By Admin 28 January 2009. Filed in News & Commentary.
0Richard Howes, a newly commissioned second lieutenant, feels strongly about his new calling.
As a member of the Nevada Army National Guard, the 1996 Churchill County High School graduate is undergoing chaplain training through The King’s Seminary while serving the military in a ministerial role.
“I work for the (state’s) chaplain,” Howes explained. “I recruit chaplain and chaplain candidates. The role of the chaplain is a spiritual guide for all.”
READ MORE from the Lahontan Valley News
By Admin 25 January 2009. Filed in News & Commentary.
0About $1 billion worth of construction projects are under way or planned at Midlands military bases.
The biggest chunk, some $800 million, is for a dozen projects at Columbia’s Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest training center.
The military spending should boost the local economy, said Ike McLeese, president of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce.
“This new construction will bring jobs and capital expenditures to our community at a most welcome time,” McLeese said.
At Fort Jackson, the money includes buildings for two military missions that were moved to the post by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, commonly called BRAC.
READ MORE from The State
By Admin 17 January 2009. Filed in Deployment.
0Beginnings can be challenging. My beginning at Joint Base Balad Iraq this month brought its share of challenges.
First of all, getting off a military aircraft at 3 a.m. dressed in full body armor had its challenges for a 50-something chaplain. My back ached, and sleep in the droning C-130 aircraft had been scarce.
Overhead, balls of fire launched from an adjacent runway and thundered into the early morning dark haze. Somewhere in front of the fireball sat a fighter pilot who likely was wondering whether his replacement – often called “my new best friend” – was among those deplaning.
Soon, chapel staff members greeted me and escorted me to something called a housing pod. A pod looks somewhat like a cargo container partitioned into four rooms. Each room contains two sets of bunk beds, a window and outside door. Each pod is surrounded by 25-foot concrete barriers that create the feeling that one is in a maze.
READ MORE from the Zanesville Times Recorder
By Admin 16 January 2009. Filed in News & Commentary.
0A national suicide-prevention conference focusing on war stress wrapped up Wednesday, a day after the Marine Corps released its highest suicide figures since 2003.
In closing remarks, Dr. Ira Katz, chief of mental health with the Department of Veterans Affairs, told hundreds of military, VA and civilian mental health professionals to keep forming collaborations and to “prepare ourselves for giving” to a growing number of combat veterans needing care.
“We have to collaborate. We care for the same people,” he said as the Annual Suicide Prevention Conference, sponsored by the Department of Defense and the VA, drew to a close.
READ MORE from the San Antonio Express-News
By Admin 10 January 2009. Filed in Deployment.
0BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers who serve with the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team “Dagger,” 1st Infantry Division, trained for the better part of 2008 in order to prepare for their deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The Soldiers focused on what their mission would be for their specific job field, worked on their physical fitness and sharpened their warrior skills to be ready to battle the enemy if need be.
These abilities are expected to be maintained every day.
For two individuals in the brigade, what matters most is the Soldiers’ inner wheel that maintains the desire to stay combat efficient throughout the deployment.
By Admin 6 January 2009. Filed in News & Commentary.
0John Washington first saw the light of day on July 18, 1908 in Newark, New Jersey.
One of seven kids in a poor immigrant family, John as a boy had a newspaper route to help bring in money for the family. Singing in the choir at mass, John decided by the seventh grade that his goal in life was to be a priest.
Graduating from Seton Hall with an A.B. degree in 1931, John entered Immaculate Conception Seminary in 1931 and was ordained a priest on June 15, 1935. Father Washington ’s first assignment was at Saint Genevieve’s in Elizabeth, New Jersey, followed by service at Saint Stephen’s in Arlington, New Jersey. Father Washington, having grown up on the wrong side of the tracks in Newark, knew how important proper guidance was for kids. He would play baseball with them on the streets and organized youth baseball teams at the parishes to which he was assigned.
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By Admin 3 January 2009. Filed in News & Commentary.
0Local organizations reach out to servicemembers
BY KRISTINA HACKER
Debbie Katsounakis has been sending care packages to local servicemen and women since 2003. That was the year her son, Nick, was sent to Iraq as part of the Army Reserve’s 341st Military Police Company. And even though her son has been back home for two years now, Katsounakis has not stopped sending everyday necessities and little luxuries to those fighting in the Middle East.
“Once your kid goes over there, (all the troops) are your kids,” she said.
Katsounakis is the president of the local chapter of the Blue Star Mothers and Families, an organization of mothers, fathers and other family members who have loved ones currently serving or have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Along with year-round care packages (over 200 sent in 2008), the Blue Star Mothers and Families offers support for families of servicemembers.
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