Monday, April 09, 2007

Ohio Group Supports Marines, Families

By Carmen L. Gleason
American Forces Press Service

April 6, 2007 – Members of a troop-support group are using their experience as parents of servicemembers to offer support to other military families in Ohio. The
Marine Corps Family Support Community began two years ago when a group of parents in Columbus, Ohio, came together for mutual support as their children left for Marine boot camp around the same time.

"We were bursting with pride, but scared to death at the same time," said Michele Gire, current secretary of the organization. "We didn't know anything about the
military."

Since Marine bases are located primarily near the East or West Coast, she said, family members in the Mid-west don't typically have places to turn when they have questions about military life.

Gire said that parents and spouses have gathered to support each other through the different phases of their Marine's life. From boot camp to permanent duty stations to deployments, the group has learned about each stage together.

The non-profit group now offers their expanding knowledge base to others.

"We support anyone who supports military families," she said. "This results in fewer worries for our
Marines. If they know their families are being taken care of they can focus on their mission."

Gire said her organization is constantly disseminating information about veteran's benefits, boot camp, deployments and education benefits to family members.

"We have people that either know the answer or know where to get it," she said.

Although the group first started as a support network for Ohio-based
Marine families, they have since branched out to assist Marines and their families throughout the world.

Over the past two years the organization has sent more than 1,100 packages to troops overseas. In addition to sending those to individual Marines, the group also sends packages monthly to hospitals and public affairs offices in the war zone for distribution.

The
Marine Corps Family Support Community is a member of America Supports You, the Defense Department's program connecting grassroots groups with servicemembers and their families at home and abroad.

"We couldn't have done any of this without being a member of America Supports You," Gire said. Since they joined the DoD program, they have gotten thousands of visits to their Web site from across the nation resulting in more support for the men and women overseas.

People started writing to ask how they could help, Gire said. She started a letter writing campaign where supporters could "adopt" a Marine if they promised to write them on a weekly basis for the duration of their deployment. More than 150 individuals have signed up to be dedicated letter writers.

"Marines love getting letters," she said. "Unfortunately they aren't always able to write back, but it means so much to them to get letters of support from back home."

Article sponsored by
criminal justice online and police and military personnel who have authored books.

Bush: Troops Need Funds, Resources, Equipment to do Their Jobs

By Melinda L. Larson
American Forces Press Service

April 7, 2007 – One of our greatest blessings as Americans is that we have brave citizens who step forward to defend us, President Bush said during his weekly radio address today. "Every man or woman who wears our nation's uniform is a volunteer, a patriot who has made the noble decision to serve a cause larger than self," Bush said the day before Easter. "This weekend, many of our service men and women are celebrating the holidays far from home."

Noting that men and women in uniform deserve the gratitude of every American, Bush stressed
military members need the funds, resources, and equipment to do their jobs. An emergency war spending bill will provide the funds troops urgently need, he said.

Bush submitted a defense budget request Feb. 5 that includes a $93.4 billion emergency supplemental measure to cover the cost of operations in the war on terror for fiscal year 2007. Congress subsequently added several additional spending measures to the bill.

"Yet for our men and women in uniform, this emergency war spending bill is not a political statement it is a source of critical funding that has a direct impact on their daily lives," Bush said.

Bush said
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently testified before Congress and warned the military will be forced to make cuts in other areas if troops on the front lines are not funded.

"The
Army will be forced to consider slowing or even freezing funding for depots where pivotal equipment is repaired, delaying or curtailing the training of some active duty forces, and delaying the formation of new brigade combat teams," Bush said.

Noting that a delay in funding could mean a delay in troops coming home, Bush called it "unacceptable."

"The bottom line is that Congress's failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our
military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. And others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than they need to," Bush said. "That is unacceptable to me, and I believe it is unacceptable to the American people."

Bush added that he will veto a bill that imposes restrictions on
military commanders, sets an arbitrary date for withdrawal from Iraq, and funds domestic spending that has nothing to do with the war. Congress needs to work on a bill that gives troops the funds they need, without strings and without further delay, he said.

"We have our differences in Washington, D.C., but our troops should not be caught in the middle. All who serve in elected office have a solemn responsibility to provide for our men and women in uniform. We need to put partisan politics aside, and do our duty to those who defend us," Bush concluded.

Article sponsored by
criminal justice online and police and military personnel who have authored books.

'Sixteen-Star Letter' Calls for Supplemental Passage

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

April 9, 2007 – In a "16-star letter" to Congress, the services' uniformed leaders are urging a quick passage of the fiscal 2007 emergency supplemental request.
The four service chiefs, all four-star generals, signed the letter. The request will fund operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa through the end of the fiscal year.

The letter, signed by
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael G. Mullen, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Marine Commandant Gen. James T. Conway, asks Congress to "expeditiously complete its work" on the supplemental.

