Theodore's World

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children what it was once like in the United States when men were free.” — Ronald Reagan

If you know a Veteran, someone in your family, friend of the family, neighbor, who served their country, take a brief moment of your day to thank them. Thank them for the sacrifice they made for the better good of their country. I am so very thankful for every service member in our military who has served our great nation. So, to the men and women who answered the call in both times of war and peace, I thank you. from Wild Thing

Thank you Barb at Righty in a Lefty State she was so kind and sent me this of the Stamps.
Gen. John L. Hines, Sgt. Alvin C. York, Gen. Omar N. Bradley and Lt. Audie L. Murphy.
Hines fought in the Spanish American War and was part of the battle of San Juan Hill. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his bravery and leadership in combat during World War I. He later became the Army Chief of Staff in 1924. He died at the age of 100 in 1968 at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
York, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous acts. during World War I. He served with the 82nd Airborne Division. In one battle with the German army, York was credited for capturing 132 German soldiers, killing 25 German soldiers and silencing 35 enemy machine guns.
Bradley commanded the First U.S. Army during the 1944 Allied landing in Normandy during World War II. He served as the Army Chief of Staff in 1948 and became the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1949.
Murphy was the most decorated American combat soldier in World War II. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving the soldiers in his company by single-handedly repelling a German attack.
Please visit my Veterans Never Forgotten page at my website.
It is my Tribute to all our Veterans from all our Wars.

This is a special Tribute to my Vietnam Veterans. This is for YOU, for you that have been to the Nam, for each of you that live inside my heart, for my Nam Vets and your wives and loved ones.
The tears I shed for our POWs and MIA’s will never dry in my heart. Never Forget them as you read my POW-MIA page and carry them in your heart and prayers as well.

A BIG thank you to all the Bloggers that are Veterans. Thank you with all my heart for serving our country! You are why this is the land of the FREE and the home of the BRAVE.

Linked on this very special day to:
Righty in a Lefty State
Cao’s Blog
Stuck on Stupid
The Political Teen
Big Dog’s Blog
Something….and Half of Something
Basil’s Blog
Soldiers’ Angel

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“No Marine was ever honored for what they received.
Honor was the reward for what they gave.” (Anonymous).

This is the 2005 Marine Birthday Bronze Coin
For more information go HERE

Thank You Marines!

Love,

Wild Thing

A friendly fundraising competition for Project Valour-IT is happening in the blogging world.
Dates for this: November 2nd through Veterans Day (the 11th).
Why do you ask?:Because giving wounded warriors with hand and arm injuries access to a computer supports their healing and puts them back in touch with the world.
How it works: Blogger teams will be divided along military branches.
Additional information: every donor during this time will receive a Soldiers’ Angels Coin. And they are beautiful!

Thank you Cox and Forkum

Holly Aho stepped up to the challenge of being the leader of the Marine Branch of the fundraising.

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Here’s how….
If you are a blogger:
Join my team!!! Put a post up on your blog letting people know about the Project Valour-IT Fundraising Competition. Leave a trackback to this post or leave a comment below to let me know you are officially on the Marine Team. [Or e-mail Holly at holly@sablogs.com]
If you are not a blogger, but a blog reader:
You can also help by spreading the word with flyers and word of mouth.
Starting November 2nd donate to Project Valour-IT to help us win the competition. Tell everyone you know about the competition. Details on how to do just that will be provided in the next day or so.
This will tell you exactly what this worthwhile project is all about and remember to sign up over at Holly’s site
Flyers are over at Argghhh!!!
The Valour-IT blog is located at www.valour-it.blogspot.com where there’s more information on the program and the competition.
If you wish you may mail donations to:
Soldiers Angels
Valour-IT Fund
1792 East Washington Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91104

Wild Things Comment……
Please donate to this worthy cause that will ensure our Warriors who have been injured to receive voice controlled software and laptop computers. They had our six and this is a great way we can say thank you and show them our support.

Be a part of the team:
Soldier’s Angel
STOP the ACLU
BIG DOG’s Weblog
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Argghhh!!!
One Marine’s View
The Gunn Nutt
Righty in a Left State

Photos and comments by servicemen who served in Vietnam (there are approx 60 or more pics
NC Humanities
Scroll down the page to “A Thousand Words:
Photographs by Vietnam Veterans”
Article about the travelling exhibit here:

