Theodore's World

Col. William Bernhard, an Army surgeon, stands in front of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on Forward Operating Base Lima, Iraq, Oct. 15, 2005. Bernhard, 75, is about to deploy to Kabul, Afghanistan, reportedly as the oldest deployed member of America’s armed forces. (Courtesy photo)

Most military members end their careers by the time they are half his age, but one Army doctor says he would rather come out of retirement to help the troops than watch from the sidelines.
Tomorrow, retired Army Reserve Col. William Bernhard, a 75-year-old surgeon, will start a journey to Afghanistan, his third deployment in the war on terror.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to serve the young men and women who, as we all know, have medical and surgical problems,” said Bernhard. “We need trained, experienced physicians to take care of them, and I feel honored that I’ve been selected to go over there and provide medical care for these troops.”

Bernhard, who lives in Cecil County, Md., has over 40 years’ medical experience, directing anesthesia at the University of Maryland’s shock trauma center for 10 of those years. He said he has trained countless military medics in the emergency room, and he remains one of the Army’s most experienced flight surgeons, keeping his skills up part time at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

“It doesn’t take any training for me to go to war,” he said. “All I have to do is get new uniforms … and qualify again with the 9-millimeter (pistol).”

Bernhard said every February he calls the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va., headquarters for the Army and Air Guard, and talks to the people in charge of a program called “BOG,” for “Boots on the Ground,” which puts doctors in field hospitals for 90-day rotations.

Over the past three years, the National Guard has been operating with fewer doctors than it would like, Bernhard said. “Unfortunately we used to have 850 Guard physicians,” he said. “Now there are under 450 — and less than 400, I’m told, are deployable.” So he takes his turn, helping fulfill the Defense Department’s commitments overseas.

Bernhard said he knows three other physicians who have also come out of the retired reserve to serve actively again.
Going back to active duty is always a funny process, he said:

“I go in to get an ID card, and they punch in my numbers, and they say, ‘You’re retired. You can’t have an ID card.'” The same thing happens as he stands in line to change insurance policies, get new uniforms and all the rest.

Having joined the Marine Corps in 1950, Bernhard was soon discharged due to a knee injury, which he said was a major disappointment. He joined the Navy as an anesthesiologist and served 10 years on active and reserve duty, then switched to the Army Reserve for 22 more years.
When Bernhard leaves his home tomorrow, he will spend about five days at Fort Benning, Ga., before traveling to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. From there he’ll fly to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, then convoy into Kabul, where he will connect with the Oregon Army National Guard’s 141st Support Battalion.

“I don’t sign up when I go overseas for anesthesia because I’ve done all that,” he said. “I’d much rather sign up to be a field surgeon, which means that I can work at a battalion aide station and at a trauma station, and I sign up to work also as a flight surgeon, and that gets me flying a lot of missions and taking care of aviators.”

Last year, he deployed to Iraq with the Mississippi Army National Guard’s 155th Brigade Combat Team. He took charge of medical facilities at five forward operating bases west and south of Baghdad.

“Any time I went outside the wire — and I was out a lot flying all over and doing missions outside the wire — I usually carried a 9mm and a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun because you’re close in to them there, and you’re in villages,” he said.

On Nov. 23, 2005, Bernhard and his unit found themselves guarding a bombed-out building on the Euphrates River 85 miles west of Baghdad. “I was the one with the shotgun, so I had to cover the little alley coming down behind us,” he said. “We got in a firefight for about 10 hours that night. A patrol coming down got within a quarter of a mile of us, and (the insurgents) ambushed them, and they killed one of my medics that night.”

Experiences like that make him want to continue to do all he can to help his fellow servicemembers, he said. Being semi-retired offers him the time to work on research projects while he’s stateside. And thanks to his military background, he can pursue new technologies to help in combat situations.
In Iraq he tested a new stethoscope, which he had been working on for years at the Army’s research lab at Fort Rucker, Ala. “This stethoscope worked magnificently,” he said. “It could work in a Black Hawk (transport helicopter). It worked in a noisy trauma center. It was just great.” This year, a dozen of the new stethoscopes are being sent overseas with Army doctors.

