United We Roll at Stardust Radio

Here is a reminder that this month of May is the 12th Annual Military Appreciation Month and, hopefully, you will find some events in your area to attend and to show your support for those who allow us to live with liberty and freedom here in the USA. If you do not have any such events in your area, you can go to the Nat'l Military Appreciation Month website at http://www.nmam.org/participate.htm to find more on this month, including a great list of ways that you can get involved and get your community involved.

Most of all, let’s be sure to fly our flags each and every day. Let every service member who drives by our homes and our businesses see our support in the proud displays of Old Glory on as many buildings as we can see. Remember when all businesses sold out of our flags after 9/11 – has our patriotism faded? Do we need to be attacked to fly our flags? Does it take that much time out of our days to fly our flags and show our appreciation for those who protect our freedom and show our pride to be Americans? I sure hope not!

As a reminder, I am posting the rules of etiquette in handling and flying our beautiful flag that has accompanied our men and women in uniforms to so many shores and has covered so many of those men and women as they have come home.

Basic rules regarding the display of our flag are spelled out as below from the USA-Flag-Site.org. This site also contains more specific information for many other display situations. Federal law stipulates many aspects of flag etiquette. The section of law dealing with American Flag etiquette is generally referred to as the Flag Code. Some general guidelines from the Flag Code answer many of the most common questions:

• The flag should be lighted at all times, either by sunlight or by an appropriate light source.
• The flag should be flown in fair weather, unless the flag is designed for inclement weather use.
• The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing. It is flown upside down only as a distress signal.
• The flag should not be used for any decoration in general. Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.
• The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes, or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard.
• The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, fireman, policeman and members of patriotic organizations.
• The flag should never have any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind placed on it, or attached to it.
• The flag should never be used for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
• When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded neatly and ceremoniously.
• The flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary.
• When a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of our country, it should be destroyed by burning in a dignified manner.

Additional information is also available on Wikipedia, one of which is the proper way to dispose of a flag when it enters a state of disrepair and who might offer this service
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code):

When a flag is so tattered that it can no longer serve as a symbol of the United States, it should be destroyed in a dignified manner, preferably by burning. The American Legion, Boy Scouts of America[5], Girl Scouts of the USA[6] and other organizations regularly conduct dignified flag-burning ceremonies, often on Flag Day, June 14.

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I often wonder, as I stand in my back yard and watch the planes coming in low to prepare for landings if they can see my humble “salute” and if they can feel my whispered “Thank You” above the roar of their engines. Just as I like to believe that my prayers reach so many hearts that I may never meet, but to whom I owe so much.

United We Roll World Tour Show
Stardust Radio www.stardustradio.com
Tuesday 5/04/10 2:00pm – 4:00pm Central (Live)
Wednesday 5/05/10 6:30pm – 8:30pm Central (Repeat)

Welcome Stardust Listeners and thank you for joining us on United We Roll this Tuesday, the 5th day of May, 2010 as we take time to honor those who serve our country and who protect our freedom!!

We have three full and very interesting visits with 5 of our Heroes of Freedom who are stationed in countries just about a world away. The show will stay within our normal 2 hour period today, ending at 4:00pm Central – unless live radio has an unexpected surprise for us. Remember, if you are not able to stay with us through the show this afternoon, it will repeat again tomorrow evening, Wednesday, May 5th at 6:30pm Central. In addition, an MP3 copy will be placed on our show archive site for listening and downloading. You can reach our archive site at www.stardustradio.info or on the United We Roll page at www.stardustradio.com.

(2:08pm) During our first visit today, we will be talking with Army Sgt Brandon Gilmore, who is currently on his second deployment and is serving with the 2-7 Infantry, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division in Mahmudiyah, Iraq where he is on duty 7 days per week. Sgt Gilmore brings us a great visit as we discuss his deployments and his military experiences. This Iowa native asks that none of our troops be forgotten as they continue to serve so many miles from home.

(2:33pm) Our next guests are currently deployed with the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at TC Manas. LTC/Chaplain James R Kinsey is charged with many facets of faith services and counseling for the men and women who are stationed around him and CPT Tom Mulka is a military version of a Human Resources Officer and is also directly involved in the care and support of those in the 376th AEW. In addition to the regular workday, both of these officers are very busy with some off base activities that take place in the local community. As you can imagine, Capt Mulka and Chaplain Kinsey have a lot to share with us. And one parting comment from Capt Mulka that goes along with that of Sgt Gilmore, “Please continue the public support, make sure that no efforts go unnoticed.”