This was up close to a place called Wonder Beach. The sand was white, just white. The sand reflected up the heat, and this was the middle of the day. You see how my dog had his tongue hung out. He was close to passing out. I said, ‘I can’t walk him anymore’ so we got on a track vehicle, and it’s got 106 mm Recoilless rifles on it.
My dog was one of the first dogs in Vietnam. His name was Mutsu. He would not walk into anything. If it was there, he’d let you know. He was good with personnel. He could find caches of ammo, food, and he was good with mines. The reason I am here today is because of him.
Joe Anthony
U.S. Marine Corps
1966

These three Americans have been to hell. But we can help them back. It’s time to turn the heat up under the comfy chairs of the armchair quarterbacks who got them into this mess.
Jack Idema, Brent Bennett and Eddie Caraballo were declared innocent of the trumped up charges against them in court in Afghanistan in March of 2005. They should be released. The American government is now standing in the way of their freedom, and this is a travesty of justice.
All three Americans are now languishing at the infamous Pulacharke prison. But they are still alive, no thanks to the American government or the FBI.
Peter Bergen, the author of Holy War, Inc. and “Shadow Warrior” at Rolling Stone Magazine said in his interview at NPR:

Pulacharke prison where he and his two colleagues are, Brent Bennett and Ed Caraballo, is–you wouldn’t wish this on your worst enemy. I spent 5 days there, that was plenty. It’s the equivalent of the Leavenworth of Afghanistan, it’s–a lot of Taliban, members of Al Qaeda are in there. In fact, there was a prison riot in December where 4 of the Al Qaeda-linked prisoners tried to kill the American prisoners and ended up killing 4 prison guards. So it’s a dangerous place, it’s an unpleasant place, they are serving some pretty hard time there.

Hard time is right…this is why we need to get them the hell OUT OF THERE. Below is a portion of a statement from the SuperPatriots at the website, but I want you to bear in mind that there is no excuse for leaving these guys there even though they’re trying to maintain a “stiff upper lip”. These men were declared innocent of the charges by the Afghan Supreme Court in a second closed-door session between January and March of 2005, they should be released.

We are living pretty well now, all things considered. It is one of the most infamous prisons in the world, where more than 20,000 people were executed by the Russians, and God knows how many by the Taliban. But the fact is, that our friends here, the officers that know what really went down in our case, treat us pretty darn good. Sure, there are lots of things we don’t have, and lots of things we wish we had, but all in all, we turned the tables on our enemies, and did it with no small help from our Northern Alliance friends, the men who were loyal to America against al-Qaida and the Taliban, and remain loyal to America and us.
Back at the FBI-NDS Saderat facility that is used to “legally” torture anyone and everyone they choose to, we were not allowed any contact with each other, family, friends, or the outside world. We were tortured, beaten unmercifully, chained, burned, some of us electrocuted for days, and starved with just two cups of rice and a piece of bread each day. Now, at Pulacharke Prison, they place few restrictions on us and help us as best they can.
It is surrounded by mountains and deserts and multiple walls. In the past 100,000 prisoners were housed here. It is not a place you want to be. But for us, we have little to complain about; the officers here treat us well. Pulacharke is called impenetrable, but as they teach you in Special Forces SERE School, nothing really is.
Sorry for the ranting and raving, but you know how things get when you’re in the world’s most infamous prison surrounded by 500 al-Qaida terrorists trying to kill you 24 hours a day. Actually, you probably don’t. Well, try to imagine.
Courage Forward,
TASK FORCE SABER/7

Here are the facts. Al-Qaeda tried to kill Jack and the others on December 17, 2004 in what some (like Peter Bergen) are categorizing as a “prison riot”. In the process, two Iraqis, one Arab, and one Pakistani terrorist were killed. Another Arab terrorist, who was critically wounded, survived. Four Afghan military officers were killed defending the SuperPatriots. Two of them were very close friends of Jack and his men, including Colonel Sherzaman, who ran into the middle of the terrorists with just one magazine of bullets. The Colonel killed two and wounded one. The remaining terrorists critically wounded the Colonel, and then executed him twenty yards from the SuperPatriots. Northern Alliance Generals quickly came to Jack’s aid and rescued the unarmed Americans as they held off 300 terrorists with barricades.
This “prison riot” was orchestrated by members of Al Qaeda to kill the Americans at Pulacharke prison.
This is the beginning of the Free Jack campaign.
To join the campaign, email Cao from Cao’s Blog and tell her you want to join the Free Jack Idema blogburst.
We will be blogging on this every Wednesday until he and his team are released, and when they are, we’ll be blogging about a congressional hearing.
I will maintain an email list, and will email you the post of the week along with a picture (if there is one for that week) to host at your blog.

Join the fight. No American should ever have to worry about ending up in this predicament ever again. But first, we must make sure they get home safely and in one piece.

