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Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our ongoing roundup of information on war and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world.
Updating - Refresh for updates.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Or is it BIRTHMONTH??? -- [Healing Those Who Provide Our Freedom - in Afghanistan]
...I'm sad that I won't be able to spend her birthday with her, but she will get to spend it with her entire family and I think they will be able to make it special for her. Hopefully I can spend the day watching reruns of Reno 911! and NOT treating casualties...
The Jinx -- [Healing Those Who Provide Our Freedom - in Afghanistan]
I should have known better than to actually write down last night that I hoped I could spend today watching Reno 911! and not caring for casualties. Medical professionals are a superstitious bunch and I broke the cardinal rule...
Haji in a Dust Storm -- [Kandahar Diary - in Afghanistan]
Early afternoon and I was outside the perimeter checking the progress of our defence works in a howling dust storm. Nothing unusual about that, but, as we were driving back in, we nearly rear-ended a small white sedan that was crawling very slowly toward the Hesco entrance of one of our gates. I told MK to hang back and we watched him for a while. The driver was a local, VERY traditionally dressed (if you catch my drift), paying a lot of attention to the gate area and yammering away big time on his cell phone...
US soldiers pay village calls in Afghanistan -- [AP/Stars and Stripes]
The platoon's visit to a riverside village was a slog in and out: hours of hiking in body armor under the sun over rock-strewn hills, through rustling wheat fields and sweltering pomegranate groves. U.S. soldiers waded across an irrigation canal, holding rifles above chest-high water and grabbing tree roots to pull themselves out of the muck.
Another morning, they called on another earth-walled settlement a short ride from their base, Frontenac. Dust billowed through the hatches of the Stryker infantry vehicles. This time, the obstacles were less physical. Afghan men appeared wary of their unannounced visitors, refusing to accept a gift of one water pump because, they said, the Americans should give six or 10 pumps instead...
The war in southern Afghanistan is not all fighting. In areas where insurgents have been pushed to the fringes, NATO soldiers struggle to build trust with civilians who don't always respond readily to their upbeat message of community-building. The hard, plodding outreach lacks the immediacy of a combat operation. Progress - the kind that lasts - is uneven and difficult to measure...
Defying convention, GIs go where IEDs are -- [Stars and Stripes]
The headset in their armored vehicle blared with the raging metal band Killswitch Engage while the soldiers delicately maneuvered a mechanized arm to claw at a crater in the rocky dirt road.
"Right here a bomb hit a car and blew it and the people in it to pieces," said Spc. Ernie Roberts.
A few yards up the road that traverses the green fields and bustling markets of this border province, Roberts pointed to a spot known for pressure-plate bombs, which are triggered by the weight of a vehicle. Beyond that was where he watched a man in a car pray, then detonate, lifting a nearby 50,000-pound American vehicle into the air like a feather and blowing it 30 feet from where it sat.
"This used to be the worst road pretty much in the whole country," Roberts said...
Afghan army pays its dues in blood as it takes the fight to the Taleban -- [Times (UK) Online]
...the pre-dawn grey had just begun to lighten when there was a fist-in-the-guts thump and a rolling pressure wave -- and the first vehicle in the convoy moving into the village of Khan Khalay vanished under a white pall.
...From the wreckage the troops pulled an unconscious, mangled figure. His name was Zamin... In the dust by the roadside Specialist George Linares, 26, performed an emergency tracheotomy, cutting through Zamin's throat to insert a tube directly to his lungs. While he did so another medic cradled Zamin's face, the features gone, the skull moving under his hands. From the wreckage a voice screamed and the Afghans worked to free a second survivor, Niamatullah...
The Afghan troops had moved ahead into the village and rounded up a group of men they regarded as suspicious... The US soldiers produced a box containing an instant explosive-residue testing kit, known as Exspray.
As the hands of the bemused men were swabbed, the chemical test indicated that all might not be the innocent civilians they insisted they were...
Suicide Car Bomber Hits U.S. Convoy in Afghanistan -- [NY Times]
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A man driving a Toyota minivan laden with explosives steered into an American convoy on Tuesday morning, killing 18 people, including 5 Americans, and wounding 47 civilians, caught in rush-hour traffic in the Afghan capital...
