DefendAmerica - Home Page 12/23/2003

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Dec 23, 2003

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DRUG BUST — Specially trained boarding team members from the USS Philippine Sea board and take control of one of two wooden dhows found loaded with heroin and methamphetamines, Dec. 20, 2003. The drug seizure was the second in the Arabian Sea during the past week. Officials are investigating possible connections to Al-Qaida and the use of drug money for funding of terrorist operations worldwide. U.S. Navy photo

EMPLOYER SUPPORT GROUP

Volunteers Protect Reserve,
Guard Civilian Job Rights

By Donna Miles / American Forces Press Service

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 23, 2003 — All many reservists and guardsmen want for Christmas is assurance that their civilian jobs will be waiting for them when they redeploy from overseas.
     Thanks to a federal law – and hundreds of volunteer "elves" who ensure that both employees and their Guard and Reserve employees understand its requirements – Santa is sure to deliver.
     Some 400 to 500 volunteer ombudsmen in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories and Germany serve as field representatives for the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, based here.
      Some, like Fred Samuelson, the volunteer ombudsman coordinator for Maryland since 1994, devote as many as six hours a day to helping ensure that America's reserve force gets its rightful protections under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. More

Time Selects 'The American Soldier' as 'Person of Year'

By K.L. Vantran / American Forces Press Service

The American Soldier, representing all men and women who wear the uniform, has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year. Three 1st Armored Division soldiers -- Sgt. Ronald Buxton, Spc. Billie Grimes and Sgt. Marquette Whiteside -- are featured on the magazine's Dec. 29 - Jan. 5 cover. Photo by James Nachtwey / VII for Time, used by permission.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2003 — Three 1st Armored Division soldiers – Sgt. Ronald Buxton, Spc. Billie Grimes and Sgt. Marquette Whiteside – grace the cover of today's Time magazine. They represent "The American Soldier" – all men and women in uniform – chosen as Time's 2003 Person of the Year.
"For uncommon skills and service, for the choices each one of them has made and the ones still ahead, for the challenge of defending not only our freedoms but those barely stirring half a world away, the American soldier is Time's Person of the Year," editor-at-large Nancy Gibbs wrote in the opening essay of the magazine. More

Myers Salutes U.S. Troops, Recaps Central Command Trip

By K.L. Vantran / American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2003 — The American soldier, Time magazine's choice for Person of the Year, is "exactly right," the nation's top military officer told Sunday news shows audiences here today.
The magazine cover is a "fitting tribute to these young men and women who have volunteered to serve their country and are over there doing a superb job," Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer." The general just returned Dec. 20 from visiting 25,000 troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Djibouti. More

Iraq Weekly Progress Update (Governance, Electricity, Education, Oil, Security, Economics, Health Care)

U.S. Defense Dept. slides with facts &
figures on reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

. Maps of Iraq

Defense Comptroller Committed
To Best for Troops, Families

     WASHINGTON, Dec. 23, 2003 — If there were ever any doubts about Dov Zakheim's commitment to taking care of service members and their families, then those doubts were laid to rest during a May 2001 Defense Department press briefing.
     Responding to a reporter's question about military benefits, Zakheim, undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and the Defense Department's chief financial officer, replied, "If we don't treat these people well, if we don't fix the infrastructure they work in, if we don't fix the houses they live in, if we don't provide for their kids' education, if we don't provide for their health, why in God's name should they volunteer to protect you and me?"
     For Zakheim, it was a commitment then and remains one today. Story

Holiday Messages

From the Defense Secretary WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2003 — As Americans across our land move toward the holiday season, its message of peace and hope echoes and re-echoes in our hearts.
And so too the thoughts and prayers of Americans naturally turn to you –the men and women of the U.S. military, all who have volunteered to defend the freedom we all cherish and to advance the cause of peace. More

From the Joint Chiefs Chairman WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2003 — For generations, U.S. service men and women and government civilians have spent the holiday season far from loved ones, so that all Americans can celebrate the peace, prosperity and liberty that our armed forces have fought to protect.
Today, you continue to keep steadfast watch across the globe, from bases on land, planes overhead, and aboard ships at sea; from distant, remote locations, and within our own borders. More

