Telephone Ring Tones

Well I rose this morning had my coffee and set out to work. I was driving down 19th Avenue heading for the 280 Freeway when I spot a A.C.U. uniform behind the wheel of a van which government van. Sure enough it was a recruiter with 3 recruits. It made me to start to think of my son when he wanted to visit a recruiter when he was interested in the Military. I made him visit each service as I didn't want to influence my son's decisions on which service to join since I am a prior Army guy. After all the interviews with the different branches I liked the Army guy but kept that to myself. Alex chose the Army on his own even though the recruiter tried talking him out of the Infantry. Alex stood his ground and told the recruiter that it was the Infantry or nothing. Well, you know rest.

As I approached my personal parking space at work 15 minutes before a scheduled meeting at my office my cell phone rang, the tone was the Army Strong ring tone and knew that it was the one and only son of mine. Music to my ears I must say. As you know in my last posting last night I mentioned it has been two weeks since I spoke to him and have been pretty itchy to hear from him again. I guess he returned to Fortress last week after training up some National Guardsmen out at Camp Joyce. The bad news is he caught dysentery while at Joyce and has spent the last week on an IV. He said today is the best he has felt in the week he has been sick. Hey Jamie Scott! Your man is on his way home for R&R enjoy it! SGT Tanner C. is now the Mayor of Fortress , Congrats Vickie C.! D is doing well also and looking forward to returning home. Mellisa,
if you read this then this is for you. Alex has become good friends with D and enjoys serving with him when they are at the same base.

The photo above is of one of my son's N.C.O.'s SGT Davison whom commands my son along with SSG UPP.

Larry Arnone
San Francisco

AKA (A Bluestardad) and I want to keep it that way

On the Offensive

I am writing tonight after preparing care packages that will be sent to my son. After reading the many reports of attacks on our Outpost (OP), Forward Operating Bases (FOB) and let's not forget the Vehicle Patrol Bases (VPB) our fine Col. Chip P. has put the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team on the offensive. Some of you may or may not know but the Brigade has two Marine units attached to them. One is used solely for training the ANA throughout their Area of Operations (AO) and the other is used for offensive operations in the Shurvak, Narang, Korengal and Chowkay Valley's. I am glad the the Col. is bringing the fight to the enemy and foraging good faith with the local populace. My soldier (at last reported via phone) is currently at location 10 on the FRG site training up some National Guard Unit guys on Mortars. It looks like he may be out of the fight but I am sure he will be in it soon. It has been two weeks since I have heard from him but as I tell many parents "No news is great news" I still hope to hear from him soon.

I trust my son's life with Col. Chip P. He seems to be a commander that knows how too command a team of soldiers that can make an affect on the population and accomplish a mission. I will be honest with everyone here, This deployment has not been easy for me as I am not a reader of the magic ball and can determine the future. Many of you are doing many things in the background in supporting our soldiers and I want to thank you for that. Tankerbabelc is also doing many good things and she can be found on the VOX blog site.

I want to thank the following readers for your support during the history of this Blog, since the deployment. Vickie C. you have been great and I truly hope that we cross paths some day. Ronnie and Cheri S. love you guy's! Mel, well you know how I feel. Barb, you are awesome and so many others, thanks for staying in touch. Our guy's will be coming home soon. One last reach out is to a Mother, that I had corresponded with just before she lost her son too this war. Mrs. Miracle and a Father of 1st LT. Ben Hall who died protecting his men on July 31st and I want to include the other 31 families who have sacrificed their loved ones in this battle. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE SACRIFICED I will always think of your loss, and this country's loss. My words will never be enough. As I close I want to thank all of the family members that have loved ones serving in this war. It's not fair that they serve such long tours but I go to bed each and every night knowing they are making a difference, They are the cream of the crop. AIRBORNE!

Best Wishes,

Larry Arnone
San Francisco

AKA ABlueStarDad ( I want to keep it that way)

Returning to friendly diggs and nice people

Hello everyone,

I have been blessed with being able to correspond with some of my readers. I have had the privilege of corresponding with a particular Dad located right here in the Bay Area of San Francisco who enjoyed a great R&R with his soldier these last 18 days. The purpose of my post is this, many of our guy's are coming home and maybe affected with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I am not trying to be negative, I am just trying to be positive here.

My new friends son returned recently for R&R after a long tour in Afghanistan and has returned just a few days ago to the same country. As most of you know I do withhold certain information when asked to, so in this case I will not be revealing any names. I promised the soldiers father that I wouldn't and so I won't, however this should not take away the importance of my topic here.

P.T.S.D. is real but the good news is it can be treated with just a few days home with friends and family and in some cases with medical help. So that you know the government has passed a law that Veterans are now afforded help for 5 years after discharge from the Army.

Now back to my real story, so my new friends son returns for some R&R and has a great time visiting friends and family. During his leave he attends a Track & Field event as his Dad has some involvement with. It's suppose to be a great day meeting new people and seeing his Dad doing what he loves. At the beginning of the meet a starters pistol fires and they are off and our soldier is doing what any other soldier does serving our nation, reacting to enemy fire. Ladies and Gentleman, this is classic sign of some level of P.T.S.D. My own son displayed some classic signs of this when he came home. although those symptoms were not present when he left one only wonders.

They will be in Italy for at least 30 days before being allowed to return home for leave some maybe they will be adjusted before returning home but please monitor them. Get them help if need be, these soldiers are so reluctant to seek help so they need us to to help them.

To the father that has shared with me, thank you Sir. I hope your soldier returns ready to face a life of happiness. My son also experienced some bad moments while traveling home. I think I understand these moments and want to help you all if I can. Read a previous post on P.TS.D I wrote, I hope it helps.

Larry Arnone
San Francisco

A Blue Star Dad (I want to keep it that way)

Thank you to all of our troops

He hit the Nail on the head

~Limbaugh Nailed This One~




Love him or loathe him, he nailed this one right on the head..........

By Rush Limbaugh:

I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound No one is really talking about it either, because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.

If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.

Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.

Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers. (Actually, soldiers are put in harms way by politicians and commanding officers.)

We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.

You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense?

However, our own US Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system. If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7, they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harm's way receives a pension of $15,000 per month.

I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.

" When do we finally do something about this?" If this doesn't seem fair to you, it is time to forward this to as many people as you can.

How many people

CAN YOU

send this to?

****************************

How many

WILL YOU

A fallen soldiers love for his brother never dies

I want to thank a friend of mine that is also a Mother of one of our soldiers stationed out of Fortress. If you remember back in November of last year we lost one of our own SSG Matthew Blaskowski. Well he may have fallen but his parents are busy doing what Matt would want to be done for his battle buddies. Lets showMatt's parents that have sacrificed so much that we all stand together as a team just like our sons and daughters are doing right now to get through this deployment. Lets welcome them home in Italy with a hero's welcome and you don't have to be physically be there if you are not able. Please take the time to check out this link to find out how you can help Matt's parents achieve what Matt would have done if he were still with us today. Thanks in advance for taking a look. To Mat's parents, thank you for your sacrifice and more importantly to Matt for your love of your fellow battle buddies, may you rest in piece as I will be forever be in debt to you. ,http://www.9and10news.com/category/story/?id=132873

Larry Arnone
San Franciscico
AKA Bluestardad (and I want to keep it that way)