The blast scattered body parts for 200 feet as the wounded, many of them women and children, some without limbs, lay in the road moaning for help.
In a passenger bus, an Afghan woman lay dead in her seat, cut in half, with her baby still squirming in her arms...
The Taliban took responsibility for the attack in a posting on its Web site...
Taliban Hold Sway in Area Taken by U.S., Farmers Say -- [NY Times]
Farmers from the district of Marja, which since February has been the focus of the largest American-led military operation in Afghanistan, are fleeing the area, saying that the Taliban are terrorizing the population and that American troops cannot protect the civilians...
As the coalition prepares for the next major offensive in the southern city of Kandahar, the uneasy standoff in Marja, where neither the American Marines nor the Taliban have gained the upper hand and clashes occur daily, provides a stark lesson in the challenges of eliminating a patient and deeply rooted insurgency.
Kandahar fears greater peril as West rethinks its planned offensive -- [LA Times]
As Kandahar's 61-year-old deputy mayor prostrated himself in prayer at a mosque a few steps from his family home, Taliban assailants pumped five bullets into his body, then made an easy escape along a street that was supposed to have been tightly secured by Afghan police.
Yarmal was among the best-known figures to be gunned down in an intensifying wave of assassinations that many Kandaharis see as linked to much-touted American plans to drive the Taliban from the city the movement considers its spiritual home.
Now, with NATO seemingly recalibrating its strategy to establish government authority in Kandahar, many here fear that uncertainty over the West's military intentions will plunge them into even greater peril...
Marine official says there is more 'tough fighting' ahead in Afghanistan -- [LA Times]
Nine Marines have been killed this month in southern Helmand province, on the Pakistani border. A helicopter was downed by enemy fire, a rarity in the nine-year conflict. Buried roadside bombs continue to take their toll on Marines and Afghan civilians.
Still, Maj. Gen. Richard Mills said he believed advances were being made in routing the Taliban, winning the allegiance of Afghan civilians, and training the Afghan army and police force. But there will be more combat, he said.
NATO death toll hits 202 in Afghanistan this year -- [Agence France Presse]
The grim milestone was recorded in an AFP tally based on the independent icasualties.org website, after four NATO soldiers were killed on Monday.
Joint NATO-Afghan Military Operations Kill 25 Insurgents -- [Voice of America]
Afghan officials say international and Afghan security sweeps Friday and Saturday across the country killed at least 25 insurgents.
G.I.'s Find Bullets Still Flying at Outpost in Iraq -- [NY Times]
Technically, American soldiers have stopped fighting in Iraq. But they can fire back when attacked, which happens frequently in this village of wheat and barley farmers, as well as an uncomfortable number of Baathist insurgents.
So much so that, while United States troops in nearly all other parts of the nation are quietly preparing to withdraw, soldiers stationed here are fighting what looks, for now, like the last American combat in the seven-year war in Iraq.
"They only attack Americans," said Capt. Russell B. Thomas, the commander of Alpha Company of the First Battalion of the Third Infantry Division's Second Brigade...
Pain Equals Compliance: MPs Certify in Non-lethal Weapons, Munitions -- [DVIDS]
BAGHDAD - "I didn't want to do this," said Spc. Ashley Luker, a Gastonia, N.C., native and team leader assigned to 108th Military Police Company, 705th MP Battalion, 49th MP Brigade, United States Forces - Iraq. "I was scared out of my brain, terrified. It was the anxiety of not knowing."
Luker and her fellow Soldiers assigned to 108th MP Company, participated in a multi-day, non-lethal weapons and munitions training program which ended, May 13, and was sponsored by the 49th MP Bde. at Camp Liberty. The training included safely and effectively deploying non-lethal munitions, including when to use them and the benefits of having them available to Soldiers.
Upon completion of the class, the Soldiers were certified to carry and use the weapons, which include riot control grenades and a compressed air weapon that resembles a paintball gun. Special rounds designed for shotguns and 40mm grenade launchers were also fired at the range. Pepper spray and electronic control devices, known as Tasers, were used as well. Not only did they have to learn how to use them, they had to learn how Tasers feel...
Another 108th MP Company Soldier, Spc. Philip Clark, a gunner and Virginia Beach, Va., native, was also apprehensive about the tasing event.
