Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, helps provide voice-controlled/adaptive laptop computers and other technology to support Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries. Technology supplied includes:

• Voice-controlled Laptops – Operated by speaking into a microphone or using other adaptive technologies, they allow the wounded to maintain connections with the rest of the world during recovery
• Wii Video Game Systems – Whole-body game systems increase motivation and speed recovery when used under the guidance of physical therapists in therapy sessions (donated only to medical facilities).
• Personal GPS – Handheld GPS devices build self-confidence and independence by compensating for short-term memory loss and organizational challenges related to severe TBI and severe PTSD.

This year, I am joining a great group, led by Carrie at Villainous Company and Cassy at Cassy Fiano, in supporting the Marines. Our brave military folks can be wounded in service, and this is the time we can give back for their honor. Giving back. Yes, that is something that Neal Boortz rants about, usually rightly. In this situation, these wounded warriors have given so much to protect America and our way of life, so, yes, this is a great way we can give back. So join up. Choose a branch of service to support. If you want to go Marines, contact Cassy, Carrie, or me, and I’ll pass it on (make sure to remove the NOSPAM from the email address in the top bar under the header.) Or, Tweet me. Whatever. Join in!

Go Team Marines!

With that, Cooking with the Troops was born.

Cooking with the Troops, Inc., is a non-profit organization devoted to providing a culinary change of pace to U.S. and Allied troops along with educational and related opportunities for those transitioning out of service and into careers in the food and beverage industry. While the primary focus is on the wounded, injured, and ill — and associated caregivers — operations are intended to cover the full range of those who serve, their families, and those who provide medical and related care.

… Operations will be phased in over time, and will start with culinary events — barbecues and special events — held within the continental United States and expand overseas at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and elsewhere as resources become available. The former will build off of the barbecues done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center since 2007 by Bob Miller, while the latter will build off of Cooking for/with the Wounded events done by Blake Powers through Soldiers’ Angels.

The barbecues will be family-oriented events that provide a relaxed and comfortable experience for the wounded and their families, and caregivers. The focus will be to provide something different for them to eat and to do, while allowing maximum interaction with both those putting on the event and others. Preliminary talks are underway with Baen Books to have them participate both by donating books to give out and to have one or more of their authors attend the event and sign books while there. While these talks are ongoing, Baen Books has already pledged $100.00 towards the next barbecue event. This and other draws will be explored and expanded if warranted. The low-key interaction and ease of cooking will encourage both learning and participation by those attending, and allow them to learn about other educational opportunities.

The special events will not be as low key, but will seek to encourage indirect and direct learning and participation by those attending. The goal with special events is to recruit guest chefs to do events both in the United States and overseas (Landstuhl primarily) so that a wide variety of cuisines, techniques, and career possibilities are presented. The guest chefs will be encouraged to do formal and informal sessions on their career, how they got started, and other information that will be of interest. One of Food TV’s Iron Chefs and one of the approximately 60 Certified Master Chefs in the US are two potential guest chefs who have expressed interest in taking part.

As you can see, Cooking with the Troops is going to be a great charity. I’ve already signed up to volunteer at one of the barbecues this summer. Right now, they’re looking for a few good artists to help design an official logo, and there will be some great prizes for the winners!

A brand new organization needs a lot of things, but none is ultimately more central to getting operations started than a logo/artwork that visually defines the organization. A good logo or artwork truly is a thousand words, if not many, many more. It tells you almost everything you need to know about the people it represents, and often does so without any words at all.

We need something that can do that. Something that sums up what we are, what we do, and what we hope to do for the troops and their families. Something that combines the seemingly highly separated areas of cooking, combat arms, and maybe even education. Artwork that can be printed full color for print applications, but also done as a one, two, or three spot colors onto mugs and other items.

To make it even more interesting, this needs to be something that can be used almost anywhere: t-shirts, chefs coats, chefs hats, business cards, coins, pins, letterhead, and more. This means that if it is artwork, we need to be able to separate out the central, key component to use small. If it is a logo, it needs to be able to fill all those roles legibly no matter how small or how big.

Your challenge, should you decide to accept it, is to create something that can stand for our mission and the four key goals, and do it within those parameters. You then have to submit it as noted below by noon Eastern time 25 June 2010.

