Facts and Figures - Vietnam

http://www.rolling-thunder-nh1.org/Newsletters/NH0407.pdf
worth a read.(From Marine- RG)

Cell Phone Charges!

Subject: No-charge 411
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 or more for 411 / information calls when they don't have to. When you need to use the 411 / information option, simply dial 1-800-FREE-411 or 1 800 373 3411 without incurring a charge at all except for the minutes required to make the call. Verified as TRUE on Snopes.com. See: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/free411.asp

Web Poll - Marines

http://www.savage-productions.com/webpollmarines.html

michael savage

this came from a marine friend
http://www.savage-productions.com/ for more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Savage_%28commentator%29

hyscience is ANTI islam

http://www.hyscience.com/

About The Marine (So-Called) Killings...

Dr. Laura

I will make this short and sweet as I am sure you have many e-mails to read each day. I am the father of a marine just returned from Iraq. He is in the same Brigade as the marines that are being investigated for the massacre in Haditha. First, he is in a different company but same unit. I have just talked to him about this and this is what he said happen. Note: it is different than the press and on your show today you made it sound as though you believe the press reports that are always out to hurt the USA and the military.
That particular day the insurgence attacked all FOB's (forward operational bases) and it was total chaos for the marines. Foot patrols where under fire, bases were under attack and they were under fire primarily houses and buildings. The marines had to clear the buildings to get the insurgents but if you want to send marines home in body bags just have them go into a building with suicide driven insurgents. They have to clear the buildings first before our I REPEAT OUR boys go in. That is often done in the heat of battle by grenades being thrown in and then they go in after.
Sadly, the insurgents hide behind civilians and the civilians are unfortunately killed in the process. Believe me, it is horrible for the marines who enter a house to see this. I have talked to
them and they are effected drastically but they are left no choice. Also, this is only done in extreme situations and not with every house. After this in Haditha battle there were civilians killed in the middle of the battle.
The insurgents came back and video taped the bodies for a propaganda hit. These guys are smart and know how to use our press to their advantage. These marines are caught in the ugliest of places and I am not talking about Iraq. They are caught between a press that is out to get them hung and a war that is incredibly different than any other war. Their lives are on the line and I wonder if we have the courage as a nation to fight these kind of people? We will find out, but this I know- My son does and is doing it. It is unfortunate that someone else's son is caught up in the media war on USA and people want to hang the marines who out of fun and
joy shot civilians........ Do you really believe that?????? So many have judged them and want a person like your son to pay for the propaganda war we have found ourselves in. He like others who put their lives on the line to go over there could simply be in the wrong place and the wrong time and be up for a "hanging" just for trying to stay alive. Just so you know I am not a ethnocentric American. I, my wife, and two sons lived in Nepal for over 3yrs doing development work in the mountains of Nepal. My marine son grew up in a village that never saw a white person before and his best friends were Nepali kids. Our village was a 4 day walk into it and he is one tough kid. Iraq reminds him of Nepal and he understands that the ordinary Iraqi is caught up in this also and hates it also. M.

Asiatic Fleet - Otto Schwarz

I visited Otto recently at the Lyons Veterans Nursing Home. I'd have to say, he is not in the best of health (as if that is anything new). He is getting more and more miserable. I took my son and two of his friends by to visit briefly. Being blind, and having nobody with him for any length of time but for the occasional day Trudy and other family can be with him. Blind isolation is wearing him down. We each picked up his hand and shook it - a salute of sorts ... after all, he could not see a salute anyway. He was not resting well when we stopped by so we kept it short. This time, more than the other times I have been by, he was tremendously miserable. He said "I have to get out of here somehow even if it is in a pine box". He meant it. Blindness and many operations over the past few years have taken a toll. We wish him comfort and peace. I told him about the speech I gave to the Asiatic Fleet Vets in Asheville. I quoted him twice in the speech. I would have read some more to him from the manuscript for the Oct. release book "Ship of Ghosts" by Hornfischer, but he was too miserable to enjoy some reading. Reference. Check out the recent publication on the Asiatic Fleet HERE, "Playing for Time".

THE TRUE STORY OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH IRAQ

An interesting perspective. It appears very little of today's problems are derived from Democrat leadership in this take on history. I guess from this we are to assume Hillary C. or Al Gore are our best bet in 2008. WELL, Yet ANOTHER OPINION Click here: Thanks for the Memories
<http://www.bushflash.com/thanks.html>

Diane Ochiltree is a children's author. Here she reads from one of her latest works.

The wars we fight

You and I must be from similar backgrounds only you are less ugly than me and I am less dumb than you. Or is it the other way around? Whatever. I enjoy your thought provoking philosophical missiles. FRED on EVERYTHING.
I usually feel enlightened and as if I am bleeding from internal injuries after reading them.
Your latest column "On Recent Wars" reminded me of a book I heard about last year and you prompted me to look it up again and to order it. It think it takes your premise and expands on it, perhaps on a different tack. I thought I'd pass along the link for you.
The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century
Thomas X. Hammes
Hell, if you really are as smart as me, you probably already read it.

