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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! November 8, 2005 Valour-IT Blogging Fundraiser CompetitionBy Mrs Greyhawk(New)IMPORTANT UPDATES:  Update II:
Update I: You can choose any branch you like. Here's where you can go to donate. Ok that's just some fun rivalry, please, don't anyone get offended. Blackfive's boots are not smelly, they smell like roses. I'm proud to stand with everyone of these guys so choose the team best for you, we're on the same mission here. To get team credit for a donation, you must donate via the "To Donate" button on the website of your team leader (This takes you to the proper Valour-IT PayPal donation page). Donations made via the regular Valour-IT website will not be part of your team's official competition total, though they will still go to the Valour-IT program. Any blogger (military or civilian) can join any team. Just visit the websites linked above, cough Air Force. And on a serious note... For those that believe the Air Force is not in the thick of things in this war and those who are under the false pretenses that they're only in secure locations, let me introduce you to a few people:
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Douglas Batchelder Although a rocket attack cut his time short on his first deployment, an airman with the 64th Helicopter Maintenance Unit here pledged to himself that he would endure whatever pain was necessary to get back in the fight. And 03/10/05 KNXV: Airman Brian Kolfage has great attitude despite huge losses Senior Airman Brian Kolfage Senior Airman Brian Kolfage is one of the most seriously wounded soldiers to date to survive the war in Iraq. He is one of three soldiers in Iraq who are triple amputees, and he was almost a quadruple amputee. And Gannett: Three receive Purple Hearts Airman first class Josh Rohrbacher, Staff Sgt. Duane Collins and Tech Sgt. Charles Hiser received the award, the 11th highest in the Air Force, Thursday at a ceremony for the RED HORSE at Port Clinton High School. SO AIR FORCE STEP UP! Where at the bottom of the pole! What is a "Valour-IT Blogging Fundraiser Competition" you ask? Project Valour-IT is a Soldiers Angels project dedicated to provide voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at major military medical centers. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the 'Net, do on-line banking and communicate with buddies still in the field without having to press a key or move a mouse. This can be instrumental in their recovery and help eliviate frustrations an injured soldier may endure. The goal of this competition is to have a fun rivarly amongst the branches of service, so there will be 4 teams, Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Each team will have a blogging leader (not necessarily affiliated with that branch). For instance I've been assigned to the Air Force team and I'm not in the Air Force and Holly Aho the team leader for Marines is most certainly not a Marine, she's just too damn sweet. However BlackFive is team leader for the Army and he represents. And for the Navy, Mrs Smash is leading the charge. Each team will compete through blogging about project Valour-IT in order to raise donations. Whichever team raises the most money for project Valour-IT between 11/2 and 11/11 is the winner of the competition. While teams are divided along military lines, you need not have been in the military in order to help or join a team. So pick the If you are interested in joining Mudville, which has been assigned to the Airforce team, leave a trackback or comment to this post, or send me an email to let me know you'd like to be on our team. We'll welcome you as a member. Uno Ab Alto !(One over all) Regardless which team you choose to donate thru, all monies goes to one pot to help all soldier's wounded no matter what branch they are in. Those that are not bloggers can also help project Valour-IT by telling friends and family as well as by email. Flyers are available for whoever would like to distribute them, bloggers and non-bloggers alike. There are a few incentives such as receiving a Soldiers' Angels Coin which will be given to each donor during the competition. They are beautiful (I know I have one) Bloggers in the competition are also free to offer their own incentives for donations. Here at Mudville, every donation of $100.00 or more will get you free advertising for the time alloted for this competition. The fundraising competition will run from November 2 until Veteran's Day, November 11. Need some motivation? Read this or this. And a few tax issues to add: 1. It's a tax-deductible donation and eligible for 2. The snail mail address for those who'd rather
 SO JOIN OUR TEAM TODAY! AIM HIGH! UNO AB ALTO ! - (One over all!) USAF No One Comes Close! Links to learn more about Project Valour-IT: UPDATE Blogger Team Recognions :
