Alien Machines Attack US Military in Qatar!

Well, at least they did in the Transformers movie. My son saw it with his girlfriend last weekend and said it was awesome. He's 20, and I remember the toys and the cartoon show and figured, yeah, I'm sure it's great for kids.

Well, he was so pumped up about it we decided to go last night, and brought my 16 y/o step daughter along. He was right. It was awesome.

The movie is funny, with incredible special effects and the script was pretty well-written. And there is a scene where enemy transformer attacks a US special forces team in the desert. They call in an air strike (using a borrowed credit card to call the Pentagon long-distance in one of the funniest scenes of the movie).



A Predator does a fly-over, followed by a couple of A-10's and finally a Specter gunship. Whoever made this movie knows a thing or two..and they protrayed the military as having their act together. Even the Secretary of Defense (John Voight in a great role) grabbed a shot-gun and kicked ass when needed.

So I give it five stars for fun, and even the ladies enjoyed it.

-Rog

A stinking hot July day in Illinois, and a stinking hot July day in Iraq

OK, here's a picture from my backyard a few days ago:

And here's one from Iraq taken about the same time: (CNN.com)

Notice a difference? Yeah, me too. Only it wasn't 120 degrees in Iraq, their thermometer STOPPED at 12o degrees.

My medical units have been asking for drink mixes by the TON, and with a little help from the great folks at the St. Charles, Illinois Jewel store, Soldier's Angels delivered. Tang and Country Time lemonade was on sale "buy one - get one free". I asked if the lady at the desk if Icould buy 10 cases and get 10 cases free so I could send them to some medics in Iraq. She replied, "my daughter is a medic with the National Guard. Let me talk to the store manager. She called him and then said "how does Saturday sound?"

And fans. I got three hospitals who asked if there was any possible way I could send them some oscillating fans. The folks at discountofficeitems.com, who must have the most efficient shipping department in the world, shipped 48 of them to me in 2 days for free!. Then I hauled them off to the post office. My buddies Jimmie, Kevin and Alvia at the East Side PO helped me and we got those fans sent off within 3 more days. I am personally ready for fall!

-rog

REVEILLE

I stopped by an estate sale in my town the other day. It was a very old house, kind of run down, the yard not very well tended. I'd driven by it a hundred times.

I wandered in, and looked around. It was the last day of the sale, and there wasn't much left...the usual beat up pots and pans, the old clothing that no one ever buys. I go to a lot of estate sales, and sometimes I wonder about the people who lived there; their lives, who they were, what they did. I've found that you can learn a lot about a person from the contents of their homes. What type of books they read, whether they traveled, sometimes what their profession was.

It's kind of sad sometimes, to think of the treasures and memories of an entire life, being sold to strangers for a few dollars, because no one else wants it.

I looked around this place, saw in the basement that this man had been a fisherman. Lots of rods and equipment for tying flies and making lures. He liked to work with wood, he camped a lot.

Then in the bedroom I saw two uniforms hanging in an empty closet; A Boy Scout leaders shirt, old, faded, well-worn. And a Word War II Army uniform - with medical insignia.
I asked the people running the sale if they knew anything about him. A middle-aged woman said "He was my uncle and he was in the War. I think he stayed in the US, but I'm not sure."

That's all she knew about what was probably the most memorable experience of this man's life. Since his niece was running the sale, it seems that he didn't have any children of his own. That means he was a Scout leader not because of parental obligation, but just because he wanted to make a difference. He was a medic in the War too; that's twice that he made a difference.

I offerered to take the uniforms, just because I hated the idea of them ending up in the trash. She gave them to me for a buck.
On the way out, I went back in and asked what his name was. "Phil".

Here's to you, brother. Welcome home.

-Rog

F*cking almost got shot today.

That's the way a medic started his letter to one of our Angels. You can read all about it at my buddy MaryAnn's blog.

I write a lot about the medics who work the CSH's and aid stations and the casualties they have to deal that come in their door. Lots of these folks also have experience as combat medics - the ones who go into combat with a unit and are right there on the scene with them. In a combat unit, nobody has it tougher than the medics. A lot of them are 19 year-old kids, with 16 weeks of training and all of a sudden they are responsible for providing all the care that a fully-equipped ambulance team of EMT's back home would...with only what they can carry in a backpack.

Two that I adopted, PFC Krystle V, a medic with the 303rd MP Co and Carlos with the 3ID talked about that, and asked for books to help them learn more. And evey medic asks for snacks, games, toiletries, etc for the men and women in their units. They never stop taking care of their own, and watch out for them every way they can. When I ask what they want for themselves..., it's always what they want for their charges instead.

On Iwo Jima, the Japanese targeted the medics first, knowing that if they wounded one, the rest of the Americans would do anything to get to him. They also reasoned that every medic they killed also counted for all the wounded Americans he would have saved.

"You don't get combat pay because you don't fight"

From Stars and Stripes

Bill Mauldin drew medics in his classic cartoons about WWII infantrymen in Europe. My uncle Harry was a medic with Patton's army in France, and told me about crawling out of a foxhole to find his Dodge ambulance full of holes after a German artillery attack.

My buddy Jason at Ramadi mentioned that he has to send a 19 year old female medic out tomorrow, and that he lost a medic, Lee Lewis in OIF in 2005. Jason said he was a good man and a good father. I bet he was a good medic, too.

And my niece, Karen, just finished Medic school and was assigned to the the 10th CSH in Colorado. They're expecting to be deployed again soon......

God Speed

-Rog

A TRIBUTE TO OUR DANISH BROTHERS IN ARMS

Denmark is one of the countries that answered the call to free Iraq. Seven Danish soldiers - out of a contingent of 450 - have now been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 — four of them by roadside bombs.

Every Fourth of July, Danes and Americans gathered in the heather covered hills of Rebild to celebrate the American Independence Day and to promote the friendship between the USA and Denmark.The Rebild Celebration has its roots back to 1912 and Denmark is the only country outside of the United States to publicly celebrate the American Independence day.

Here's a video tribute to our allies,

This post is dedicated to my Father, who was born in Hjorring, Denmark in 1906 and would have been 101 years old this past month. He loved his adopted country, but never forgot the place of his birth.

tak for lån nemlig den minder Dad

-Rog