Summer Safety

4th Stryker Leaves Iraq

Soldiers with the 4th Stryker Brigade, Second Infantry Division began crossing the Iraqi border Thursday, moving into Kuwait.

Seven Silver Stars

Seven Fort Bragg Soldiers Tuesday received Silver Stars, the 3rd highest military honor, for heroic actions in Afghanistan.

Fort Jackson Turns 93

Soldiers and family members celebrate the 93rd birthday of Fort Jackson, NC.

Free Bridal Gowns

A bridal shop in suburban Chicago is giving away free wedding gowns to women marrying troops who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Helping a Hero

The organization ''Helping A Hero'' gave a severely injured Marine a new home as a show of appreciation for service to his country.

Three Servicemen Statue

Officials from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the National Park Service spent the last several weeks restoring the Three Servicemen statue in Washington, DC.

Oklahoma Mast Returns

A mast from USS Oklahoma was flown from Pearl Harbor to Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, Monday to become part of a war memorial.

Korean War Vets Tribute

The commander of U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus, paid tribute to veterans of the Korean war during a ceremony Monday in Independence, Missouri.

Ft. Carson 9/11 Memorial

Soldiers on Fort Carson join New York firefighters to dedicate a new 9/11 memorial to remember the men and women who gave their lives that day and in the years since.

New Cyber Command

Defense Secretary Robert Gates announces Cyber Command is now operating.

Value of Language

ADM James Stavridis says the U.S. military can become stronger by becoming multilingual.

Warfighting Conference

Top military officials say they're seeing an enemy using a variety of methods to threaten the U.S. and its allies.

Warrior Games Preview

Opening ceremonies get underway May 10 for the inaugural Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, CO.

Warrior Transition Units

The Army's Warrior Transition Units are designed as a place where Soldiers can concentrate on healing from wounds or injuries.

Gold Star Mothers

Mother's Day is a time when organizations like Gold Star Mothers offer support to those who have lost their children in service to their country.

Vets Names Added

The names of six more Americans are being added to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.

A Message to Garcia

1899

By Elbert Hubbard

In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly.

What to do!

Some one said to the President, "There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- "Carry a message to Garcia!"

General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.

No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been well nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man- the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, & half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, & sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant. You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office- six clerks are within call.

Summon any one and make this request: "Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio".

Will the clerk quietly say, "Yes, sir," and go do the task?

On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:

Who was he?

Which encyclopedia?

Where is the encyclopedia?

Was I hired for that?

Don’t you mean Bismarck?

What’s the matter with Charlie doing it?

Is he dead?

Is there any hurry?

Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?

What do you want to know for?

And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia- and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course I may lose my bet, but according to the Law of Average, I will not.

Now if you are wise you will not bother to explain to your "assistant" that Correggio is indexed under the C’s, not in the K’s, but you will smile sweetly and say, "Never mind," and go look it up yourself.

And this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put pure Socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all? A first-mate with knotted club seems necessary; and the dread of getting "the bounce" Saturday night, holds many a worker to his place.

Advertise for a stenographer, and nine out of ten who apply, can neither spell nor punctuate- and do not think it necessary to.

Can such a one write a letter to Garcia?

"You see that bookkeeper," said the foreman to me in a large factory.

"Yes, what about him?"

"Well he’s a fine accountant, but if I’d send him up town on an errand, he might accomplish the errand all right, and on the other hand, might stop at four saloons on the way, and when he got to Main Street, would forget what he had been sent for."

Can such a man be entrusted to carry a message to Garcia?

We have recently been hearing much maudlin sympathy expressed for the "downtrodden denizen of the sweat-shop" and the "homeless wanderer searching for honest employment," & with it all often go many hard words for the men in power.

Nothing is said about the employer who grows old before his time in a vain attempt to get frowsy ne’er-do-wells to do intelligent work; and his long patient striving with "help" that does nothing but loaf when his back is turned. In every store and factory there is a constant weeding-out process going on. The employer is constantly sending away "help" that have shown their incapacity to further the interests of the business, and others are being taken on. No matter how good times are, this sorting continues, only if times are hard and work is scarce, the sorting is done finer- but out and forever out, the incompetent and unworthy go.

It is the survival of the fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best- those who can carry a message to Garcia.

I know one man of really brilliant parts who has not the ability to manage a business of his own, and yet who is absolutely worthless to any one else, because he carries with him constantly the insane suspicion that his employer is oppressing, or intending to oppress him. He cannot give orders; and he will not receive them. Should a message be given him to take to Garcia, his answer would probably be, "Take it yourself."

Tonight this man walks the streets looking for work, the wind whistling through his threadbare coat. No one who knows him dare employ him, for he is a regular fire-brand of discontent. He is impervious to reason, and the only thing that can impress him is the toe of a thick-soled No. 9 boot.

