29 Die In Insurgent Ambush

[thedrifter]

29 Die In Insurgent Ambush
Associated Press
December 29, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents lured police to a house in west Baghdad with an anonymous tip about a rebel hideout, then set off explosives, killing at least 29 people and wounding 18 in the latest in a series of deadly strikes against Iraqi security forces, police said Wednesday.

The explosion late Tuesday erupted from inside the house in the capital's Ghazaliya district as officers were about to enter, a local police official said. Six neighboring houses collapsed from the blast and several residents are believed to be trapped underneath the rubble. Seven policemen were among the 29 dead.

The police official said the attack was "evidently an ambush" and that "massive amounts of explosives" were used. He said the explosion was apparently triggered by remote control.

Insurgents using car bombs, ambushes and assassinations killed a total of at least 54 people in the Iraqi capital and across the volatile Sunni Triangle on Tuesday, including 31 policemen and a deputy provincial governor. A militant group claimed it executed eight Iraqi employees of an American security company.

The string of attacks - including one in which 12 policemen's throats were slit in their station - were the latest by insurgents targeting Iraqis working with the American military or the U.S.-backed government ahead of the Jan. 30 national elections.





Brig. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, assistant brigade commander in the 1st Cavalry Division that controls Baghdad, said attacks by insurgents are expected to escalate further in the run-up to the ballot.

"We anticipate that the enemy will (continue with) attacks, intimidation, assassinations and other messages designed to destroy life in Baghdad," Hammond said, adding that Iraqi security forces will bear the brunt of providing security for the elections and that U.S. troops will back them up only if needed.

Iraqi leaders said the guerrillas - who are mostly Sunni Muslims - are bent on triggering ethnic strife before next month's poll.

"The terrorists intend to destroy Iraq's national unity," a statement issued by the Interim National Assembly said. "Their intentions are to harm this country which faces crucial challenges amid a very difficult period."

Shiite Muslims, who make up around 60 percent of Iraq's people, have been strong supporters of the elections, which they expect to reverse the longtime domination of Iraq's Sunni minority. The insurgency is believed to draw most of its support from Sunnis, who provided much of Saddam Hussein's former Baath Party membership.

Also on Wednesday, a Defense Ministry spokesman in Baghdad confirmed that the Iraqi National Guard - a paramilitary internal security force that has borne the brunt of the anti-insurgency effort - will be merged with the regular armed forces.

The national guard is also part of Iraq's Defense Ministry, and U.S. planners had intended it to be the main security force in the country. Several units took part in U.S.-led campaigns to retake the cities of Samarra and Fallujah from the rebels. But with the war escalating and combat losses mounting, the move is an apparent effort to improve the efficiency of the security forces in the run-up to elections.

Earlier Tuesday, gunmen attacked a police station near Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, overwhelmed 12 Iraqi policemen there, slit their throats and then blew up the building, said Lt. Col. Saad Hmoud, a local police official.

The deputy governor of the restive Anbar province, Moayyad Hardan al-Issawi, was assassinated near Ramadi, east of Baghdad, police official Abdel Qader al-Kubeisy said.

Gunmen who shot him left a statement next to his body: "This is the fate of everyone who deals with the American troops." The statement was signed by the group Mujahedeen al-Anbar, or "holy warriors of Anbar."

Such flagrant attacks appear designed to cause panic among Iraqi officials and security forces and to provoke a sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis.

Militants released a videotape Tuesday, saying they have executed eight and released two Iraqis who were employed by Sandi Group, an American security company, and had been held hostage since Dec. 13. The claim could not be independently verified.

The insurgents claiming to represent three Iraqi militant groups - the Mujahedeen Army, the Black Banner Brigade and the Mutassim Bellah Brigade - said in the tape obtained by APTN that "the eight have been executed because it was proven that they were supporting the occupational army."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Recruiters Focus On 80,000 Goal <br />
Kansas City Star <br />
December 29, 2004 <br />
<br />
Army Staff Sgt. Robert Workman walks the halls of Independence Center, past furniture stores, boutiques and perfume stalls,...

[thedrifter]

Diego Garcia Unaffected By Tsunamis
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
December 28, 2004

The key United States military base in the Indian Ocean has been unaffected by the tsunamis which have devastated parts of Asia, The Washington Post has reported.

Diego Garcia, a British territory about 1,500 kilometres south of India, hosts about 3,200 U.S. military personnel and civilian contractors and many U.S. long-range bombers and Navy ships.