Non blogger Team Recognitions : Mr. & Mrs. Greyhawk, First of all I want to thank you both for being a part of Project Valor IT. The work that Soldier?s Angels is doing is truly amazing and any support they receive is well worth it. Thank you! Posted by Mrs Greyhawk / November 8, 2005 8:03 AM | Permalink 26 TrackBacksSoldiers' Angels (Marine Corps), Mudville (Air Force) , and Blackfive (Army) are leading the campaign to raise funds to provide technology solutions for wounded heroes. The Navy team still needs a leader. Where is Froggy Ruminations on this one? ... Read More Hey... I *am* AFSister, you know, so I *had* to join Greyhawk's Air Force team for the Valour-IT competition! Read More Please please please go to the Mudville gazette right now (GO Air Force Team!) and donate to Project Valour-It which is run by Soldiers Angels. These guys are fantastic. This is your chance to put your money where your mouth is and support our men and ... Read More A lot of the bloggers involved with Project Valour-IT (myself included), took a step back from fundraising for that project in the wake of the hurricanes. But Project Valour-IT is still up and running - and in need of your help. Today kicks off a... Read More A lot of the bloggers involved with Project Valour-IT (myself included), took a step back from fundraising for that project in the wake of the hurricanes. But Project Valour-IT is still up and running - and in need of your help. Today kicks off a... Read More (If you haven't read Project Valor IT -- make it happen (Re-post) yet, please do that and then come back to this post.) I don't stand a chance on improving on Mrs. Greyhawk's explanation of what this is all about, Read More Going to keep this at the top until after Veteran’s Day. Project Valour-IT (Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops) Project Valour-IT is providing laptops and voice-controlled software to the wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Mar... Read More Greyhawk has a post up making a pitch for some participation in a fantastic fund raising program which goes through Soldiers' Angels. It's called Valour IT. Valour IT is an effort that provides voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Read More I'm at Benning - that's fresh fodder up there, Airborne Aspirants in Ground Week, taken yesterday. They'll give. I bet if I went over to the sheds, I could walk away with a thousand bucks. Instead, I'll just leave... Read More * * * STICKY POST: Scroll Down for New Articles * * * I know LT SMASH is a sailor (arr, matey) but Mrs. SMASH is heading up the fundraising efforts on behalf of the Navy for a good cause;... Read More Let's go Marines! Ya ain't gonna let the Army lead this little race, are ya? Or the Air Force? Or (gasp!) the Navy? ... Read More Photo courtesy U.S. Army Center for Military History. The convoy left precisely on time. It was hot and dusty and difficult to see, but he kept a sharp eye out for a possible ambush or improvised explosive devices (IED) along the route. The first ... Read More A Worthy Cause Read More This will probably be my last post over here about Valour-IT. At least one other of my lovely co-guest-bloggers is... Read More Thanks for those of who have contributed to the project already - and for those who are considering it. Just a reminder, the very excellent project supported by that link on the right is to raise funds to buy speech-recognition software and laptops f... Read More (This post will stay at the top until November 12.) I didn’t know that there was a new drive for Project Valour-IT. As you can see, I still have the old banner up on the right sidebar. However, Project Valour-IT Read More I’m not resisting anymore. I wasn’t reisisting before really, Patrick’s post over at Clarity and Resolve lit a fire under my ass. Soldiers Angels is hosting Project Valour-IT. Every cent raised for Project Valour-IT goes directly ... Read More Matty O'Blackfive says it so well that I'm pretty much stealing his post, except I fixed the typos where he talked about supporting the Army team. Valour-IT's online fundraising competition begins today! Let's see who can raise the most money... Read More Guys and girls, Valour-IT is a charity that I think all of us can, and should, get behind. It supports injured and wounded soldiers. Specifically, the name stands for Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops. From the home page: Project... Read More The only real winners in this… are the Veterans. We bloggers are having a good time, in this jokey inter-service rivalry. The Navy has pulled ahead, with Army breathing down our necks. Seriously breathing down our necks. Being on the... Read More Just before midnight on November 5th, the Valour-IT challenge has raised an astonishing $32,051. Each service is contributing steadily, with NAVY firmly in the lead. The tracking chart for all four services shows that both NAVY and Army are tracking ... Read More Having problems figuring out what to get someone for Christmas? How about helping out the wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations? There is a friendly fundraiser, Valor-IT, going on to help the... Read More Today I have had numerous friends tell me that when they ask me in the Marines, "WHY DID YOU JOIN THE MARINE CORPS?!" I should respond, "I GOT LOST ON MY WAY TO COLLEGE, SIR!" (Quote for the new movie, Jarhead.) I am glad that this is not the case... Read More That's what it really is. Yeah, we're fighting over the bragging rights, but the reality is, the money goes into the same pot, for the same purpose, and no ID cards are checked. BIG HUGE HONKING HAT TIP to... Read More If you haven't heard of Project Valour-IT, go to Soldier's Angels and read all about it. Then go to From My Position... and meet SFC William V. Ziegenfuss and his amazing wife Carren. Read the whole thing and you'll find out why SPC "Chuck" Ziegen... Read More Project Valour -- IT is raising funds for a worthwhile project. Carren Ziegenfuss, wife of Chuck, decided to accomplish their fund raising mission by going under fire. Not a drill, no mere live-fire exercise. It is easier to look... Read More 19 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
Testing, testing. Are comments working again?