Of course I know that one so morally deformed is no less to be pitied than a physical cripple; but in our pitying, let us drop a tear, too, for the men who are striving to carry on a great enterprise, whose working hours are not limited by the whistle, and whose hair is fast turning white through the struggle to hold in line dowdy indifference, slip-shod imbecility, and the heartless ingratitude, which, but for their enterprise, would be both hungry & homeless.

Have I put the matter too strongly? Possibly I have; but when all the world has gone a-slumming I wish to speak a word of sympathy for the man who succeeds- the man who, against great odds has directed the efforts of others, and having succeeded, finds there’s nothing in it: nothing but bare board and clothes.

I have carried a dinner pail & worked for day’s wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, and I know there is something to be said on both sides. There is no excellence, per se, in poverty; rags are no recommendation; & all employers are not rapacious and high-handed, any more than all poor men are virtuous.

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the "boss" is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly take the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets "laid off," nor has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town and village- in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed, & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia.

THE END

Troops Help Orphans

Soldiers in Afghanistan's Paktika Province are bringing smiles to children's faces this week.

Commentary: Remaining Vigilant For Freedom

By Army Sgt. Jon E. Dougherty

Special to American Forces Press Service

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan, Dec. 23, 2009 - As our families and friends back home celebrate the holidays, those of us on the ground in Afghanistan are continuing the fight against extremism. Because our enemy is relentless, we must also be as relentless. We know that in war, there are no holidays.

For the "Houn' Dawgs" of the Missouri National Guard's 203rd Engineer Battalion, to which I am attached, our operational tempo will remain high. Our combat logistics personnel will still be out on Afghanistan's dangerous roads, delivering critically needed fuel and other supplies to regional forward and combat operating bases.

They will be accompanied by their brothers and sisters in arms who will be manning the route-clearance packages, whose mission is to clear those same dangerous roads of improvised explosive devices and defend against ambushes and small-arms fire. Their schedule will carry them through Christmas and, most likely, New Year's Day as well.

But the combat engineers of the 203rd won't be the only unit still in action. So many others – military and civilian alike – still have responsibilities that don't end because of a date on the calendar.

Guard towers must still be manned, and medical care still provided. Mail delivery – so important, especially during this time of year – must go on.

Troops must be fed, and latrines, showers and common areas will still need to be kept clean and functioning. Laundry facilities must remain operational, and other basic base services such as security and flight operations continue. Also, training – which is so important to overall readiness – will continue unabated.

When troops are fortunate enough to have a few hours of leisure time, they will use it in various ways. Some will celebrate the holidays in small groups, opening presents and packages sent thousands of miles to them by friends and family back home who are trying their best to give us a taste of the holiday season and some semblance of normalcy in this foreign land. Others will simply spend time alone, in solace and reflection, thankful to get a few moments' peace. Still others will catch up on sleep, on laundry, on writing letters and e-mails, and other personal business. Some will be preparing for their inevitable next mission.

Not all is lost in the foggy pace of war. Soldiers are doing what they can to add their own touch of home to the season.

In the chow halls and tactical operations centers, in the office hallways and post exchanges, in the mine-resistant, armor-protected vehicles and on the doors of living quarters there are signs of the season and expressions of faith. Strings of lights – even on blacked-out bases – have popped up, and sparkling trees, tinsel, bulbs and streamers can be seen wherever I go.

In the morale, welfare and recreation centers, personnel wait patiently for a telephone or computer so they can communicate with wives, husbands, children, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters a world away. Seasonal programming, along with the customary sporting events for this time of year, filters through televisions via the American Forces Network. There is foosball and pingpong, popcorn and card games.

And though we worry about how our loved ones are managing back home – even as they worry about us – we are strengthened in the knowledge that while this may be our lives right now, it will not be our lives forever. Someday – sooner for some, longer for others – we are secure in the knowledge that we will return to that "other world" thousands of miles away to embrace our families and friends and resume our lives in peace.

Still, there are sacrifices. For me, personally, I will miss the tradition of going to Mass prior to getting together with my family on Christmas Eve to share stories, laughs and memories. I will miss the dinner Christmas Day with my extended family. And I will miss, especially, spending time with my small grandchildren, who I am sure do not fully understand why Grandpa isn't able to be with them this year.

I will miss counting down the moments until the New Year with friends, and I will miss the sense of community I always get this time of year from the people of my hometown of Jefferson City, Mo.

I will miss things that, I am sure, many other serving military personnel also are going to miss. But that's what is good about traditions -- they don't vanish when there are loved ones who remain behind to carry them on in our absence.

Despite our temporary hardships, for now our families and friends continue to depend on us to keep them safe and to do our part to protect our country against hate, extremism and terror. We know they understand, as we do, that while we would prefer to be back home sharing gifts and smiles, our presence here and throughout the world is necessary as a bulwark against violence and terror, in order to maintain the freedom and security all of them have come to expect.

That we could possibly bring such freedom and security to a people who have never known it makes this journey – and those who support us in it – that much more special this holiday season.

(Army Sgt. Jon E. Dougherty serves with the Missouri National Guard's 203rd Engineer Battalion.)