A Fitting Memorial to Veterans on a WWII Monument in India

-By Warner Todd Huston

An inscription on a WWII monument in Kohima, India fittingly describes the sacrifices that our soldiers make with their service to our nation. And on this Veterans Day it is also fitting to focus on it. The Inscription says:

“When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.”

What could be a more fitting tribute to the sacrifices made by our fallen loved ones, comrades, and servants? They gave their last full measure so we could enjoy the freedoms we are so fortunate to have today. They gave their lives for our benefit in the truest definition of sacrifice.

This memorial commemorates the Allied dead that faced the Japanese 15th Army upon its invasion of India in March of 1944. The invasion was beaten back by June of the same year through the sacrifice of these Allied troops.

The words are attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875 -1958), an English Classicist who in 1916 added them to a collection of 12 epitaphs to commemorate World War One. Adding the inscription to the Kohima monument was a suggestion by Major John Etty-Leal, the GSO II of the 2nd Division who was a classical scholar in civilian life.

The verse is thought to have been inspired by the Greek lyric poet Simonides of Ceos (556-468 BC) who wrote after the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC: “Go tell the Spartans, thou that passest by, That faithful to their precepts here we lie.”

And now we too can recall this verse etched into a stone in a far away and foreign land as a perfect tribute to our fallen as well as for those who gave service to their fellows by wearing the uniform of our armed forces.

So, thank you all. We appreciate your sacrifice. And happy Veterans Day.
Continue reading


A Fitting Memorial to Veterans on a WWII Monument in India”


80 Christian Airmen Being Punished, Harassed, Threatened for Refusing to Support Gay Marriage

-By Warner Todd Huston

80 members of the Air Force at one base are testifying that they are being harassed, threatened and even punished because they refuse to support gay “marriage.”

Fox News’ Todd Starnes has the exclusive story of airmen at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas who say they are being attacked by homosexual militants.

Starnes reports: “There is an atmosphere of intimidation at Lackland Air Force Base,” said Steve Branson, the pastor of Village Parkway Baptist Church in San Antonio. “Gay commanders and officers are pushing their agenda on the airmen. There is a culture of fear in the military and it’s gone to a new level with the issue of homosexuality.”

The pastor says he attended a meeting of many of these Airmen where they voiced their concerns over being harassed by their superiors for standing up for their own, personal religious principles and continuing to oppose the homosexual agenda.
Continue reading


80 Christian Airmen Being Punished, Harassed, Threatened for Refusing to Support Gay Marriage”


THIS Is What American Troops Are Made Of…

-By Warner Todd Huston

To honor our troops for this year, I am going to share this story about their mettle. What follows are excerpts from remarks by Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly made to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis on November 13, 2010. While leading his platoon on a combat patrol, Kelly’s son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, had been killed in action four days earlier in Sangin, in southern Afghanistan. Lt. Kelly was only 29-years-old.

Giving Thanks for Our Warriors

“Those with less of a sense of service to the nation never understand it when men and women of character step forward to look danger and adversity straight in the eye, refusing to blink, or give ground, even to their own deaths… No, they are not victims but are warriors, your warriors, and warriors are never victims regardless of how and where they fall. Death, or fear of death, has no power over them. Their paths are paved by sacrifice, sacrifices they gladly make… for you….

“Two years ago when I was the commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 ‘The Walking Dead,’ and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi… Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines… Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle-class white kid from Long Island. They were from two completely different worlds… But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.
Continue reading


THIS Is What American Troops Are Made Of…”


The Birth of Memorial Day

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few years after the Civil War as the nation started upon its long road toward reconciliation, rebuilding, and healing the wife of one of the war’s union generals noticed the touching devotion of Confederate widows, wives and their children as each year they came together to place flowers and little flags at the graves of their fallen. Mary Simmerson Cunningham Logan was so moved by the devotion she witnessed that she urged her husband, Illinois General John A. “Blackjack” Logan, to look into creating what was to become Memorial Day.

General Logan was a Senator from Illinois and eventually became a candidate for Vice President on the 1884 Republican ticket, losing to Grover Cleveland and another Illinoisan, Vice President Adlai Stevenson. But before all that Logan was instrumental in creating Decoration Day, the celebration of the nation’s war dead that eventually became Memorial Day.

The following is the general order that Logan issued in 1868.