"I had it in my mind that it was going to be worse than it was, but now I don't feel so afraid of it anymore," said Clark.
He described it as being hit repeatedly with a baseball bat.
Baghdad Vote Result Unchanged After Recount -- [Voice of America]
An official with the Independent High Electoral Commission, Saad al-Rawi, said Sunday the number of seats for any coalition will stay as it is, leaving former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's bloc the winner of the most seats.
Allawi's Iraqiya bloc had won 91 parliamentary seats in the election, closely followed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition with 89. Neither had the majority needed to form a government.
Anti-Qaeda Sunni imams slaughtered in Iraq: military -- [Agence France Presse]
The slayings in the province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, were against anti-Qaeda preachers who regularly railed against the terror network during Friday sermons.
"At around 2:00 pm (1100 GMT), armed Al-Qaeda members captured Sheikh Abdullah Shakur while he was in Saadiyah market," said a Diyala military command officer who declined to be identified, referring to the central town.
"They returned an hour later with his head and attached it to an electricity post."
Shakur, imam of Saadiyah's mosque, had received several death threats from Al-Qaeda...
7-year-old girl killed in Detroit police raid -- [CNN]
Upon entering the home, the officer encountered a 46-year-old female inside the front room, Godbee said. "Exactly what happened next is a matter still under investigation, but it appears the officer and the woman had some level of physical contact.
"At about this time, the officer's weapon discharged one round which, tragically, struck 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones in the neck/head area."
More Militarized Than the Military -- [Radley Balko/Hit and Run]
A reader who asks his name not be used writes about the drug raid video from Columbia, Missouri: "I am a US Army officer, currently serving in Afghanistan. My first thought on reading this story is this: Most American police SWAT teams probably have fewer restrictions on conducting forced entry raids than do US forces in Afghanistan.
"For our troops over here to conduct any kind of forced entry, day or night, they have to meet one of two conditions..."
POLICE: MORE MILITARIZED THAN THE MILITARY? -- [Instapundit]
"...What might be amazing to American cops is that the vast majority of our targets surrender when called out.
"I don't have a clear picture of the resources available to most police departments, but even so, I don't see any reason why they can't use similar methods."
Quite different from using door-busting tactics to serve warrants on nonviolent drug offenders. Of course, one difference is that we care about winning the hearts and minds of people in Afghanistan . . . .
NATO unveils draft of new mission statement -- [AP/Stars and Stripes]
NATO must win the war in Afghanistan, expand ties with Russia and even China, counter the threat posed by Iran's missiles, and assure the security of its 28 members, according to the alliance's proposed mission statement for the next decade.
The draft document, released Monday, seeks to bridge a growing rift between the U.S., which favors a greater international role for NATO, and European nations that want it to retain its traditional defensive focus...
Okinawans encircle U.S. base -- [Stars and Stripes]
Heavy rains did not deter an estimated 17,000 Okinawans from encircling Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Sunday in a symbolic closing of the controversial base...
Organizers of the event, who timed it to commemorate the 38th anniversary of Japan reassuming control of Okinawa from the U.S., claimed success on two of three attempts to join hands around the eight-mile fence line. Organizers estimated that there were 17,000 participants; Okinawa police did not release an official estimate of the crowd size.
...The weekend protests came before Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's scheduled stop Friday in Tokyo for talks with Japan Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Futenma.
Thailand Abandons Plan for Curfew Despite Continued Riots -- [AP/Fox news]
...The army had said earlier that a curfew would be imposed later in the day.
Aksara did not explain the reversal.
A towering column of black smoke rose over the city Sunday as protesters facing off with troops set fire to tires serving as a barricade. Elsewhere, they doused a police traffic post with gasoline and torched it as sporadic gunfire rang out...
Renegade Thai General Dies as Chaos Continues -- [NY Times]
Heavy fighting and explosions were reported in one area of Bangkok early on Monday in the deadliest and most prolonged conflict in Thailand in many years...
As four days of wild street fighting spread to new areas, the British Embassy said on its Web site, "You should be aware that acts of violence or sabotage might be staged outside red shirt protest areas." It added: "A threat has been made by the red shirts to set off explosions in department stores in Bangkok."
...The renegade general Khattiya Sawatdithol, who had sided with the protesters and whose shooting Thursday night was a trigger for the current violence, was also reported dead Monday by Thai news media.