“Here’s an idea that I had that we’ve built, and now it’s starting to be used by the active duty military,” he said. “It feels good.”

Army Col. William Bernard stands in front of his tent at Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq, where he lived from July to December 2005. He said the temperature inside climbed as high as 144 degrees, and the force protectors around the tent collected shards of shrapnel from insurgent attacks. (Courtesy photo)

Cleric Calls on Bush to Convert to Islam
A reputed leader of the al-Qaida-linked terror group blamed for deadly bombings across Indonesia on Thursday accused President Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard of waging wars against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir also called on Bush and Howard to convert to Islam, saying it was “the only way to save their souls,” adding that families still grieving after the 2002 Bali blasts that killed many foreigners should also become Muslim to find “salvation and peace.”
Bashir, 68, was released from prison Wednesday after completing a 26- month sentence for conspiracy in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, was at a hardline Islamic boarding school that has spawned some of Southeast Asia’s deadliest terrorists.
The firebrand cleric also declined to directly condemn young men who carry out bombings in Indonesia in the name of Islam, saying they he still considered them “holy warriors,” because they believed they were defending the oppressed.
The United States and Australia said they were disappointed at Bashir’s release.
Bashir said the attacks “were God’s will” and that survivors should “convert to Islam” if they wanted to soothe their suffering.

Iran’s defense minister on Thursday vowed that his country would “use nuclear defense as a potential” if “threatened by any power.”
Speaking following a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Hassan Ali Turkmani in Teheran on Thursday, Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar emphasized that Iran “should be ready for confronting all kinds of threats.”
Teheran has denied accusations by the US and its allies that Iran was seeking uranium enrichment technologies in order to develop nuclear weapons, saying its program was only meant to generate electricity.
Meanwhile, Turkmani told reporters that Syria and Iran’s “policy is the policy of strengthening resistance and tackling the threats of United States and Israel.”
He added that he wouldn’t give details of joint defense plans against Israel, although the plans were “not secret.”
Answering a question regarding a newly-developed Shahab 4 missile, Najjar said that research activities were underway. Iran would continue production of “different missiles and research,” Najjar declared.
The most recent Iranian missile was the Shahab 3, and Iran recently claimed to have followed it up with the development of the Shahab 4.
Wild Thing’s comment…….
Iran’s definition of a threat is the continued existence of Israel and the United States. So much for their claims of not having Nukes in the Works!

Marine may call Murtha as witness
A criminal defense attorney for a Marine under investigation in the Haditha killings says he will call a senior Democratic congressman as a trial witness, if his client is charged, to find out who told the lawmaker that U.S. troops are guilty of cold-blooded murder.
Attorney Neal A. Puckett told The Washington Times that Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, briefed Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, on the Nov. 19 killings of 24 Iraqis in the town north of Baghdad. Mr. Murtha later told reporters that the Marines were guilty of killing the civilians in “cold blood.” Mr. Murtha said he based his statement on Marine commanders, whom he did not identify…………
You can Click HERE for the complete article.

North Korea’s missiles are based on Scud technology.
Last Updated: Wednesday, 14 June 2006 – 11:51 GMT – 12:51 UK
By Charles Scanlon – BBC News, Seoul
The United States has warned it will respond if North Korea goes ahead with a test launch of a new inter-continental ballistic missile.

