U.S. Army Sgt. Joseph
Wilson with Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd
Brigade, 101st Airborne Division provides security during a mission in the Zirat
Mountain Area, Waza Kwah District, Paktika province, Afghanistan, on July 7,
2010. The purpose of the mission is to disrupt anti-Afghan forces and find enemy
weapons caches. DoD
photo by Sgt. Jeffrey Alexander, U.S. Army. (Released)
The
willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no
matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive how the veterans of earlier wars were treated and
appreciated by their nation"..............George Washington
P E N T A G O N N
E W S A N D S E R V I C E B R I E F S
"The Patriots who have volunteered to serve in our armed services have no
equal in the world. I made a solemn commitment to the Congress, to the nation,
and to you to keep the welfare of men and women in uniform uppermost in my mind
at all times."
................Defense Secretary
Robert M. Gates
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike
Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hold a press conference at the
Pentagon, July 29, 2010, in which Gates says he has requested FBI assistance to
find the individual or persons responsible for leaking classified Afghanistan
War documents to the WikiLeaks organization. DoD photo by R. D. Ward.
Story
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet
with members of the national security team, including Defense Secretary Robert
M. Gates, center, and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, in the Situation Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., July 29,
2010, to discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan. White House photo by Pete Souza.
Boy Scouts of America 2010 National Scout
Jamboree
More than 45,000 Boy Scouts salute during the singing of
the national anthem as part of the Boy Scouts of America 2010 National Scout
Jamboree on Fort AP Hill, Va., July 28, 2010. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates addresses an
audience of more than 45,000 scouts during the Boy Scouts of America 2010
National Scout Jamboree on Fort AP Hill, Va., July 28, 2010. DoD photo by Cherie
Cullen.
Story
Department of Defense
News Briefs
-------VA
Adjusts Care for Women Vets
Women in today’s military serve closer to the front lines than ever before, and
as they become veterans the Veterans Affairs Department will be ready to handle
their care, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said.
Story
-------Search
for Tarawa Missing Begins
An archeological team from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command will visit
the Republic of Kiribati next month to search for missing servicemembers who
fought in the Battle of Tarawa in World War II.
Story
-------Forces
Continue Search for U.S. Sailor
The Defense Department has identified two sailors who went missing in
Afghanistan’s Logar province, and U.S. forces there are focused on finding one
still unaccounted for, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Story
-------Obama
Proclaims Korean Armistice Day
President Barack Obama issued a proclamation to commemorate the anniversary of
the conclusion of Korean War hostilities at Panmunjom and to honor veterans of
the conflict.
Story |
Proclamation |
Special
The United States Library of Congress
To Whom It May
Concern:
The United States Library of Congress has selected your Web site for inclusion
in its historic collections of Internet materials related to the Presidential
Transition during a Time of Crises. The Library's traditional functions,
acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical
importance to the Congress and to the American people to foster education and
scholarship, extend to digital materials, including Web sites. We request your
permission to collect your web site and add it to the Library's research
collections. We also ask that we be allowed to display the archived version(s)
of your web site.
With your permission, the Library of Congress or its agent will engage in the
collection of content from your Web site at regular intervals over time. The
Library will make this collection available to researchers onsite at Library
facilities. The Library also wishes to make the collection available to offsite
researchers by hosting the collection on the Library's public access Web site. The Library hopes that you share its vision of preserving Internet materials and
permitting researchers from across the world to access them.
HUD
and VA Launch $15 Million Demonstration Program to Prevent Veteran Homelessness
- In an effort to prevent homelessness among veterans, primarily those returning
from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today
announced that both agencies will invest a combined $15 million in five selected
communities near military installations. The HUD and VA grant funding is
intended to provide housing assistance and supportive services to veterans who
might otherwise be living in homeless shelters or on the streets. (7/22/10)
HUD
and VA Launch $15 Million Demonstration Program to Prevent Veteran Homelessness
- In an effort to prevent homelessness among veterans, primarily those returning
from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today
announced that both agencies will invest a combined $15 million in five selected
communities near military installations. The HUD and VA grant funding is
intended to provide housing assistance and supportive services to veterans who
might otherwise be living in homeless shelters or on the streets. (7/22/10)
VA
Approves $2.8M for Gulf War Illness Research - The Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) has approved $2.8 million to fund three new research projects that
focus on testing or developing new treatments for illnesses affecting Veterans
who served in the Gulf War 1990-1991. The research incorporates recommendations
of the department’s Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses Task Force. (7/21/10)
VA
Unveils Contract Strategy that Helps Veterans’ Small Businesses - To improve
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) execution of information technology (IT)
projects and to further advance top-priority programs for Veterans, Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced a new contracting strategy to be
known as Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) which is focused on
giving Veteran-owned small businesses more opportunities to support VA.
(7/20/10)
New
Open Government Plan Emphasizes VA’s Commitment to Transparency - Supporting
President Obama’s pledge to make transparency and openness the pillars of good
government, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has updated its “Open
Government Plan,” reaffirming VA’s commitment to become a leader among federal
agencies at applying these principles to achieve its mission of serving
veterans. (7/19/10)
VA
Simplifies Access to Health Care and Benefits for Veterans with PTSD -
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced a critical step forward
in providing an easier process for Veterans seeking health care and disability
compensation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), with the publication of
a final regulation in the Federal Register. (7/12/10)
Registration
Opens for VA Forum on Women Veterans - The Department of Veterans Affairs
opened registration on July 8 for a women Veterans forum that will address the
quality of VA health care, the provision of benefits for women, and ways for VA
to continue improving access to the care and benefits for women
Veterans. (7/8/10)
The
Following Links Provided by "The National Archives"
La versión en Español del folleto “Beneficios Federales
para los Veteranos, Dependientes y Supervivientes" (edicion 2009), el cual
explica la variedad de beneficios disponibles para los veteranos y sus
dependientes, se encuentra disponible en versión PDF.
