Hero Of The Day: Michael Zanders

April 15, 2006 would prove to be unlike any other day during his near 800 hours of combat flight in Iraq. In Mosul around mid-day, Zanders received a "911" call from a nearby combat outpost. Zanders took off in one of two Kiowa Warrior helicopters from Forward Operating Base Mosul and arrived on site in minutes. As they approached, they saw gunfire and explosions blackening the desert. The heavy dust rising from the chaos obstructed the choppers’ view of the kill-zone, forcing them to fly as close to the ground as possible. After frantic communiqués from the combat outpost warning their position could be overrun, the Kiowas helicopters went into action. Zanders’ sister ship took the lead. Both choppers unloaded on the attacking insurgents with volleys of high explosive rockets and 50 caliber machine gun fire.
After several low-flying orbits of the battlefield, the other chopper took hostile fire and was forced to pull out of the fight. The pilot had smelled gas and performed an emergency landing within a kilometer of the engagement zone to assess the damage. Zanders kept one eye on the downed aircrew and the other on the still pitched battle.
The Army pilots had feared such a situation could arise. With insurgents threatening to overwhelm their haphazard landing zone, the pilots knew there was no time to wait. Without pause, Zanders landed next to the downed crew – the most vulnerable sort of maneuver for a helicopter – and signaled to the pilot and copilot of the fellow Warrior to climb onto his craft’s weapons struts and hold on. With a "thumbs up" from the precariously secured aircrew, Zanders climbed back into the sky, and flew at over 80 knots back to FOB Mosul.
Flying through the Iraqi air with an additional aircrew barely on board made for a challenging flight in the insurgent–contested territory. In the air, as Zanders flew passed a Black Hawk helicopter that had scrambled to perform the rescue, Zanders saw the surprise on the face of the passing pilots as they took in the sight of the downed aircrew strapped to the side of Zanders’ chopper. That heroic act – which Zanders modestly called "instinct" – was later confirmed to be the first ever attempted of its kind.
Successfully evacuating the aircrew at the base, Zanders prepared to head back out. The situation at the besieged combat outpost was stabilized while he refueled and rearmed, but instead of debriefing, he took off again to provide security around the downed chopper until it could be recovered.

For his efforts, Zanders was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star Medal

Wounded Warrior Hero: Alex Presman

Alex Presman

Alex’s time in the military was up on December 30, 2002. He didn’t have to go to Kuwait to participate in the invasion of Iraq, but this was something he wanted to do for the United States, his adopted country and a land he had come to love. So, he extended his time in the Marine Corps, arriving in Kuwait on February 14, 2003.
He spent his first three months transporting medical supplies and munitions to units in the field; and in May 2003, when his unit asked for volunteers to move forward into Iraq, Alex went. From that point on, it was constant combat and scorching sand until July 15, 2003, when Alex was wounded.
That day, he was manning an M-240 machine gun in a Humvee as part of a convoy from Diwanya to Baghdad to pick up medical supplies. They made a rest stop along the way, and Alex stepped on a land mine – what would later come to be known as an improvised explosive device (IED) – that Baathist forces had planted in the sand.

Hero: Tom Carpenter: A Wounded Warrior

Tom Carpenter
Tom enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in July of 1980, serving at Camp Lejeune and in Okinawa before his honorable discharge in 1984. After a year and a half of civilian life, Tom returned to make a career in the armed forces, serving in the U.S. Army from 1986 to October of 2006.