First prize will win a knife donated by Michael Williamson, author and edged weapon maker, a jumbo barbecue set from the Spice House, an autographed Gretchen Wilson DVD, a jar of barbecue sauce from Concrete Bob, a feature about you on the Cooking with the Troops website and maybe more!

Judging the contest will be Chris Muir, the creator of the Day by Day comic strip, Damon Shackelford, creator of the military Delta Bravo Sierra comic strip, and John Cox, author and fine art purveyor.

To enter the contest, e-mail your submission to artcontest@cwtt.org. All submissions must be received by noon Eastern time, June 25th 2010. You can enter up to three designs. For more information and to read the rules of the contest, simply go here.

So, for all of you creative readers out there, get designing! Send this to any artists you know! Help get the word out about this great new military charity!

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter!

He’d gotten blown up. Sustained burns to the face and hands and suffered blast inhalation. Breathing in superheated air is not good for the bronchial tubes and lungs. He’s being mechanically ventilated.

I watch him struggle even when completely sedated, but some patients have a real rough patch before extubation. To make sure a patient can breathe on his own, first the docs need to dial back on the meds.

This is called “waking him up”.

Still out of it, he gradually becomes more and more aware of his pain and the discomfort of the breathing tube. He feels like he’s choking. Constantly. And he’s too out of it to understand why.

His hands are restrained so he can’t pull the tube out. But he keeps lifting them, trying. His legs squirm. He lifts and turns his head.

Then the RT (respiratory therapy) guy comes in and tells the patient he’s turning off the ventilator as a test, and if it goes well, the tube can be removed. He now has to breathe on his own, sucking in air through the narrow tube. He must be scared to death wondering why he can hardly breathe.

“You probably feel like you’re breathing through a straw, right?”

The patient nods. He looks unconscious but he’s tracking everything.

The RT encourages him, “This is all you, man… you’re doing great. Keep going!”

After 5 minutes the RT deflates the outside of the tube so the patient can now breathe around it as well as through it, which is better, but as he slowly comes around the agony of the tube becomes unbearable.

He has to breathe like that for 20 minutes.

I keep telling him, “You’re in the Army hospital in Germany. You have a tube down your throat… don’t fight the tube… try to relax!” He does… but he’s so dopey that he forgets after about one minute and starts struggling again.

It’s time. A small group of nurses and docs gather outside his door. You hear them say, “Ok, we gonna do this guy now?”

They flow into the room, tell him they’re pulling the tube, and that he should try to cough when they say ‘go’.

“Ok, here we go… COUGHCOUGHCOUGHCOUGHCOUGH!!!!”

When it’s out they place an oxygen mask over his face and he gags and chokes and gasps for air and coughs up huge globs of junk which they suck out with a suction tube.

He finally lays back, exhausted. People slowly leave. But his nurse stays – as always – hovering, watching his vitals, carefully checking all of his many lines and the machines connected to them.

I move back to his side and he tries to say something, but his throat’s raw and he can’t talk. I lean in, apologizing because I can’t understand.

“How much… how much… longer?”

I know these guys. He wants to know how much longer he has to stay here before he can go back downrange.

Exchanging glances with his nurse, and deliberately misunderstanding, I tell him he’ll be out of the Intensive Care Unit in a couple of days. Even in his sedated state he knows exactly what I’ve done and gives me the dirtiest look imaginable.

Then, “fffff…. mmmm fffff…. ”

He’s saying, “Friends… my friends… ”

I tell him everybody from the truck’s ok. He did good, everybody’s ok.

His face screws up like a child’s as he breaks down and cries with relief.

I watch the tears roll down over the ointment covering his face, over the seared redness of his skin, over the blisters on his nose and lips.

It’s hard for people on the outside to understand. They always seem to focus only on the “terrible things” that we see. But we also have to honor to see something else: The true heart of the American Soldier.

The heart of the American soldier is an amazing, rare thing. And this young man could likely be any of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines that any of you know.

I remember Matt’s last deployment to Iraq, and one phone call in particular. He had just gotten word that two Marines he’d briefly known had died. You might recognize their names: Corporal Yale and Lance Corporal Haerter. Matt was shaking with rage; I could feel it through the telephone. Now, we’re both preparing for his upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. There’s a very good chance he’ll be going as a squad leader; if he does, he’ll be responsible for the lives of about fifteen Marines. And it weighs on him. The feeling of being responsible for them and for keeping them safe is a feeling that won’t go away until they all come home safely.