HEADQUARTERS GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
General Orders No.11, WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 1868

The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

Continue reading


The Birth of Memorial Day”


Meet Lindsey Stone, The Disrespectful Gutter Snipe That Hates Our Soldiers

-By Warner Todd Huston

Meet Lindsey Stone. She’s the chubby little scumbag, punk that posted on her Facebook account a photo showing her giving the finger to our troops and pretending to scream at a sign at Arlington National Cemetery that asked visitors to be respectfully quiet among the graves of our fallen heroes.


Lindsey Stone, self-professed “douchebag.”

Of course, like all cowards of her stripe in the modern age, as soon as people started ripping her bloated rear-end, she scrubbed her Facebook account, but before she did she had a whiny little explanation of sorts to explain why she is such a skank.


Lindsey Stone, self-professed “douchebag,” pretends she wasn’t being disrespectful by giving the troops the finger.

Sorry you little turd. No one believes your back pedaling now. You know and we know that you were giving the finger to the millions that have died in service to our country.

You deserve this blowback, you little cretin.

Remember: THIS is Obama’s America.
Continue reading


Meet Lindsey Stone, The Disrespectful Gutter Snipe That Hates Our Soldiers”


Happy Veterans Day, 2012: Why OUR Veterans Are Different

America is a singularly different nation where it concerns our military veterans. We love them. We even have a national holiday to honor them. This is not so in most of the rest of the world. Elsewhere military veterans are not so loved as they are here.

Is that because the United States is the Sparta of the world, loving war more than anything else? Hardly. In fact its because our soldiers bring peace wherever they go, not perpetual war.

In other countries, soldiers are usually the dregs of society, living off the people while at the same time lording over them with machine guns and violence.

In other countries the military is feared by both the people and the government because all too often the army is used to take power and steal away the government for its own aggrandizement. There is no accident that the word “coup” is one rarely spoken in the USA unless when viewing foreign news.

So, not in America. In the USA we respect our soldiers because they respect us as much as they respect the law.

When an American sees a soldier an American will feel pride, not fear. When an American hears that a fellow is a veteran, an American thanks that fellow for his service.

In other countries when people see soldiers they fear them, they loathe them. In other countries they don’t want to sit near soldiers on public transportation, they avoid eye contact. Here we shake their hand and ask if they need anything.

So, from us to you, our dear military veterans, we thank you. We thank you for putting your lives on hold while serving us, while making sure we are safe and able to go about our business unafraid of danger, and for putting your own safety at risk.

Happy Veterans Day to you all.
Continue reading


Happy Veterans Day, 2012: Why OUR Veterans Are Different”


Kirk/Kinzinger Highlight Dec. 3rd Deadline to Mail Holiday Packages to Troops Overseas

From the office of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R, Illinois 11th District)…

USPS Deadline: December 3rd

CHICAGO – With the holidays upon us, U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.-11) today joined with student veterans at DePaul University to highlight the fast approaching U.S. Postal Service mailing deadline to send care packages to U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East.

“This is the season of giving, and we must not forget the brave service members who sacrifice so much for our freedom” Sen. Kirk said. “Every American should make a conscious effort to support them in anyway possible.”

“Having served a few tours overseas, getting something in the mail from home – whether it was a letter or package – always reminded me that my family and friends back in the States were thinking of me,” Rep. Kinzinger said. “Our courageous men and women forgo spending the holidays with their loved ones to answer the call of duty and put their life at risk for the sake of all Americans. We must be especially mindful to show our gratitude for their sacrifice during the holiday season. Their fortitude is the reason for our liberty.”

Continue reading


Kirk/Kinzinger Highlight Dec. 3rd Deadline to Mail Holiday Packages to Troops Overseas”


Every Generation, A Salute to America’s Veterans

A thank you to our veterans for the sacrifices they’ve made in the name of freedom featuring comments from Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Don Stenberg, Dan Liljenquist, and Adam Hasner.

Freedom Works debuted this great video for Veteran’s Day while we were in Denver this past weekend. It is now up at Youtube and, even though the holiday is past, I thought I’d feature the video today.