Offensive Operations Capture
Enemy Personnel, Weapons

AR RAMADI, Iraq, Dec. 23, 2003 — During the last 24 hours, soldiers from Task Force “All American” in Al Anbar conducted 237 patrols, including 32 joint patrols with the Iraqi Border Guard and Iraqi Police, according to U.S. Central Command officials. Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division also carried out six offensive operations.
Earlier this morning in 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division’s area, paratroopers conducted a cordon and search northwest of Fallujah to kill or capture former regime elements that continue to resist Coalition Forces in Fallujah. The operation resulted in the capture of 26 enemy personnel, including two former Iraqi generals and an Iraqi Special Forces colonel. More

Radio

Television

Heightened Security Not Tied
To Saddam Hussein's Capture

By K.L. Vantran / American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2003 — The heightened security alert in the United States is not related to the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, coalition administrator Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III said here today.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced the change in the national threat level of terrorist attack from elevated (code yellow) to high (code orange) Dec 21. The decision, Ridge said in a prepared statement, was based on "a substantial increase in the volume of threat-related intelligence reports" from the intelligence community. More

Comptroller's Vision Helps Advance Transformation Efforts

By Paul Stone / American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2003 — Dov Zakheim, undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and the Defense Department's chief financial officer, often refers to DoD as America's largest corporation. And during a recent interview, he did not hesitate to characterize that reference as a vision that can be a bit overwhelming at times.
"Sometimes it's a scary vision," Zakheim said in a half-serious, half- joking manner, "to wake up in the morning and say, 'My God, we're trying to drag the largest corporation in America into the 21st century.'" More

World Wrestling Entertainment Visits Baghdad
More Photo Essays

A U.S. Army soldier gets a handshake and an autograph from World Wrestling Entertainment 's "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at the Coalition Provision Authority Headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 19, 2003. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Reynaldo Ramon 5 More Photos

Bush, Blair Welcome Libya's
Pledge to Dismantle Weapons

By K.L. Vantran / American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 2003 — Libya's leader, Colonel Moammar al Ghadafi, confirmed his commitment to disclose and dismantle all weapons of mass destruction programs and has agreed to allow inspectors from international organizations to enter his country, President Bush said here Dec. 19.
"These inspectors will render an accounting of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and will help oversee their elimination," he added. "Colonel Ghadafi's commitment, once it is fulfilled, will make our country more safe and the world more peaceful." More President's Remarks Fact Sheet

Two Weeks Before Christmas!

By Deborah Sandberg / Proud 101st Airborne Division Mom

     'Twas two weeks before Christmas, And all through Iraq, The people still worried that Saddam would be back. The soldiers went out on their nightly patrol, Capturing the bad guys was always their goal!
     With raids seeming endless in the triangle Sunni, We hoped that not all of Iraq was so looney! We gathered the tribe of Saddam, in Tikrit, And suddenly now they all started to snit!
     They told of a farm where Hussein just might be Odierno, Then called on our boys- from the great 4th ID! More rapid than Baathists our soldiers they came, And he whistled and shouted and called them by name More

Operation Gratitude Ensures
Soldiers Are Not Forgotten

By U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Stanis / 1st Armored Division

BAGHDAD, Iraq — This holiday season, Santa isn’t the only one making a list and checking it twice.
Thousands of 1st Armored Division soldiers in Iraq and service members throughout the U.S. military who are deployed overseas will be remembered this holiday season because of Carolyn Blashek and Operation Gratitude. More

Air Force Leaders Visit Bagram

By Tech. Sgt. Brian Davidson / 455th Expeditionary Operations Group

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN), Dec. 22, 2003 — Air Force senior leaders praised the dedication and sacrifice of airmen here during a visit Dec. 19.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Gerald R. Murray were welcomed to Afghanistan by 455th Expeditionary Operations Group airmen who are supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. The visit was one of many stops the leaders made to visit deployed airmen in the days leading up to the holiday season. More

Army Sgt. Major Visits Kuwait

By U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Marcia Triggs / Army News Service