South Korea also called on the North to halt preparations for a test, saying it would damage regional security.
North Korea last tested a long-range missile in 1998 but it warned last year that it was calling off a self-imposed moratorium on further tests.
The US and Seoul are expressing growing concern about the North’s intentions.
The US ambassador to Seoul, Alexander Vershbow, said Washington would respond to a missile test with what he called “appropriate measures”.
He told a local radio station that the North’s missile technology was a threat to the international community, as well as to north-east Asia.
Diplomats say North Korea has been preparing a possible launch of its new Taepodong 2 missile, which is estimated to have a range of 6,000km (3,500 miles) and to be capable of hitting parts of the United States.
Deadlock
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon also called on the North to halt its preparations. He said a test would seriously damage efforts to resolve the confrontation over the North’s nuclear weapons programme.
The diplomatic process has been stalled since last year, when North Korea pulled out of the talks citing American financial pressure.
North Korea may be using the missile threat to try to break the deadlock. Its demands have been largely ignored while Washington has focused on the nuclear challenge from Iran.
Analysts say North Korea already has enough plutonium for about eight nuclear bombs.
It will be much harder to ignore if it can demonstrate a successful delivery system as well.
Wild Thing’s comment……
Kim Jong is dangerous and we should never bow down to anyone. We are the most powerful Nation in the world!
Keep the heat on this creep Kim Jong !

Spc. Shan Neiger and fellow Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division try to avoid blowing sand while a Chinook CH-47D Helicopter from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade lands in the western desert area of Iraq during the last hours of Operation Iron Triangle on May 11, 2006. The goal of the operation was to capture or kill terrorists on the most wanted list.

Stars and Stripes
Sailors aboard the USS Cole, bombed by terrorists in 2000 as it refueled in Yemen, are getting their feet wet in the Mediterranean before the repaired ship returns for the first time to the Middle East since the deadly attack.
On Monday, the guided-missile destroyer entered into the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet as part of a seven-vessel expeditionary strike group, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima. Now, roughly 6,000 sailors and Marines will spend three weeks in the Mediterranean before heading to the Middle East.
While the deployment is the Cole’s second since the attack, it is the first cruise back to the Middle East since October 2000, when terrorists blew a hole in the side of the vessel and killed 17 sailors.

“I am proud to hear that [the Cole] is actually going back to the Middle East, but at the same time concerned because, as we know by history of al-Qaida, they will try again,” said Master Chief Petty Officer James Parlier, who was on the Cole when it was attacked.

The destroyer’s return “shows our enemy that we are not defeated, and the very ship they attacked is going to help defend our cause, and that is doing the right thing for Iraq and its people,” Parlier said by e-mail in Great Lakes, Ill.

While in the Med, the strike group will work with navies from Greece, France, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, officials said.

“The port visits are twofold: we have a strong desire to get the ships and their crews to good liberty port calls, but there is more of a strategic focus, and that is to build and strengthen partnerships with those countries,” said Navy Lt. Chris Servello, a 6th Fleet spokesman.

USS Cole’s Namesake Was ‘Fighting Field Musician’

It’s fitting that the man the Navy named the destroyer Cole after was wounded but rose to serve his country again and again.
Sgt. Darrell Samuel Cole enlisted in the Marine Corps on Aug. 25, 1941. Following boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., he was sent to Field Music School for training as a field music Marine, the equivalent of a bugler.
After he completed instruction, he was transferred to the 1st Marine Regiment, and on Aug. 7, 1942, he and his unit reached the shores of Guadalcanal for the first American offensive of World War II.
Cole wasn’t too happy in his role of field musician in a fighting outfit. After he proved himself by acting as a machine gunner in the absence of the regular gunner, he applied for a rating change. His request was refused, because the unit was short of buglers.
Cole completed his first tour of duty in February 1943 and returned to the United States, where he joined 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, which was then forming as a part of the 4th Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
When the unit moved to California, Cole again asked to transition from the field music rating, but his request was again denied.
During the 4th Marine Division’s first engagement at Roi-Namur in the Kwajalien Atoll, Cole, forsaking his bugle, went into action as a machine gunner.
Four months later, when the division stormed ashore at Saipan, he was not only a member of a machine-gun unit, but was a machine-gun section leader – a post awarded to him because of his proven ability as a gunner.
On Saipan, Cole’s squad leader was killed. Although he was wounded, Cole assumed command of the squad and was awarded the Bronze Star for “his resolute leadership, indomitable fighting spirit and tenacious determination in the face of terrific opposition.” He was also awarded the Purple Heart.
A few days after the battle of Saipan, Cole led his squad ashore in the invasion of the neighboring islands of Tinian, where he continued to live up to his growing reputation as “the fighting field musician.”
After the Marianas campaigns, he again requested a change of rating, and this time his request was approved. Cole was redesignated “corporal, line” and was subsequently promoted to sergeant in November 1944.
On Feb. 19, Cole led his machine-gun section ashore in the assault on Iwo Jima. Moving forward with the initial assault wave, the section’s – and the entire company’s – advances were slowed by a hail of fire from two Japanese emplacements, which Cole then personally destroyed using hand grenades.
His section continued to advance until it again was pinned down by enemy fire from three Japanese gun emplacements. One of these emplacements was silenced by Cole’s machine gun, but then the gun jammed.
Armed with only a pistol and a hand grenade, Cole made a one-man attack against the two remaining positions. Twice he returned to his own lines for additional grenades and continued the attack under fierce enemy fire until he had succeeded in destroying the Japanese strong point.
On returning to his squad, he was hit by an enemy grenade and killed instantly.
His one-man attack and self-sacrifice allowed Cole’s company to move forward against fortifications and attain its objective.

