Rod's US Military Blog

Many people confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. While those who died are also remembered on Veterans Day, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime.

The American flag flutters at half-staff more often than not at one of the nation’s top tourist spots, and the mournful strains of “Taps” is likely to arouse conflicting emotions in visitors’ hearts. Is it sorrow they should feel, or pride for the heroes buried there?

More than 285,000 people have been laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Across its rolling hills stand the unadorned headstones of veterans from the Revolutionary War to the current struggle in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense.

Armed Forces Day is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of May. Armed Forces Week begins on the second Saturday of May and ends on the third Sunday of May, the day after Armed Forces Day.

The Department of Defense has announced its recruiting statistics for the active and reserve components for April 2008 (the seventh month of FY 2008). A "Fiscal Year" runs from October through September.

The Navy has announced that it is taking applications for the Seaman to Admiral 21 commissioning program for 2009.

The STA-21 program is a full-time undergraduate education and commissioning program open to enlisted personnel of all paygrades and ratings who meet the eligibility requirements. Selectees are provided a maximum of 36 months of full-time, year-round study to complete a baccalaureate degree. Participants remain on active duty while attending college and receive pay, allowances, benefits, and privileges of their current paygrade. In addition, selectees receive an education voucher for up to $10,000 per year to cover tuition, fees, and book costs. Upon graduation, they become commissioned naval officers. For details, see Navy Administrative Message 127/08.

The Marine Corps is once again calling up Marines from the Individual Ready Reserve, according to a Stars & Stripes article.

The upcoming call-up will mark the fourth time since August 2006 that the Corps has dipped into the IRR to fill shortfalls in the active-duty force. The Corps plans to screen between 1,700 and 1,800 Marines, of which it hopes about 550 will get orders for Iraq. Of the 60,000 Marines in the IRR, about 70 percent have deployed to combat at least once, according to the article.

On August 4th of last year, the United States Coast Guard celebrated their 217th birthday. Just three years ago, after days of searching, the U.S. Coast Guard 27,243 people from rooftops and flooded neighborhoods, devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, Coast Guard personnel assisted with the evacuation of an additional 9,462 patients and medical personnel from hospitals and nursing homes.

Although the entire world watched their helicopters, aircraft, and cutters streak across their television screens that week, many people know very little about this dedicated group of silent heroes.

More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.

According to an article in the Army Times, the number of troops that doctors found nondeployable but who were still sent to Iraq or Afghanistan fluctuated from 10,854 in 2003, down to 5,397 in 2005, and back up to 9,140 in 2007.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to give new military fathers 21 days of paternity leave after their children are born or within 60 days of fathers’ return from deployment, according to a Stars & Stripes article.

If the Senate committee plan becomes law, paternity leave would be granted regardless of marital status, as long as new fathers claim the infants as dependents. As many as 32,000 soldiers, 18,000 sailors, 17,000 Air Force personnel and 9,000 Marines stand to benefit next year alone.

To be a submariner you have to be different. It takes a unique mindset to handle being isolated from people, the sun and fresh air as long as they are. Most people just can’t handle the thought of being underwater, but submariners never really think about it.