Finally, after twelve days, the French Government decides to do something……State of Emergency Declared in France
By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
PARIS
President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency Tuesday, paving the way for curfews to be imposed on riot-hit cities and towns in an extraordinary measure to halt France’s worst civil unrest in decades after 12 nights of violence.
Police, meanwhile, said overnight unrest Monday-Tuesday, while still widespread and destructive, was not as violent as previous nights.
“The intensity of this violence is on the way down,” National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said, citing fewer attacks on public buildings and fewer direct clashes between youths and police. He said rioting was reported in 226 towns across France, compared to nearly 300 the night before.
The state-of-emergency decree _ invoked under a 50-year-old law _ allows curfews where needed and will become effective at midnight Tuesday, with an initial 12-day limit. Police _ massively reinforced as the violence has fanned out from its initial flash point in the northeastern suburbs of Paris _ were expected to enforce the curfews. The army has not been called in.
Nationwide, vandals burned 1,173 cars, compared to 1,408 vehicles Sunday-Monday, police said. A total of 330 people were arrested, down from 395 the night before
Local officials “will be able to impose curfews on the areas where this decision applies,” Chirac said at a Cabinet meeting. “It is necessary to accelerate the return to calm.”
The recourse to a 1955 state-of-emergency law that dates back to France’s war in Algeria was a measure both of the gravity of mayhem that has spread to hundreds of French towns and cities and of the determination of Chirac’s sorely tested government to quash it.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said curfew violators could be sentenced to up to two months imprisonment, adding that restoring order “will take time.”
“We are facing determined individuals, structured gangs,” Villepin told parliament on Tuesday. He vowed that France will “guarantee public order to all of our citizens.”

(more…)

“Day by day, fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with the love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it.” – Thucydides, The Funeral Speech for Pericles

Hoby Bradfield Jr. graduated high school in 2001 in Virginia Beach, VA. Immediately after witnessing the World Trade Center towers fall from his home in New Jersey, he called a recruiter and enlisted in the US Army. A member of the warrior caste, Bradfield’s father was a retired Navy veteran, his older brother an Army Cavalry Scout and his younger brother is now a Marine.
Hoby left his home and entered the Army on August 20th, 2002. He trained to be a Cavalry Scout and was assigned to the Sabre Squadron of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colorado. In a few short months, Bradfield went from raw recruit to leader among his peers.
Not long after joining the famed regiment, the 3rd ACR was sent to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom I. There, Hoby Bradfield earned a reputation for being a fierce Scout. As a Private First Class he was awarded the ARMCOM with V device for valor in combat and had been recommended for two Bronze Stars.
After returning from OIF, Hoby met a girl, Crystin, fell in love and got married. He also trained to be a Combat Life Saver.
Crystin became pregnant and Hoby was thrilled.
“…not even subzero temperatures at downrange Fort Carson can keep the smile from a man’s face when he tells his best friends he’s going to be a father,” said 1st Lt. Brian Oman, Bradfield’s Troop platoon leader.
He knew the day would come when the regiment would back to Iraq. Even though Crystin was pregnant, Bradfield volunteered to go back to Iraq.
On July 9th, 2005, Grim Troop of the 2nd Squadron moved into a neighborhood in Tal Afar to destroy a terrorist bombing cell. During the cordon and search, one of Bradfield’s team was hit and, as one of the Combat Life Savers, he raced to perform first aid. Then, Specialist Bradfield was shot.
Medics were called to the battle. They stabilized Hoby, put him on the ambulance and raced to the hospital.
Terrorists were watching. They detonated an IED and destroyed the ambulance instantly killing Hoby and the medic that was saving his life, PFC Eric Woods.
“There are troopers in the regiment who most definitely owe their lives to him,” LTC Christopher Hickey, Commander, 2nd Squadron, 3rd ACR said about Hoby in the memorial service held in Iraq where over 200 Cav Troopers attended.
On July 26th, 2005, Specialist Hoby Frank Bradfield Jr. was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Eric Woods family attended the memorial in Virginia and the burial at Arlington.
On September 3rd, Crystin Bradfield gave birth to Kloe Adell Bradfield who is the spittin’ image of her dad.
My thoughts and prayers are with Hoby’s family.
Today would have been Hoby’s twenty-third birthday……………………… He will be 22 Forever…………

Article from Blackfive
From Wild Thing……..
There is no way I can repay this man, Specialist Hoby Frank Bradfield Jr, he has given his all.
…..Song is “Some Gave All”

This is what immigrants should be told when they come into our country.