1st Lt. W. Bryan Jackson - Hero Of The Day

Called a hero by his former Task Force commander and later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, 1st Lt. W. Bryan Jackson’s utter disregard for his own well-being likely saved the life of a fellow soldier, while jeopardizing his own.
Deeply involved in combat operations on September 27, 2006 in Anbar province, Iraq, Jackson attempted to recover a disabled vehicle when his unit was attacked by a hail of enemy machine gun fire, wounding several. Instead of seeking cover, he rushed to the aid of his injured first sergeant and began life-saving first aid.
An insurgent’s bullet ripped through his thigh, but did not take Jackson out of the fight. Regaining consciousness after the initial shock of the injury, Jackson’s first thought was about his severely wounded comrade. He alternated between returning fire on the suspected enemy position and administering first aid to his compatriot with life-threatening wounds. Ignoring his own severe injuries and relying on his tenacity and strength, Jackson carried his first sergeant to a Bradley Fighting Vehicle 30 feet away for evacuation. Even as he was hit a second time by enemy fire, Jackson never faltered in his aid. Once clear of the engagement and despite the severity of his own injuries, Jackson still refused medical aid until the man he helped save was treated.
The first words from Jackson after undergoing emergency medical evacuation and the first of several surgeries to come were of concern for the man he saved. For his injuries, his selfless courage under extreme enemy fire and extraordinary heroism in action, Jackson was awarded both the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross, becoming only the seventh soldier since 1975 to receive the later award.
Humbly, Jackson reflected: "I believe I just had to do what I had to do in that situation… I think many soldiers would have done the same thing."

Sniper Jake Drive

From some of our marines in Afghanistan, a few things to make things better for them.

We are gathering care packages to send...if anyone cares to help, please drop me a line or the address to send direct is also listed.

We could use-
jerky
sunflower seeds
gum
drink mixes
AAA/AA batteries
old books/magazines
protein powder packets (individual packets)
copenhagen (not for me)
crossword/word game books
boot socks.

please send to:
Cpl Wood,
J2/7 H&S Co.,
SSPUnit 41545
FPO AE 96426-1545

Hero Of The Day: Sergeant Benjamin Marshall

Separated from his platoon and nearly surrounded by eight al Qaeda fighters, Sergeant Benjamin Marshall had a decision to make: run for cover, stranding his two pinned comrades; or sprint across enemy fire and assume a position to shoot back. Marshall chose the latter, in what he would later call the defining moment of his life.
July 7, 2006, during a mission in Tharthar, Iraq, Marshall, two fellow soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter entered a farmhouse – one of several they had been searching all day after receiving intelligence on a possible al Qaeda training camp in the area. After Marshall and one of his comrades, Staff Sergeant Christopher Schroeder, cleared the first room, an unknown man darted into another room, pointed his rifle out the doorway and blindly sprayed 7.62 rounds at the soldiers from his AK-47. Schroeder was hit twice. The two men on point, the wounded Schroeder and Sergeant Williams Wills, quickly sought cover in an adjacent room as a tremendous wall of automatic weapons fire began coming down on all three soldiers.
The interpreter got out of the house but Marshall knew his soldiers could not get out unless he was able to take up a firing position outside. Looking back, he said "I don’t know how, but they never saw me." Marshall remembers he had to run right by the terrorists in an effort to get outside, only to find a position in a dilapidated chicken coop. The terrorists attempted to close in on Wills and Schroder’s position, but Marshall’s expertly aimed shots stopped them.
As the battle wore on, it became apparent to Marshall that these were well-trained and determined fighters. As the gunfire continued inside the house, Marshall could hear the fervent chanting of the al Qaeda fighters, but the fate of his men remained a mystery. After hearing a volley of grenades near his soldiers’ last location, Marshall feared the worst. When he heard the thunderous clap of a flash bang grenade exploding near the insurgents’ position, only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
As the platoon leader’s Humvee approached, Marshall shouted out the status of his injured brothers-in-arms to the vehicle’s gunner. His communication was critical, but it alerted the insurgents and drew fire onto his position. Round after round of machine gun fire ripped apart his thin cover, nearly taking his life. Yet becoming the insurgent’s target was exactly the diversion Marshall had hoped for to take the pressure off his fellow soldiers. This maneuver enabled the injured soldiers to signal to the four U.S. gun trucks. A Humvee, now at Marshall’s position, provided him with cover to then pull up alongside the building to evacuate the other two American soldiers.
Not a day goes by when Marshall does not think of that life-changing experience in Tharthar. In a split second he made the decision to save the lives of his fellow soldiers rather than run for cover. He picked "the hard right over the easy left," and because of that was awarded the Bronze Star with "V" device for exceptionally meritorious heroism in July of 2007.