It’s the camaraderie and feeling of brotherhood you will find in countless units across the military. You may not like your fellow soldiers or Marines, but damn it, you love them and will protect them with your last dying breath.

And that camaraderie and love doesn’t go away just because you get to go home, or because you’re in the hospital, injured — as MaryAnn’s touching story shows. They never stop thinking about their buddies over there, fighting. And they never stop wanting to be fighting, right alongside them. It may be hard for some to understand why, but it’s really quite simple.

It’s because the true heart of the American soldier is truly an incredible thing.

Hat Tip: The Mudville Gazette

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter!

Troops craving chocolate in Afghanistan could soon be eating dairy-free treats bearing the image of Osama bin Laden.

A chocolatier and longtime People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals supporter is making the special vegan chocolates for the troops after reading about how difficult it was to get chocolate in Afghanistan. The so-called “bin Laden bites” give the troops the chance to bite his head off, a news release from PETA said.

As the saying goes, it’s the thought that counts, and, hey, there could be some who are allergic to milk. Either way, chocolate is chocolate, when you are in a war zone. What about the Iraq troops, though?

In addition to supporting the troops and protesting the Sept. 11 attacks, PETA said it also wanted to use the chocolates to protest bin Laden’s torture and killing of animals during and in the days following the World Trade Center attacks, when their guardians were killed, leaving the animals to die of dehydration, starvation or exposure to toxic fumes.

Sigh. While certainly noble in concept, they do realize that 3,000 of friends, neighbors, and loved ones died that day, and huge amounts of people were injured and affected, right? At least they, unlike so many on the left, hate Osama, so, a bit of props to them on that. So, credit where credit is due. Even if a bit wonky.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, and, heck, just a day ending in a “y,” there are tons of places you can send a care package to our troops. I usually do it through Soldier’s Angels and Move America Forward, and Food Lion have a chocolate for the troops program, at least at the 2 different ones I tend to hit.

This is their incredible story.

When Maj. Brian Dennis of the United States Marine Corps met a wild stray dog with shorn ears while serving in Iraq, he had no idea of the bond they would form, leading to seismic changes in both their lives. “The general theme of the story of Nubs is that if you’re kind to someone, they’ll never forget you — whether it be person or animal,” Dennis tells Paw Nation.

In October 2007, Dennis and his team of 11 men were in Iraq patrolling the Syrian border. One day, as his team arrived at a border fort, they encountered a pack of stray dogs — not uncommon in the barren, rocky desert that was home to wolves and wild dogs.

“We all got out of the Humvee and I started working when this dog came running up,” recalls Dennis. “I said, ‘Hey buddy’ and bent down to pet him.” Dennis noticed the dog’s ears had been cut. “I said, ‘You got little nubs for ears.’” The name stuck. The dog whose ears had been shorn off as a puppy by an Iraqi soldier (to make the dog “look tougher,” Dennis says) became known as Nubs.

Dennis fed Nubs scraps from his field rations, including bits of ham and frosted strawberry Pop Tarts. “I didn’t think he’d eat the Pop Tart, but he did,” says Dennis.

At night, Nubs accompanied the men on night patrols. “I’d get up in the middle of the night to walk the perimeter with my weapon and Nubs would get up and walk next to me like he was doing guard duty,” says Dennis.

The next day, Dennis said goodbye to Nubs, but he didn’t forget about the dog. He began mentioning Nubs in emails he wrote to friends and family back home. “I found a dog in the desert,” Dennis wrote in an email in October 2007. “I call him Nubs. We clicked right away. He flips on his back and makes me rub his stomach.”

“Every couple of weeks, we’d go back to the border fort and I’d see Nubs every time,” says Dennis. “Each time, he followed us around a little more.” And every time the men rumbled away in their Humvees, Nubs would run after them. “We’re going forty miles an hour and he’d be right next to the Humvee,” says Dennis. “He’s a crazy fast dog. Eventually, he’d wear out, fall behind and disappear in the dust.”

