Flag Day, June 14, commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

The week of June 14 is designated as “National Flag Week.” During National Flag Week, the president will issue a proclamation urging U.S. citizens to fly the American flag for the duration of that week. The flag should also be displayed on all Government buildings. Some organizations hold parades and events in celebration of America’s national flag and everything it represents.

Flag Day – a Brief History

• In 1818, after 5 more states joined the Union, Congress passed legislation fixing the number of stripes at 13 and requiring that the number of stars equal the number of states. The flag has 13 stripes that represent each of the 13 original colonies and fifty stars: one for each U.S. state.
• In 1885, Bernard Cigrand, a Wisconsin schoolteacher, unofficially called June 14th the American flag’s birthday.
• From the late 1880s on, Cigrand promoted the need for Flag Day.
• In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day.
• In 1937, Pennsylvania became the first and only state to recognize Flag Day.
• 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed an act of Congress designating June 14 National Flag Day.
• The U.S. flag has special names: Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, and Star-Spangled Banner.

Proper Flag Disposal
According to the U.S. Flag Code, any American flag that is worn, damaged or tattered beyond repair should be destroyed privately in a dignified manner, preferably by burning. Many veteran and civic organizations will properly dispose of the flag, often on Flag Day, in a traditional flag-burning ceremony.

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Composed by Francis Scott Key, “In Defense of Fort McHenry” in September 1814. Congress proclaimed it the U.S. National Anthem in 1931

Located in southern Afghanistan (South East of Qandahar City) , Kandahar Air Field (KAF) is part of Regional Command South (RC South). With a population of over 20,000 NATO troops and contractors, Kandahar is one of the largest Military installations in Afghanistan. KAF is the main base in southern Afghanistan, from which all southern operations are commanded.

Accomodations range from tents and”B-huts” to the new brick-and-reinforced concrete barracks which are modern with blast protection (it is a combat zone). At KAF, there is lots of traffic and hot, dusty conditions.

KAF has a centrally located boardwalk where there are stores, places to eat, and team games like hockey taking place. The boardwalk is covered by a wooden awning for shade. Shops and eaterys on the boardwalk include Tim Horton’s Coffee, Green Bean Coffee, The Igloo, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway and a French Café and the new Kabob House*.

*Most of these amenities were supposed to be shut down this year.

There is also a decent gym where Soldiers can exercise. KAF gets a lot of rocket and mortar fire so there are many shelters just in case. As with most bases, KAF has a Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command building (MWR) – or tent – where Soldiers can use the computer and phone lab.

Kandahar is inhabited by multinational troops from a host of countries.

Kandahar Air Field handles the flow of personnel, equipment and supplies destined for operations in southern Afghanistan. It is the home of the aircraft that provide close air support to troops in contact with the enemy, and the helicopters that airlift injured personnel.

KAF is a unique and interesting place that is critical to the conduct of operations in southern Afghanistan.

Chinook helicopters play an important part in supporting ground troops. The Boeing-Vertol CH-47 Chinook helicopter is a twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. The CH-47D is widely used in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq.

The Chinook is used in air assault missions, inserting troops into fire bases and later bringing supplies like food, water, and ammunition. It is also used as medical evacuation, aircraft recovery, parachute drop, search and rescue, disaster relief, fire-fighting and heavy construction.

Chinooks are typically escorted by attack helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache for protection. The CH-47D is particularly useful in the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan where high altitudes and temperatures limits the use of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

When resupplying ground troops in remote mountain areas of Afghanistan, the Chinooks deliver via sling load, dropping off food and water and ammunition. on pallets.

Over 1,179 Chinooks are operational worldwide.
The cockpit accommodates two pilots and an observer. An advanced digital cockpit has been developed by Boeing and Honeywell. The cockpit is equipped with multifunction liquid crystal displays and electronic flight instruments. The crew is equipped with ANVIS-7 night-vision goggles from Elbit and the cockpit is night-vision-goggle (NVG) compatible.

Three machine guns can be mounted on the helicopter: two in the crew door on the starboard side and one window-mounted on the port side.

The Chinook has a triple-hook system, which provides stability to large external loads or the capacity for multiple external loads. Large external loads such as 155mm howitzers can be transported at speeds up to 260km/h using the triple-hook load configuration.

The main cabin can hold from 33 fully equipped troops to 50 troops, according to the seating arrangements and equipment being carried. For medical evacuation, the cabin can accommodate 24 litters (stretchers). Ramp operations can be carried out on water using an optional power-down ramp and water dam configuration.

The following video was taken during the summer of 2006, where troops spent 18 days on a ridge line to the north of Musa Qah’leh (also spelled Musa Qala) in central Afghanistan. This was Operation Mountain Thrust, where troops performed as a blocking force while other larger elements pushed the enemy toward our position.

Chinooks resupplied us via sling load a half dozen times, dropping off food and water and ammunition. The pallets and extraneous supplies were later used for constructing needed items .

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who died in service to our nation and about coming together to honor those who gave all. Originally it was called Decoration Day.

