Knee Deep in the Hooah!

Below is a wonderful article written by our very own Brat. Please take a moment to read, and then get to bidding! :) Have a most blessed Independence Day!

July 4th…Are you ready to bid and help our heroes?

By Ros Prynn

MARK YOUR CALENDAR! July 4th may be a national holiday, but a group who work tirelessly with our heroes is holding a “Celebrity and Collectibles Auction” on EBay.

Operation Life Transformed has a mission, and their mission statement is:

Provide education and resources to our war wounded caregivers and military spouses through private and corporate entities.Increase awareness of the long term needs of these families and Support the caregiver and military spouse as they re-enter the civilian sector.

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Tags: Troop Support, Troop appreciation, veterans by Claire
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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.

Tags: Iraq, Morale, Things I love, Troop appreciation, military, war on terror by Claire
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The article below was found on The Olympian. It caught my eye, of course, because my son is a 4/2 soldier who was involved in some of this list of what the guys in his Brigade and Division have been up to since the start of the surge nearly 15 months ago. Ready for this chit list? It made my head swim reading it. The surge has done the job, and this is why… because the men who went in made it happen!

According to brigade records, 4-2 soldiers conducted 138 battalion-level operations and 413 company-level operations. The soldiers found and secured 552 weapons caches, cleared 87,324 kilometers of routes of improvised explosive devices and other hazards to secure safe travel, and captured and destroyed more than 25,000 pounds of explosives.

Also, the brigade detained 1,700 suspects, and captured 212 high-value targets. Additionally, 718 enemy and 20 high-value targets were killed in action, and 176 enemy personnel were wounded in action.

The brigade conducted 278 air and ground raids, resulting in 324 bombs dropped, as well as 4,663 mortar rounds and more than 11,000 artillery rounds fired.

Soldiers encountered and cleared 2,216 improvised explosive devices, including 72 house-borne, 25 suicide-vest-borne and 31 vehicle-borne IEDs.

The brigade left Fort Lewis a month earlier than expected, to participate in the “surge” strategy. The brigade joined Fort Lewis’ 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Diyala province, then remained there under the command of Multi-National Division North - eventually assuming responsibility for an area of operations that had previously been covered by two brigades of its size.

Tags: Army, Berkeley, Junk Drawer, Main Stream Media, Shack Pack news, Troop appreciation, combat, deployment, family life, music, veterans, war on terror, worry by Claire
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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 →]

Tags: Army, Army Mom Posts, Things I love, Troop Support, Troop appreciation, military, veterans, war on terror by Claire
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I found this on Stryker Brigade News last night. Mr. H! and I were really surprised. We didn’t know about this particular resource, so it was news to us. I thought I would post it in hopes of getting the news out there to more military families.

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr., The New York Times

AS they enter through the Magic Kingdom gates, following signs with the familiar mouse ears, past the sighing of the monorail and the distant screams from Space Mountain, a few visitors take an unusual route, up a driveway just off the entrances to the Disney World golf courses.

There they find, atop an artificial rock formation, the flags of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard flapping in the Florida breeze. Beyond that lies a resort where there are a lot of high-and-tight crew cuts in the lobby, not to mention more lean physiques than elsewhere in Disney World. [Read more →]

Tags: Army, Troop Support, Troop appreciation, family life, holidays, military by Claire
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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 →]

Tags: Army, Things I love, Troop Support, Troop appreciation, deployment, literacy, military by Claire
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Thinking of the stir that was created in me last night when I read some blogger’s comments about the troops and his opinion of our bravest and finest, kept me up late. It’s in the midnight hours that most mother’s of deployed soldiers do some of their best worrying and praying. I used to think it was due to the fact that the distractions of the day were calming and suddenly our minds and hands were left with nothing to do. That was a good theory when Mr. Hooah! was gone to Ft. Benning while Mike was first deployed. I have come to realize that, for me personally anyway, it’s because I know that as my day is ending his is beginning. It’s a funny assumption on my behalf because I know he pulls shifts all hours of the day. I got a call today from him, first one in a long time, he sounded tired, but considering it was after 1am there I am surprised he was still awake. I’m a mom. I can’t help it.

So, this stir that was caused within was a flash in the pan, and it’s because the words that were typed on that screen were baseless, senseless, tasteless, and gutless. They were typed out for one reason, and one reason alone — to attract attention and make some big splash. There is a huge difference when someone uses hyperbole as a tool to excite interest or drive home a point, but it’s another when someone uses a constant, heightened offensive tone to bring attention to himself. Ultimately I find comfort in reminding myself that it is not men like this who shape our world. The men who shape our world do not do it by provocatively stomping on the grave of men better than themselves. Instead men who shape this world respect those who defend them. Not only is it true that … “A Nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten,” but I would say the same is true for the individual who thinks that a tantrum will bring him any notoriety and that using the graves of the fallen will accomplish that end for him.
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Tags: Army, Army Mom Posts, Iraq, Morale, Shack Pack news, Troop Surge, Troop appreciation, deployment, family life, looney leftists, military, politics, redeployment, reunification, veterans, war on terror by Claire
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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.

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Tags: Army, Iraq, Morale, Things I love, Troop appreciation, deployment, family life, military, war on terror by Claire
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