Lieutenant Colonel Bill Bigelow, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii told the newspaper the U.S. base was apparently safe.

"There are no reports of any damage there," Lt Col Bigelow said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 03, 2005 <br />
<br />
Marine accused of desertion asks for civilian lawyer; hearing delayed <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Marine charged with desertion after he disappeared from his unit in Iraq and...

[thedrifter]

January 03, 2005

Corps uses new vests to blend in
Newer fabric hard to see when using goggles

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer


BOSTON — Most Marines know that their body armor helps protect them against bullets and shrapnel. The combination of thick armor plates and Kevlar inserts makes the Corps’ Interceptor vest nearly impervious to all but the most powerful projectiles.
But what they might not know is that the same vest can also make them nearly invisible — at least when viewed through night-vision goggles.

Since late 2003, the Marine Corps has fielded Interceptor body armor vests with space-age fabric manufactured to blend in with a Marine’s surroundings when seen through night-vision goggles. The vests have gone out to about half the Corps, and just about everyone deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan has one.

The fabric, made by the Wichita, Kan.-based INVISTA, is engineered with microscopic particles that inhibit the reflection of infrared light — the wavelength visible to night-vision goggles.

And, although U.S. forces clearly have the advantage in a nighttime fight using the latest high-tech night-vision equipment, the services are working hard to counter the spreading use of older technology that could lift the cover of darkness.

“To conceal yourself, you need to know what the [infrared] signatures of the surroundings look like in a mathematical sense,” said Kevin Frankel, a senior research engineer with INVISTA, at a Dec. 15 Soldier Systems conference here sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association.

“We’ve been able to match the fiber with the environment.”

Researchers at INVISTA realized that each element in nature reflects infrared energy differently. Therefore, a woodland camouflage vest — which is green, brown and black — looks bright against a background of sand or rock when viewed through night-vision goggles.

The Corps requested a universal color for its vest rather than buying different schemes to match different environments.

Earlier Interceptor vests were made in a woodland camouflage pattern that did not incorporate anti-infrared properties and appeared bright against the sandy background of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, the Coyote Brown vest more closely matches environments as varied as a forest or a desert, said Mike Codega, project engineer for Marine Corps programs at the Army’s Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. And with the added infrared matching technology, those vests are even more camouflaged.

“Many of the vests I’ve seen in theater use this technology,” Codega said.

The fabric used to manufacture nearly 80,000 of the Corps’ Interceptor vests contains particles that inhibit the reflection of infrared light so that when viewed through night-vision equipment, the vest blends in with the elements around it, including sand, wood, foliage and water. Wearing the new Coyote Brown vest makes it hard to see the Marine’s silhouette.

“Suppressing the infrared signature is not important,” Frankel said. “It’s matching the signature of your surroundings that is.”

Also, the webbing loops sewn to the vest are engineered with the infrared-bending microscopic particles, allowing them to blend with the rest of the vest and avoiding a “zebra” appearance that could be seen when looking through night-vision goggles at the older, woodland camouflage vests, Codega said.

Other products could be manufactured with the infrared-inhibiting fabric, as well. The Marine Corps is currently using the infrared signature-reducing material for the webbing on its new “improved load bearing equipment” pack, officials with Marine Corps Systems Command said.

The Army plans to use the same technology on its new vests, which will match the service’s new universal camouflage pattern — similar to the Corps’ digital scheme.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines march down the aisle

By Martin C. Evans
Newsday
Posted December 29 2004

MINEOLA, N.Y. · The bride had planned to say her vows in her blue Marine parade uniform, but the groom had a similar sartorial outfit in mind.

So instead, Cpl. Jessica Frugoni of West Babylon wore an ivory-colored satin dress, a strapless design that revealed the Marine Corps bulldog tattoo she wears on her back.

Frugoni, 21, and Lance Cpl. German Cruz, 20, a pair of Marines bound for war-torn regions, promised their lives to each other Monday at State Supreme Court.

"Actually, this is a lot bigger than we had planned," said Cruz, of Voorhees, N.J., moments after the couple were pronounced husband and wife in a courtroom crowded by family, friends and well-wishers.

The couple decided to tie the knot less than three weeks ago, after Cruz learned that his deployment to Iraq, originally planned for sometime in March, had been moved up to the first days of February. The new bride also will serve in that war-torn region, shipping out for Iraq or Afghanistan in October.

"We realized we really didn't have much time," Cruz said.

Frugoni's relatives said her decision to join the Marines two years ago and her recent plans to get married took them by surprise.