Happy Veterans Day and thanks again for your support of Cooking with the Troops

300x250

The idea for Cooking With the Troops grew out of a joint event between Bob Miller and C. Blake Powers. Bob Miller began doing barbecues at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2005, and Blake Powers began doing food events as a result of his first embed in Iraq in 2007, working through the charity Soldiers’ Angels. Bob suggested doing a joint event at Malogne House at Walter Reed, with Bob and his volunteers doing a barbecue and to be followed by a dessert bar afterwards.
Continue reading


Happy Veterans Day and thanks again for your support of Cooking with the Troops”


Thank You Veterans

-By Warner Todd Huston

America is a singularly different nation where it concerns our military veterans. We love them. We even have a national holiday to honor them. This is not so in most of the rest of the world. Elsewhere military veterans are not so loved as they are here.

Is that because the United States is the Sparta of the world, loving war more than anything else? Hardly. In fact its because our soldiers bring peace wherever they go, not perpetual war.

In other countries, soldiers are usually the dregs of society, living off the people while at the same time lording over them with machine guns and violence.
Continue reading


Thank You Veterans”


Obama’s Contempt for Our Soldiers

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama made what many are calling a mere “mistake” when he visited the 10th Mountain Division. His “mistake” came in when he said that a soldier that received the Medal of Honor was still alive.

Of course, the soldier in question, Sergeant First Class Jared Monti, was killed in Iraq in 2006 and did receive his Medal of Honor posthumously.

Here is what the president said:

“First time I saw 10th Mountain Division, you guys were in southern Iraq. When I went back to visit Afghanistan, you guys were the first ones there. I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously.”

Now, why do I say that this shows Obama’s contempt for the military? Because no one should make such a “mistake” as this. Obama and his team miserably failed to get the facts on this most important of facts.
Continue reading


Obama’s Contempt for Our Soldiers”


Kinzinger Reaction to the President’s Remarks Regarding Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan

From the Office of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R, IL)…

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-11), a pilot in the Air National Guard, issued the following statement on the President’s announced plans in Afghanistan:

“Last month during my trip to Afghanistan, I spoke with generals on the ground who believe we are winning and have turned the corner. The wrong thing to do at this stage would be to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, which will happen if the number of troops withdrawn exceeds the recommendations of our generals. Decisions regarding troop withdrawals must be determined by conditions on the ground, not political timelines.

“Stability in Afghanistan remains a top priority in the interest of our national security. History will judge us by the decisions we made to ensure the safety of our men and women overseas and of our country during this critical time. Our mission must be about the long-term safety of our nation, not the next election – this is something we cannot lose sight of.”

http://kinzinger.house.gov/


Obama: Who Needs Victory When We Can Negotiate With The TahleeBahn?

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Barack Obama came before the American people tonight to unleash his latest campaign speech disguised as a foreign policy address. It was a presentation that even Politico calls “boring and predictable, balanced to please critics,” and one that “did not change the debate about the war.” But, one thing does seem like news. Obama never used the word victory and he also said we’d negotiate with the Taliban – an enemy he annoyingly insists on calling the Tahleebahn.

One singular theme emerged from this speech. Apparently, to President Obama, “victory” does not mean a win, but it only means a settling with negotiations with our enemies. Very Chamberlainesque, isn’t it?

But there were quite a few odd statements made by the president tonight. One was his claim that Usamma bin Laden was the “only leader al Qaeda has ever known.” This is absurd. There have been dozens of al Qaeda leaders and we killed many of them long before we finally got to bin Laden.
Continue reading


Obama: Who Needs Victory When We Can Negotiate With The TahleeBahn?”


McConnell Wants Terror Suspects Held in Kentucky to be Sent to Gitmo

-By Warner Todd Huston

Why are a pair of foreign terrorists sitting in a jail in Kentucky? That’s what Senate GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to know. He wants them sent to the facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they belong.

Why is the Justice Department doing this? Why expose our heartland to these monsters?
Continue reading


McConnell Wants Terror Suspects Held in Kentucky to be Sent to Gitmo”


Kinzinger: Washington Must Get Serious About Reducing Spending and Growing our Economy‏

From the office of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R, ILL)…

Kinzinger: Washington must get serious about reducing spending and growing our economy

On 6/3, Congressman Adam Kinzinger joined Neil Cavuto on Fox Business to discuss the Freshman meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the debt ceiling.

http://kinzinger.house.gov/


Assistance from a Grateful Nation

From Operation Homefront…

Watch this Brief Video — Help Us Support Illinois Military Families

Each year, thousands of Illinoisans bid goodbye to their families, friends and loved ones to deploy all over the world and defend our country.

These are the brave men and women of our Armed Forces.

