Green Beret Posthumously Receives Nation’s Highest Honor
This article appeared in the April, 2011 edition of the VFW magazine. It is included here with the permission… [more]
Green Beret Posthumously Receives Nation’s Highest Honor
This article appeared in the April, 2011 edition of the VFW magazine. It is included here with the permission… [more]
Stolen Valor and My Hobby
I am starting this thread to discuss The Stolen Valor Act and the affect it has had on legitimate collectors… [more]
Navy Supply Corps School Opening in Newport, RI
Future US Navy Supply Corps personnel will receive their training in a new state of the art, 58,000 square… [more]
A Mosque at Ground Zero?
Someone sent me this. Now I am by no means a racist or bigot but it seems like we are all worried about… [more]
Green Beret Posthumously Receives Nation’s Highest Honor
This article appeared in the April, 2011 edition of the VFW magazine. It is included here with the permission of the author. The article tells the tory of SSG Robert J. Miller, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The article moved me and I hope it moves all who read it. My thank you to Ms. Blankenship for letting me use it.
Young Vets In Focus
Janie Blankenship
Green Beret Posthumously Receives Nation’s Highest Honor
Robert Miller saved 22 soldiers’ lives during a seven-hour battle in Afghanistan three years ago.
His parents describe him as the “happy warrior.” Those who served with him say he was a “young stud … wiry and strong.” Whatever the label given to Army Staff Sgt. Robert Miller, he will forever be known to the nation as a hero.
Miller posthumously received the Medal of Honor on Oct. 6, 2010. The nation’s highest honor was accepted by Miller’s parents, Phil and Maureen, in a White House ceremony.
His selfless actions near the Afghan village of Barikowt on Jan. 25, 2008, saved 22 lives. The 24-year-old is credited with killing 16 enemy troops and wounding 30 more.
Serving with A Co., 3rd Bn., 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Miller’s reconnaissance patrol set out in the pre-dawn hours. Suddenly, they were ambushed by some 150 wellconcealed Taliban insurgents.
Miller had volunteered to lead a team of Afghan National Security Forces and coalition soldiers during a recon mission near the Pakistan border.
“He was always quick to volunteer and never thought it should be any other way,” Capt. John Bishop of Special Operations Task Force 33 told Army Times. “On numerous occasions when the detachment was faced with a difficult task, Robbie would just stand up and say, ‘I got this one. I’ll do it, send me.’ ”
Once the enemy attacked, Miller’s team leader, Sgt. Jim Lodyga, was seriously wounded. While Lodyga was moved to safety, Miller returned fire remaining in the front of the patrol.
While the insurgents fired from the north, east and south, Miller singlehandedly fought off those in the south.
“He pretty much had this whole side locked down for us,” Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joe Wilson told The Fayetteville Observer. “If he would not have been Engaging anyone on this side, these guys could have moved around, hit us, and that would have been all for us.”
Miller yelled for his teammates to “bound back,” yet he continued to charge the enemy, drawing fire away from the patrol behind him. That’s when he was shot under the arm.
“But at that point, Robbie didn’t stop,” Lodyga said. “He continued to fire. He continued to take the fight to the enemy. He threw at least one or two grenades during the battle.”
Miller was shot and killed during the seven-hour firefight.
“Robbie was the typical team player,” Lodyga said. “He’s definitely not selfish at all. He’s more concerned about the greater good.He knows we are there as a unit.He knows that we fight as a unit, as a team, as one big individual, not 70 individuals out there.”
On his first tour in Afghanistan,Miller Had learned to speak Pashto, a common language in Afghanistan, so that he could better communicate with villagers.
This proved effective during this particular engagement. Bobby Kaye,Miller’s best friend since high school in Wheaton, Ill., was told how Pashto helped Miller save his comrades’ lives
“During the initial assault he was yelling orders in Pashto to his Afghan soldiers and radioing in English to the Americans,” Kaye told the Daily Herald (suburban Chicago).“When reports came out about what happened, I was not surprised. That had Robert Miller written all over it.”
A weapons sergeant, Miller knew everything about domestic and foreign weapons so that he could teach anyone how to use them no matter where he deployed.
“I would not be here talking to you right now … if Robbie had not done what he did,” Lodyga said. “Without him doing what he did, there would be seven less Special Forces soldiers on the face of the Earth right now.”
During the Medal of Honor ceremony, the President commended Miller’s parents.
“You gave your oldest son to America,” said President Obama during the ceremony, “and America is forever in your debt.”
Afterward,Maureen noted that Miller “loved what he was doing, he was good at what he was doing, and he believed he was working for a good cause.” The second of eight children, Miller left behind seven brothers and sisters. His youngest brother, Tom, is now training to become a Green Beret.
Miller is the third American who served in Afghanistan to receive the Medal of Honor.
E-mail jblankenship@vfw.org
March 25, 2011 Medal of Honor Day
Today is Medal of Honor Day, a time to remember and commemorate those who have received our country’s highest award for valor. Please take a look at this link for more information about the Medal of Honor from USAA. https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_blogs/Blogs?action=blogpost&blogkey=newsroom&postkey=medal_of_honor_day&offername=pubHomeMbr_Bnr_1_032511_medalofhonor
Another great site is the Department of Defense where they have a tribute to our Iraq and Afghanistan heroes. http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2010/1110_moh/
A Mosque at Ground Zero?
Someone sent me this. Now I am by no means a racist or bigot but it seems like we are all worried about offending Muslims. What about us? Do they care about us? Do they care about Cathololicism, Judaism, Baptists, Mormans or any other religion besides their own.
I don’t know about you but I really think we should have that mosque right across the street from Ground Zero. My reasons regard tolerance, we should be more tolerant. I’ve outlined my plan below:
I am truly perplexed that so many of my friends are against a mosque being
built near Ground Zero.