Hero: Melissa Stockwell

Melissa was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army in May 2002, after which she received training as a transportation officer. She was deployed to Iraq in March 2004 and found out right away that a transportation officer’s job is a tough one.
The roads in and out of Baghdad are mean – loaded with homemade bombs. One of those weapons took out First Lieutenant Stockwell’s vehicle as she led a convoy along those treacherous roads. The blast threw the vehicle into a swerve. It slammed into a guardrail and crashed into a house.
There was a lot of blood. A medic put a tourniquet on Melissa’s leg, but she didn’t yet know her leg was gone. She got that news when she woke up in a hospital and talked with her husbandm who was also a soldier stationed in another part of Baghdad.
It was a tough moment, but self pity never entered this young officer’s mind. Her thoughts went straight to the troops under her command. She was grateful that she was the one who was wounded, not one of the soldiers for whom she was responsible.
Melissa was glad her husband, Dick, was there for her at that moment, and they made an immediate decision: “Let’s get on with this, and on with life.”

Sun Tzu

The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.
- Sun Tzu

When Negotiating With Your Enemy

When negotiating with your enemy, know his demands and what he will agree to even before sending an envoy.Inha mu kif jihad, hatta il-sharia hal--il-waahid Quanoon a-ardah.This is the stated position of our most ardent enemies: We will not stop jihad, until the sharia is the one source of law on earth.The sending of envoys and offers has a long tradition in the Muslim way of war.In 633 AD (12 Hijri) the Muslim General Khalid bin Al-Wahid sent envoys making the following offer to the Persians"Submit to Islam and be safe. Or agree to the payment of the Jizya, and you and your people will be under our protection, else you will have only yourself to blame for the consequences, for I bring a people who desire death as ardently as you desire life." (History of al-Tabari, Volume XI)
Osama Bin Laden used similar language in his 1996 Fatwa :
"I say to you William (Defence Secretary) that: These youths love death as you loves life."
The United States was barely a Nation when in 1785, Tripoli's ambassador to England, Abdrahaman informed John Adams that Tripoli and the U.S. were at war.
Abdrahaman further informed Adams that a treaty could be purchased and warned that, according to David McCullough, "A war between Christian and Christian was mild, prisoners were trated with humanity; but warned his Excellency, a war between Muslim and Christian would be horrible."
Abdrahman's justification for a state of war? The Koran. As Jefferson wrote :
"It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave."
For 13 centuries, the demands of Mohammedan Jihadists have been plain. They key to negotiation with the Mohammedan Jihadist is understanding that there is no negotiation for the Mohammedan Jihadist only demands to be accepted or rejected.

Discover Tries to Help Customers Pay Off Debt

Stocks With Insider Buying

At Stockpickr.com, we strive to keep track of insider purchasing and buybacks each week. Here's the perfect setup in my mind: Insiders are buying the stock, the company is buying back its own shares, and a super-investor such as Warren Buffett is also buying shares. If I can get three out of three, I'm in heaven. If I can get two out of three, or even one out of three, I'm still pretty happy about the situation, particularly if the stock is cheap in other ways as well.

SSgt. Heath Calhoun (Retired)

Born in Bristol, Tennessee in 1979, Heath Calhoun graduated from Grundy High School in 1997, and went on to Southwest Virginia Community College, graduating in 1999 with an associates degree.
At a young age, Heath earned respect for the U.S. military. His father served in Vietnam and his grandfather in World War II and in 1999, Heath made the decision to carry on his family’s dedication to the military and to the service of his country when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He completed his infantry, Airborne and Ranger training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then deployed to Iraq where he was assigned as a Squad Leader for the famed 101st Airborne Division.
It was there his convoy was attacked and hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. “I was at the rear corner of the Humvee when the grenade hit the tail light right beside my right leg and exploded,” he said. “I was lying on my side. I could see my legs were really messed up.” Heath yelled to the driver of the vehicle to call the incident in to headquarters. “I laid my head back down and that’s all I remember.”