DoD requested $93.4 billion to fund operations in the combat zones. Both the Senate and House have passed bills that provide the funding but contain amendments that call for combat troops to be out of Iraq on a certain timetable. President Bush has vowed to veto any bill containing these provisions.

The Senate has come back from recess, but the House will remain out through April 13. House and Senate negotiators must meet to reconcile the different portions of their respective bills. If the bill contains the withdrawal provision, it is "dead on arrival" at the president's desk, White House officials said.

"Without approval of the supplemental funds in April, the armed services will be forced to take increasingly disruptive measures in order to sustain combat operations," the four general and flag officers wrote in their letter. "The impacts on readiness and quality of life could be profound. We will have to implement spending restrictions and reprogram billions of dollars."

The uniformed leaders said such reprogramming is an inefficient solution that wastes money.

The spending restrictions could also slow or halt
training for follow-on units. With no supplemental by April 15, the Army will be forced to consider curtailing and suspending home-station training for Army Reserve and National Guard units, DoD officials said. The service would slow the training of units slated to deploy next to Iraq and Afghanistan and would cut funding for the upgrade or renovation of barracks and other facilities that support quality of life for troops and their families. Leaders also would stop the repair of equipment necessary to support pre-deployment training, officials said.

If the supplemental funding is not passed by May 15, the Army would consider reducing depot repair work. The service also would delay or curtail the deployment of brigade combat teams for training rotations. This may force the service to extend units in Iraq or Afghanistan, officials said.

No supplemental funding would also delay forming new brigade combat teams, force the service to implement a civilian hiring freeze and prohibit new contracts and service orders, officials said.

Article sponsored by
criminal justice online and police and military personnel who have authored books.

Iraq PRTs to Double in Number by Year's End, Official Says

American Forces Press Service

April 9, 2007 – Plans are under way to double the number of provincial reconstruction teams now operating in Iraq by the end of the year, a senior U.S. official said during a news conference in Iraq today. "We will both double the number of PRTs and we will double the number of individuals who are working in the PRTs," said Rick Olson, chief of the national coordination team in charge of provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq.

According to plans, the number of PRTs will increase from 10 to 20, Olson noted, while numbers of PRT personnel will expand from 300 to 600 individuals.

"We expect to be at that level by the end of the year," he said. Core members of the new teams are undergoing
training now, he said. Afterward, the new teams will be embedded into brigade-level combat units.

Six of the new PRTs will be established in Baghdad province, three in Anbar and one in northern Babil province, he said.

The 10 PRTs now operating in Iraq serve as a conduit between the Iraqi government and its people, Olson said. Of these, seven are U.S.-led, he said, while coalition partners South Korea, Italy and the United Kingdom manage the other three.

"We do projects and reconstruction, but that's not our primary purpose," Olson said of the PRTs' activities in Iraq. "We do primarily capacity building and institution building in the area of government, economics, rule of law, infrastructure and public diplomacy."

American-led PRTs receive technical support from experts with the
U.S. military, various U.S. government agencies, and the private sector, to include the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. departments of Justice and Agriculture, and others.

"PRTs are important in achieving our counterinsurgency strategy," Olson said. "They're also critical in terms of the long-term future of Iraq, building institutions, (and) enabling Iraq to become master of its own destiny and able to rise to the level that they once were able to achieve."

Article sponsored by
criminal justice online and police and military personnel who have authored books.

Ten Missing WWII Airmen are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of ten U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are 2nd Lt. Raymond A. Cooley, of Leary, Texas; 2nd Lt. Dudley R. Ives, of Ingleside, Texas; 2nd Lt. George E. Archer, of Cushing, Okla.; 2nd Lt. Donald F. Grady, of Harrisburg, Pa.; Tech. Sgt. Richard R. Sargent, of North Girard, Pa.; Tech. Sgt. Steve Zayac, of Cleveland, Ohio; Staff Sgt. Joseph M. King, of Detroit, Mich.; Staff Sgt. Thomas G. Knight, of Brookfield, Ill.; Staff Sgt. Norman L. Nell, of Tarkio, Mo.; and Staff Sgt. Blair W. Smith, of Nu Mine, Pa.; all
U.S. Army Air Forces. The dates and locations of the funerals are being set by their families.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men in their hometowns to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the
Army.

On April 16, 1944, a B-24 Liberator crewed by these airmen was returning to the aerodrome at Nadzab, New Guinea, after bombing enemy targets near Hollandia. The aircraft was altering course due to bad weather and was proceeding to the aerodrome at Saidor, but it never returned to friendly lines.

In late 2001, the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command that wreckage of a World War II bomber had been found in Morobe Province. Early the next year, a JPAC team surveyed the site and found aircraft wreckage and remains. They also collected more remains and Grady's identification tag from local villagers who had found the items at the crash site.

Later in 2002, a JPAC team began excavating the crash site and recovered remains and crew-related items, including identification tags for Knight and Smith. The team was unable to complete the recovery, and another JPAC team re-visited the site two weeks later to complete the excavation. The team found additional remains and identification tags for Sargent and King.

