” R. Stark, USN; 10 November 1995

For over 221 years our Corps has done two things for this great Nation. We make Marines, and we win battles.
Gen. Charles C. Krulak, USMC (CMC); 5 May 1997

We are United States Marines, and for two and a quarter centuries we have defined the standards of courage, esprit, and military prowess.
Gen. James L. Jones, USMC (CMC); 10 November 2000

There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army

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Military families embracing homeschooling

26 Oct

Moi wrote about homeschools in Homeschooling is becoming more mainstream:

Parents and others often think of school choice in terms of public school or private school. There is another option and that is homeschooling. Homeschooling is one option in the school choice menu. There are fewer children being homeschooled than there are in private schools. There are fewer children in private education, which includes homeschools than in public education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the vast majority of students attend public schools. Complete statistics can be found at Fast Education Facts http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372

The question, which will be discussed at the end of this comment, is: What is so scary about school choice? After all, the vast majority of children are enrolled in public school and school choice is not going to change that.

What is Homeschooling?

Family Education defines homeschooling. http://school.familyeducation.com/home-schooling/alternative-education/41106.html

Homeschooling means learning outside of the public or private school environment. The word “home” is not really accurate, and neither is “school.” For most families, their “schooling” involves being out and about each day, learning from the rich resources available in their community, environment, and through interactions with other families who homeschool.

Essentially, homeschooling involves a commitment by a parent or guardian to oversees their child or teen’s educational development. There are almost two million homeschoolers in this country.

There is no one federal law, which governs homeschooling. Each state regulates homeschooling, so state law must be consulted. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has a summary of each state’s laws. State Homeschool Laws http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp The American Homeschool Association (AHA) has resources such as FAQ and the history of homeschooling at AHA
https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/homeschooling-is-becoming-more-mainstream/

Kimberly Hefling of AP reported in the story, Military Bases Open Their Doors To Home-Schoolers:

Some military families also cite the same reasons for choosing home schooling as those in the civilian population: a desire to educate their kids in a religious environment, concern about the school environment, or to provide for a child with special needs….
Participating military families say there’s an added bonus to home schooling. It allows them to schedule school time around the rigorous deployment, training and school schedules of the military member.
“We can take time off when dad is home and work harder when he is gone so we have that flexibility,” McGhee said.
Sharon Moore, the education liaison at Andrews who helps parents with school-related matters, said at the height of the summer military moving season, she typically gets about 20 calls from families moving to the base with home schooling questions. She links them with families from the co-op and includes the home-schooled children during back-to-school events and other functions such as a trip to a planetarium.
“It comes down to they are military children and we love our military children,” said Moore, a former schoolteacher. “We recognize that they have unique needs that sometimes other children don’t have, and we want to make sure that we do our best to serve them and meet those needs because they have given so much to this country.”
This kind of support for home schooling by the military was uncommon in the 1990s, said Mike Donnelly, a former Army officer who is an attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association, based in Purcellville, Va. He said that changed in 2002 with military-wide memo that said home schooling can be a “legitimate alternative form of education” for military member’s children. Most military bases today are friendly toward home-schoolers, he said….
Home schooling in recent decades has grown in popularity in the general population, with the most recent government statistics estimating that about 3 percent of school kids are home-schooled in America.
Within the military population, Donnelly said his group estimates that from 5 percent to 10 percent of military kids are home-schooled. An estimate by the Military Child Education Coalition, using very limited research data, estimated that up to 9 percent of military kids could be home-schooled.
The vast majority of military kids attend local public schools, with a much smaller percentage attending Department of Defense schools and an even smaller percentage attending private schools or home schooling, the National Military Family Association estimates.
Like home schooling parents in the general population, military families at home often use online curriculum and materials to enhance instruction. Some hire tutors for areas such as advanced math or foreign languages.
Home schooling, of course, isn’t for every military family. It requires a parent who can stay at home, and it can create an extra level of stress for the parents at home if the spouse is deployed, some spouses have told researchers.
For military families and others who do opt to home-school, there’s very little scientifically rigorous research about the long-term social and academic effects, said Joseph Murphy, an education professor at Vanderbilt University who wrote a book about home schooling.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/26/military-home-schoolers_n_4166073.html?utm_hp_ref=@education123

School Choice is Good for the Education Process

Homeschooling is not a conspiracy, it is simply a choice. There is a difference between “education” and “schooling.” “Schooling” is defined as:

• the act of teaching at school
• school: the process of being formally educated at a school; “what will you do when you finish school?”
• the training of an animal (especially the training of a horse for dressage)

wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

“Education” is a much broader concept. It is the process of continually being curious. Eric Hoffer aptly distinguishes the difference between “schooling” and “education.”

The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.

Many of our children are “unschooled” and a far greater number are “uneducated.” One can be “unschooled” or “uneducated” no matter the setting. As a society, we should be focused on making sure that each child receives a good basic education. There are many ways to reach that goal. There is nothing scary about the fact that some parents make the choice to homeschool. The focus should not be on the particular setting or institution type. The focus should be on proper assessment of each child to ensure that child is receiving a good basic education and the foundation for later success in life.

Related:

‘Hybrid’ homeschooling is growing
https://drwilda.com/2012/08/16/hybrid-homeschooling-is-growing/

New book: Homeschooling, the little option that could
https://drwilda.com/2012/10/12/new-book-homeschooling-the-little-option-that-could/

Homeschooled kids make the grade for college https://drwilda.com/2012/07/02/homeschooled-kids-make-the-grade-for-college/

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The 05/25/13 Joy Jar

25 May

 

The Memorial Day Weekend should give folk the opportunity to reflect on the bravery of our men and women in the military. It is this bravery that allows us to enjoy the freedoms many of us take for granted. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the bravery of our men and women in the military.

Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it… You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.
Will Rogers

America’s fighting men and women sacrifice much to ensure that our great nation stays free. We owe a debt of gratitude to the soldiers that have paid the ultimate price for this cause, as well as for those who are blessed enough to return from the battlefield unscathed.
Allen Boyd

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.
Thomas Paine

If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.
Sun Tzu

When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.
Euripides

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.
Napoleon Bonaparte

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The 05/24/13 Joy Jar

24 May

Today is the beginning of the Memorial Day Weekend which honors those brave men and women who gave their lives so that moi has FIRST AMENDMENT and other Constitutional rights. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is the thanks moi gives to the men and women of the military.

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
George Orwell

“Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.”
Douglas MacArthur

“Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.”
― Winston Churchill

“Mess with the best;
Die like the rest”
U.S. Special Forces

“We’re like America’s little pit bull. They beat it, starve it, mistreat it, and once in a while they let it out to attack somebody.”
Evan Wright, Generation Kill

“Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They’re aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense. They’ve got really short hair and they always go for the throat.”
R. Adm. Jay Stark

“Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die”
― Alfred Tennyson

“The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.”
William C. Westmoreland

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Why you should support ‘Operation Iraq-Afghanistan’

28 Oct

Moi doesn’t care how people feel about the various wars that are going on right now or the foreign policy. Men and women who serve in the armed forces of this country do not make foreign or diplomatic policy. They serve under the direction of the Commander In Chief and Congress. Many saw the military as a way for a steady paycheck and a way to improve their lives and the lives of their families. Since this country has gone to a voluntary military, many of those who now serve are men and women of color and low-income people of all colors.

First Focus is a bipartisan group who works to improve the well-being of children. According to the article, Our Military Families Under Fire by Bruce Lesley and Kate Sylvester which was posted at their site on November 22, 2010:

An entirely new category of children is in jeopardy – the 2 million children being raised in military families. As recently as a decade ago, child advocates could afford to ignore military children. After all, they are lucky enough to have at least one working parent; to live in decent housing; and to have health insurance.

But beyond these basics, experts remind us that many other factors can put children at risk for poor outcomes: experiencing family disruption; having a single parent; suffering from abuse or trauma; or having a parent who suffers from mental illness or substance use.

Sadly, these risk factors now apply to many military kids. Why? Because so many of their parents are young, near poor, and coping with serious stresses. Consider these facts:

More than one-third of first-time military parents are 21 or younger; most of their children are under age 5. And a growing number of military families – over 100,000 at last count – have two military parents or are headed by single parents.

Most of these young parents don’t make much money. Military pays starts at about $2,800 a month (including allowances for food and housing). In the families of junior service members that have only one working parent and more than one child, household incomes often fall below 200 percent of the federal poverty level – the benchmark that child advocates suggest puts families at risk.

Indeed, a significant portion of children attending Department of Defense schools qualify for receive free or reduced lunches and the most recent estimates about Earned Income Tax Credit indicated that 11.6% of military families were eligible to apply.

Finances are not the only stressors on military families. Multiple deployments mean that children face multiple separations from their parents. As Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a recent Veteran’s Day address, “If you took any 11-year-old or younger military child, it’s all they’ve known their whole lives.”

Research is just beginning to tell the story of what those family separations are costing military families.

http://www.firstfocus.net/news/reading-list/our-military-families-under-fire

Lesley and Sylvester link to additional research in their article:

The National Center for Children in Poverty

Military children are now classified as at risk for mental health problems along with children and youth in low-income households and those in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

The latest study on military children, published this month in the Journal Pediatrics, looked at more than a half million military children ages 3 to 8 whose parents were deployed. Researchers found that behavioral disorders, such as attention deficit disorder, increased 18%, and stress disorders, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rose by 19% when parents were gone.

The separations take a toll on spouses too. Wives of soldiers sent to war suffer significantly higher rates of mental health issues than those whose husbands stayed home, according to a study on Army wives published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Because the U.S. has gone to a volunteer military to shoulder the burden of defending this country, that task has, in many instances, gone to people of color, the poor, and the unemployed. One of the groups helping to support our men and women in the military is Operation Iraq-Afghanistan: The Spirit of Christmas.

Here is a bit of information about Operation Iraq-Afghanistan: The Spirit of Christmas:

Founded in 2003, Operation Iraq-Afghanistan: The Spirit of Christmas began as a grass roots organization in Kirkland, WA. It was built out of the desire to provide support for our troops and show appreciation for those who sacrifice so much to protect our country, our homes and our families. We are supported entirely through the donations of time, merchandise and dollars from companies, organizations and individuals across the United States.

The care packages we send bring comfort to our troops in the field and consist of personal care items and products specifically requested by them that are not typically provided by the military. In the weeks prior to Thanksgiving, hundreds of volunteers come together to work countless hours collecting and assembling thousands of care packages that are shipped overseas for delivery to troops on Christmas Day. These items include everything from specialty food and personal hygiene items to magazines and CDs.

You can contact Operation Iraq-Afghanistan: The Spirit of Christmas:

Operation Iraq-Afghanistan: The Spirit of Christmas
PO Box 646
Kirkland, WA 98083
Phone: (425) 885-0796

http://operationiraq.org/about-us/

From time to time the organization will post a list of items needed. They also need volunteers to accomplish the mission. Please contact Operation Iraq-Afghanistan: The Spirit of Christmas if you can help in any way.

It really doesn’t matter what you feel about the foreign policy of this country. Either you are a stand-up guy and honor the commitment and sacrifice of our military men, women, and families or you are not. One way of standing-up for those sacrificing to keep us safe is to support Operation Iraq-Afghanistan: The Spirit of Christmas.

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