Wounded Vet Meets GI Who Saved Him

Wounded war vet reunites with Vt. GI who saved him
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — A GI who lost his legs in Afghanistan says he’s grateful for the quick action of a fellow soldier who helped save his life after a roadside bombing. Sgt. Edward Matayka reunited Saturday with Specialist David Schwerer at a homecoming ceremony for Vermont National Guard Troops returning from a one-year war zone Deployment. Matayka, a 33-year-old Army medic from Lee, N.H., lost his limbs and suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed in the July 2 bomb...

Arizona representative first to meet with border guards - Scott Wong
In an attempt to show her border-security credentials, Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Friday will become Arizona’s first elected official to meet with National Guard Troops recently deployed to the state’s nearly 370-mile border with Mexico. She’ll start her morning by meeting with Soldiers training in Tucson, then head south to observe Troops patrolling the border in Nogales. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 Giffords, first elected to southern Arizon...

Medevac soldiers honored for their heroism during ceremony
ANSBACH, Germany — It was the worst battle for German forces since World War II: eight German Soldiers were severely injured in an ambush by an estimated 200 Taliban forces on April 2, outside the city of Kunduz in northern, Afghanistan. Three of the men later died of their wounds. But the death toll could have been higher if not for a group of U.S. Soldiers who were part of an Army medical Evacuation unit in the area. Eight of those Soldiers — from the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviatio...

An Army-Navy party for wounded vets
It makes sense that a marathon tailgate party at The Army-Navy game was organized by a bunch of long-distance runners. And so it was 5:30 a.m. when Mike Erwin steered a rented truck into the M Parking Lot at Lincoln Financial Field - more than nine hours before the coin toss for the 111th gridiron showdown between the archrivals. Temperatures were still in the 20s on the dark and quiet Saturday morning, a time when dedicated marathoners are usually out training. But for this special event, Erwin...

Suicide bombing kills 6 NATO troops in Afghanistan
US Soldiers stand guard at a temporary barrier preventing access to the scene of an explosion in Kandahar south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010. A Car Bomb exploded outside a Police headquarters in Kandahar, wounding at least six people and blowing out the windows of buildings up to a mile (1.6 km) away, officials said. KABUL, Afghanistan -- An explosives-packed minibus blew up at the entrance of a joint NATO-Afghan base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing six NATO troo...

Huge Bomb Kills 6 U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan...
KABUL - Six U.S. Troops were killed Sunday when a man rammed a minivan packed with explosives into a newly built Military installation in Kandahar Province, U.S. and Afghan officials said. The attack in a farming village in Zhari district, a Taliban stronghold where American Soldiers are attempting to restore Afghan government control, was the latest in a string of incidents that have made the onset of winter here unusually deadly. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a stateme...

Mass. loses third soldier in two weeks
A 21-year-old Fall River soldier was killed in Afghanistan Saturday, the third soldier from Massachusetts to die in two weeks. Ethan Goncalo deployed to Afghanistan in October with the 181st Infantry Regiment of the Massachusetts National Guard. He was due to return home on leave Thursday. “He was the man,” Brett Duarte, 19, of Fall River said of his cousin. “He was that person you would want to call when you were feeling down. He could always put a smile on your face. He alwa...

Arrests in Afghan attacks that killed six American soldiers
Several suspects have been arrested after a Suicide Attack killed six American Troops when an explosives-packed minibus blew up at the entrance of a joint NATO-Afghan base in southern Afghanistan, officials said Monday. The blast on Sunday was the deadliest attack on coalition Troops this month. NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz said Monday that several arrests were made Sunday night. “Individuals believed to be involved in yesterday’s attack have been arrested by Afghan and coal...

Mullen: No big change in US troops in Afghanistan
The top U.S. Military officer says he doesn't foresee big changes to the number of U.S. forces fighting in Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen told Troops there won't be any significant increases over the current level of roughly 100,000. But he says there won't be big decreases either. The Obama Administration plans to begin a modest withdrawal in July next year. Mullen spoke in Iraq, where he's making a holiday-season visit to troops....

Afghan attack kills at least six foreign troops
A German Bundeswehr army Military Police soldier casts a shadow during a joint mission with U.S. army Soldiers with the 137th Military Police detachment in Nawabad, north of Kunduz, northern Afghanistan December 11, 2010. Ismail Sameem, Reuters · Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010 Kandahar, Afghanistan - An insurgent attack in south Afghanistan killed at least six foreign Troops and two Afghan Soldiers on Sunday, officials said, days before Washington is due to complete a review of its war strategy. Gen...

Van bomb explodes near US outpost collapsing building, killing six
Image via Wikipedia C.J. Chivers, NY Times: Six American Soldiers were killed and more than a dozen American and Afghan Soldiers were wounded on Sunday morning when a van packed with explosives detonated beside a small joint outpost in southern Afghanistan. The Soldiers were at a new strong point in a small mud-walled building near the village of Sangsar, north of the Arghandab River, when the bomber drove up to one of the building’s walls and exploded his charge at about 9 a.m. The bla...

Taliban suicide bomber kills 6 US and 2 Afghan troops in south
A Taliban Suicide Bomber killed six US Soldiers and two Afghan Troops in a Suicide Attack that targeted a newly established outpost in a region of Kandahar known as the "heart of darkness." The Taliban claimed it carried out the attack. The Suicide Bomber detonated a minibus packed with explosives at the gate of a small combat outpost manned by US and Afghan Troops in the town of Sangsar in the district of Zhari in Kandahar Province. The Suicide Bomber was able to get past Afghan Soldiers who ...