She graduated from West Babylon High School in 2001, then enrolled at Binghamton University. But after spending a year there, she called home and told her family she had enlisted.

"This is all pretty sudden, so we're all a little in shock," said her father, Charles Frugoni of West Babylon, who served four years in the Marines in the late 1960s and served in Vietnam in 1967. "They wanted to be married before he went away."

Both Frugoni and Cruz said they joined the military to earn money for college.

The couple, who are stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., met 17 months ago while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Military orders separated them soon after, but they were reunited when they were transferred to North Carolina.

They will have another four weeks of married life together before Cruz is scheduled to ship to Iraq.

"I'm nervous, but that's what he signed up for, so I have to be a Marine about it," Frugoni said. "Of course, there are a lot of people over there getting hurt. I just hope he comes home safe."

Relatives said they are happy for the newlyweds, but also apprehensive about Cruz' impending deployment.

"It's a little like Vietnam: Anything could happen at any time," Furgoni's father said. "But I'm also proud of him. He's doing the right thing."



Newsday is a Tribune Co. newspaper.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 03, 2005 <br />
<br />
Review of Guantanamo inmates coming to end <br />
<br />
By Vince Crawley <br />
Times staff writer <br />
<br />
<br />
Military legal authorities are wrapping up their review of more than 550 inmates at...

[thedrifter]

Fallen Marine's Mom, Dad Mourn Loss Of Only Child <br />
By KATHY STEELE ksteele@tampatrib.com <br />
Published: Dec 29, 2004 <br />
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<br />
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PLANT CITY - Before the Marines at his door spoke a word, Mike Phillips...

[thedrifter]

Posted on Tue, Dec. 28, 2004





Marine from Plant City killed in Iraq's Anbar Province

Associated Press


PLANT CITY, Fla. - A Marine from the Tampa area has been killed in Iraq.

Lance Cpl. James R. Phillips was killed Thursday with two other Marines "while conducting security and stabilization operations in Al Anbar Province," U.S. Central Command said.

They were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Phillips was born in Tampa and was a 2001 graduate of Durant High School,

Survivors include his parents, Mike and Lisa Phillips, of Plant City, and paternal grandparents James and Brenda Phillips.

The family will receive visitors from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Wells Memorial Chapel. Funeral services are set for 10 a.m. Thursday.

The other two Marines killed Thursday were Lance Cpl. Eric Hillenburg, 21, of Marion, Ind. and Cpl. Raleigh C. Smith, 21, of Lincoln, Mont.

Central Command would not say if they were killed together.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 03, 2005

Most oppose publishing negative war news

By Robert Hodierne
Times staff writer


The media have covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with an intensity and intimacy not seen since Vietnam. But this newfound attention has left service members with decidedly mixed views of the media and their role.
Less than half — 47 percent — of respondents to the Military Times Poll said that in wartime, the media should publish or broadcast news stories that suggest the war is not going well.

And when asked who should determine whether such stories are published or broadcast, nearly half said that decision should be left to government or military leaders, not the media itself. Only 35 percent said the media should decide.

Official government policy forbids taking photographs of flag-draped coffins as they arrive at places such as Dover Air Force Base, Del. But 64 percent of the Military Times sample thought such photographs should be allowed.

“People need to realize there are dead soldiers coming home,” said Army Sgt. Johanna Matlock, a lab technician at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. “The general public doesn’t totally understand the cost.”

But some troops have misgivings. “Who knows what the photos will be used for in the future?” said Army Sgt. Kirk H. Ericson of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Two-thirds of respondents believed it is acceptable to publish recognizable images of wounded troops if the families had been notified or if the wounded gave permission, which is what current rules allow.

But a slim majority — 51 percent — balked at ever publishing photos of recognizable dead troops, while 39 percent said such photos are OK after families have been notified.

While people in uniform have a mixed view of the media, they believe the media view of the military is generally favorable. Only one-quarter believe the media have a poor or very poor opinion of the armed forces.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 03, 2005

How we did it



On Nov. 8, we mailed questionnaires to 6,000 people drawn at random from our subscriber list. Recipients were asked to mail their answers to an independent firm that machine-tabulated the results to guarantee anonymity. We stopped processing incoming questionnaires Dec. 20.
About 4,300 of the 6,000 people who received questionnaires turned out to be on active duty. Of those, 1,423 responded, a 33 percent response rate. The margin of error in the survey is plus or minus 2.6 percent.

