Did I mention that I'm also a Sailor's Mom?

on his way to the waters off Lebanon... on 4 days notice...

If you want to read more, there are links at Some Soldier's Mom

Also words and a link to listen to the Navy Hymn... by the Navy Choir, of course!

To all on board the Wasp, safe journey, calm seas. Home soon.

I'm Confused

via Fort Drum Blizzard

Anyone having claims against or debts owed to the estate of Pfc. Andrew Small, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, may contact his summary court-martial officer, 1st Lt. Aaron Lang

va Lincoln County News

Pfc. Andrew Small, 19, was a member of a platoon of the 10th Mountain Division facing enemy fire Friday and died from battle wounds received during a mission, according to a report from Gov. John Baldacci

Salt Lake

... "hotbed" of protest, and home of heroes.

Re: Watada

Official Statement of National Japanese American Citizens League (pdf) here

After careful consideration of Lt. Watada’s situation and stance on the war in Iraq, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) has concluded that its defined mission of protecting the civil rights of Asian Americans is not expressed broadly enough to include Lt. Watada’s circumstances. As a soldier who volunteered for the Army and who took an oath as an officer, Lt. Watada placed himself under military law and orders. As such, and in refusing to accept his orders for deployment, his case is not, per se, a civil rights case. We are not in a position to defend his position on the legality of the war in Iraq, nor are we in a position to judge his criticism of the war’s morality. That he defied a direct military order falls under the aegis of military law and beyond the reach of the JACL’s authority based on the organization’s mission statement.

New boobytrap discovered in Iraq.

Details at over at Castle Argghhh!.

Re: Watada

He has a video up promoting his case. It's downloadable, even.

Re: Watada

Looks like the alleged individual has cheesed off some folks I respect.

The decision by a Hawai'i-born Army officer to disobey deployment orders to Iraq drew fire yesterday from some Japanese-American veterans on the Mainland, who said the action shamed them and other veterans like them.

In their first public statement, the members of nine veterans groups in California and a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient expressed outrage at Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's decision.

Robert M. Wada, a charter president of the Japanese American Korean War Veterans, said veterans are angry at what they view as an attempt by Watada to "make himself a martyr and a hero." He said Watada's actions disrespect a legacy of military service dating back to World War II.

"No Japanese-Americans did anything like that and that is why Japanese-Americans are so upset," Wada said by telephone yesterday from his office in Fullerton, Calif. "He is doing something that has never been done by Japanese-Americans."
...

Japanese-American veterans in Hawai'i have not issued a collective statement, but when asked yesterday, agreed with their Mainland colleagues.

Ron Oba, the 82-year-old president of the 442nd Veteran's Club of Honolulu, was blunt.

"It is not for us to question why, but to do and die," he said. "That addresses the entire Watada case."

Oba said the veterans in the club haven't spoken much about Watada's case.

Oh, and there's this new magic association, the "Japanese-American Citizens League of Honolulu", supporting the lieutenant. Doesn't sound like any Japanese-American group I knew in Hono in 2000; looks like astroturfing to me.