(3:27pm) Our final visit for today is with two members of the 376th Expeditionary Medical Group on deployment at TC Manas in Kyrgyrzstan. Lt Col Tyler Sanders is the Hospital Administrator & Deputy Medical Group Commander. SSG Chad Coffelt is in charge of the Hospital Supply office, which means that any kind of supply for any department in the hospital has to go through his office and his ordering process. With their combined years of service, deployments. and experiences, these two airmen bring us a tremendous amount of information during this visit. As SSG Coffelt comments, “I know many people out there want to thank us for what we do. I would like to thank them for their support”.

Our hearts and prayers go out to all of our military members, families, Veterans and to all of our first responders & their families - everyone who puts their lives on hold and on the line for us and our families.

We would like to remind our Veterans, active duty members, family members and anyone who is interested in health and legislative issues that affect those who protect our freedom to tune in to our other broadcasts – OFFE with Gene Simes and Jere Berry at 8pm Central on Tuesday nights and also with Rick Townsend and Firebase Network Sundays at 6:00pm Central.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL & MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!

We would like to offer our congratulations to Hunter Koltes, a 13 year old son of an Air Force officer for his award on his video called, "Life of a Military Brat", which was entered in a contest on the website MyAirForceLife.com. Though there may be several years in age difference between us, you captured the life of a military brat very well and I thank you for doing so. I hope this video will be seen by many, many of our fellow Americans. And when you go to see this young man’s incredible video, take a little time to see the rest of the very special videos that were also submitted. My personal favorite is in the adult category and is called Generations, as it reminds me of my Dad and the young men and women of today. Each and every video has a beautiful meaning and is truly worth being seen and shared.
(http://www.myairforcelife.com/contests/videos.cfm)
LIVE – WORK – PLAY!

May 2, 2010

Ramstein youth wins Air Force video competition

by Capt. Tony Wickman
U.S. Air Forces in Europe Public Affairs

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- A U.S. Air Forces in Europe youth was named the Air Force-level winner for his submission to the Year of the Air Force Family video competition April 21.

Gen. Roger Brady, the USAFE commander, presented Hunter Koltes, 13, a $2,000 gift check toward the purchase of a new computer and video camera and a commander's coin for his tribute video called, "Life of a Military Brat."

Hunter is the son of Lt. Col. Jason Koltes, the USAFE vice commander executive officer, and Heather Koltes.

The video was seen at the April commander's conference and all who saw it liked it, General Brady said.

"We appreciate the spirit of your family and capturing it for us," the general said. "Your video showed there are a whole lot of positive things to being an Air Force family. I appreciate and say thank you for making a really cool video."

The Ramstein American Middle School eighth grader said he wanted to make a video that showed what it was like to be a child of an Air Force member.

"I'm excited to win, it's amazing," he said. "I know people have different lives and I wanted to show people not related to the military how our families live. I liked the experience of showing my life to people. I put it together to see where it would go. It was a great experience...awesome."

When he grows up he wants to be an Air Force pilot like his dad, Hunter said.

After posting his video, it was sent around the world to family and friends and went viral from there, ringing true to people past and present who lived the life Hunter showed.

"Once it was out there, I heard from everyone," Hunter said.

His mother echoed those sentiments.

"We shared it with family and friends and put it on Facebook. What was amazing is we heard from people we didn't even know, and it spiraled off Facebook. It went all the way around the world," Mrs. Koltes said.

Mrs. Koltes said the entire family was extremely proud and overwhelmed by Hunter's achievement.

"It was all Hunter's idea," she said. "He saw an ad for it and wanted to do it. He is into computers and designing web sites and things like that, so the competition was right up his alley. We didn't help him at all. He knew he wanted to do a slide show and came up with all the words, all I did was help him find some of the pictures and he got it done quickly."

Colonel Koltes said the competition demonstrates the support for the Air Force and Air Force families.

"Within minutes of him posting it went nationwide and worldwide." he said. "There is a lot of support for the military. I guess you can say the technology revolution is definitely upon us."

The Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force named July 2009 to July 2010 as the Year of the Air Force Family to recognize and celebrate the many members of the Air Force Family, while providing education and awareness on how Air Force programs and community partners support them.

The Koltes video can be seen at http://www.myairforcelife.com/contests/videos.cfm.

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