Mike Francis: Vets like Lawrence Booth are frustrated by the civilian job hunt
September 3, 2011 By
By Mike Francis, The Oregonian
MRE member
While in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, Lawrence Booth of Hillsboro wired buildings at LSA Anaconda — known widely as “Mortaritaville” — and drove his crew’s Armored Security Vehicle through some dangerous parts of the country. He’s been shot at, had his truck blown up once by a roadside bomb and had his back damaged by the wear and tear of his deployment.
But in Oregon, he’s out of money and almost out of time. [Read more...]
Don North: Sixty-nine years after Dieppe truth is still a casualty
September 3, 2011 By
“If any question why we died, tell them because our fathers lied.”
Rudyard Kipling. Epitaphs of the war.
By Don North
MRE Vice President
The template for unashamed deceit of the news media in wartime is the disastrous raid on Dieppe Aug. 19, 1942. The controversy over the lessons learned at Dieppe continue to this day, perhaps proof that unless truthful, the “first rough draft of history” lives on without aggressive scholarship or journalism.
At the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario there is a citation on the wall of an official display; “Some insist that the lessons learned at Dieppe contributed to the success of later allied landings including Normandy. Others insist that the raid was poorly planned and an avoidable blunder.” It seems the Canadian preference is to “choose your own version of history on Dieppe.” [Read more...]
Sig Christenson: The Army fights, but not for your freedom
August 24, 2011 By
You often hear people in the military say they fight for our freedom.
There’s a nice ring to that, of course, but it isn’t always true. Sometimes, the military as an institution fights harder to do as it pleases than it does to preserve your First Amendment rights. [Read more...]
MRE member Sig Christenson: Suspect in bomb plot tied to post is indicted
August 14, 2011 By
AWOL soldier is facing three counts, and more could come.
By Sig Christenson
sigc@express-news.net
A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted an AWOL soldier in connection with a plot to strike GIs in the Killeen area. [Read more...]
How to steal a navy and save 30,000 refugees in the process
June 30, 2011 By
By Don North, MRE vice president
Among the dozens of ships that would be fated to play a large role in the rescue of tens of thousands of refugees was a small destroyer escort, USS Kirk. [Read more...]
Obituary: Jack Pulwers, a giant in journalism
April 3, 2011 By
By Don North
Distinguished journalist, author and military historian Jack Edward Pulwers died March 29, 2011 at Fair Oaks Hospital in Fairfax, Va. of extended illness after congestive heart failure. [Read more...]
Commemoration Commission agrees to strike Nixon quote
March 17, 2011 By
MRE Vice President Don North sent a letter on behalf of the organization to the Vietnam War Commemoration Program Office in January 2011. His letter focused on the quote found on the commemoration’s website by President Richard M. Nixon “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam war. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.” [Read more...]
Joshua Kors interviews Restrepo’s Sebastian Junger
February 22, 2011 By
MRE member Joshua Kors is a hard-core investigative reporter, so don’t think this is just a softball Hollywood interview. Kors asks tough questions with Sebastian Junger responding candidly about his Oscar-nominated film “Restrepo.” [Read more...]
Sig Christenson: The link between deployments and suicides
February 20, 2011 By
Maybe an hour had passed since I filed our first blog on last Sunday’s story, “The War Within,” when a new report on military suicides came out. [Read more...]
