You'd never know it from the news reports, but our enemy in Iraq is al Qaeda - the same terrorists who killed three thousand Americans on 9/11, the same terrorists from the first World Trade Center bombing, the USS Cole, Madrid, London, and many more.
We have a fallen soldier that was from Soldiers' Angels, Christopher Morningstar.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Morningstar, 27, was killed in action in Al Husayniyah, Iraq on February 05, 2006, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker Engineer Squad Vehicle.
He was assigned to the 562nd Engineers Company, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
He is survived by his mother, Holly Morningstar, of San Antonio, Texas.
Thank you for supporting the families of our fallen heroes. If you would like to send a card to his Angels, please contact me at CWTreefrog at aol.com for the information.
Angel Hugs,
Cathy
I truly feel for Mssrs. Woodruff and Vogt. And even moreso for their families. This doesn't poke fun at them, but at the bloodthirsty editors who use the suffering of others to sell papers.
The business of saving lives: airlifting wounded warriors
Their mission was simple -- save lives by safely moving patients to appropriate medical facilities. Nine patients were logged into the aeromedical evacuation system for pick-up -- five ambulatory and four on litters. But the crew knew it could change. ( ... )
By 9 a.m., the crew had logged its equipment into the computer system. Using a barcode scanning system, the medics tracked every piece of equipment going on the plane. Within an hour, they were uploading cardiac monitors, intravenous bags and other equipment and supplies, along with their flak vests and Kevlar helmets, onto the C-130 Hercules from Dyess AFB, Texas. ( ... )
The first stop was Ali Base in Iraq. Throughout the flight, the medics read, joked around and rested for the long day ahead. The mood was jovial as the team got to know each other; three were on their first flight into Iraq, with only two seasoned veterans on this run.
Within 20 minutes of landing, however, the tone changed. The plane became strangely quiet as everyone donned their body armor. ( ... )
Once on the ground, the crew moved quickly. Patients were carefully lifted onto the aircraft, with litters tightly secured in place.
As predicted by Sergeant Burris, the patient numbers were already changing. The medics loaded three litter patients onto the plane. One Soldier had survived an improvised explosive device attack that destroyed his vehicle. Another was recovering from emergency bowel surgery and a third was going in for magnetic resonance imaging for a knee injury. ( ... )
The sun fell just below the horizon as the medical team arrived at Balad Air Base, Iraq. Everyone, including patients, exited the plane while it was refueled. Once again, the medical team loaded injured and sick Soldiers onto the plane. A few more litter patients were carefully loaded; one needed oxygen. Captain Shamburger monitored the patient’s oxygen levels throughout the flight, frequently checking his pulse and blood pressure.
By the time the C-130 flew out of Balad with 55 “souls on board,” the full moon illuminated the glowing monitors on the flight deck. The aircrew donned night vision goggles and flew in total darkness to avoid hostile fire from the ground. The aircraft made one more stop that night before heading back to home base.
By the end of the mission, more than 13 patients and 41 passengers had been safely moved.
But the night wasn’t over. The crew unloaded their last patients, downloaded their supplies, inventoried their flight kits in the warehouse and filed post-flight paperwork. Back at the coalition compound, the medics grabbed a late-night dinner in the dining facility. Their heads finally hit their pillows close to 2 a.m.
CLARK: Well, you know, we’re not going to go down, I’ve hope that we’ve gotten over this kicking down the doors and roughing up the women that some people said that we did some of over there.
"This Makes It Real"
Excuse me? The wounding of an American newsman makes it real? So much for the two thousand plus American troops who have given their lives, so much for the thousands of Iraqi's murdered by Al Qaeda and their fellow travelors. That wasn't "REAL." But this is!
The downside, of course, is that the usual suspects have used the incident to declare Iraq a disaster (again). This time it was CNN's Christiane Amanpour:The war in Iraq has basically turned out to be a disaster and journalists have paid for it, paid for the privilege of witnessing and reporting that and so have many, many other people who have been there.