Wild Thing’s comment…..
Smooth sailing, USS Cole! I will never forget we had a spineless SOB for a President at that time when the USS Cole was attacked!

The United States Army was born out of the desire to defend liberty and proudly celebrates its 231st birthday on 14 June 2006.
Since 1775, millions have worn the uniform and lived the “Warrior Ethos.” Soldiers have always understood that the freedoms our nation guarantees are worth fighting for and America’s decision to put “boots on the ground” illustrates like no other action its continued commitment to these ideals.



From Kabul, Afghanistan, the Security Detachment Soldiers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District (AED) wish all Soldiers and Civilians throughout the Army, Happy 231st Birthday. Through our construction and reconstruction programs, AED’s Boots on the Ground are making a difference in promoting stability and security in Afghanistan and the Central Asia Republics.

This year’s theme is “Call to Duty – Boots on the Ground.”

“To all of our Soldiers around the world, our thoughts are with you and your families on this 231st Army Birthday. We are humbled by your sacrifices and awed by your achievements,” said Secretary of the Army Dr. Francis J. Harvey.

Wild Thing’s comments……
Thanks to American Soldiers, freedom’s light shines as a beacon throughout the world.
The Army has courageously fought our country’s wars and served honorably in peace for over two and a quarter centuries. We can all be justifiably proud of The Army’s achievements—a distinguished history of service to the Nation. From our victories in the American Revolution through the trial of our Civil War, from the trenches of World War I to the beaches of Normandy and the island battles in the Pacific of World War II, from the frozen mountains of Korea to the sweltering paddies of Vietnam, from Grenada and Panama to the sands of Kuwait and Iraq, and now on the plains and in the mountains of Afghanistan, Soldiers have marched at the van of democracy and the cause of liberty.
We will never be able to tell you enough how very proud we are of you. Thank you for your service, for your sacrifices, and for your abiding devotion to something greater than self. God bless each and every one of you and your families, God bless our magnificent Army, and God bless America.

I am the flag of the United States of America

I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.
There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.
My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.
Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.
My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country.
My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters.
My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.
My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.
I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.
I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.

I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers – the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.
I am as old as my nation.
I am a living symbol of my nation’s law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
I voice Abraham Lincoln’s philosophy: “A government of the people, by the people,for the people.”
I stand guard over my nation’s schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism.
I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.
Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.
I have my own law—Public Law 829, “The Flag Code” – which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations.
I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.
Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.

I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.
If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.
Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.
As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are – no more, no less.
Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth.
Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.
God grant that I may spend eternity in my “land of the free and the home of the brave” and that I shall ever be known as “Old Glory,” the flag of the United States of America.