Those polled differ from the military as a whole in important ways. They tend to be older, higher in rank and more career-oriented. Even so, it is perhaps the most representative independent sample possible because of the inherent challenges in polling servicemen and women, according to polling experts and military sociologists.

The poll has come to be viewed by some as a barometer of the professional career military.


Online

Complete results of the 2004 Military Times Poll can be seen at www.marinecorpstimes.com.

Researchers and others who would like access to the raw data should contact Senior Managing Editor Robert Hodierne at rhodierne@atpco.com.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 03, 2005

Women’s, men’s views differ on war, Bush
44% say they’ve been harassed

By Robert Hodierne
Times staff writer


Women in uniform are noticeably less supportive of the war in Iraq and more pessimistic about its outcome than their male colleagues, according to the Military Times Poll.
In the poll, 63 percent of the men said they believe the United States should have gone to war in Iraq, but only 42 percent of the women believe that.

Among men, 65 percent approve of the way President Bush is handling the war; only 48 percent of women do. And only 13 percent of the men polled think success in Iraq is unlikely, while 22 percent of women hold that pessimistic view.

Support for the Iraq war among women in the military more closely mirrors the attitudes of the general population, where support now falls below 50 percent in most recent polls.

On issues of job satisfaction and morale, women appear to be little different than their male counterparts and nearly as likely to say they would re-enlist if given a chance today.

But one issue on which there is a clear difference is sexual harassment. Forty-four percent of the women responding to the Military Times Poll said that they had been sexually harassed while in service, compared to only 4 percent of the men.

Comparisons to the civilian world are difficult because a wide range of studies has produced a wide range of results. But the military figures for women appear to be on the low end of the commonly quoted civilian ranges.

Further, the Military Times Poll results are lower than previous studies done by the military. A 1988 Defense Department survey found that 64 percent of women had been harassed. By 1995, that figure had fallen to 55 percent.

In the Military Times Poll, 13 percent of female respondents said they had been sexually assaulted while in the military.

There are no comparable figures for the entire civilian work force, but commonly quoted figures for sexual assaults on college campuses, for example, run in the range of 20 percent to 25 percent.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 03, 2005

We asked what you think. You told us.
Troops retain strong support for war

By Robert Hodierne
Times staff writer


Despite a year of ferocious combat, mounting casualties and frequent deployments, support for the war in Iraq remains overwhelming among the active-duty military, according to the 2004 Military Times Poll.
Sixty-three percent of respondents approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, and 60 percent remain convinced it is a war worth fighting. And support for the war is even greater among those who have served longest in the combat zone: Two-thirds of combat vets say the war is worth fighting.

But the men and women in uniform are under no illusions about how long they will be fighting in Iraq; nearly half said they expect to be there more than five years.

In addition, despite the pressures of a wartime military, 87 percent said they’re satisfied with their jobs and, given the choice today, only 25 percent said they would leave the service.

Compared to last year, support for the war and job satisfaction remain essentially unchanged.

Most surprisingly, a year ago 77 percent said they thought the military was stretched too thin to be effective. This year that number shrank to 66 percent.

The findings are part of the annual Military Times Poll, which this year included 1,423 active-duty subscribers to Marine Corps Times Times, Navy Times, Army Times and Air Force Times.

The subscribers were randomly surveyed by mail in late November and early December.

Subscribers to the four papers tend to be older, higher in rank and more career-oriented than the military as a whole. The poll has a margin of error of 2.6 percent.

Among the poll’s other findings:

• 75 percent oppose drafting men into the military.

• 60 percent blame Congress for the shortage of body armor in the combat zone.

• Only 12 percent think civilian Pentagon policymakers should be held accountable for abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The support among the military for the Iraq war comes at a time when polls of the civilian population show a steady erosion of such support. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll released before Christmas, for example, 56 percent of Americans said the Iraq war is not worth fighting and 58 percent said they disapproved of the way Bush is handling the war.

But you won’t find many doubters in the military ranks.

Air Force 2nd Lt. Brianne Walker, 24, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., said, “Weapons of mass destruction or not, [Bush] was doing what he had to do to protect the people. We were the only ones willing to step up and do it.”

Army Sgt. Johanna Matlock at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, said if the United States hadn’t gone to war in Iraq, “they would have come here. We’re fighting terrorists.”

Support for the war is strongest among those who have served the longest in the war zone. Two-thirds of those who have spent more than a year in the war zone say the United States should have gone to war, compared to 60 percent overall in the military sample.