The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) was founded on the principle that veterans are our nation's greatest citizens. The WWP seeks to assist those men and women of our armed forces who have been severely injured during the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world.

Corporal Ian Dollard

June 24, 2007 on patrol in Saqlawiyah, Iraq, Corporal Ian Dollard’s team investigated an abandoned dump truck for signs of explosives when insurgents ambushed them. Immediately, one Marine was hit once by a spray of machine gun fire and several Marines rushed to his aid. Dollard provided suppressive fire from behind his up-armored Humvee for the rescuers and wounded Marine. Suddenly, a second position opened fire on the Marines. An enemy round hit his platoon commander, 1st Lt. Paul Brisker, instantly dropping Brisker to the ground and presenting the young corporal with a life threatening decision.
Dollard recalls adrenaline took over, and he rushed towards his wounded comrade – as well as the second enemy machine gun position. The 21-year-old Marine selflessly used his body as a shield to protect Brisker from additional gunfire while he began performing first aid.
In his exposed position, Dollard was hit not once, but twice by machine gun fire in his armor, causing him only temporary pause. He knew Brisker would die if not pulled to the safety provided by his platoon, so he dragged the injured officer more than 25 meters to a Humvee under constant gunfire. In the final steps of the rescue, Dollard was hit a third time, this round bypassing his armor and hitting him in the leg.
Ignoring his injuries, Dollard continued supporting his platoon as they left the engagement to rush back to their operating base and get Brisker the critical care he needed. Only then did Dollard tell his platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Marc Navai, "Oh, by the way, I got shot too."
Without delay, Navai started working on the citation, arguing, "That’s what a Silver Star is all about." Dollard was credited with saving the life of his platoon commander, who eventually made a full recovery. After only six weeks recuperating, Dollard was back on the frontlines, serving his country and the Corps with the same heroism he brought that June day in Anbar province.

Dream Ticket!!!!!!

Public School Prayer? No Way! Islamic Teaching? Way!

Texas children roped into Islamic training

Class by CAIR teaches: 'There is one god, Allah'

Public school students at Friendswood Junior High in the Houston area have been roped into Islamic training by representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations during class time, prompting religious leaders to protest over Principal Robin Lowe's actions.

Oohhh Danny Boy........

Everyone Knows It's Over....But Clinton

Hero Of The Day: 2nd LT. Philip Palmer

Philip Palmer

Days after the "troop surge" was announced, a young second lieutenant would persevere under fire to lead a burgeoning Iraqi Army unit to victory. Second Lieutenant Philip D. Palmer of the United States Marine Corps was assigned to a Military Transition Team working with the 1st battalion of the Iraqi Army during operations in the Ma’Laab district in Ramadi, Iraq. The morning of January 14th, 2007, would serve as a defining moment in his life and the lives of all the Iraqi troops he shepherded through danger.
The Iraqi platoon, led by Iraqi Lieutenant Allah, worked its way through the dangerous city streets, unaware of what was ahead. As the patrol bounded ahead, gunfire erupted from nearby positions hitting Lieutenant Allah squarely in his armor. While the rounds were stopped by his layers of armor, he was shell-shocked and stunned by the near-death experience. With Allah paralyzed by fear and incapable of leading his men under such hectic conditions, Palmer seized the initiative.
Seeing that words alone would not be enough to organize this nascent Iraqi unit, Palmer knew he must act. Standing like a monolith in the face of incoming enemy fire, Palmer took command of the broken unit, rallying them through his bold example. Taking point, he pushed forward towards the attacking insurgents with his newly inspired Iraqi unit who followed close through the chaotic streets.

Palmer kept in mind the mission and the 13 Iraqis he was attached to as he led the fight against the insurgent forces. At the end of the day, he successfully concluded the operation and brought every one of the Iraqi soldiers back to base alive. His heroic assumption of command and leadership under intense attack earned him the Army Commendation Medal with Valor.