Just before Hurricane Katrina made our lives miserable, a project was started. The goal of this project is to provide voice activated laptop computers to soldiers who have been wounded while serving our country. These soldiers can't type due to injuries and many are stuck in hospitals so far from home - all alone...

We are not back into full swing, but I had been too busy to make a few changes here. Today, I finally got the changes in place. You will notice if you scroll down, I have added the Project Valor IT donation link to my sidebar...and I have finally added the Project Valor IT blogroll too.

When you have a chance, go visit these wonderful bloggers. Many of them are giving huge amounts of time and effort - that most won't see until later... to raise the money for these laptops. It is a finite goal! We have a set amount that needs to be raised to get laptop libraries at the military hospitals... $600,000. Certainly this is not an unheard of amount in fund raising. The total collected to date is $15,000! Even accounting for the hurricane relief efforts.

So, scroll down the sidebar. Visit the bloggers on the roll. If you can manage it, please give a donation. If you can't - don't forget us! Mention it to others - pass the word!

I'm not putting a donation button on this post because the hurricane victims still deserve the focus of our national efforts. There are soldiers left homeless by this, some of them have been deployed in Iraq for the last year. If you'd prefer to donate for hurricane relief instead... please visit Soldier's Angels Katrina Fund.

However you wish to help, a soldier will thank you.

Posted by: Teresa in Military at 09:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I dropped him off at O'Hare airport on Monday the 5th at 8am so he could catch his flight back to Afghanistan. Today I receive the following email...

good........god.......i am FINALLY back in afghanistan.....im going to sleep

Yeah, this is FRIDAY... Now that's what I call a LONG trip!

Posted by: Teresa in Military at 10:11 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Calivalleygirl does a masterly takedown of a reporter who is whining about having to wait for helicopters in Afghanistan...

Go read her lovely post... I'll wait...

Back now? Okay. Young son was talking about all the trouble the Chinook crews run into when they are working their "ring routes" to deliver supplies and troops to mostly inaccessible places in Afghanistan.

Believe it or not - there is a manifest that they work off of! What a surprise - the pickups and deliveries are not just willie-nillie. There is a plan... who'd've thunk it! So, they load up the Chinook and head on out on their route. They drop stuff off and pick stuff up and... argue with people at just about every turn because the guys on the ground figure - hey, you guys can take my little piece of equipment - it's not big enough to cause a problem. WRONG!

Young son said it's very frustrating to have to argue with people who think that just because the Chinook has dropped off a load, that they have room now! The crew is generally going on to the next place and... wait for it... picking things up!!! Imagine that! They have a plan, empty out the delivery cargo and bring in the return cargo afterward - what a concept! Now try explaining that to somebody who doesn't understand the meaning of what a "manifest" is while the double blades are creating their whomping noise...

This leads to idiotic stories like the reporter in question has submitted. My favorite part being this one...

...the tiny fleet of choppers the Bush administration has committed to the Afghan war.[bold mine --ed]

You have to love it - he doesn't blame the DOD or even the Army... he blames BUSH - the evil Bush. I can see it now - Bush on the phone to the Joint Chiefs... "y'all need to cut back on the number of helicopters in Afghanistan - there's too many there"... this is so outrageously funny I can't believe it.

Oh - and note to Mr. Meek - who wrote this mess of a piece - Big Windy is flying more missions now than ever - if it's not enough for you - get yourself a donkey to get around! Oh yeah and you'll have more leg room too.

Posted by: Teresa in Military at 11:25 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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