Among dental records, other
forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains. For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

Article sponsored by
criminal justice online and police and military personnel who have authored books.

Wounded Warrior Earns Purple Heart and Heads Home

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

April 6, 2007 – Purple Heart recipient Spc. Joseph D. Bacani will embark on 45 days of much-deserved convalescent leave in his hometown of Tustin, Calif., tomorrow, but he says he'd rather be elsewhere. "I wish I was still in Iraq with my scout brothers," Bacani said today onstage here at Walter Reed
Army Medical Center's Joel Auditorium after being pinned with a Purple Heart medal.

Bacani was a cavalry scout assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment , from of Fort Hood, Texas, when he was wounded March 20 during a sniper attack while conducting an IED reconnaissance mission in southwest Baghdad.

"I was shot in the tailbone and it came out of my pelvis," said Bacani, who now sits in a wheelchair. Doctors are optimistic Bacani will be fully mobile again, he said.

Bacani said courage he displayed during combat and his subsequent recovery, came from "being around his brothers."

"The courage is contagious," he said. "If somebody is being strong it will spread throughout the whole platoon.

"We trained for Iraq together for a whole year," he said. "Once we arrived in Iraq, we struggled through multiple (improvised explosive devices) and losses of the lives of our friends," Bacani told American Forces Press Service. "There's no word to explain how strong that bond is."

The Purple Heart, awarded to U.S. servicemembers wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy, is one of the most recognized and respected military decorations. Bacani also received the Combat Action Badge today, which is awarded for actively engaging, or being engaged by, enemy forces.

On hand to see Bacani receive his decorations were his parents, Noberto and Rosita, and his sister Jacquie.

"I can't tell you how much it means to me that he has come home," Jacquie said. "He's one of the lucky ones."

Jacquie said that during Joseph's deployment, she and her parents, Noberto and Rosita, got on their knees and prayed for Bacani's safety every night. "I know that not a lot of people are able to come home, and I'm just so grateful," Jacquie said as she sat next to her brother.

"I'm proud of him," she said about seeing her brother earn the Purple Heart. "It's a mixed blessing, but I really value that they recognize my brother ... for what he's done for his country. It's really his courage that has earned it."

Article sponsored by
criminal justice online and police and military personnel who have authored books.

1000 Pages of Cop Information

Editor's Note: One of the authors is a former military police officer.

Police-Writers.com is a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books. With the addition of three police officers turned authors, Ray Biondi, William Delaney and Grady Morrison, the website now contains over 1000 pages of information on 463 police officers, their 968 books and their nearly 200 departments.

Ray Biondi retired from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department as Lieutenant. During his career he headed up the homicide bureau. He is the author of two crime books: All his father's sins: The trail of terrifying horror that led to Gerald & Charlene Gallego and Dracula Killer. Publisher’s Weekly said of Dracula Killer, “when he graduated to murder, he not only shot his victims but sexually mutilated them. Former Sacramento homicide detective Biondi supplies inside information on the investigation, such as a television crew's discovery of evidence overlooked by police. In addition, he and Hecox produce crime bulletins issued by police and the surprisingly accurate psychological profile detectives prepared of the killer. Luck combined with old-fashioned detective work flushed out Chase, who initially would admit only to killing dogs. But Chase told a fellow prisoner that he drank victims' blood, and after he took the stand in his own defense, jurors decided not to find him insane.”

William Delaney is a former military policeman, San Francisco City College Campus Police Officer, San Francisco Police Department police officer, and candidate for Sheriff of Adams County in Colorado. A graduate of San Francisco City College, San Francisco State University, and attended The University of Texas at Arlington's Graduate School of Criminal Justice, and Urban Affairs, Chabot College in Hayward, California, The University of Maryland Overseas Extension, and The University of California Berkeley's San Francisco Extension.

He has held a California Community College Instructors Certificate since 1972, did extensive undergraduate research in behavior modification, and social learning theory, and has taught at The Community College of Denver, Arapahoe Community College, AT&T, ARCO Coal Company, The
U.S. Army Reserve School, and for Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics. He is the author of three books: How to Avoid being a Chicken Head; Black N Blue; and, his most recent Counterfeit Democracy.

Grady Morrison was a Baltimore Police Department police officer for eleven years. According to the book description of his book, Understanding Police Officers and Staying Out of Trouble, “Reading this book takes the reader up close and personal with understanding the police officer and why it is worth the extra effort to avoid trouble. The author brings this understanding to the reader through facts, discussions, and personal examples from his eleven-year police officer experience. Open the book and read why learning to understand the police officer is much better than fearing and fighting him. The author explains this through strong facts and analogies such as, “having more common sense than to light a match while pumping gas into your vehicle.” This book also serves as a reminder to the reader that learning to stay out of trouble should be a personal goal just like any other worthwhile adventure.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 463
police officers (representing 195 police departments) and their 968 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.