But what about their families? What about the husbands, wives and children who are left behind?
Continue reading


Assistance from a Grateful Nation”


U.S. Rep. Roskam Marches in Wheaton Memorial Day Parade

-By Warner Todd Huston

Memorial Day Parade, Wheaton, Ill– Illinois Congressman Peter Roskam (R, 6th District) walked in the Wheaton Memorial Day Parade to some applause and ended the exercise by speaking to those assembled at the Wheaton Cemetery to commemorate those that have served us in peace and war and those who gave their last full measure so that we could remain the last best hope of the world.

The weather could not have been better as the parade stepped off this morning. The skies were clear and Summer temperatures had finally arrived. As the route rolled on the heat did tend to rise, though. Still, compared to the dismal weather we’ve seen the last few months, this Memorial Day was a welcome respite.

Rep. Roskam had a group of about fifty supporters march with him and I joined them to document the event. As we walked the distance from downtown Wheaton to the Wheaton Cemetery it was obvious that the congressman had many fans along the route. There were surprised smiles and a healthy amount of applause as the congressman and his lovely wife led the contingent.
Continue reading


U.S. Rep. Roskam Marches in Wheaton Memorial Day Parade”


Memorial Day 2011: THIS Is What American Troops Are Made Of…

-By Warner Todd Huston

For Memorial Day, I don’t usually post much, preferring to dedicate the day to memorializing our troops. To do that this year, I am going to share this story about the mettle of our troops. What follows are excerpts from remarks by Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis on November 13, 2010. Kelly’s son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, 29, had been killed in action four days earlier in Sangin, in southern Afghanistan, while leading his platoon on a combat patrol:

Giving Thanks for Our Warriors

“Those with less of a sense of service to the nation never understand it when men and women of character step forward to look danger and adversity straight in the eye, refusing to blink, or give ground, even to their own deaths… No, they are not victims but are warriors, your warriors, and warriors are never victims regardless of how and where they fall. Death, or fear of death, has no power over them. Their paths are paved by sacrifice, sacrifices they gladly make… for you….

“Two years ago when I was the commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 ‘The Walking Dead,’ and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi… Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines… Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle-class white kid from Long Island. They were from two completely different worlds… But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.
Continue reading


Memorial Day 2011: THIS Is What American Troops Are Made Of…”


OH-IL Providing $50,000 Home Remodeling as a “Warm Welcome Home” to Chicago-area Military Family

-By Dan Proft

Last week, we emailed you to provide a brief introduction of Operation Homefront-Illinois, a vital organization formed immediately after 9/11 to provide emergency assistance to Illinois’ military families with a spouse deployed and wounded warriors who have returned home from service.

There are many ways we’re serving military families here in Illinois — including a new program we were pleased to launch with Galaxie Home Remodeling and WLS 890-AM.

This spring, WLS 890AM and Galaxie Home Remodeling are teaming up with Operation Homefront-Illinois for Warm Welcome Home – a program to thank a military family by remodeling their home! It’s our way of saying thank you to just one of the many families who sacrifice for our country.

Please click here to learn more about this great new program to help Chicago-area military families.

Military families from across the family are being nominated for and applying for this program.
Continue reading


OH-IL Providing $50,000 Home Remodeling as a “Warm Welcome Home” to Chicago-area Military Family”


Ill. Reps. Roskam and Kinzinger on Troop Funding Bill

Two of Illinois’ Congressmen have released statements on the Troop Funding issue that has arisen with this looming government shutdown. The White House has claimed that our soldiers — many of whom are currently at war — won’t get paid.

Congressman Peter Roskam, 6th District Representative and the Chief Deputy Whip of The House Republicans, and Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, he of the 11th District, have each released a statement on the paying of our troops.

Congressman Peter Roskam

“A full 47 days after the House first passed H.R. 1 – and a year after House Democrats failed to even introduce a budget – the House has once again acted to keep the government open, cut spending, and fund the troops for the rest of the year. It is astonishing that President Obama is threatening to veto a bill to fund our troops – without stating a single policy objection – particularly when our troops are now in three different foreign conflicts. I’m disheartened the White House and Senate Democrats are putting politics ahead of funding our troops and keeping the government open. We owe it to our troops to make sure they are getting paid when in harm’s way.”

http://roskam.house.gov/

Congressman Adam Kinzinger

Today, on the 47th day since the House passed H.R. 1, Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) spoke out in support of the Troop Funding Bill which would fund the Department of Defense through the remainder of FY2011, while cutting $12 billion in federal spending and keeping the government running for one week so a long-term solution will be reached, avoiding a government shutdown.

