Armed Forces Day

Today is Armed Forces Day. We'd like to thank all who have served and are serving this great country of ours!

As a side note,  Yahoo has a fascinating yet haunting slideshow that shows the faces of British servicemen, highlighting both the physical and emotional transformations that the young men have endured before, during and after their deployment to Afghanistan. The pictures span a period of seven months and add credence to the saying "War is hell".

http://www.defense.gov/afd/

A Coffin, a Flag, a Photograph

The New York  Times -

For the first time in 18 years, the Pentagon granted the news media access on Sunday night to cover the arrival of a coffin to Dover Air Force Base from overseas.

The coffin, draped in a flag and bearing the body of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers of Hopewell, Va, was unloaded from a government aircraft by the military honor guard. Sergeant Myers, 30, was killed by an improvised explosive device near Helmand Province in Afghanistan on April 4, according to the Defense Department.

A ban on news coverage of returning war dead, which had been in place since the Persian Gulf War in 1991, was lifted by the Obama administration following a review of the policy by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

In the hours leading up to the transfer of Sergeant Myers’s corpse, Air Force officials received the consent of his family members — per the new policy — to grant members of the news media permission to be on hand.

Read more >>> Here

Raw Video: Troops in Iraq Celebrate Christmas

It's nice to see that even in Iraq, the Christmas spirit is still alive and well.

British soldiers in Iraq prepared for Christmas on Monday by decorating their base in the southern city of Basra. Britain has around 4,500 troops in Iraq, most of them based at an airport camp on the outskirts of Basra. (Dec. 23)

Here's a wish for a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year for all of the troops now stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. My your missions be accomplished and our return home to your families and country be imminent.  God Bless you all.