Posts Tagged ‘U.S. Military’

Michelle Lancaster

In Honor of My Dad on Veteran’s Day

by Michelle Lancaster

In 1954, on the anniversary of the ending of World War I, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed November 11, Veteran’s Day, so that we would pay special tribute to our military heroes.  As we take time this year to honor those who have served our country on 11/11/11, let us never forget that it’s easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.  Our veterans dedication and bravery ensure our nation remains the home of the free because they’re our home of the brave.

In composing my tribute to our military veterans and how we can help honor them, I had tears of pride for all our veterans and their families and for my own family history too.  My Mom’s brothers, Ben and Pete Gonzales both served in the Army during World War II. Uncle Pete in Africa and Uncle Ben under General Patton in Germany.  My Dad’s brothers, Bill and Bob Merkle also served.  Uncle Billy with the Marines in Japan and Uncle Bobby with the Army in Korea.  My father-in-law Ed Lancaster served in the Coast Guard. My brother-in-law Dave Lancaster flew Harrier Jets with the Marines over Iraq and my cousin John Merkle serves in the Army in Germany today.

And then there’s my Dad, Retired Master Sergeant Kenneth Merkle.  Dad served 26 years in the United States Army as a Cryptologic Linguist, or 98G for the awesome military personnel reading this right now.  He spent some of his Army career listening and translating what the Soviets were saying over the airwaves while we were stationed in West Berlin, Germany. Yes, they were called Soviets back then and he was my own James Bond, sans tuxedo and martini.  Dad prefers single-malt Scotch.

Dad had a successful career in linguistics taking us throughout Germany to various military bases with our “home” base at the Presidio of Monterey in California.  Upon retirement from the Army, he then began a second career as a civilian spanning another almost 20 years with the Department of Defense managing data systems until he retired a couple months ago.  My dad is the most brilliant man I know and while quiet in nature, leads a life filled with big love, big joy and big laughter thanks in part to the support of my mom, Grace, who’s been by his side since his graduation from Basic Training.
Andrew  Marcus

Count Every Military Ballot!

by Andrew Marcus

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Illinois blogger, Marathon Pundit, is correctly demanding that EVERY military ballot be counted in the land of Lincoln.

The GOP had a terrific Election Day in the Land of Lincoln, winning a US Senate seat and at least three House seats. In the governor’s race, with 99 percent of precincts counted, incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn leads Republican challenger Bill Brady by 10,000 votes.

As the Democrats repeated ad nauseam is  during the 2000 Florida recount, “We need to count all the votes.”

And that includes all of the military votes.

Not only should ever military ballot be counted, the entire Illinois election should be forensically audited, regardless of outcome. Can you imagine how much fraud would be exposed?

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Brigadier General (R) Anthony J. Tata

Boots on the Ground Report: Obama Focused on the Wrong Election

by Brigadier General (R) Anthony J. Tata

In my last column titled “The Cost of Delay,” I highlighted that one of the primary second order effects of the Obama administration’s stalling on the Afghanistan decision was that the Afghan runoff election would necessarily be a repeat of the general election, complete with allegations of fraud and intimidation.

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and Afghan President Hamid Karzai Meet With then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and Afghan President Hamid Karzai Meet With then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

The issues surrounding the general election in Afghanistan were basically that it was poorly administered and security concerns were rampant as the Taliban tried to disrupt and influence the voting. Afghanistan with its 100,000 NATO forces does not have sufficient combat power to secure all of the provinces. It’s that simple. We had twice that amount to secure elections in Iraq, a country 1/3 smaller than Afghanistan, with 8,000,000 fewer citizens, and with far more infrastructure. For the Afghan runoff, there would have been no measurable difference in troop levels or international assistance from the first election, and so Abdullah Abdullah, the only viable contender to Karzai, pulled out believing the fix was in. Allegations of corruption and intimidation are just that, allegations, but should have been addressed. They weren’t.

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