December 24, 2016
By Lorra B.
I will be offline for a few days but wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!! I pray you will all enjoy the holidays and are looking forward to a new year with Trumped-up possibilities!
In the meantime, enjoy these great tunes for Christmas!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
December 20, 2016
Just thought a little humor was in order today so, enjoy!
Soldiers voting. (Photo: Public Domain)
November 10, 2016
Written by Lorra B.
Trump’s win in Tuesday night’s presidential run left many Americans shocked and our military members were no acceptation. At the Pentagon, service members indicated that they never expected Trump to actually pull off the election, though many were elated at the news and compared the win to the day Osama Bin Laden was killed, according to Checkpoint.
One Army officer stated, “More than one person has compared it to the day Osama [Bin Laden] was killed. “I guess there’s a feeling among soldiers that Trump will care about them and fix everything they see as broken about the Army.”
Programs Manager for the Defense Department, Air Force Maj. Todd Watson, who voted for Trump, stated, “I stayed up until about 1:30 in the morning, and I couldn’t believe it. “A lot of times what he said concerned me, and I thought he would have had a better time if he would have used a different tact. I was bothered by a lot of the same stuff most folks were put off by, but at the end of the day, I don’t know if the lesser of two evils was the right terminology … but it was a vote against Hillary Clinton.”
Watson just does not trust Clinton and defined Trump as “an outsider who will try to inject something different into the system,” he said.
Though there is plenty of reservation over Trump’s win, the military seems to be embracing it as well.
In California, at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, soldiers were reported to have cheered as Trump won the election. Overseas, however, the tone was much more subdued. One soldier serving in Afghanistan stated that no one really discussed the election…that the “troops were more focused on what was going to be for dinner that night,” reports Checkpoint.
Back here in the states, a U.S. Navy officer not wishing to be identified, was amazed by Trump’s win saying, “It was kind of shocking. It just seemed like by all the polls that were coming out; everybody seemed to be saying Clinton was a shoo-in. I didn’t vote for either one of them,” reports Military.com.
Many military members remain suspicious of Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information and the double standard it implies to them, that they would have received severe punishments had they handled the information as she had. They, therefore, were leaning for Trump to win.
Service members’ beliefs are that Trump will bring change to ‘military’s cultural issues, including gender integration.’
Gender integration is a bigger issue in the military than most Americans are aware, which Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter finalized in December of 2015. Many service members wish for Trump to reverse the combat roles for women.
“Two active-duty enlisted infantry Marines, one at a sniper school and another in an infantry battalion, said some members of their units hope Trump looks at the data provided by the Marine Corps on its gender integration studies and comes to a conclusion that isn’t “political” and hopefully reverses the decision to allow women in combat roles. In 2014, the Marines started a nine-month experiment with a gender integrated infantry unit that concluded with mixed results,” according to a report by Checkpoint.
A female Army lieutenant, on the other hand, is concerned that the progress she deems having been made for women will be lost stating, “It is especially disheartening to see my male peers, subordinates, and superiors celebrate with such reckless abandon. “Last night’s results only reinforce that the misogyny, racism, and homophobia we have been fighting to stamp out in our formations have found a powerful outlet and will be given new life.”
Pentagon Brass have worries of their own about Trump and believe he may not fully grasp how the military should be run or how to defend our country.
Carter released a statement to the Pentagon concerning the election:
“I am very proud of the way each and every one of you conducted yourselves during this campaign, standing apart from politics and instead focusing on your sacred mission of providing security. I am committed to overseeing the orderly transition to the next Commander-in-Chief. I know I can count on you to execute all your duties with the excellence our citizens know they can expect.”
Trump plans to boost the size of the military and in September called for an increase for the Army of about 540,000 active-duty soldiers, the Navy an increase of 350 surface ships and submarines, the Air Force an increase of 1,200 fighter aircraft and an increase to the Marine Corps to 36 battalions. The Reserve and Guard figures have not been taken into account.
Soldiers were reported to have said that if the people and Congress got behind Trump to make these changes they could, and should, be made.
Watson stated, “I think a guy like Trump is going to work hard and get darn close … My hope is he can do a lot of what he says he is going to do.”
The sky is the limit and opportunities abound…Will Trump rise to the occasion and will Congress get behind him to ‘make America Great Again?’ The world watches and waits.
Related Video:
Written by Lorra B.
July 19, 2016
Pokémon Go, a mobile phone app, has taken the world by storm but are players taking it too far?
The role-playing game uses your phone’s GPS and uses your location and augmented reality to impose Pokémon characters on your screen and overlay them on top of what you see directly in front of you. “The game is centered on the concept of the Pokémon battle, similar to that of the video games,” according to Wikia. “The object of the game is to knock out six of the opponent’s Pokémon.”
The game has taken players from inside their homes and into the streets in huge numbers, all in the name of fun. But some people aren’t laughing or having fun at all with this new game phenomenon. In fact, the phenomenon is creating public safety fears including pedestrians being severely distracted and trespassing that can lead to arrests or worse.
For many gamers there seem to be no personal boundaries as to how far they will go, or onto who’s property they will tread to acquire their next fictional Pokémon character. While playing Pokémon Go a Frenchmen trespassed onto an Indonesian military base and was detained.
The 27 year old, Romain Pierre, was arrested and later let go, when authorities realized he had unintentionally trespassed unto the military base while hunting down Pokémon.
Although many believe the game could boost tourism to the city, according to The Guardian, security officials are very concerned that Pokémon could induce real security threats.
The United States is having their own issues with Pokémon Go. Safety warnings from the U.S. Military Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, have been released after the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum saw its fair share of Pokémon Go trespassers.
“DO NOT chase Pokémon into controlled or restricted areas, office buildings, or homes on base.”