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (Army News Service), Dec. 20, 2003 — A visit by the sergeant major of the Army this holiday season was not on top of the wish list for most troops in Kuwait, but those who saw him said it was still an awesome present.
Long lines of Soldiers waiting for a chance to speak to Sgt. Maj. of the Army Jack Tilley resembled children at the mall waiting to talk with Santa. However, instead of asking Tilley for DVDs or video games, they wanted to shake his hand, take a picture, get his autograph or just say “thank you.” More

Global War on Terrorism

. 'Tremendous Strides' Made in Iraq, Afghanistan, Collins Says

. Kimmitt: Insurgency Attempts to Terrorize ‘Will Not Succeed’

. Rumsfeld Conveys Thanks of Nation to Terror War Veterans

On Iraq

. Iraqi Legal Profession Trains to Prosecute Regime Crimes

. Iraqi Volunteering Increases Following Capture of Saddam

. Capture of Saddam Not Luck, But Skill, Gen. Abizaid Says

Military News

. Central Command Soldiers Eligible for Re-enlistment Bonus

. Rumsfeld Approves Brigade Deployment, Extension

. Defense Dept. Launches Transformation Web Site

. New Benefits Help Families Visit Injured Sailors, Marines

. National Guard, Reserve Update

Military Blood Program
Seeks Holiday Donors

FALLS CHURCH, Va., Dec. 23, 2003 — The Armed Services Blood Program urges eligible donors to give blood this holiday season to ensure supplies are available to treat service members, retirees and their families.
The blood program organization collects, processes and distributes blood and blood products for the Department of Defense. Blood collected is used in military hospitals and sent to locations worldwide to save the lives of those wounded in action. More

Send your 'Best Wishes' to the
troops waging the global war on terror.

Send your message

Hello my fellow military members!
     Wishing you all peace this holiday season and a safe return home. Thank you for your service and please know that you are ALL thought of each and every day back home in the states!!! Sincerely,
     Staff Sgt. Krista LaFrance,
     New York Army National Guard

Read other messages

Sign an On-line Thank You Note

Auto Show Honors Combat
Veterans with Car Giveaway

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2003 — One lucky service member will return from combat duty to see a new Toyota Camry parked in the driveway, thanks to a spouse or family member holding on to the car – literally.
At the 2004 Washington Auto Show at the Washington Convention Center here Dec. 26 through Jan. 4, promoters will honor the military by giving away the car to one of six family members selected to participate in the show's annual "Hands On" endurance contest, in which contest participants see who can remain in contact with the car the longest. More

Profile

U.S. Air Force
Tech. Sgt. Ronald Everett

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, COLO. — U.S. Air Force Tech. Sergeant Ronald James Everett has a job that he says isn’t much different from that of a telephone, cable or satellite company technician.
As systems controller for the U.S. Northern Command, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., the Bangor, Maine native assists with computer systems connectivity/integrity, cable fabrication and communications troubleshooting. More

More Profiles

	U.S. Views — Quotes by President Bush & other U.S. leaders
	Defense Views — Quotes by U.S. defense leaders
	Maps of Iraq — Maps of the nation of Iraq and the region

President George W. Bush

“...Leaders who abandon the pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them will find an open path to better relations with the United States and other free nations.”

Response to Libya's pledge to
dismantle WMD programs, Dec. 19, 2003

. Maps of Afghanistan

U.S. Army Spc. Matthew D. Ahner from Leighton, Pa., and his wife, Spc. Rachel M. Ahner from Roselawn, Ind., send holiday greetings from Iraq to their family at home. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Tyrone Walker

In Iraq

Mechanics Put Vehicles
Back in the Fight

BAGHDAD, Iraq — When soldiers are badly wounded or seriously ill they are sent to combat support hospitals. When vehicles are seriously damaged or require extensive repairs,they go to “the third shop.”
Soldiers with B Company, 501st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Armored Division, operate one of these shops at Provider Forward Operating Base in Baghdad. More

Soldiers Keep Supplies in Stock

     BAGHDAD, Iraq — There is one thing the military relies on to accomplish its mission: stuff.
     Cooks need food, mechanics need vehicle parts and doctors need tongue depressors.
     In order to ensure that each unit has the right stuff it needs to get the mission accomplished, soldiers with A Company, 501st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Armored Division, operate the Supply Support Activity, acting as a clearing house for all the supplies needed by units in the 1st Brigade Combat Team. More

'On The Ground' Archive