Thai protesters agree to U.N.-monitored talks, but government rejects conditions -- [Washington Post]
One Thai official described the offer as a "positive sign" and asked for more details, as the government backed away from a threat to impose a curfew in Bangkok, a city renowned for its rowdy nightlife.
But the government quickly rejected any mediation by the United Nations and said that if the "red shirt" protesters are serious about negotiations, they should set no preconditions.
"If they want to talk, they should not set conditions like asking us to withdraw troops," said Korbsak Sabhavasu, an official in the prime minister's office, according to Reuters.
Thai Govt Rejects Negotiations with Protesters, UN Mediation Role -- [Voice of America]
The Latest: The Thai government has set a deadline of mid-afternoon Monday for women, children, the elderly and other unarmed protesters to leave their encampment in Bangkok's main commercial district.
Thai Troops Close In on Protest Encampment -- [Reuters/NY Times]
A government source said talks were taking place behind the scenes but raised doubt any of the "red shirt" leaders had full control of the protesters, especially the more militant elements.
Around the city, people were hoarding food, while hotels were pleading for guests to leave. School term has been postponed and Monday and Tuesday were declared public holidays, although financial markets and banks remained open.
As fighting subsided in some areas, residents and tourists in the commercial district were seen leaving while they could, with luggage and children in tow. Chulalongkorn Hospital, adjacent to the encampment, had evacuated all of its patients...
Accused Ark. shooter's lawyer argues for expenses -- [AP]
A lawyer for a man accused of fatally shooting a soldier outside a recruiting center says the expense money he's seeking from the Arkansas Public Defender Commission is no more than a defendant would be entitled to if he were represented by a public defender.
Claiborne Ferguson of Memphis, Tenn., was hired by the family of Abdulhakim Muhammad, charged with killing Pvt. William Andrew Long, 23, of Conway in June 2009. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Muhammad.
Attorneys argue over funding defense in soldier slaying case -- [Arkansas News]
State law does not support a judge's ruling that the Arkansas Public Defender Commission must pay the expenses of accused recruiting center killer Abdul-Hakim Muhammad's defense, the commission's executive director argued today before the state Supreme Court...
The Public Defender Commission is appealing a January order by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright requiring it to pay the expenses for Muhammad's defense. Muhammad's family has hired a lawyer, Claiborne Ferguson of Memphis, Tenn., to represent Muhammad...
Didi Sallings, the commission's executive director, told the Supreme Court today that if Wright's ruling were allowed to stand, it would open the door to other defendants with private attorneys seeking state funds for their defense. Wright's ruling conflicts with state law, she said.
Justices: Man held in GI case due funds -- [Arkansas Online]
The Muslim convert facing the death penalty over the slaying of a soldier in Little Rock is entitled to state funding for his defense, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a decision that could significantly affect the operations of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission. One state legislator warned that the ruling could lead to an "open raid" on state money by unscrupulous lawyers.
The high court's eight page decision, written by Justice Paul Danielson, upholds the January ruling by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright that Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, as an indigent, is entitled to funding from the commission.
"I think it's an invitation for an open raid on the public treasury..."
Opinion on Muhammad defense -- [Arkansas Supreme Court]
Arkansas Supreme Court opinion ruling the state must pay certain defense costs for Abdulhakim Muhammad even though he is represented by a private attorney hired by his parents. (pdf)
Arkansas panel chief says rehearing to be sought -- [AP]
The executive director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission says the agency will ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that the commission must pay defense expenses for a man accused of killing a soldier outside a recruiting center.
A question for the Pentagon leadership... -- [Argghhh]
Time to kick over my rants about awards policy in the era of the Medal of Posthumous Honor (there are rumors that one is working that might go to a living recipient, if they don't die of old age first). You laugh - some of the historical Medals that are listed as posthumous are because the recipient simply wore out before someone got around to making the decision, not because they died earning the Medal. There have been Medals awarded to living people in the last 20 years - but only because they lived long, full lives while the Pentagon played catch-up. There have been no living recipients of the award for actions later than Vietnam, however...