6 NATO troops killed in attack in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - Six NATO service members were killed Sunday in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, the international alliance said in a statement. NATO did not give further details, in keeping with a policy of waiting for individual countries from the alliance to identify their casualties. Most NATO Troops in southern Afghanistan come from the United States, but there are contingents from several nations in the area. Fighting has increased in southern Afghanistan as a surge o...

Could FBI Have Stopped Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood Shooter?
The FBI might have known nearly a year ago that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was in contact with a known advocate of violent Jihad against the West, but the intelligence community is rallying to defend the bureau from any suggestion that it could have prevented the massacre at Fort Hood. Last December, the Surveillance of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Yemeni-American cleric accused by the U.S. of having ties to Al-Qaeda, revealed that he had received between 10 and 20 e-mails from Hasan. But the fact...

Diplomat Holbrooke in critical condition
The 69-year-old Veteran U.S. diplomat was a key figure in forging the 1995 accord that ended the Balkans war. Holbrooke fell ill at the State Department on Friday. The department issued a statement saying Holbrooke was admitted to nearby George Washington University Hospital on Friday. "This morning, doctors completed surgery to repair a tear in his aorta," the statement said. "He is in critical condition and has been joined by his family." The aorta is the body's biggest artery. An artery is a...

Envoy Holbrooke feels ill, goes to hospital
WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 10, 2010 5:35pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, felt ill at the State Department and went to the Hospital, the State Department said on Friday. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Holbrooke, 69, began to feel unwell while on the department's seventh floor, which is where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's office is located, but he declined to provide further details. "H...

On the Tax Deal
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. Matt Continetti editorialized in THE Weekly Standard on the tax deal here. Taxes Deal? A New Boiler? Economic Hope? Don't sacrifice unit cohesion for a social experiment. The culture of leaking grows to ominous proportions. And there's a role for Congress. The Afghan government has likely released dozens of Gitmo Detainees, and many more from Bagram, instead of trying them. Bidding process slated for La. Medicaid busines...

Obama envoy Holbrooke remains in critical condition
Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke remains in critical condition, as his main clients in Afghanistan and Pakistan phoned to inquire about his health. The State Department said Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari phoned Holbrooke's wife Kati to inquire about Holbrooke, who underwent 20 hours of surgery this weekend to repair a torn aorta. Holbrooke, 69, underwent additional procedures Sunday to improve blood circulation. The Associated Press reports that "whil...

Afghanistan: 'Nato troops killed'
Can Afghan forces step up? Who are the Taliban? Six foreign Soldiers have been killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan, the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) says. The incident happened on Sunday, Isaf said in a statement. The alliance gave no further details about the attack, or the nationality of the Soldiers killed. The death toll is the highest for foreign Soldiers in a single incident since six were shot dead by a renegade border policeman on 29 November. Figh...

Army sees smart phones playing important role
FORT GORDON, Ga. — The Army wants to issue every soldier an iPhone or Android cell phone — it could be a soldier’s choice. And to top it off, the Army wants to pay your monthly phone bill. To most Soldiers, it sounds almost too good to be true, but it’s real, said Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center. He said the Army would issue these smart phones just like any other piece of equipment a soldier receives. “One of the options p...

Afghan Bombs Kill, Wound 3800 Troops in 2010
How dangerous have the Taliban’s crude, cheap homemade bombs become? One awful measure came Sunday, when they drove a van full of explosives into a Military Base in southern Afghanistan, killing six U.S. Soldiers. Another is this: the Roadside Bombs have killed and wounded about a thousand more allied Troops this year than in 2009. Later this week, the White House will release its assessment of the war’s fortunes. And while Defense Secretary Gates said last week that the 2010 troop...

Huge Bomb Kills 6 U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan
ZHARI, Afghanistan — Six American Soldiers were killed and more than a dozen American and Afghan Soldiers were wounded on Sunday morning when a van packed with explosives detonated beside a small joint outpost in southern Afghanistan. The blast was easily audible roughly 8 miles away, and sent a dusty mushroom cloud towering over the farmland. The Explosion blasted a large hole in the thick wall, causing the roof to collapse on Soldiers inside. Other Soldiers quickly arrived and clawed a...

Dozens of suspected Afghan insurgents killed in rare wintertime fighting
Kabul - At least 40 suspected Insurgents were killed Saturday in a spate of rare wintertime clashes, including an airstrike in northeastern Afghanistan in which 25 people reportedly died, NATO officials said. This Story Nawa turns into proving ground for U.S. strategy in Afghan war Interactive graphic: Measuring strategy's effects Is Nawa a road map for the rest of Afghanistan? Images from the Afghan war: Week of December 8 Dozens of suspected Afghan Insurgents killed in rare wintertime fight...

Homegrown Hate Crimes Against our Troops
Posted by Michelle Malkin on Dec 13th, 2010 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. When Jihad-bent American Muslims target American Soldiers on American soil, why does America yawn? The Fort Hood massacre has faded from view. The Little Rock Army recruiting station ambush barely registered on the national radar screen. And the arrest this week of a Baltimore-area bo...

Emergency lockboxes available
The Public Safety Department will help residents install security lockboxes on their front doors, which the department can use to enter homes in case of emergency, such as sickness, injury or a fall. Officers will not be allowed to use keys to enter homes otherwise. Residents can choose combinations for the lockboxes. The code, a waiver and a contact list for each resident will be held by the dispatch center. For information, call 586-757-2203. COUNTYW...