“As a military pilot, I have friends serving our country who are wondering if they’re going to get paid if the government does shutdown. I say, ‘Ask Harry Reid; we’ve tried to make sure you continue to get paid.’

“I’m disappointed by the news that our Commander-in-Chief has threatened to veto this legislation that would ensure members of the military receive their paychecks and avoids a government shutdown. I urge the Senate to stand up for the men and women who put their lives on the line and make certain they receive funding while making real spending cuts.

“I was sent here to cut spending and make government efficient and effective, not just in the short term, but in the long run for our children and grandchildren. I don’t think it’s any secret that we cannot continue down this reckless trajectory. We’ve kicked the can down the road for too long and now, there’s no more road left.

“It’s time to tackle the spending to ensure the fiscal soundness of this country for future generations.”

http://kinzinger.house.gov/


Movie Review: Newt Gingrich’s America At Risk

-By Warner Todd Huston

In Washington D.C. on Sept. 12 I attended the star studded premiere of the new film America at Risk: The War With No Name, featuring Newt and Callista Gingrich and a dozen well respected experts on the subject of the War on Terror. The event was held at the Newseum, a block or so from the National Mall.

America At Risk clearly reveals the dangers that radical Islam still presents to American security and safety. We are still at war with radical Islam and it is a war we are at best treading water on and at worst actually losing. The biggest problem, according to the film, is our current president. Obama refuses even to recognize that we are at war and is constantly undermining our past efforts and leaving us open for future attack.

In fact, the movie makes a strong case that the U.S.A. doesn’t even have a serious global strategy to fight radical Islam and that the only reason we haven’t had a new major attack is because we’ve been lucky more than we’ve been good at preventing them. The film says that it isn’t a matter of “if” we get hit again, but when.
Continue reading


Movie Review: Newt Gingrich’s America At Risk”


Unions Holding Up Cash for the Troops

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week the Washington Times had a story that should enrage every true American. The Democrat Congress is allowing Big Labor’s needs to come before the needs of our troops. The supplemental budget that Congress is considering is supposed to be about funding the troops and their efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Democrats are more interested in how many payoffs for Big Labor they can stuff into the thing then in funding the troops.

Like most supplementals, this bill began with a singular purpose: paying war expenses. It since has been larded with billions in wasteful projects and programs designed to attract the vote of the left-of-center members with no fondness for the military. Among the House-approved giveaways are a $10 billion bailout for big-spending local governments, loan guarantees worth $9 billion for purported renewable energy, $3 billion for black farmers and American Indians who sued the government and $1 billion for summertime “youth activities.”

Even worse is the language to nationalize our first responders, policemen, and firemen. (As we talked about HERE)
Continue reading


Unions Holding Up Cash for the Troops”


A Tale of Two Women

-By John Armor

“Important” events happened recently to two women. The relative attention paid and press coverage about the two tells a lot about where we are as a nation, and it isn’t good. The two women are Lindsay Lohan and Pam Murphy.

All of you know that Lindsay Lohan is a spoiled, self-centered, self-destructive twit who was just sentenced to 90 days in jail for multiple instances of contempt of court. But how many of you know who Pam Murphy was? Let’s not always see the same hands.

Pam Murphy was the widow of Audie Murphy, the most decorated US soldier from WW II. Here is how an article in Veterans Today on 10 April, 2010, described her:
Continue reading


A Tale of Two Women”


The Cogent Response to Gays in the Military

From the Only Ones Whose Opinion Matters_-By Resa LaRu Kirkland

I was intending to write an article on this subject myself, but was blown away by a letter I received from a warrior who is overseas, doing history’s work: fighting for freedom. His response is the epitome of logical sequencing and reasoned analysis, scientific in its conclusions and mathematical in its preciseness.

In other words, indisputable in its truth, the final nail in the coffin of iron-gripped Political Castration.

There is no way I could have done better. I am printing it here unabridged, and as per his request, giving no clues to his name or service. Shame, really, that he must fear retaliation for truth. Such a response is supposed to be reserved for the lie.

Welcome to Armageddon…with our permission born of sloth.
Continue reading


The Cogent Response to Gays in the Military”