On one trip to the border fort in December 2007, Dennis found Nubs was badly wounded in his left side where he’d been stabbed with a screwdriver. “The wound was infected and full of pus,” Dennis recalls. “We pulled out our battle kits and poured antiseptic on his wound and force fed him some antibiotics wrapped in peanut butter.” That night, Nubs was in so much pain that he refused food and water and slept standing up because he couldn’t lay down. Dennis and his team left again the next day, but Dennis thought about Nubs the entire time, hoping the dog was still alive.

Two weeks later, when Dennis and his team returned, he found Nubs alive and well. “I had patched him up and that seemed to be a turning point in how he viewed me,” says Dennis. This time, when Dennis and his team left the fort, Nubs followed. Though the dog lost sight of the Humvees, he never gave up. For two days, Nubs endured freezing temperatures and packs of wild dogs and wolves, eventually finding his way to Dennis at a camp an incredible 70 miles south near the Jordanian border.

“There he was, all beaten and chewed up,” says Dennis. “I knew immediately that Nubs had crossed through several dog territories and fought and ran, and fought and ran,” says Dennis. The dog jumped on Dennis, licking his face.

Most of the 80 men at the camp welcomed Nubs, even building him a doghouse. But a couple of soldiers complained, leading Dennis’ superiors to order him to get rid of the dog. With his hand forced, Dennis decided that the only thing to do was bring Nubs to America. He began coordinating Nubs’ rescue effort. Friends and family in the States helped, raising the $5,000 it would cost to transport Nubs overseas.

Finally, it was all arranged. Nubs was handed over to volunteers in Jordan, who looked after the dog and sent him onto to Chicago, then San Diego, where Dennis’ friends waited to pick him up. Nubs lived with Dennis’ friends and began getting trained by local dog trainer Graham Bloem of the Snug Pet Resort. “I focused on basic obedience and socializing him with dogs, people and the environment,” says Bloem.

A month later, Dennis finished his deployment in Iraq and returned home to San Diego, where he immediately boarded a bus to Camp Pendleton to be reunited with Nubs. “I was worried he wouldn’t remember me,” says Dennis. But he needn’t have worried. “Nubs went crazy,” recalls Dennis. “He was jumping up on me, licking my head.”

This is Maj. Dennis with his new best friend, Nubs:

When I read this story, I knew I just had to post it. It really just tugged at my heartstrings. It almost seems like destiny brought the two of them together, doesn’t it? For deployed Marines, the support of their significant other and their family can be what gets them through it. But you also can’t discount the difference a dog can make. Some people say that the dog chooses the owner, not the other way around, and it seems to certainly be the case for Maj. Dennis.

And of course, since we’re talking about a Marine… have you donated to Project Valour-IT? And hey, if you have, maybe you could forward this on to a friend and encourage them to donate. Remember, every little bit helps!

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

We were clearing houses and villages and pinching off the insurgency coming into Iraq from Syria when we rolled over an IED and our vehicle exploded literally 10 feet into the air. More fire came at us, and we thought we were under ambush, but it was our own munitions inside the vehicle cooking off—grenades, bullets, flares. I fell back inside the tank, and the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was fire. My initial reaction was to gasp, and in doing so, I inhaled flames and smoke and pieces of burned uniform. My goggles and flak jacket protected my eyes and chest, but the rest of my upper body was on fire. I jumped out of the vehicle and tried to put myself out by rolling in the grass, but it was dry grass and it caught fire as I rolled in it. Four Marines died, 11 others were wounded. I was certain I was going to be among the dead. People say your life passes before you. For me, I saw the people who meant the most to me. My mom. My dad. I was only semiconscious. Then, my girlfriend Diana’s face popped into my head. I was thinking, These are my last thoughts. She is my last thought. And I focused on her face, because if I was going to die in war, I wanted to die with the thought of something worth fighting for, something worth dying for.

Instead, I woke up. The first time I saw Diana three months later, I asked her to marry me. I didn’t know what I was capable of as a husband or as a dad. I didn’t know what I could bring to the table besides a burned face and scarred arms. My ears, nose, and mouth were gone, as were the thumb and index finger of my right hand. When she said yes, it was a turning point for me. Even though I had a right to be bitter and curse the world, it wasn’t what Diana deserved. It wasn’t the man she fell in love with.