As of now, no plans by the Department of Defense have been made to impose game guidelines around the Pentagon but they are asking players to be mindful when crossing roads and parking lots saying, “It’s a good idea to look up, away from your phone and both ways before crossing streets.”
Wow, did the Defense Department have to remind adults to be mindful of their surroundings? A new game has suddenly seemed to make the world lose their senses.
At some point the Defense Department may step in to protect its boundaries, and others, from the carelessness actions of Pokémon players if public and military concerns continue.
It will then be Pokémon Gone, game over, in many public areas.
By Lorra B.
July 18, 2016
Many American’s are aware, and should be concerned, that President Vladimir Putin recently placed severe restrictions on religious freedoms in Russia making any evangelism or religious speech outside of churches forbidden. Any Christian wishing to share their faith outside of a designated worship center will be breaking the law.
This so-called anti-terrorism legislation not only attacks religious liberty, it demolishes free-speak and makes it a crime. “This new situation,” according to Dr. Haukka, President of Great Commission Media Ministries, “resembles the Soviet Union in 1929. At that time confession of faith was permitted only in church. Practically speaking, we are back in the same situation. These anti-terrorist laws are some of the most restrictive laws in post-Soviet history.”
Suppressing the rights of assembly, speech and the press, to name a few, seem routine in Moscow but many believe this has gone too far. This new legislation strikes fear among Christian Russians believing that unregistered congregations and house groups will be targeted and persecuted, according to Christian Today.
“According to Forum 18, which monitors religious freedom in Russia and former Soviet republics, the amendments to the Religion Law restrict those who can share beliefs to people with permission from members of state-registered religious groups and organizations…They also prohibit even the informal sharing of beliefs, for example responding to questions or comments.”
Any breach of this new law, effective July 20, will lead to substantial monetary penalties.
U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) wrote an article at The Daily Signal stating the new law is “an affront to free people everywhere.”
“We need to begin telling the truth about an increasingly aggressive actor in global affairs,” he said. “This Russian law would be an affront to free people everywhere—at home and abroad—who believe that rights of conscience—the rights to free speech and to freedom of religion—are pre-political.”
As of yet “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
—U.S. Constitution, First Amendment
Suppressing speech and the media, not to mention Political Correctness, seems to be the growing trend in America. Should American’s have reason for concern that this “anti-terrorist” law someday be our reality?
Fort Hood Boot Memorial
(Snapshot credit, FB)
April 21
By Lorra B.
In a very Powerful memorial, Fort Hood has put a boot on the ground for every American life lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We salute you, brave warriors! Our thanks to you, your loving families and your friends for the sacrifices that you made to protect live lives of people you have never even meet…Though thanks will simply NEVER be enough…
April 17, 2015
It’s is a vividly accurate, cutting-edge film about one of the most shockingly misunderstood wars in American history – and it took Westminster, California, by storm when it premiered there this month, selling more than $30,000 in tickets in just three days during its limited release at a single movie theater.
The film profits will support four charities: Semper Fi Fund, Agape International Missions, Field of Dreams and Allegiant Giving.
“I’ve been waiting 40 years for this film!” was a common refrain among the Vietnam War veterans and the South Vietnamese Americans – most with tears streaming down their faces – who gathered to witness their powerful story finally making it onto the big screen at the wildly popular premiere of “Ride the Thunder: A Vietnam War Story of Victory and Betrayal.”
Some South Vietnamese attendees recalled their own heart-wrenching memories of more than a decade of starvation and torture in prison camps after they fought to keep their country free of communism. Separated from their wives and children, they saw friends and loved ones brutally murdered by North Vietnamese guards during their communist “re-education.”
And 40 years after the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, U.S. Marine and Army veterans remembered harrowing fire fights alongside their South Vietnamese brothers in arms – and their return to a nation that turned its back on its own freedom fighters.
But the momentous event wasn’t about re-opening old wounds.
Instead, it was a heartfelt celebration of brotherhood, a long overdue welcome home and a chance to finally tell the incredible story of unparalleled sacrifice that most Americans have never heard.
“The film record of the Vietnam War is what will determine history 10, 20, 50 years from now when all the Vietnam veterans are gone,” Richard Botkin, executive producer of “Ride the Thunder,” told WND at the red-carpet event.
“Those films portray our troops as victims, as dupes,” he said. “It marginalizes them, shows them very unfavorably and the leadership unfavorably. It shows our Vietnamese allies as even worse. Our film is an effort to begin to turn the tide against that so that, in the future, people will realize that America was right to fight in Vietnam, to stop communism, and that our South Vietnamese allies were worthy of our sacrifice and that they fought well also.”
The main character of the film is South Vietnamese Marine commander Le Ba Binh, who was a prime example of enduring courage in a battle of David and Goliath proportions as his battalion of only 700 men held 20,000 communist invaders in Dong Ha.
Binh, a man with few equals in the war-fighting profession, served 13 years in heavy combat (1962-1975) and another 11 years in communist prison camps. Despite numerous battle wounds and lost comrades, he showed unwavering courage in the face of extreme hardship.
“Americans, when they went to Vietnam, if they were a Marine, they went 13 months for one tour. If they were in the Army, 12 months. Some men went two or three times, but very few,” Botkin explained.
“The Vietnamese generally had one tour that ended with death or dismemberment, so they fought forever. My main character, Binh, fought forever – 13 years, wounded nine times. At the end of the war, the communists put him in prison – they called it euphemistically ‘re-education camp’ – for 11 years. He comes to the U.S. because he’ll never get ahead in Vietnam. He comes to the U.S. with nothing and prospers. That’s the Vietnamese story in America – suffering, hardship, come to America, work hard and succeed. It’s a great story.”
More at WND
Disclaimer: This was not written by Lorra B.
The Silent Soldier 