"Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends."
~~Richard Bach
Are you needing a little motivation, but you’re just having a hard time finding it? Well, I have some faux stimulus for you! Toy Soldier is back in the US and is now blogging from his own domain. Visit him at False Motivation and say hello! He has a wonderful and touching tribute up to the fallen heroes of Bayonet Company.
In my CafePress shop this sticker is my best selling item. I really had fun making it, and to be honest I really wasn’t sure what I was going to write when I put the picture on the sticker. I think I had just read the article I posted here a while back that correlated negative media coverage and an upswing in insurgent behavior. Anyway, I think I will have to add some mugs and t-shirts.
I will have some new Knee Deep products too now that I have permission to use the word. I have been very busy lately — that and, well, uhm, OK, admittedly I have an avulsion fracture in my left foot. I know you all are thinking that Mr. Hooah! must be keeping me locked up in a basement somewhere and only letting me out for daily beatings with stuff like this and the jaw. I think that an MRI will prove that it’s an issue of running, pronation issues, high arch issues and the desperate need for new shoes.
Almost a year ago I opened a Cafe Press shop and started making designs for t-shirts. I was very careful to not use any copyrighted graphics (I made them or had permission) and I did not use any slogans that would violate the laws either. So, if you all remember I was shocked when I got a note from Cafe Press that the word “Hooah!” is copyrighted for printed items. I had never entertained the thought that Hooah! would be copyrighted. So, of course I designed a few things with out the word, but it did eliminate the possibility of any designs with my blog title included. I think at this point Brat had suggested using the term “knee deep in the shi’ite!”
Well, the other evening I wrote to the owner of the company that holds the copyright to the term, and I received back one of the kindest and warmest emails from Christian D’Andrea who is one of three brothers who developed the “Soldier Fuel” bar. They also have developed other resources and are a very strong pro-military and pro-military family business. I was really unaware of all that the D’Andrea brothers do for our soldiers, so I thought I should share their websites with you here. Please, visit their sites, patronize their business and in doing so you are supporting those who support those who are defending us! Isn’t it great when it can work out that way? [Read more →]
Not all of my pictures will be military related, I promise. I do have a good sense of variety in my life, but for now these are the pictures that interest me the most, and to be quite honest they are probably more interesting to you than anything else I have to offer right now.
I am planning on taking Mike’s good camera that is in my possession and going on a picture hunting party through the scenic areas of East TN. I will share some of the good ones if I get any!
Mike sent some pictures a while back that I have not shared here. This particular picture was in the bunch and I love it. It’s a picture of local kids who are peeking under a gate to a house the troops entered to clear. This explanation was updated when Toy Soldier set it all straight. :p
(click picture for larger version)
When Mr. Hooah! was at Ft. Benning the only explanation I had to offer a very inquisitive and hard to fool 3-year old girl was “papa is away at work.” It was the truth. Of course I explained to her that it was his “far, far, away” work and that one day we would all be together again. She began to understand this whole Army life to a degree, and when people asked her about papa she would say “My papa is shouldier.” That’s not a typo. She pronounced it like “shoulder” with the special suffix. That was a new understanding since earlier in the year every soldier was called a “Michael” because as far as she was concerned our Michael had invented the whole soldier-Army get-up. [Read more →]
I have finally been able to get the art work that Mike sent home scanned and into electronic format. The pictures contained in the album are works of art that the Iraqi children drew as a “thank you” to all of those who contributed to the Operation School School Supply drive last year.
My first inclination as an MSW with a background in children’s mental health was to look at the pictures with an evaluative eye. It won’t take you long to see the positive images that I picked up on right away. I see smiling sun shines, lots of color, and even rainbow colored helicopters.
I thoroughly enjoyed looking through their artwork and appreciating their talent. I will have Mr. Hooah! write a “Cliff Notes” version for you of Art History and Islam. It will help you better understand some of the perspectives in the drawings. Also, look for the picture with an Army vehicle (maybe a Humvee?) and a Stryker — on the same road with a Donkey Cart. Of course the sun is smiling in that picture too.
These pictures will be ready to ship to their rightful recipients in the next few days. [Read more →]
Late Saturday night I received the following email from Books for Soldiers. Here’s an idea on how to spend some of that economic stimulus package money you are getting, and feel good doing it. Also, mom may not need any more perfume or lotion this year. How about donating to Books for Soldiers in her honor for Mother’s Day this year? :
It Is A Bad Economy
Starting at the first of this year, BFS started a robust fundraising campaign here in North Carolina. We contacted small companies and some large companies you probably have heard of. To date, we have received a stack of letters that begin with “we deeply regret not being able to donate this year” and no cash. From our corporate donation campaign we have received a tad under thirty dollars from a philanthropy grants group in Winston Salem, NC. That was it, nothing else.Times are tough for all non-profit groups, food banks from all around North Carolina and across the nation are suffering from a lack of donations and a sharp increase of those in need. The article below arrived in my email today about a women’s shelter closing because of a lack of donations.
http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/1356/
The economy is certainly causing things to be tight around the Hooah! household, BUT just this morning I heard on the news during a quick blurb that some movies raked in millions of dollars over the weekend. That is not the sign of an economy that is sunk. If we still have millions to throw at Hollywood, then we should all have a few bucks to give to an organization that has worked hard to give soldiers what they need while they are deployed. [Read more →]
The following story caught my eye this morning while Mr. Hooah! and I were sipping coffee and watching the local news. I was very blessed to read about this “Good Samaritan’s” kindness and mercy he showed to deploying soldiers and their families.