It was a month and a half before I was ready to look at myself in the mirror. Then one day, I got out of my hospital bed to go to physical therapy and I saw the mirror I’d passed countless times, refusing to see the truth about how hurt I was. I looked over my left shoulder, and there I was—this torn up, frail, thin individual with open wounds on his face that I barely recognized, and my worst imagination became my reality. I cried.

Being a Marine, you want to tell yourself you’re fine, just walk it off. But I couldn’t walk this one off. I covered the bottom half of my face with my elbow, and looking at my eyes and my forehead, I didn’t look any different. I knew inside I was still the same man. But not everyone would see that, and I was very concerned when Jake and Maggie, my little brother and sister, then 8 and 7, came to see me in the hospital. I was their big brother. I was in the Marine Corps. I was invincible. That’s how they saw me, but I didn’t know if they would see me that way anymore. So I asked Jake, “Do you still think Bubba (that’s what they call me) is as strong and fast and tough as you used to?” Jake didn’t think about it at all. He just said, “Yeah, I think so.” And I looked at myself, and I was bandaged up and breathing hard, and I said, “What makes you think that?” And he said back to me, “Well, they tried to blow you up, and they couldn’t.” I would love it if my daughter would see me that way one day, as “superhuman” in my ability to take care of her, and if she’s ever in harm’s way, there’s a cape to wrap her up and shield her. That cape is me.

Aaron and Diana are married now, with a little girl. This is their family portrait:

Can you think of two more heroic people than Aaron and Diana? Two people stronger, braver, more admirable? Their story brings tears to my eyes, and their love for each other and their courage inspires me. The heroes we have in our military are incredible, truly incredible, and Aaron and Diana are a shining example of that. Let us never forget it.

And with that… let us never forget to serve them in return. Project Valour-IT serves to help wounded warriors just like Aaron Mankin. You may wonder what it is that a laptop or a Wii or a GPS can do to help a soldier recover, and it may not seem like much. But you’d be surprised on how big of a difference it can be.

Voice activated laptops:

1. Help wounded vets connect with still-deployed fellow service members (relieve anxiety about how their friends are doing, allow them to maintain a support system)
2. Allow vets to stay in touch with loved ones who can’t be at their bedside
3. Run therapeutic computer programs that help restore brain/vision function,
4. Can be used to research treatments, keep track of treatment regimen.
5. Retrain for post-military employment
6. Voice control makes using a computer one of the first things they can do on their own

Wii uses:

1. Physical therapists in VA hospitals and major medical centers are using Wii fit systems with their patients
2. Motivation: Wii Sports games key into natural competitive nature
3. Track progress in a fun way

GPS uses:

1. For those with very severe PTSD or TBI (memory problems, high anxiety, etc), having a GPS increases independence and restores a sense of competence. Short-term memory problems can make it hard to navigate to new locations. A GPS can mean the difference between success and failure.

Project Valour-IT is a great charity, and we still need your donations and your help. Maybe you don’t go out to dinner this week, and you donate the $50 that you would’ve spent at Outback instead. Maybe instead of buying that twelve pack of beer to drink while you watch the game this weekend you donate $20. Every little bit counts. And, of course, you should make sure you donate to TEAM MARINES!

We’re still in the lead, but a few big donations could get the Army in the lead, and we don’t want that to happen.

Hat Tip: Villainous Company

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

With that said, here are ten reasons why the Marines are the best. OOH-RAH!

1. Marines have the best uniforms, hands down. And as everyone knows, chicks really dig a guy in uniform.

2. Marines know how to fight. That’s why they’re called America’s 911 force:

In the true spirit of “jointness” I offer the following as “Everything you need to know about differences in service culture. All in good fun, of course.

US Marine Corps Rules for Gunfighting

1. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
2. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
3. Have a plan.
4. Have a back-up plan, because the first one probably won’t work.
5. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
6. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun whose caliber does not start with a “4.”
7. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive.
8. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral & diagonal preferred.)
9. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.
10. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
12. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
13. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating your intention to shoot.

Navy SEAL Rules For Gunfighting

1. Look very cool in sunglasses.
2. Kill every living thing within view.
3. Return quickly to looking cool in latest beach wear.
4. Check hair in mirror.