Superman's Religion?

If you have a lot of time on your hands.. this is interesting. More interesting is the fact that people actually have time to analize this kind of thing. Posted now at www.myemailstuff.blogspot.com. This came from my friend, Carl Zimmerman. http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/Superman.html

A Pensacola Note

Pensacola is the metropolis for my hometown at www.chumuckla.net. The big news now is the new reef being created soon by the sinking of the USS Oriskany. Neat story.

Fred on Multiculturalism

Painful read. It'll never be heard. And nothing will occur to change the direction of things. I do believe that if everyone - all cultures- stopped milking the "i am a victim" cow, and start facing themselves in the mirror and seeking self improvements, a world of change could occur. (As if THAT will EVER happen?) The link is from FRED ON EVERYTHING. Read it and ponder.

Some Rap from Iraq

Mission Of Hope2

Mission Of Hope2
Video sent by hopeforlife

Mission of Hope 2- A presentation of a second mission trip to Mississippi (March 18-22, 2006). Hope Lynch was an online student of mine last year (From Sussex County Community College). This presentation is eveidence she "got it" as it concerns "new media". In addition, this is a very good selection of photos and music to illustrate the devastation in Mississippi. This was "Katrina". Hope notes that it is yet 6 months from their last mission trip to help and little seems to have changed. From my own experience with friends and relaatives living in the Ivan "zone of destruction", I'd say they might expect another year before they begin to see appreciate the cumulative small bits of change that occurs from the massive self-help and volunteer efforts tha t go into reconstruction. It takes many hundreds of thousands of volunteers to bring areas like this back to normalcy. It would take decades instead of years to recover if not for the generous help of volunteers, such as the Hope For Life ministry in Dingman's Ferry, PA.

A Priest - A POW - A Ship

This (note at end) corresponds with my visit last week with Otto. I got to read about 40 pages of "SHIP OF GHOSTS" to Otto while I was there. Everyone who visits should take some time to read from it. Due in October, it is a supeb book! Otto is such fun to talk with. He's the real deal and even in pain he manages a positive outlook, except when he does not, if you know what I mean. I was on my way to an interview with a WOWOTUH vet from USS Franklin when I got a cell message that allowed me a two hour delay. It was a perfect opportunity to stop in and visit with Otto (At the Lyons, NJ Veterans Nursing Home). I told Otto about the other vet ... the connection is to my ship, USS O'Callahan (DE-1051) in service from 1968 to about 1992. I've been helping our reunion team with the ship's website, - but as yet, I have never been to a reunion myself. One of the leaders let me know by email about the WOWOTUH vet, Mr. James Blanchard, who lives in Barnegat, NJ. Blanchard is the "dying sailor" in a famous photo and film of a priest giving last rites aboard the kamikaze struck Franklin (1945). The Priest was Father O'Callahan (Medal of Honor for what he did that day that saved the ship - his sister, Rose Marie, (a nun) was at that very time, just liberated from Japanese imprisonment in the P.I. - she later Christened the USS O'Callahan!). In the photo Blanchard had just been rescued from the depths of the ship where 300+ sailors were trapped. Lt. Gary (Medal of Honor) was the one who went below in a maze of passageways inside air pipes and maintenance spaces and got the doomed sailors out into the air. There was a DE named USS Gary (DE-326) too (my friend Dallas Bethea was CO of Gary in the 80's when the ship starred in the movie RED OCTOBER). Dallas read my book (it is online and free) about "stuff" including my adventures aboard O'Callahan. When he was CO of USS Cowpens (CG-63) ... Dallas invited me to come to Hawaii and ride his ship back to San Diego on a Tiger Cruise. Truly, before that, I had put the Navy way way way in the back of my mind. Later as I adjusted my self-employment - I decided to get involved with video. I ran into some WOWOTUH Tin Can Sailors and began taping their stories for a documentary about Destroyer Sailors. Then... I attended a state meeting and heard a one-eyed salt lay out the story of the USS Houston and the Burma Railroad (River Kwai). I was stunned. "How come I did not know this story?" The video resulted and now it is a DVD along with the JAVA SEA (from the Dutch). To get word out about the DVD, I built a website - . The purpose of the website was also to expand on the information I could not cover in the film. It became a complicated mess of patchwork at one point, but I lucked out and had a class teaching web design. The shoemaker had no time, but the students did, and the result is the look and feel of the website today. With Hornfischer's NEW book("Ship of Ghosts") coming out (His last book: "The Last Stand of The Tin Can Sailors" ) and the Houston and Java films reborn as DVD's, things are on a roll. Meanwhile, I have a lot of other interviews from Houston Survivors and family and lots of Tin Can Sailor interviews and more -- Many of these will eventually find their way to web videos where people can learn even more about the Asiatic Fleet and the Heroes who served it. And one day, I will do a Tin Can Sailor film from all the interviews. Mr. Blanchard's interview will likely be on the O'Callahan website and on ME3TV in a few weeks or a couple of months. I'll be spending a few days down in Asheville, NC with USS Houston's kin, the Asiatic Fleet - next week. Of course, I plan to do some more interviews there. In the course of time, I have also found myself helping some other veterans groups get their history onto tape or DVD. The 11AD (army) now has a number of DVD's available from Buzz Creek. Some "home movies" made by Sgt. Raymond Buch, shows the liberation of Mathausen Concentration camp. Gruesome to say the least. One of those liberated was a young Jew named, Tibor Rubin. Tibor joined the US Army when of age and won the Medal of Honor in Korea. President Bush ony recently presented the medal to Mr. Rubin at a ceremony at the White house. Such History! Such a generation! Thank you - all of you.
To all the Houston Family
I send my most humble thanks for letting me be a part of your lives.
Vic Campbell, Buzz Creek
(message to Val follows - this was forwarded to all the Houston Family) (Note - Otto is totally blind now for about 7 years) Hi Val,
I was in New York this past weekend for Reserve drill and took the opportunity to visit with Otto at the VA Nursing Care center in New Jersey. He is doing as well as to be expected. Understandable he's a bit frustrated at all the poking and pordding he's getting while the doctors try to stabilize his condition and make him as comfortable as possible. He's been listening to books on tape and Trudy has been vreading him the manuscript for the new Houston book that's due out in October. He sang high praises for it, and so I am contacting the author to see about getting a copy for the Annapolis Library when it is released.
Naturally, passing the long days are difficult. The other gentleman in the room is hard of hearing, so conversations of any great length between them is virtually nill. My wife and I enjoyed our visit with him, and since I am now attached to the Bronx Reserve Center, I plan to stop by next month as well.
He really enjoys receiving the cards and letters folks have been sending, so if you chat with the other members and NOK, encourage them to write. He also mentioned how proud he was as to how the NOK and all have taken up the mantle of keeping the Houston memory alive and well.
Although Otto is a fighter, it is clear to me and his situation is a serious one. I think hoping for a recovery to the level where he would be allowed to return home would be somewhat miraculous, at best. But - miracles do happen from time to time. I hope this finds you well. Please pass on to the members to keep Otto and Trudy in their prayers. Regards, Dave K.__CDR David Kenney, USN (RC)