I just did my bit to help you reach your goal and if I get enough overtime this week, I'll make another donation. Here's hoping you do better than 21K.
According to your site meter, less than six bucks from every visitor for just one day would do it ;-)
Yikes! Blackfive has raised almost $2400.00!
Hey Mrs. G!
I would have joined the AF team since I was Air Force myself, but I figured with y'all's readership being, oh, about a zillion times more than mine, I'm working the Marine Corps team--OORAH! (Besides, my favorite group of readers is a USMC unit in Al Asad, Iraq.)
But guess what--we're ahead of you guys! (Yes, I'm goading your readers!) ;-P
Step up, zoomies! ;-)
Hmm... This is going to be a tough decision.
I served a term in the Army in the late 80s, so I should donate through Black Five. But Smash is just down the coast a little ways, so I should probably donate though him. Of course, Mudville is the site that really got me hooked on blogs and is still the first I read daily, so I should donate through you. And given all that Soldier's Angels have done, how can I NOT donate through them?
So, I hope you'll forgive my... indecision, flip-flopping, Kerryism, whatever you want to call it... but I think I'' have to donate some to each of you (though probably a bit more to Black Five... I was in the Army, after all).
No Coast Guard team?
I donated $100 to Soldiers' Angels based on some mail I got a couple of weeks ago. Just found out about this contest via Blackfive today. If you can count my donation towards the AF total, please do. I'm an Air Guardsman in Georgia. Aim High!
Count me in... Count in The Jawa Report too.
GO AIR FORCE!
ok, I took no sides, but put up a post for all Teams! I told them to fly on over here to contribute! (But the Commander/DH felt compelled to give Navy (sigh). Hoping you all are keeping warm in the cool temps! Think of you all OFTEN.
Go Navy! Squids do it better!
Mrs. G.,
I don't think it would be cheating if you added my little donation! We need all the help we can get! ;)
Anna
It's not really puppy juice so much as more of a smoothy. Kind of a puree. Sometimes with a little rum or southern comfort for an added kick.
I just joined the Air Force team. Air Force seemed to have fewest team members so far. Hopefully I can gather a decent amount of donations. Best of luck all.
Think this is great for the boys and girls who are protecting us. I tried to contribute and paypal is having problems, will try again later. Air Force all the way...but I do love the work the Marines, Army and Navy do...
Right now the Navy is the one to beat. GO NAVY!
Go Air Force.
Mrs. G et al...as a sister of an AFNG (10yr active duty) I am supporting the AF cause. Realizing that we were suffering from a lack of donations, I sent an email to my brother who works at Armarc and drills at Davis-Monthan AF in AZ. He said that he would send it to the PA and get permission to pass flyers around.
Of course, wink-wink, I asked him to...um...verbally remind some folks of this website. I think we got one or two donations already and am hoping that, come Monday, we get a nice influx when he gets back at Armarc.
Just wanted to let you know I was trying to go outside the box to boost our donations. I told him that we couldn't let Air Force go down in flames.
I realize you all are army, but your support has been really great.
Go Air Force!
Air Force needs to step up boys. I put in $100, We can't let these Navy pukes win this. Step Up Soldiers.
Team Air Force will be happy to know that Sunday showed a significant up-tick in the number of AF donations. Kat definitely has the right idea--it's not outside the box. That kind of word-of-mouth and passing out flyers thing has been going on with the other teams since day one. Go Air Force!
(Don't tell NAVY I said that!) ;)
I'm a wing wiper (Thanks Smash commenter)
Special NOTE for the Navy: This wing wiper keeps one particular USN sites communications running!!
I'm on board. I've sent it up to my squadron trying to get some folks on board as well.
I also requested that my friends and family donate to Team AF as my Christmas Wish..
The money should start piling in soon, OK maybe that's a little over the top, but hopefully we get some.
Thanks GreyHawk & Mrs for taking on the AF..
Just kills me to look at that lagging total.. : (
Thank you Mrs. Greyhawk and significant other,
:)
We are going to be able to help many heroes through your collaborative efforts, I thank you and your readers for their caring.
Patti Bader and the Soldiers Angels