US Army Ranger Rules For Gunfighting

1. Walk in 50 miles wearing 75 pound pack while starving.
2. Locate individuals requiring killing.
3. Request permission via radio from “Higher” to perform killing.
4. Curse bitterly when mission is aborted.
5. Walk out 50 miles wearing a 75 pound rucksack while starving.

Army Rules for Gunfighting

1. Select a new beret to wear.
2. Sew combat patch on right shoulder.
3. Change the color of beret you decide to wear.

US Air Force Rules For Gunfighting

1. Have a cocktail.
2. Adjust temperature on air-conditioner.
3. See what’s on HBO.
4. Determine “what is a gunfight.”
5. Request more funding from Congress with a “killer” PowerPoint presentation.
6. Wine & dine ‘key’ Congressmen, invite DOD & defense industry executives.
7. Receive funding, set up new command and assemble assets.
8. Declare the assets “strategic” and never deploy them operationally.
9. Tell the Navy to send the Marines.

US Navy Rules For Gunfighting

1. Go to Sea.
2. Drink Coffee.
3. Watch porn.
4. Send the Marines.

KEITH J. PAVLISCHEK
COLONEL, U.S. MARINES

3. Being the smallest of the services forces us to be creative. Marines fight smarter, not harder. Jim Mattis wasn’t kidding when he said the Marine style is a blend of chivalry and ferocity: no better friend, no worse enemy.

4. The Marine Corps Silent Drill Team. Poetry in motion:

5. Tradition: we still celebrate ours. Mess nites, dinings in and out, St. Barbara’s day and the Marine Corps Ball: no one celebrates their rich history with more flair and elan than the Marine Corps. We still dress for dinner, we still pull out cigars and the smoking lamp for the men (and sometimes the ladies!).

We still light candles in memory of fallen comrades and those who have been wounded in the service of this nation. We do not forget. If you’ve ever been invited to a Marine Ball, don’t pass up the opportunity to attend. Those of us who have passed the quarter century mark may roll our eyes a bit, but we still go every year and still tear up when the same old passages are read. What began on November 10, 1775 in Tun Tavern is still remembered in giant ballrooms, decorated hangars, and dingy conference rooms all over this planet. Marines gather as one family to celebrate that which unites and binds us: a love of Corps, country, and above all, each other.

6. Esprit de corps: Which, as you should know, is no cheese-eating surrender monkey Phrench-sounding label, but something each Marine takes to heart on the day he or she finally earns the right to be called “Marine”. Every Marine is a rifleman. To call the average Marine a soldier, troop, sailor, or airman to is risk a speedy and ungentle correction. There are only Marines, an appellation which (unlike soldiers, sailors, or airmen) is always capitalized. Now *that’s* respect.)

7. Toughest mascot. Think about it:

Army: a mule
Air Force: a stinkin’ bird?
Navy: ummm… a goat
Marines: a bulldog. Nuff said.

8. Marine PT. Did the HVES mention that we’re just better-looking?

9. Marine wives. There is an old Spanish saying, “No hay rosas sin espinas.” I think it fits Marine wives well: tough, but tender; beautiful but enduring. On the day my husband finally leaves the Corps, my most precious memories will be of the officer and enlisted wives I have been privileged to work with, laugh with, cry with, and share this wacky thrill ride that is military life.

10. The Navy-Marine Corps team: as much as we love to rib the Navy, we couldn’t do our job without them. On any Marine base, along with green you’ll see Navy khaki. Navy corpsmen go to battle with us and dress our wounds. They are at once healers, life savers, and soldiers as tough and brave as any Marine. Navy chaplains pray with us and bury our dead. They weep with us and help us to try and make sense of the incomprehensible.

And it is Navy ships which carry us to distant shores so we can do what we do best: respond as America’s 9/11 force. They provide devastating firepower on target when we need it. We are proud to be a part of the sea service. But that said….until November 11th…

Beat Navy!

As the smallest service, what we need to do to win is spread the word far and wide. So please, email your favorite bloggers and ask them: “Why aren’t you on the Marine team”?

We’re still looking for a few good bloggers. It’s a good cause.

Spread the word and invite your favorite bloggers to join the Marine team. If you have a blog, sign up. And if you haven’t yet, make sure you donate to the United States Marines team!!!

