United We Roll at Stardust Radio

April is the month of the Military Child. Not only does the military child go through the separations of deployments, but they go through the separations from friends and extended family members that transfers from one duty station to another will cause. They face changes in schools that many civilian children never see – many civilian kids grow up in the same schools with the same group of kids around them. Some military children may change schools as often as every two to three years and this change can come in the middle of the school year. Not that all is negative. The military lifestyle offers a living education on a variety of cultures, traditions and so much more. Many military children are mature beyond their years. But many military children also experience loss, whether in their own immediate family or in the family of another.

For those children who have lost a parent, there are organizations to help in so many ways, including college educations. I would encourage our listeners to go to the Americasupportsyou.mil site to see a number of the organizations who do so many things to help the children of our Fallen Heroes, active duty members, wounded and Veterans. From the scholarship fund provided by the Special Operations Warrior Fund to Operation Purple Camp and many others, there are a lot of ways that you can support these efforts with a donation of cash or time.

In addition, the 11th annual In Memory Day ceremony begins at 10 a.m. April 20 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. Nearly 1,000 family members, friends and fellow veterans are expected to visit the nation's capital to participate in this year's event. In Memory Day was created to pay tribute to those who died prematurely from noncombat injuries and emotional suffering caused directly by the Vietnam War, but who are not eligible to have their names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. One-hundred twenty-three American heroes from the Vietnam War era will be honored posthumously this month during the annual In Memory Day ceremony, according to Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. A list of the honorees and their hometowns is available at www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?SectionID=774.

May is the official Military Appreciation Month and it is only a couple of short weeks away. You may want to start making your plans now on how you are going to participate in saying “Thank You” to our military members.

We have a couple of salutes going out this week – One to the Maersk-Alabama Captain Richard Phillips and the other to the the team of Navy Seals who rescued him from the Somali pirates. Richard Phillips is the captain of the unarmed merchant ship that was hijacked last Wednesday. The crew has said that Capt Phillips volunteered to become a hostage so the other 19 members of the crew could go free.

And here is to the Navy Seals who plucked the sea captain from the hands of his captors. In fact, a part of the Creed of the Navy Seals reads: “My loyalty to Country and Team is beyond reproach. I humbly serve as a guardian to my fellow Americans always ready to defend those who are unable to defend themselves”. You can find the full Creed in our United We Roll Blog.

This incident brings to mind two other situations involving US ships. One was the USS PUEBLO, which was captured by the North Koreans in 1968, the first U.S. Navy ship to be hi-jacked on the high seas by a foreign military force in over 150 years. The other was the SS Mayaguez which was hijacked by the Khmer Rouge in the Gulf of Siam on May 12, 1975. You will find links to stories on both of these in our blog.

Now on with our show for this week – We have some very interesting visits for you all again this week, as once again, the volunteers from United We Roll and Stardust Radio are honored to bring you brand new interviews with deployed US military members who will share information about their missions, their military experiences and their beliefs as to why they do what they do and what it means to them. We will have three great visits from Heroes of Freedom today who managed to make time from their extremely busy schedules so they could let us know what is happening where they are – real news from those who are making the news. And, as you listen, you will hear that, not only did some of these members find time to be with us, they also find time in their extremely busy schedules to attend to some very important activities above their regular duties to support those around them.

Joining us today first will be Command Sergeant Major Joseph Major of the 225th Engineer Brigade. CSM Major is a 31 year Army Veteran who chose not to take his retirement, but instead to deploy with his unit. Not only will this soldier share many of his experiences with us, but he will also talk about the love of his job and how much his duties as a CSM mean to him – those of training, mentoring, teaching and coaching soldiers.

Next we will visit with two folks who, despite the fact that their deployed schedules leave them very little time off, have volunteered to use that time to help those with whom they serve. Capt Ramirez-Hickey and MSgt Eric Smith of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing have both signed up to be Victim Advocates and assist victims of sexual assault or abuse through the base SARC program. In order to be a volunteer in this area, one must complete initial and ongoing training, in addition to being on call. Learn more about this program and why members like our two guests volunteer to use their precious time off.

Our third interview will be with five deployed members who, in addition to their regular duties which range from Aircraft Maintenance to maintaining supplies for a large dining facility and more, they also serve on the base Honor Guard. We will learn how one becomes a member of the Honor Guard and the duties they perform – this is a position which is steeped in traditions and responsibilities. Our guests for this visit will include:
Senior Airman Joseph Caplinger – (Morale & Welfare center)
Airman 1st Class Matthew Bourgoine – (Dining Facility)
Airman 1st Class Jared Camper – (Aircraft Maintenance)
Staff Sgt. Kenny Arciles Ochoa – (Learning Resource Center)
Sr Airman Paul Cummings

To our Stardust Listeners, we thank you again for joining us today and we hope that you will join us again next week when we will have more great visits from our Heroes of Freedom.

Thank you again to all of our wonderful guests today and to the PA members who helped to set up these fantastic visits – thank you to all of our military members, families and Veterans. We also want to recognize and thank all of our first responders who put their lives on the line here at home for us and our families.

Don’t forget in addition to listening to our live show on stardustradio.com, you can go to our archive site and download tapes of our shows on MP3 format at www.stardustradio.info and you can check our blog through the United We Roll page at www.stardustradio.com .

May God Bless You All and May God Bless America!