"Military academies see surge in applications" by Brian Witte, Associated Press | June 17, 2009
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Applications have surged at the nation’s three top military academies as tough economic times coincide with stepped-up recruiting efforts by the Army, Navy, and Air Force schools, making the prospect of free college and a steady job look sweeter.
Almost AS IF PLANNED, huh?
The recession has already helped drive higher military recruitment and retention. Stronger student response to recruiting campaigns by the three academies, who want to increase minority ranks in the officer corps, comes as the recession has reduced college scholarships, and other financial aid....
Colonel Deborah McDonald, director of admissions at West Point said students also mentioned economic reasons for wanting to attend, particularly in light of the recession’s effect on college funds....
Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler, the Naval Academy’s superintendent, said a big part of the increase in applications in Annapolis is due to the school’s summer seminar. The program brings students who have finished their junior year of high school to the academy for six days to show them what life would be like at the picturesque riverside campus....
The Naval Academy also has been reaching out to students in seventh and eighth grades to emphasize the importance of developing math and science skills to help raise chances of admission....
I thought ONLY TERRORISTS RECRUITED 13- and 14-year-olds!!!!!
--more--"
Then again, kid, that's where you will meet the girl of your dreams:
BAGHDAD - They still feel like newlyweds, five years into their marriage. A lucky couple?
No, Nathan and Jennifer Williams just haven’t seen much of each other.
Sounds like the perfect marriage. Probably why they are still together.
The Army captains have each been deployed twice to Iraq on 12-month tours - but in different locations. Back home, they spent at least another year apart because of training. All told, they have been together for two of their five years of marriage.
The Williamses are among thousands of military couples whose lives have been disrupted by multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Starting a family has been put on hold. And time alone together is precious....
All over LIES!
Stationed at different outposts in Baghdad 6 miles apart, they rarely had the chance to see each other in person - just once or twice a month....
Still, the Williamses are luckier than many military couples, particularly those who have lost loved ones in battle....
And starting this month, it’s a relative honeymoon....
In a series of interviews, they remained relatively upbeat about their lives, coping with the harsh demands of their jobs while not losing sight of what is needed to remain close. Rather than heading home to see family and friends, the Williamses are taking their mid-tour break in New Zealand and Australia next month so that they can have some time together....
For seven months, Nathan and his 150-member infantry company used a Saddam Hussein-era bomb shelter in a northern Baghdad district as their outpost while his wife was stationed on the other side of town at Camp Victory. Nathan worked an average of 16 to 18 hours a day. He had problems sleeping and survived mostly on cookies and energy drinks. He worried about his soldiers, mostly in their late teens or early 20s....
--more--"He should worry about them:
"Artificial arm stirs hopes of wounded" by Steve Vogel, Washington Post | June 5, 2009
WASHINGTON - If the trial is successful, the robotic arm could restore a measure of freedom for injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a significantly higher proportion of whom have lost arms than in previous conflicts.
The device was developed by Deka Research and Development, the New Hampshire company whose founder, Dean Kamen, invented the Segway and various medical devices. Deka undertook the project 30 months ago as part of a $100 million program to revolutionize prosthetics sponsored by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)....
The COST of BUSH (and now Obama) LIES will be felt for DECADES and BEYOND!!!!
About 22 percent of the 820 American troops injured in Iraq or Afghanistan who have suffered major amputation have lost arms. In Vietnam, it was about 4 percent, Downs said. The reason is ever-improving medical treatment in the field and speedy evacuations. "In Vietnam, the blast that would blow off your arm was usually able to damage your torso so much it would kill you," Downs said.
You know, I'm glad not as many guys are dying; however, was it NECESSARY to SEND THEM THERE on LIES? This ALL COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED!!!!!!
The DARPA project aims to bring arm prosthetics into the 21st century. The VA study is being conducted with DARPA under the direction of Linda Resnik at the VA Medical Center in Providence. Veterans fitted with the arm will provide feedback to help engineers refine the prototype.
They must be EXPECTING A LOT MORE THEN, huh?
Users control the arm via sensors embedded in a shoe, maneuvering it by putting pressure on different parts of the foot. Wires relay the signals to the arm, but future versions will be wireless.
Downs sometimes visits Walter Reed Army Medical Center to encourage soldiers who have lost arms, but he said he has tried not to oversell the Deka arm's potential.
"It's important not to get expectations too high when things are at this stage," he said.
Still, interest in the arm is growing. It was featured in a recent "60 Minutes" episode on CBS....
Amazing what the press can do when they set their minds to it, 'eh?
Maybe on day they will actually stop a war.
--more--"
At least you will get the cheers:
HYDE PARK, VT. - For Private First Class Andrew Parker, it was a bittersweet homecoming: He was hailed as a hero, feted with a star-spangled parade, and showered with gifts at a welcome home ceremony.
He watched it all from a wheelchair.
Parker, a 21-year-old US Army cavalry scout, was paralyzed in November when a roadside bomb blew up the vehicle he was driving on patrol in Afghanistan.
Yesterday, after months of rehabilitation in Veterans Administration hospitals and a community fund-raising effort that added wheelchair-accessible accommodations to his parents’ house, the wounded warrior came home.
Of course, the MILITARY WOULDN'T PAY for it!!!! Too busy tossing bonuses at KBR for electrocuting soldiers.
Riding in his wheelchair in the back of a flatbed truck, a smiling Parker took in the flag-waving well-wishers and the hand-lettered signs - “For your sacrifice and our freedom’’ and “Thank you, Andrew’’ among them - on a 6-mile parade to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7779....
In the bombing, Parker was thrown from the vehicle and landed on his head, breaking his neck. He was paralyzed from the chest down. He has movement in his arms, but his hands are severely injured. His injury triggered an outpouring of support in his small northern Vermont hometown.
Diane Marcoux-Laclair - Parker’s former kindergarten teacher - and others solicited donations and in-kind services so his parents could renovate their modest ranch house, turning a garage into a new living space with a wheelchair ramp, and a special shower, bed, and living area. All told, the work cost about $100,000....
And here this government tosses away TRILLIONS!!!! What a BETRAYAL!!!!!