La versión 2009
"There is many a boy here
today who looks on war as all glory, but boys, it is all hell. You
can bear this warning voice to generations yet to come. I look upon
war with horror".........William Tecumseh Sherman,
August 11th 1880.
T H E W A R I N A F G H A N I S T A
N
O P E R A T I O N
E N D U R I N G F R E E D O M
Let’s be clear that the date of July 2011 to begin transferring security
responsibility and thinning our troops and bringing them home is firm.
What is 'conditions based' is the pacing at which our troops will come home and
the pace at which we will turn over responsibility to the Afghans. And
that will be based on conditions on the ground.
............Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ABC Face the
Nation,Washington, D.C. Dec. 6, 2009
As seen through a night-vision
device, members of Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul adjust their optics
during a presence patrol in Qalat City, Zabul province, Afghanistan, July 23,
2010. The Zabul team supports and facilitates the legitimacy of the Afghan
national and local governments through regional reconstruction, security and
stability of the province. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nathanael
Callon.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joseph Romero provides security around a landing zone in Khost province,
Afghanistan, July 25, 2010. Members of the Khost Provincial Reconstruction Team
flew to the Spera district to attend a meeting with the Khost provincial
governor, district government officials and tribal elders. Romero is a Khost
team corpsman. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Julianne M. Showalter.
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Carolyn
McIlvaine hands out book bags to girls in the village of Kohe-sur in
Panjshir province, Afghanistan, July 24, 2010. Members of the Panjshir
Provincial Reconstruction Team met with the Paryan District Development Assembly
for women's affairs to discuss various projects and make a humanitarian drop to
a girls' school in the Paryan district. Mcllvaine is the Panjshir team's
noncommissioned officer in charge for the medical team. U.S. Air Force photo by
1st Lt. Holly A. Hess.
HI-RES
U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Georganne
Hassell walks down a street during a presence patrol in Qalat City, Zabul
province, Afghanistan, July 23, 2010. Hassell, an information operations office,
is assigned to the Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul. U.S. Air Force photo by
Senior Airman Nathanael Callon.
U.S. Army Cpl. Robert
Graves kneels while providing security as the 401st Military Police Company
walks through the village of Udkheyl, Logar province, Afghanistan, on July 7,
2010. DoD photo by
Spc. De'Yonte Mosley, U.S. Army. (Released)
U.S. Army Sgt. Anthony
Limon (right) and Sgt. Aaron Hestand, both from White Tank, 2nd Platoon,
Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, keep watch during a patrol
near Combat Outpost Sangar, Zabul province, Afghanistan, on July 3, 2010. DoD photo by Staff Sgt.
William Tremblay, U.S. Army. (Released)
U.S. Air Force 1st Lt.
Georganne Hassell, information operations officer of Provincial
Reconstruction Team Zabul, teaches Afghan girls to count at the Zarghona Girls'
School in Qalat City, Afghanistan, on July 8, 2010. Members of the Provincial
Reconstruction Team visited the school and distributed new head scarves as part
of an ongoing humanitarian assistance mission. DoD photo by Senior Airman
Nathanael Callon, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
Commander of the
International Security Assistance Force Gen. David H. Petraeus (3rd from
left), U.S. Army, speaks with Afghan Minister of Security Gen. Munir Mangal
during the Commander's Conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 7, 2010.
Commander of ISAF Joint Command and the Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces -
Afghanistan Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez (2nd from right), U.S Army, and Commander
of Joint Task Force 435 Vice Adm. Robert Harward (left) were also in attendance.
DoD photo by Staff
Sgt. Bradley Lail, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
Teddy Roosevelt – not a businessman,
but an entrepreneur in other respects – once said: "A man who is good enough to
shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal
afterwards."
.......... Speech Excerpt by Defense
Secretary Robert M. Gates
A U.S. Army soldier
assigned to White Platoon, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd
Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division drinks water during a patrol in
Rizgari, Iraq, on July 5, 2010. DoD photo by Petty Officer
1st Class Dave Hites, U.S. Navy. (Released)
U.S. Air Force Senior
Airman Jaymes Russell, a crew chief with the 169th Aircraft Maintenance
Squadron, McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., prepares an F-16 Fighting
Falcon aircraft to fly a mission from Joint Base Balad, Iraq, on July 7, 2010.
Pilots and maintenance personnel from various units deployed to Joint Base Balad
with the 169th Fighter Wing to cover an Air Expeditionary Force deployment.
DoD photo by Tech.
Sgt. Caycee Cook, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
U.S. Army soldiers from
Charlie Company, 67th Signal Battalion stationed at Fort Gordon, Ga., board
a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at Sather Air Base in Iraq on July 10, 2010. The
aircraft is from the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron out of Incirlik Air
Base, Turkey, and deployed from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. Charlie Company
is redeploying to their home unit as part of the drawdown to 50,000 troops in
Iraq by August 31, 2010. DoD photo by Senior Airman
Perry Aston, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
U.S. Air Force airmen
from the 169th Maintenance Group out of McEntire Joint National Guard Base,
S.C., perform post-flight checks on an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft at Joint
Base Balad, Iraq, following a mission on June 29, 2010. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt.
Caycee Cook, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
U.S. Navy Petty Officer
2nd Class Robinson Inchiparambil (left) and Petty Officer Ronnel J. Philpott,
both Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 21, set up power
for the team's improvised work area in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 7, 2010.DoD photo by Spc. Victor J.
Ayala, U.S. Army. (Released)