Comes now the extended-in-the-'Stan Heartless Libertarian, who asks:
"So the Germans can give our troops one of their highest awards for valor (not sure of the US equivalent) - the first time this medal has been given to non-Germans, even - less than a month after the action..."
Hold Your Fire -- [Demophilus/Burn Pit]
Where are the Medals of Honor for this war, for this Global War on Terror, for OEF/OIF? As of this writing we have awarded 6, and none to a living recipient. Six. We've been criticized by many for the interminable length that this war is dragging on to, and yet we've awarded six medals. In Afghanistan, they have awarded two Medals of Honor in nine years, for a sense of perspective, in the battle of Mogadishu, Somalia two Medals were awarded (justly) in one day. Are our service members not fighting? Are there no heroes out there performing actions worthy of this award? I would argue not.
I would argue that Admiral Nimitz's words about Iwo Jima are as true about this war as they have been for any war that we have fought and the service members who fought for us. "Uncommon valor was a common virtue"
It's just not a virtue that we reward any more...
Troops: Loss will be felt when Air Force cuts chaplain corps by 15 percent -- [Stars and Stripes]
The Air Force is reducing its number of chaplains at a time when airmen and family members are seeking their counsel more than ever...
The reduction of up to 15 percent in the chaplain corps stems from efforts to make certain that the most crucial positions in the Air Force -- such as manned and unmanned aircraft pilots -- are filled, and ensure that no field has more than the mandated number of personnel, officials said...
The cuts are fiscally motivated, an effort to balance competing mission requirements with limited resources, Air Force officials say.
Fort Wayne veteran frustrated with VA's control over his finances -- [Ft Wayne News-Sentinal]
The object of the Olsons' mounting frustration - and of many other veterans, if recent Congressional hearings are any indication - is the Veterans Administration's fiduciary program, the laudable goal of which is to protect mentally "incompetent" veterans from exploitation through the appointment of a guardian to manage their VA benefits. In 2008, fiduciaries managed an average of $14,400 for each of 103,000 beneficiaries.
Vicky Olson, who replaced Michael's mother as fiduciary in 2004, doesn't really question the decision to place him in the program in 1998. In addition to his disabilities, he was also battling alcoholism and bankruptcy. But the couple insists their credit rating is now good, and that they are both clean and sober.
"I can handle my own affair," Olson asserted, his slight slowness of speech the only noticeable hint of any disability.
Not only will the VA not tell the couple what they must do to leave the program, but in April it removed Vicky as her husband's fiduciary, transferring the authority to the Greenfield (Ind.) Bank just east of Indianapolis, which earns a 4 percent commission for administering and paying bills from Olson's VA benefits, which amounts to about $2,800 ...
Afghanistan: The Bleeding Has Stopped, But the Patient Remains in the ICU -- [Abu Muqawama]
...if you are one of those -- and I have heard this the most from military officers -- who complains we do not have a strategy for the war, this report is instructive because it lays out, in detail, the strategy.
War of persuasion: The modern U.S. officer emerges in Afghanistan -- [Greg Jaffe/Washington Post]
Lt. Col. Robert B. Brown could hear the fear in his 24-year-old lieutenant's voice on the patchy radio. "We have enemy inside the wire. It is really bad here," 1st Lt. Andrew Bundermann said. "We need those [expletive] birds now."
Just before 6 a.m., more than 300 insurgents launched a massive attack on Bundermann's remote outpost in the Kamdesh district of northeastern Afghanistan. By 6:30 three of Bundermann's soldiers were dead, and the Apache attack helicopters he desperately wanted weren't going to arrive for another half hour.
Combat Generation: Trying to work with an Afghan insurgent -- [Greg Jaffe/Washington Post]
Last November, Lt. Col. Robert B. Brown received an enticing offer from a mysterious enemy... an insurgent known as Mullah Sadiq, who had been on the U.S. kill-capture list since 2005...
Sadiq wanted 50 assault rifles, $20,000 and a promise that U.S. forces would not kill him. In return, he promised to turn against more-radical Taliban insurgents and to begin to work with the Afghan government.
Corpsman Build on Knowledge of Others -- [Sgt. Shawn Coolman/First Marine Division]
CAMP DELARAM II, Helmand province, Afghanistan - In an ever-changing combat environment, doctors and corpsman are charged with saving lives.