The troops also are fully behind their commander in chief, giving him a 71 percent approval rating on overall handling of his job — compared with only 48 percent among civilians, according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University and an expert on civil-military relations, says the poll shows that an “anticipated military ‘revolt’ was not coming to pass.”

“While the military might make criticisms … they remain committed to the enterprise and optimistic that they’ll see it through to victory.”

Feaver sees no “Iraq syndrome akin to the Vietnam syndrome,” marked by alienation from both the war and its leadership.

He says the military today believes “defeat [in Iraq] would be awful and victory is possible and that leads to the staying power you’re seeing. …

“It’s reflecting a war-time survey of a military that still thinks it can win. … When the military thinks it can’t win, that’s bad news.”

Survey respondents also were clear about the idea of a military draft: They don’t like it.

In addition to the 75 percent who said men should not be drafted, 83 percent rejected the idea of compulsory service for women, and 73 percent said returning to the draft would lower the quality of the force.

Nearly as many, 65 percent, said a draft would make it harder to maintain discipline.

Mostly satisfied

In terms of job satisfaction, the military is comparable to the civilian world. In our poll, 37 percent of service members said they were completely satisfied and another 50 percent said they were somewhat satisfied. Among civilians, those numbers reverse, with 50 percent saying they are completely satisfied and 39 percent somewhat satisfied.

The aspect of military life that drew the most complaints: housing, with a quarter of respondents saying their military housing was poor or very poor.

But there’s no escaping other areas of concern. When asked who should be held accountable for shortages of body armor among deployed troops, respondents gave Congress the biggest share of the blame, 60 percent. But 49 percent said senior military officials also should be held accountable. Only 35 percent laid blame on the Bush administration.

Similarly, most respondents don’t believe responsibility for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib should run uphill.

Respondents were asked to check boxes alongside as many different groups as they thought should be punished for the abuse. Some 74 percent thought the soldiers who committed the abuse should be punished and 67 percent said the officer in direct command of the prison should be punished.

But only 21 percent said high-level military commanders should be held accountable, and even fewer — 12 percent — thought civilian policymakers should share in the blame. The president, meanwhile, was almost blame-free: Only 3 percent named Bush.

Staff writers Joe Chennelly, Bruce Rolfsen, Mark D. Faram, Gordon Lubold and freelancer Jodi Upton contributed to this report.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Neo-cons can't escape responsibility for Iraq miscalculation
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By Joseph L. Galloway
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Dec. 28, 2004

WASHINGTON - The most curious turn of the worm this season is the attack by the neo-conservatives on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for the failures in Iraq.

It should be noted that until now Rumsfeld was the darling of that same bunch. He hired a batch of them as his most trusted aides and assistants in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Paul Wolfowitz as his undersecretary. Douglas Feith as his chief of planning. He installed the dean of the pack, Richard Perle, as chairman of the Defense Policy Board for a time.

The doyenne and room mother of the whole bunch, Midge Decter, wrote a fawning biography of Rumsfeld titled "Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait."

Now, suddenly, the voice of the neo-conservative movement, William Kristol, editor of The Standard, suggests that Rumsfeld has fouled up everything in Iraq and ought to be fired for his failures. Ditto, writes Tom Donnelly of the right-thinking American Enterprise Institute.

Rumsfeld himself was never a neo-conservative. He just found them useful as he took over the Pentagon for the second time. Clearly the neo-cons found Rumsfeld useful as well as they pushed their ideas on transforming the Middle East.

So what happened? Why is Rumsfeld being stabbed in the back by those he trusted the most to back his play? By the very people who have argued for years in favor of taking out Saddam Hussein, installing democracy and creating a bully pulpit, and the military bases, from which the Middle East would be weaned from dictatorship and an implacable hatred of Israel and the United States.

Simple. They want someone else to be blamed besides them for fouling up their marvelous plans and schemes - someone who is a handy lightning rod and who is NOT a card-carrying neo-conservative. So who better than Rumsfeld?

Now those folks who cheered Rumsfeld, and the Bush administration, the loudest of all nearly two years ago are marching behind such grumpy Republicans as Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska in laying much of the blame at the feet of Rumsfeld.

The sharpening attacks on the defense secretary as the old year fades and the new year approaches prompted the one man who has a vote on Rumsfeld's survival, President Bush, to step forward and praise him. That, in turn, prompted a semi-spirited defense of the secretary by Republican congressional leaders.