On May 5, 1868, Memorial Day was officially proclaimed by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. The first time this day was observed was May 30 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873.

By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war)

It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

Since the late 50’s on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.

In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye’s Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

On January 19, 1999 Senator Inouye introduced bill S 189 to the Senate which proposes to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th instead of “the last Monday in May”. On April 19, 1999 Representative Gibbons introduced the bill to the House (H.R. 1474). The bills were referred the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government Reform.

Article source: Memorial Day History website: http://www.usmemorialday.org

Let us remember and honor those service men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. Amen.

The Army Experience Center (AEC), located in Philadelphia, PA, provides a unique interactive experience and insight into the life of a Soldier. No surprise that is was designed and built by the world’s premier land force—the United States Army! HOOAH!

The Army Experience Center is the world’s one and only interactive Army facility where you can “test drive” the Army! You’ll find interesting mission simulators– Apache helicopter, Black Hawk helicopter, and
Come test drive the Army in the world’s first and only interactive Army facility. The Army Experience Center is includes three mission simulators—the Apache, the Black Hawk and the HMMWV (Humvee)—touch-screen Career Navigators, a Gaming Arena with Xbox 360 and PC stations, a Tactical Operations Center, and the Global Base Locator, a touch-screen that lets visitors explore Army bases around the world.

The simulators look very cool! You can volunteer for a mission and be part of the action. You get a briefing by a Soldier before climbing into one of the three mission simulators. Then you get to take part in an authentic battle scenario with equipment modeled after real Army vehicles, aircraft, and weapons. Once the mission is done, you can even see how well your team performed!

That is just one of many ways to learn about the U.S. Army and the jobs that Soldiers perform. You can visit the Career Navigators, Gaming Arena, Global Base Locator, Tactical Operations Center, and of course, the Lounge where you can take a break from all the activity and get access to WiFi Internet!

Why did the U.S. Army create the Army Experience Center? The U.S. Army needed an innovative way to communicate its mission, values, resources and career opportunities to a new generation of Americans on a local level. The Army Experience Center (AEC) now serves as a twenty-first century destination for people to get accurate information about the Army directly from the source. Conceived and built over a ten-month period in the Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia, the 14,500-square-foot technology and education center is fast becoming a model for Army recruiting nationwide. Touch screen kiosks, state-of-the-art presentation facilities, community events and high-action simulators are just a few of the AEC features helping to shatter outdated stereotypes and start new career conversations.

The AEC is open to the public and admission is free. To participate in AEC activities like the mission simulators and games, visitors must be at least 13 years old and register using basic contact information.
Even if you can’t get to Philadelphia, the website is a super cool experience too! Be sure to explore and uncover the many fun things to learn about the U.S. Army!

Visit:   http://www.thearmyexperience.com

Air assault missions are a means of moving troops by helicopter into battle. These operations are conducted with speed and precision by a well trained team.

Typically BlackHawks (UH-60) and Chinooks (CH-47) are the helicopter used for air assault missions and they are accompanied by air support armed helicopters like Kiowa Warriors (OH-58) and Apaches (AH-64).

Preparation for air assault is tough, and includes rigorous training on aeromedevac operations, slingload rigging, and rappelling. Air assault troops must know how to efficiently exit and enter helicopters fast so the helicopter can be in the air as quickly as possible. Helicopters are too vulnerable on the ground.

If the helicopter hovers instead of landing, then troops must rappel out of the helicopter safely and quickly to the ground. This is a troop insertion technique during which soldiers can exit their helicopter while it is still airborne at up to 100 feet. Not an easy task, especially when dust and debris is kicking up all around from the helicopter rotors.

Once the troops are on the ground, they must immediately secure the area around them for safety. They stay in contact with the armed helicopters in a well coordinated mission. Communications and following instructions are crucial to the success of these missions. If the mission is conducted over several days, the Chinooks return to resupply the troops with water, food, and ammo.

Air assault operations are limited by adverse weather, heavy enemy anti-aircraft defenses, and availability of suitable landing zones.

The air assault video shows you even more skills that our amazing troops use for air assault missions.

UPDATE: In June 2010, ISAF added new Regional Command Southwest (RC SW). With the majority of ISAF forces based in southern Afghanistan, this new RC allows commands to focus on geographically smaller areas.

The new Regional Command SW splits up Regional Command South into two areas:

• RC Southwest – Helmand and Nimroz Provinces
• RC South  – Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, and Daykundi Provinces

Original article written – March 26,2010
You may have read about or heard your soldier mention RC North, RC South, RC East, or RC West. RC refers to Regional Command areas in Afghanistan. There are five regional commands under the operational control of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

There is a lead nation for each Regional Command that has responsibility for coordinating all regional civil-military activities conducted by the military elements of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) is a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRTs were first established in Afghanistan in late 2001 or early 2002.

Each Regional Commands includes the following:

• Command and Control (C2) Headquarters
• Forward Support Base (FSB) that is an essential logistic installation, created to provide supply, medical and transport hub in each region to assist the PRTs in their mission to extend the Government of Aghanistan’s authority.

