United We Roll at Stardust Radio

United We Roll World Tour Show
Stardust Radio www.stardustradio.com
Tuesday 7/20/10 2:00pm – 4:30pm Central (Live)
Wednesday 7/21/10 6:30pm – 9:00pm Central (Repeat)

Welcome Stardust Listeners and thank you for joining us on United We Roll this Tuesday, the 20th day of July, 2010 as we take time to honor those who serve our country and who protect our freedom!!

We do have the final news from the Chase Bank contest on Facebook where we asked for your help to vote for the Hugs project. The number of votes did jump by a large margin, and this group who provides care packages and so much customized assistance to our deployed troops will receive a donation of $20,000. This will certainly help with the Christmas packages as the shipping for those last year alone ran almost double that - over $40,000! Wouldn't it be great if we could find a way to make the postage more affordable, especially around the holidays when so many are being sent.

Unfortunately, I did receive a link to a distressing news story about a convoy that was destroyed upon attack as it was carrying mail and packages to units in Afghanistan. The article goes on to say that, now some of the items are for sale in a market in Pakistan "A photo album. A personal letter. A bravery reward for a U.S. Army captain. All were intended for U.S. service members stationed in Afghanistan, but instead are for sale in a Peshawar market". I will place the link to this article in our blog. This breaks my heart, but it also makes me even more resolved to get my packages going and to help the organizations to send out holiday packages this year. I hope you all might think about this, and see what you can do to help, too.

Now on to our show for this week. We have three in depth and interesting visits with three of our deployed Heros of Freedom. The show will actually end around 4:15pm Central, which puts us about 15 minutes over our usual two hour period today. Remember, if you are not able to stay with us through the show this afternoon, it will repeat again tomorrow evening, Wednesday, July 21st 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.

(2:09pm) During our first visit, we will be talking with CPT Carl McBurnett , who is currently on deployment with the 376th AEW at Transit Center Manas in Kyrgyzstan. A C-17 pilot, Capt McBurnett is on duty as the Flight Safety Officer, which involves many areas on and above the flightline, as you will hear. Remember the airliner that had to land on the Hudson due to what is called a "bird strike"? That often means that birds either fly into or get too close and are pulled into an engine which will disable the plane. Well that can happen at most any airfield and Capt McBurnett will talk about how they handle the bird problem at TC Manas among many other interesting topics. Hopefully, you will understand just how busy the flightline is and how critical it is that everyone out there knows exactly where they should be and should not be while they do their job.

(2:51) Our next visit is with Army CPT Meegan Kelley, currently deployed with C Co, 3rd BSB (Brigade Support Battalion) in the 1st Advice and Assist Brigade of the 3rd ID. CPT Kelley serves as the Medical Company Commander, where she is in charge of the soldiers who make up the various medical services from the MedEvac Platoon, to those who handle sick call in the clinic or watch over soldiers who may be overnight patients, to ordering supplies and more. When you hear the dedication in CPT Kelley's voice, it is again no surprise that the survival and recovery rates are so high among our wounded troops. Thank Heavens for people like CPT Kelley whose career really started in high school with her desire to serve in the military and with her volunteer services through high school and college. Thank you, CPT Kelley, for looking after our loved ones when they need some medical help and maybe a bit of TLC.

(3:20pm) Our third and final visit is with an member who has been protecting our freedom for 26 years. Air Force Command Chief MSgt James Dowell is currently deployed with the 376th AEW at Transit Center Manas, where he also has many areas of responsibility. He puts his priority on the men and women who serve in his units and who look to him for counseling for both personal and professional reasons and much more. Although most Air Force deployments are scheduled for 4-6 months, Command Chief MSgt Dowell is on a one year deployment because his job does carry a strong liaison between the enlisted men and women and the commander, where consistency is a key factor. The Diamond Insignia of the Chief or Command Chief MSgt is not given out lightly - you have to be pretty special to earn these. You will clearly hear the dedication, pride and concern that makes James Dowell a great Command Chief MSgt.
We would also like to thank some folks without whom these visits today would not be possible. Our deepest appreciation goes to TSG Jennifer Buzanowski, and Mr Tom Conning. And, of course, we thank our wonderful guests.

Before we wrap up today, we want to acknowledge and thank Talking Communities, the Veteran owned service that brings us our Chat Star Teleconference Facility with state of the art private rooms and audio visual supports. If you need a place to host business seminars, display products or have a craft demo, or maybe you need to have a family celebration with members who are scattered around the US or the world. This is the place to see, hear, speak, show and text each other. For more information, contact the Stardust Radio business office at 319-648-3201.

Ladies & Gentlemen, we wish to thank all of you for joining us and we hope that you will be with us again next week when we will have more great visits from our Heroes of Freedom.

To all of our Veterans and all military family members who are listening, thank you for your service and for our freedom. To all of our First Responders and family members, thank you for watching over our families, homes and communities.

Once again, we would like to remind any of our listeners who are 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.

Please remember, it is up to us at home to help our troops, not only with letters and care packages, but also by being aware of legislation in our states and in DC that will impact them and their families. We must do our part to insure that our Heroes of Freedom receive the benefits and health care that they deserve for keeping our country safe and free. It is the least that we can do for them and it is part of what we must do to help insure freedom for our children.

We wish you all a good, safe and healthy week.
May God Bless You All And May God Bless America!