Cool article on the 82nd

They're headed back up to Ft. Bragg!

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,77462,00.html?ESRC=army-a.nl

Our post newspaper...online!

There were some interesting things I wanted to share about the 82nd going to Louisiana last week in our post paper, The Paraglide. Turns out, it's all online too!

http://www.paraglideonline.net/

Mostly the pictures from the front page articles and the focus section.

But now you can keep up with what's happening on post too!

Update on the 82nd in New Orleans

From Best Friends Animal Society
(Thanks to Dee for posting it on her Live Journal!)






I know Aaryk isn't with them there, but I thought this interview was interesting. Gives you an idea of the kinds of things his Division is capable of!

http://www.radioblogger.com/#000974

If the interview from Friday with Maj. General Caldwell isn't on top, just scroll down a bit.

What Aaryk's been up to...

I posted that over the Labor Day weekend that Aaryk had been putting in 13+ hours days. Here's why-http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20050906/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina_25

specifically this-

The Pentagon, meanwhile, began sending paratroopers from the Army's storied 82nd Airborne Division to New Orleans to use small boats, including inflatable Zodiac craft, to launch a new search-and-rescue effort in flooded sections of the city.
Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, division commander, said about 5,000 paratroopers would be in place by Tuesday.

No, he's not going to New Orleans, he was just part of the team that got them ready to roll. It's kind of neat to read about it in the news.

The rest of the pictures

I have them here-

http://photobucket.com/albums/y197/ladydrake64/

The password to view this album is: kyrie

Just put in the password, and the house pics are in the 'new house' folder. I have some other pictures of Aaryk from Aberdeen and when he came home for Memorial Day in the 'army' folder. Feel free to poke around!

UPDATE- if you want to save copies of any of the pictures, just click on the image to enlarge it, right click on it, and click 'save as'. That will save it to your 'My Pictures' folder.

Also, I'm working on figuring out why my entries are WAYYYY down here. If you can help with that, please let me know. Thanks!
UPDATE- I figured it out! Extra long links or oversize pictures will cause tat problem. Now I know!

House pics!

Told you I'd have them up eventually!

(Picture is up on photobucket. It was causing the blog entries to move down because of it's size)

I've got them hosted on Photobucket. I'll try and get the rest up soon!

Troops from Ft. Bragg headed to Louisiana

Not Aaryk's unit, but he did get called in this evening (they were on a four day weekend) to help one of the other Forward Support Battalions (FSB) mobilize to head to the Gulf Coast.

I'm still trying to find other ways to help. I've given what money I can...NOW what do I do?

I keep praying...and looking for other ways to support all the folks on the Gulf Coast. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Active Duty Troops & Hurricane Relief

A friend of ours sent this link-
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.military.reut/index.html
and asked if Aaryk was going.

At the moment his unit is on stand by, but they haven't been deployed to the Gulf Coast...yet.

Depending on the needs in the near future, they may mobilize more active duty troops to help.

We'll have to wait and see.

I was reading about Keesler AFB in Mississippi. They base was pretty much demolished. I think about the people who lived on base and think, that could have been us. I'm sure there were families at Keesler who had just arrived and barely gotten unpacked when Katrina hit. Fortunately, they have hurricane shelters so the people and their pets were safe. My heart aches for them.

I sent a donation to Soldier's Angels at- http://www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/Operation_Katrina_Soldiers_Relief_Fund.php,
but I need to find a way to do more. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Another way to help...

http://www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/Operation_Katrina_Soldiers_Relief_Fund.php

These good folks are helping displaced families of (mostly) National Guardsmen who are overseas at the moment. Can you imagine being in Iraq, seeing the devastation in the Gulf Coast area and not even being able to get a hold of your family? Of knowing that your house and all your belongings are just...gone?

There's a contingent of the Louisiana NG due to come home in a few weeks, and (like everyone in the region) they will need our prayers and support.

If you can, please consider helping them through Soldier's Angels or one of the other charitable organizations working in the Gulf. There's an extensive list in my previous post.

I hope none of you minds hearing about this instead of family things right now. I just know that we need to help our neighbors, because nobody else will.

Thanks for listening.