I think it should be the goal of every American to be tolerant. The mosque
should be allowed, in an effort to promote tolerance.
That is why I also propose, that two nightclubs be opened next door to the
mosque thereby promoting tolerance within the mosque. We could call one of
the clubs (which would be gay) “The Turban Cowboy” and the other being a
topless bar “You Mecca Me Hot”.
Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork and adjacent to
that have an open barbeque pork rib restaurant, called something like “Iraq
o’ Ribs”?
Across the street there could be a very daring lingerie store called
Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret with sexy mannequins in the window modeling
the goods.
Next door to the lingerie shop, there would be room for an Adult Toy Shop
(Koranal Knowledge), its name in flashing neon lights, and on the other side
a liquor store, maybe call it “Morehammered”?
Then the Muslims could be allowed to show their tolerance. Problem solved.
I hope you agree with me in promoting tolerance.
Cruel and unusual treatment of WikiLeaks suspect
Does any one really care? This man is a traitor who turned against his fellow soldiers in a time of war. He should be shot by a firing squad as quickly as he is convicted!
March 16, 2011|By Terry A. Kupers, Special to CNN
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning has been imprisoned in the Quantico Marine Corps Brig for nine months, suspected of giving highly classified State Department cables to the website WikiLeaks. He has not been tried, yet is kept in solitary confinement in a windowless room 23 hours a day and forced to sleep naked without pillows or blankets.
Human rights groups have condemned his treatment, and even State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley spoke out against it. Crowley has resigned, allegedly under pressure from the Obama administration. Defense officials say Manning is stripped of his clothes nightly to prevent him from committing suicide, yet his civilian lawyer says his client is at no risk.
The problem with the argument that Manning is being kept in long-term solitary confinement to prevent his suicide is that long-term solitary confinement causes suicide.
One of the most stunning statistics in criminology today is that, on average, 50% of U.S. prisoner suicides happen among the 2% to 8% of prisoners who are in solitary confinement, also known as segregation. When I tour prisons as I prepare for expert testimony in class-action lawsuits, many prisoners living in isolation tell me they despair of ever being released from solitary.
And there is an objective basis to their fear: One of the many psychiatric symptoms known to be bred in solitary is mounting anger, plus the dread that losing control of that anger will lead to more disciplinary infractions and a longer stint in segregation. So the prisoner despairs of ever gaining more freedom, and that despair leads to suicide.
Suicide is merely the tip of the iceberg. Solitary confinement breaks prisoners down and practically guarantees they will never function normally in society again. This explains a troubling rise in the recidivism rate since the advent in the late 1980s of wholesale solitary confinement in “supermaximum”-security prisons.
Long-term solitary confinement causes many psychiatric symptoms, including mental breakdowns. Even the relatively stable prisoner in segregation experiences mounting anxiety, paranoia, an inability to concentrate, somatic symptoms, despair and anger. But the prisoner prone to emotional disorder falls apart.
2011Medal of Honor Commemorative Coins On Sale Now
By Michael Zielinski on February 25th, 2011
Categories: Featured Articles, US Coins, United States Mint
Today, the United States Mint began sales of the Medal of Honor Commemorative Coins. The Medal of Honor represents the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force that may be bestowed upon an individual serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Authorized under Public Law 111-91, the program is intended to recognize and celebrate the establishment of the Medal of Honor in 1861, honor the military men and women who have received the award, and promote awareness of the Medal of Honor and what it represents. The United States Mint is authorized to issue a maximum of 100,000 gold coins and 500,000 silver dollars, across proof and uncirculated versions.
This is one of two commemorative coin programs authorized by Congress for the year. The United States Mint previously released 2011 U.S. Army Commemorative Coins on January 31, 2011.
The obverse design of the gold coin features a depiction of the original Medal of Honor authorized in 1861 as the Navy’s highest personal decoration. The reverse of the Medal of Honor $5 Gold Coin features Minerva, with a shield representing the Army and Navy in her right hand and Union flag in her left hand. In the background is a field artillery cannon and wheel of the Civil War era. The obverse was designed and sculpted by Joseph Menna, while the reverse was designed by Joel Iskowitz and sculpted by Michael Gaudioso.
Each gold coin is struck in 90% gold and 10% alloy. The diameter is 0.85 inches and the weight is 8.359 grams. Gold content is 0.242 troy ounces.
Pricing for the coins is $449.95 for the proof version and $439.95 for the unicrculated version during an introductory period. After March 28, 2011 at 5:00 PM, pricing will be $454.95 and $444.95 for proof and uncirculated coins, respectively.
The Medal of Honor Silver Dollar depicts the current Army, Navy, and Air Force Medals of Honor on the obverse of the coin. The reverse contains a scene of a contemporary infantry soldier carrying a wounded solider to safety under enemy fire. The image is intended to show the courage, selfless sacrifice, and patriotism of recipients of the Medal of Honor. The obverse of the silver dollar was designed and sculpted by Jim Licaretz, and the reverse was designed by Richard Masters and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill.
The coins are struck in 90% silver and 10% copper. The diameter is 1.5 inches and the weight is 26.73. Silver content is 0.7736 troy ounces.
Introductory pricing for the silver dollars is $54.95 for the proof version and $49.95 for the unicrculated version. Regular pricing after March 28 will be $59.95 and $54.95.
The prices charged by the United States Mint reflect a surcharge of $35 for each gold coin and $10 for each silver coin. As specified by the authorizing legislation, these amounts will be distributed to the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation to finance educational, scholarship, and outreach programs.
The Medal of Honor Commemorative Coins may be purchased directly from the United States Mint by calling 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468) or online at http://catalog.usmint.gov/