Hispanics 16.5 percent Marine recruits

all the more reason this is a more comlex problem that just shipping people back every time they cross the border. Or buildng a "maginot line" that just allows creative people tofind another way.. I outlined some ideas earlier and sent them to my congressman. (fines - targeted deportation-increased personnel at border- more visas for farm workers-visa fees refundable on return to Mexico, etc.. Below .... This is a note worth chewing on a bit. vic www.me3tv.com
Hispanics accounted for 16.5 percent of Marine recruits last year, up from 13.4 percent in 2002 and 11.7 percent in 1997, the firm said. The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments: Shortcut to:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060424/ap_on_re_us/immigration_military;_ylt=Ah
d3uRb4Apwpz.mFoIqOgdBvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

This book is an anthology of stories for young teen girls about "that time of the month". Dianne Ochiltree is one of the authors. She reads frrom her selection about a young Indian girl in the woodlands of New Jersey hundreds of years ago. You can read more about Dianne Ochiltree and her books at ochiltreebooks.com.

Well, if it Ain't Real...

Hussein's Treasure: This came from RB. NOW THERE IS ONE LINE BY ONE OF THE SOLDIERS ON SEEING THE ONLY PAINTING SHOWN:
HE STATES: "THAT PAINTING MUST BE WORTH SOMETHING".I just got to see the real one.

To a "Sweet Tater"

Check out this "Sweet Tater
http://www3.telus.net/public/a7a55952/sweettaters.htm

IF CarsWere as Good As PC's

LEVELS OF TOLERATION

At a computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.
7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Long Time Soldier Killed

This soldier led quite a life.  Story passed along by RG
 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060407/ap_on_re_us/soldier_killed;_ylt=AhVBMVyf4fSjn7H9WkKrUapvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA

United States Navy

Shipmates and friends:
Don't know if you've seen this yet. It is a recruiting tool being used now
and the show is about 5 minutes in length. The music and photos are awesome.
Hope you enjoy the show !!! I want to run down and ship over again !!
http://objflicks.com/SeaPower.htm
Contributed, James Chryst

Going to Mexico

Care to join me? Thanks to JC for forward. Further posted at
www.myemailstuff.blogspot.com
http://newswithviews.com/Bresnahan/david6.htm

FW: Emailing: topquotes

Sounds like events , situations and happenings in my few youthful post
college years in the Corps...your call... check it out all 10 of them . :
http://www.filmsite.org/topquotes.html From RG.