To help others expand their knowledge 1st Shock Trauma Platoon, Bravo Surgical Company, 1st Medical Battalion, Combat Logistics Battalion 15, offers medical classes to Navy corpsman and all that are interested....
(Photo: Ricardo A. Sias, hospitalman, (left) senior line corpsman for Company A, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, administers an ultrasound to another corpsman during a medial class given by 1st Shock Trauma Platoon, Bravo Surgical Company, 1st Medical Battalion, Combat Logistics Battalion 15, at Camp Delaram II, Helmand province, Afghanistan. The platoon routinely gives classes to corpsman and all that want to attend on medial knowledge. Photo by Sgt. Shawn Coolman.)
The Enemy Within -- [ Mark Bowden/The Atlantic]
When the Conficker computer "worm" was unleashed on the world in November 2008, cyber-security experts didn't know what to make of it. It infiltrated millions of computers around the globe. It constantly checks in with its unknown creators. It uses an encryption code so sophisticated that only a very few people could have deployed it. For the first time ever, the cyber-security elites of the world have joined forces in a high-tech game of cops and robbers, trying to find Conficker's creators and defeat them. The cops are failing. And now the worm lies there, waiting...
Cyberwar Cassandras Get $400 Million in Conflict Cash -- [Noah Shachtman/Danger Room]
Coincidences sure are funny things. Booz Allen Hamilton -- the defense contractor that's become synonymous with the idea that the U.S. is getting its ass kicked in an ongoing cyberwar -- has racked up more than $400 million worth of deals in the past six weeks to help the Defense Department fight that digital conflict. Strange how that worked out, huh?
3,000 officers switch to cyberspace specialty -- [Bruce Rolfsen/Air Force Times]
About 3,000 communications officers are now cyberspace officers.
In all, 30,000 airmen have been shifted to the front lines of cyber warfare. The officers made the switch in April; the changeover for 27,000 enlisted airmen happened in November... the officers face stiffer educational requirements and the expectation to see their job as operational and not strictly mission support.
"It's not just spray paint, it's a new mindset," said Brig. Gen. David Cotton, director of cyberspace transformation and strategy at the Air Staff.
Phony Vietnam Vet In Connecticut Senate Race -- [Operator Dan/This Ain't Hell]
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) has made veterans issues and his supposed service in Vietnam a centerpiece of his campaign to replace Senator Chris Dodd as a senator from Connecticut. Quite frequently, Blumenthal speaks before veterans groups and often discusses the problems that he and other Vietnam Vets faced when they returned to civilian life. In many occasion, he gets quite emotional about the subject and burst into tears.
The problem is he never went to Vietnam...
Phony Vietnam Vet In Connecticut Senate Race -- [Uncle Jimbo/Blackfive]
OK buddy you are busted and it's time to take your ass back home and stay out of our sight. I know quite a few Vietnam vets starting with my old man and his two full tours who might not take kindly to you riding their coat tails.
US Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal: another fraudvet on the pile -- [Greyhawk/Mudville Gazette]
Looks like Blumenthal is going to double down... "Blumenthal will hold a news conference tomorrow. He will be flanked by veterans."
"Flanked by veterans..." brings to mind the noble politician's spouse, at her hubby's side throughout his public confession of adultery - except any vet standing with Blumenthal on this is more like a twenty dollar whore.
Bombshell: Democratic Senate candidate lied about serving in Vietnam -- [Hot Air]
It gets worse for Blumenthal. Meet his likely Republican challenger, Rob Simmons: "Rob's public service career began when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1965 as a Private, and spent 19 months in Vietnam where he earned two Bronze Star Medals. Rob continued his military service in the U.S. Army Reserve as a Military Intelligence Officer, retiring as a Colonel in 2003 with over 37 years of active and reserve service."
Volunteers gather at neglected WWI monument -- [CNN]
American Legion volunteers gathered Sunday at a neglected marble temple on the National Mall to commemorate veterans of World War I, at a site they hope will soon be a national memorial.
The structure from the 1930s was dedicated as a tribute to local troops from the District of Columbia who served in what was called the "Great War." Now, a campaign to turn the site into a national memorial continues to be led by the last living U.S. veteran of WWI, 109-year-old Frank Buckles...
OH NOES! TEH TERROSTS HAS WON!!
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