The following lists the Regional Commands in Afghanistan. Each listing includes the location (city, province) and lead country (given in parentheses) for each command region. For example, if the listing is: Lashkar-Gah, Helmand (Britain), then the city is Lashkar-Gah, the province is Helmand, and the lead country is Britain.

RC (C) – Regional Command Capital (France)
C2 HQ: Kabul (France)
FSB: Kabul International Airport (KAIA) (Hungary)

RC (S) – Regional Command South (The Netherlands):
C2 HQ: Kandahar (UK)
FSB: Kandahar Airfield
Kandahar, Kandahar (The Netherlands)
Lashkar-Gah, Helmand (Britain)
Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan (Netherlands)
Qalat, Zabol (Romania, USA)

RC (N) – Regional Command North (Germany):
C2 HQ: Mazar-e-Sharif (Germany)
FSB: Mazar-e-Sharif (Germany)
Kunduz, Kunduz Province (Germany)
Mazar-e Sharif, Balkh (Sweden)
Feyzabad, Badakhshan (Germany)
Pol-e Khomri, Baghlan (Hungary)
Meymaneh, Faryab (Norway)

RC (W) – Regional Command West (Italy):
C2 HQ: Herat (Italy)
FSB: Herat (Spain)
Herat, Herat (Italy)
Farah, Farah (USA)
Qala-e Naw, Badghis (Spain)
Chaghcharan, Gowr (Lithuania)

RC (E) – Regional Command East (United States):
C2 HQ: Bagram (US)
FSB: Bagram (US)
Bamyan, Bamyan (New Zealand)
Bagram, Parwan (USA)
Nurestan, Nurestan (USA)
Panjshir, Panjshir (USA)
Gardez, Paktia (USA)
Ghazni, Ghazni (Poland, USA)
Khowst, Khowst (USA)
Sharan, Paktika (USA)
Jalalabad, Nangarhar (USA)
Asadabad, Kunar (USA)
Mihtarlam, Laghman (USA)
Wardak, Wardak (Turkey)
Logar, Logar (Czech Republic)

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) is the evacuation and treatment center for injured U.S. Service Members  and members of 44 coalition forces serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa Command, Central Command, European Command and Pacific Command.

When soldiers are injured while serving in Afghanistan or Iraq, they are first treated at a U.S. Army Combat Hospital at a Forward Operating Base (FOB). If necessary, patients are then transported to a level II military treatment facility (MTF). The closest is Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

LRMC is the largest American hospital outside the U.S. and also provides medical treatments to over 245,000 military personnel and their families within Europe.

C-17 Globemasters and C-130 Hercules aircraft are commonly used to medevac patients to the hospital in Germany from places like Afghanistan (7 hours) and Iraq (5 hours). The medevac aircraft has specialized medical equipment on-board and specialized personnel that care for the patients during the flight to LRMC. They land at Ramstein Air Base, Germany and are bused to Landstuhl in specialized medical buses.

The medical facilities in Germany are transitional facilities. After a short stay (3 days to 3 weeks), the patients either return to Iraq or Afghanistan or are flown to a medical facility in the US for further treatment.

Is Your Passport Up-to-date?
We hate to think of our soldier getting wounded in action (WIA), but out in a war zone, that is reality. It’s a good idea to have make sure your passport is current in case your soldier is injured and transported to Landstuhl. You’ll want to be at your soldier’s side quickly. It can take several weeks to get a passport. Passport information: http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

Soldiers’ Angels Germany
Soldiers’ Angels in Germany supports patients medevac’d to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center from Iraq and Afghanistan. They are an amazing group that has provided comfort at the side of many injured soldiers from war zones. Soldiers’ Angels also provides backpacks with basic necessities like toiletries and clothing.  Learn more about Soldiers’ Angels Germany: http://soldiersangelsgermany.blogspot.com
Find out more about Soldiers’ Angels: http://soldiersangels.org

Find out more about Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

This video shows a C-17 Critical Care transport from Iraq.

When you become a Military family, there are many new things to learn about, like Military acronyms and terms (who knows what all this stuff means), chain of command, family readiness groups, traditions and protocols, deployment cycles, and the list goes on.

Army One Source compiles important, credible and up-to-date information for Army Soldiers and Family members to access at any time of day, regardless of component or physical location.

Army One Source offers FREE Army Family Team Building (AFTB) e-learning courses that are available to anyone with ties to a soldier. All you need to do to take an e-course is:

• Register on the site.
• Use Internet Explorer as your Internet browser
• Choose a course.

I was so excited to hear about these courses from a friend! Some of the available courses will get you more familiar with Military life in no time!

For example, the AFTB Level I Training teaches you everything from Military acronyms and terms, to Military customs and courtesies. There is also a Level II and III training,

The Battlemind Training for Spouses was developed to help Spouses and their Families face deployments with resilience and strength, allowing easier separations and smoother reunions. Even if you are not a Military spouse, the information you learn here can be applied to you too.

Learn more by visiting Army One Source FREE AFTB e-learning courses.

Visit the main site of Army One Source