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

Luckily, we’re still right on their heels and there’s plenty of time for us to get a resounding lead. And we’ve got a spirited team this year. We’ve got all kinds of fun stuff planned, from our featured Marine heroes to trivia and a USMC demotivator contest. I can’t claim credit for the one above, but this one I can:

Hey, they put a sailor and not a Marine in the Village People for a reason. All I’m sayin’.

I can also claim credit for this one:

Seriously, what else sums up a Marine better?

If you’ve got any good ideas for some good, snarky Marine Corps demotivators, then pass ‘em along. And with that, we move onto Marine Corps trivia! Here are the questions. The answers… will be after the jump!

1. Who was the first Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps?

2. Who is the “Grand Old Man” of the Marine Corps?

3. Who was the first female Marine?

4.Who was the first Commandant of the Marine Corps?

5. Where did the first amphibious assault conducted by the Marine Corps take place?

6. What is the cyclic rate of an M249?

7. What MOS is 0311?

8. What does the slang term “moto” mean?

9. What is a “screaming eagle”?

10. During the War of 1812 and the taking of Washington DC one government building was not burned. Name the building and its location.

11. What Marine Medal of Honor recipient was GI Joe patterned after?

12. The red stripe on the Marine Corps dress blues signifies the blood spilled at a specific battle. Which battle?

So, there you go. Check out the answers after the jump, and if you haven’t yet, please be sure to donate to Project Valour-IT and be sure to donate for the Marine team!

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

Answers:

1. Wilbur Bestwick

2. Archibald Henderson

3. Opha Mae Johnson

4. Samuel Nicholas

5. New Providence Island in the Bahamas, where a British fort and large supplies of munitions were known to be. With Captain Nicholas in command, 234 Marines sailed from Philadelphia in Continental warships. On 3 March 1776, Captain Nicholas led his Marines ashore, took the fort, and captured the powder and arms for Washington’s army.

6. 650 to 850 rounds per minute

7. Infantry Rifleman (Don’t call 911… call 0311!)

8. “Moto” is a commonly used slang term in the Marine Corps, and it means “motivated”. It can also refer to someone who is extremely devoted to the Corps and Marine Corps memorabilia — for example, stores that sell USMC memorabilia are called moto shops by Marines.

9. A high-and-tight haircut.

10. The Marine Corps barracks in 8th and I street. At the time, it was the Commandant’s house.

11. 2nd Lt. Mitchell Paige

12. The Battle of Chapultepec. The victory of this battle is also memorialized in the Marine Corps hymn, in the very opening line: “From the halls of Montezuma… ”

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

For the Project Valour-IT competition, the Marine Corps team is doing all kind of fun stuff. We’re going to have trivia and games, and we’ll also be spotlighting Marine heroes throughout the competition. To get the ball rolling, Cassandra asked me to kick things off by interviewing my Marine, my boyfriend Matt. I’m ridiculously proud of him, of course, and brag about him whenever I can as it is. And as if I don’t yak about him enough on here already, I get to feature even more fun stuff about him now, too.

In all seriousness, Matt truly is a hero to me, just like the thousands of other Marines out there. I can say without any bias that he loves what he does, he loves the Corps, and he loves his country. He’s willing to fight and die for America and for all of us. I may be his girlfriend and I’m certainly biased, but it’s still a pretty incredible thing.

So, with all that said, check out Matt’s and my “interview” after the jump, and there are a few pictures of him at the end as well. (Sorry they’re all with me, too, but I don’t have many pictures of Matt in uniform that doesn’t have me in them also.)

What is your rank and MOS in the Marine Corps?

- Corporal, 0311 (Infantry Rifleman).

How long have you been serving?

- Five years, and I just reenlisted in September of 2008.

Why did you join the Marine Corps?

- Because it was the hardest branch, and I wanted to challenge myself. From what I saw during my time in the Army, the Marine Corps was stricter and had more rules. That was what I wanted. I also wanted to go to Iraq and fight for my country, I wanted to get deployed. I felt like everyone else was doing their part; why shouldn’t I?

What was serving in Iraq like?

- In the beginning, when I first got to Iraq, it was worrisome because I thought I could just be attacked at any moment and was scared of dying. But after taking mortar fire for a couple of weeks, I got used to it and wasn’t scared anymore. I knew if it was my time it was my time. All I cared about was getting home to my family, and I was more concerned about how they’d feel if I was gone. I got to see Saddam Hussein during his trial, because I was guarding the embassy in Baghdad. I got to sit in during his trial. When I came back the first time, we landed in Maine, and everyone was real friendly and really happy about us coming back. Retired Marines were coming up to us, shaking our hands, and it was great.