“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
The terror in France this week by Muslim gangs has to do with their “political correctness” and the “salad bowl” theory, that people don’t have to assimilate in order to live in France. This “political correctness” has permeated our culture, too. And you need only look across the pond to see the disastrous results of multicultural liberalism.
Beyond both of these issues related to immigrants, is the border control problem. From Cal Thomas at Townhall:

The Bush Administration would have us believe that most illegal immigrants (or “undocumented workers” in the lingo of political correctness) are merely looking for a better life and taking only those jobs that Americans do not want.
Kerry Morales isn’t buying that line. “Maybe 20 years ago the illegals were innocent, hard-working people,” she tells the San Antonio Express-News. “Not any more. Now they’re extremely dangerous. They mean violence.”
Morales, a South Texas rancher, says illegal immigrants have cut down her fences, stolen her pickup truck and broken into her home, once invading her bedroom and nearly strangling her. She says they fled after she reached for her gun.
Rather than complain to authorities, who seem unable or unwilling to stem the tide, Morales joined hundreds of other volunteers from across the country along a 20-mile stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border where they intend to help the Border Patrol spot illegals and reduce their number.

It’s a dangerous policy to allow our borders to go unprotected and unchecked. We should be standing vigilant and guarding our borders.
Terry Dillard has a great video he made regarding this issue over at Right Track blog.
This has been part of the Guard the Borders blogburst. GTB hits Euphoric Reality every Monday, and seeks to promote awareness about the illegal immgration epidemic that our country is facing and the desperate need to curb the problem before it’s too late. If you’d like to join the blogburst, send an email to kit.jarrell@gmail.com with your blog’s name and URL.
Blogs already on board:

Postal service to release exclusive USMC Stamps
Submitted by: MCRD San Diego
MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Oct. 28, 2005) — In honor of the 230th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps, the U.S. Postal Service is scheduled to release the U.S. Marine Corps Heritage Collection of four distinguished Corps postage stamps.
Purchase of the stamps will be available exclusively on Marine Corps installations Nov. 10 at $7.40 for a book of 20 stamps. Other post offices will begin sale of the stamps on Nov. 11.
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., are scheduled to host the unveiling ceremonies Nov. 10. Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, Commanding General Marine Corps Installations West, is scheduled to speak at the West Coast event.
Each of the stamps features a picture of the respective Marine Corps hero and the military insignia of the unit with which he is most identified.

The John Basilone stamp features a detail of a 1943 photograph of Basilone and the insignia of the 5th Marine Division. Basilone served and died with the 1st Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division during the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945.
The Daniel J. Daly stamp features a detail from a circa 1919 photograph of Daly and the insignia of the 73rd Machine Gun Company, which is a variation on the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division insignia. During World War I, Daly served as a Marine with the 73rd Machine Gun Company in the 2nd Infantry Division.
The John A. Lejeune stamp features a detail from a circa 1924 photograph of Lejeune. The stamp also depicts the insignia of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, which Lejeune commanded during World War I.
The Lewis B. Puller stamp features a photograph of Puller at Koto-ri, Korea, in 1950, and the insignia of the 1st Marine Division. Puller was a battalion commander and regimental commander with the 1st Marine Division during World War II and the Korean War.
Basilone, also known as “Manila John,” fought on Guadalcanal with the 1st Marine Division in 1942 and received the Medal of Honor for his heroism.
Daly is one of only two Marines in history to receive the Medal of Honor twice for separate acts of heroism.
Lt. Gen. Lejuene was the first Marine to command an Army Division and later became the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Lt. Gen. Puller was a battalion and regimental commander with 1st Marine Division during World War II and the Korean War, and he earned five Navy Crosses.
The commemorative stamps will be printed only once and will be available for one year after being issued, according to USPS officials.
The Marine Corps specially produced two postmarks of the 1st Marine Division Fleet Marine Force unit insignia and the Camp Pendleton base insignia for the stamps. The postmarks are specific to Camp Pendleton and will only be available there and Washington, D.C.
“The special postmarks will be available on base for 30 days after the event and never again,” said Mike Cannone, a USPS public affairs representative.
Also available for purchase is a U.S. Marine Corps silver dollar with a memorial of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima on one side and the Corp’s emblem on the other side.
“We are honored to be the first military service to receive a commemorative coin issued by the United States Mint. And we are particularly pleased that proceeds from this coin will help build the Marine Corps National Museum in Quantico (Va.),” said Marine Corps Assistant Commandant, Gen. William L. Nyland.

I just got my VRWC Card, so not I am an official card carrying member. Tah dah!

Thank you SondraK and Steve so much!
See if you know anyone else that is there too. Right HERE
To be added to the list, send an email along with your card (and link if applicable) to vrwc-at-ravnwood-dot-com.