Rumsfeld himself, who has basically no people skills at all, found it politic to spend the holidays with the soldiers and Marines in Iraq. He was even pictured wearing an apron and serving up turkey and dressing in an Army mess hall in the desert. How could anyone think, he asked, that he was not totally committed to providing those troops everything they need for survival in a bad place?

We do not for a minute suggest that Rumsfeld be let off the hook, be absolved of responsibility for gross miscalculations and gross lack of planning in the Iraq war and, especially, the post-war period. But neither do we absolve the neo-conservatives for shooting the horse they've been riding the last four years.

They were the loudest proponents of an attack on Iraq from the beginning. It was the neo-conservatives who wanted to unleash the dogs of war. It was they who championed Ahmad Chalabi and his Iraq National Congress and saw that their bogus defector tales of Saddam's nuclear weapons program and his stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons gained attention and traction.

They believed Chalabi and the INC's predictions that American troops would be welcomed with showers of rose petals and there would be no need for an American occupation. Ergo, no need for anyone to actually plan to secure the country in the wake of victory or lay the groundwork for rebuilding a nation whose water, power and sewer services were falling apart before we bombed and shelled them.

When Rumsfeld goes, so too should every neo-conservative who squirmed his way into a Pentagon sinecure. They must also bear responsibility for a war that so far has cost nearly $200 billion and the lives of more than 1,300 American troops and has damaged America's standing in the world.

They cannot be allowed to load all the blame on Rumsfeld and scoot away to lick their wounds and dream again their large dreams of conquest and empire and pre-emptive strikes.

--- Joseph L. Galloway is the senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers and co-author of the national best-seller "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young." Readers may write to him at: Knight Ridder Washington Bureau, 700 12th St. N.W., Suite 1000, Washington, D.C. 20005-3994.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Operation provides a new link to home
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December 29, 2004
TIMMI TOLER
DAILY NEWS STAFF

When Sgt. Bruce Dunham was deployed for seven months to Iraq, Crystal Dunham visited the USO every day to use one of its computers to check her e-mail. Word from her Marine husband was worth gathering up the couple's two little girls and making the trip into town.

"Anything was good," said Crystal, "even if it was just a couple of words from him."

Thanks to a new organization called "Operation Homelink," Crystal will be able to read those words from home when Bruce leaves again for Iraq in just a few months.

The mission of Operation Homelike is to help facilitate e-mail communication between deployed service members and their families back home. Operation Homelink takes older computers donated by corporations, has them professionally refurbished and gives them to service members.

The organization, with the help of the USO of North Carolina, gave 100 computers away last week to local military families whose names were selected in a drawing.

Bruce and Crystal were the 40th couple in line for the computers, each of which included a 233 megahertz Pentium II processor, a monitor, speakers, mouse, telephone cords and system instructions.

Bruce said it was worth the wait.

"This is going to make it so much easier for Crystal. She won't have to take the kids out just to use a computer," said the 25 year old from Lockport, N.Y.

Of course Crystal, a Fayetteville native, will have to learn a little more about the family's new addition. "I know how to push buttons and e-mail, and that's about all I know," she said with a laugh.

"She knows more than that," said Bruce, who is with 2nd Marine Division, Headquarters Battalion, Communication Company. "But I'm going to give her a few lessons before I leave."

Operation Homelink, a non-profit organization, is the brain child of president and founder Dan Shannon. Not long after the attacks of 9/11, Shannon read a poem titled

"I Got Your Back," which was written by Autumn Parker whose husband was serving overseas. It became the inspiration for Operation Homelink, which began two years ago and has now donated more than 700 computers to military families.

"The poem really tugged at my heart," said Shannon, who works in commercial real estate and donates his time to Operation Homelink. "It's such a small way to give back to people who give so much."

Camp Lejeune Base Commanding General Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson stopped by the USO to help hand out the computers to his Marines. He called the entire Operation Homelink "a phenomenal project."

Dickerson said he remembered when he served in Desert Storm, and the mail would run three to four weeks behind.

"We've come a long way in communications in the last 10 to 15 years to make sure our families are able to stay better connected to their loved ones," he said. "Our Marines leave on deployments fully prepared to do the work of the nation, but our priorities are with our families. This is a great gift to them."

Bruce said he couldn't think of a better one for Crystal.

"People don't realize what it's like for the families," he said. "This is something that's not for those of us who are deployed, but for the families we leave behind."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Walter Reed Hits Storage Crunch for Donated Items <br />
By Rudi Williams <br />
American Forces Press Service <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2004 – Good-hearted and compassionate Americans have given so much to help...