The second time I went, I was more familiar with the country and I wasn’t worried at all. We would do convoy missions, and we were in some very well protected vehicles called MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protectant), and they can take small arms fire without doing any damage. It can take a 7.62 round without penetrating the armor, and that’s the primary round of our enemy, with the AK-47s. We were worried more about IEDs, so it was like fighting a silent enemy. You can’t find them, you just hope you don’t get blown up. Most of the other Marine units on patrol got hit my IEDs, but we didn’t. We were very fortunate. But every day, when you got into your truck and started riding out, you never knew what would happen. You would get these guys coming up to you with their arms in the air yelling “ALLAH AKBAR!”, which is what they yell when they’re about to blow themselves up. So you would grab your M-16 and just get ready to shoot them if they were going to try anything. For the most part we just tried to have fun. We would pass a lot of the times doing stupid sh*t and making up dumb jokes. A bunch of us, for example, got one Marine to drink a ChemLight to see if his pee would glow. He threw up, and his pee definitely did not glow. When we got back, it was in Massachusetts. It wasn’t as great of a homecoming, because we had just returned to our own country for the first time, and no one greeted us. We were in uniform, and everyone just stared. No one smiled or said thank you or anything. You wanna talk about not feeling welcome in your own country? We didn’t feel welcome. We felt like no one cared. We got treated better in Ireland drinking beer in the airport. It was a real sh*tty homecoming, until we got back to Camp Lejeune and got to see our families and everything.

What was the homecoming like?

- Homecomings are always great when you have a woman there that cares about you. When I got home, my girlfriend was there waiting for me. She could’ve been standing out there for hours for all I know, but she was there when I got off the bus. The feeling of knowing that someone is going to be there waiting for you, someone who cares so much about you, made the homecoming worth something, worth more than it did the first time. That’s what every Marine wants to come home from deployment to, a good woman who’s faithful to you and who cares about you. Also you realize you were taking for granted everything the United States has to offer before you left, especially coming back from a place like Iraq. You walk into a store and they have fresh food, fresh fruit, fresh water. In Iraq sometimes water is even hard to get.

Do you think Americans appreciate your service?

- I think most of them do. I always appreciate it when someone comes up to me and says thank you, but I feel more inclined to say thank you for them being supportive. There’s a lot of people who want to serve but can’t, for whatever reason. As long as they’re supportive, I’m more thankful for them than they should be for me, personally.

There are some people, especially on the Left, who don’t support the military. How do you feel about that?

-They have the right to say what they want. They’re Americans, and that’s their right. Of course, the only reason they have that right is because the military [is] willing to fight for it. They can put it down all day long and sit around at home being a coward, but at the end of the day, it’s thanks to the military that they can put us down. It’s thanks to the military that they aren’t speaking Japanese or German or Russian.

What does being a Marine mean to you?

- Being a cut above the rest. It’s not always about physical ability, sometimes it’s more mental. It sounds cliched, but it’s the whole “the few… the proud” thing. We’re very proud of who we are because of our training. I feel like we get better training than any other branch.

What about America is worth fighting for to you? The Marines have been known as the best fighting force the world has ever seen, but what is it that you are actually fighting for?

- Opportunity. People have more of an opportunity here than in other countries. It is a country that’s been through some hard times, but so have a lot of countries. What makes this country so great is… you can call it freedom, but it’s not what people usually think. It’s not the freedom to do whatever you want. The freedom to have a job, to raise a family, to not have a communist dictator running your life. The freedom to speak up and not have repercussions from your government, with them dragging you outside your house and shooting you, or raping your wife right in front of you. People like to put down this country, but it’s a lot better than most other countries. It’s a melting pot. If it’s so bad here, then why do so many other people leave their countries to come live in the United States? I fight for the Constitution. The Constitution was made for the United States, for the people, by the people. A document was signed that freed Americans from tyranny, and I’m not fighting for the president or my mom or my girlfriend. I fight for the Constitution, I fight for everybody.

Some people wonder all their lives wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more commentary or follow her on Twitter!

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