United We Roll at Stardust Radio

Was it forty years ago? These images and so many others from this time have lived in my heart for so long. Too many of my friends received news that their Dads were not coming home. Too many families are still waiting for theirs to come home. I feel guilt sometimes that I was one of the lucky ones - that my Dad did come home. Will the tears never end?

I give thanks every day for the lives spared in war. I cannot imagine how these brave POWs survived the brutal torture, the filth, the diseases, the broken bones and everything else that they endured. It is impossible for me to read this article without tears blurring the page. I hope that each prayer somehow makes its way to each of these Heroes so that they know how deeply they are appreciated and loved by us, their Fellow Americans.

I pray every day that my fellow countrymen and women all across the USA do or very soon will understand that the only wall between them and the loss of their freedom, their American way of life, is made up of the men and women who have and do serve in our military every day.

As I go to light my candle this Valentine evening, it is for the POWs who came home 40 years ago today, for those who have not yet returned, for those in faraway places who are fighting today and waiting for their turn to come home and for all the families, who also wait. Sometimes too long.

Operation Homecoming for Vietnam POWs Marks 40 Years

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2013 - Forty years ago today, a C-141A Starlifter transport jet with a distinctive red cross on its tail lifted off from Hanoi, North Vietnam, and the first flight of 40 U.S. prisoners of war began their journey home through Operation Homecoming.

By the day's end, three C-141A aircraft would lift off from Hanoi, as well as a C-9A aircraft from Saigon, South Vietnam. In a steady flow of flights through late March 1973 under terms set through the Paris Peace Accords, 591 POWs returned to American soil.

Americans were spellbound as they watched news clips of the POWs being carried in stretchers or walking tentatively toward U.S. officers at the awaiting aircraft for the first flight from Hanoi's Gia Lam Airport.

The POWs ranged from privates first class to colonels, all wearing new gray uniforms issued by the North Vietnamese just before their release.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. James R. Cook, who suffered severe wounds when he bailed out of his stricken aircraft over North Vietnam in December 1972, saluted the U.S. colors from his stretcher as he was carried aboard the aircraft. Also on the first flight was Navy Cmdr. Everett Alvarez Jr., the first American pilot to be shot down in North Vietnam and, by the war's end, the longest-held POW there. He spent eight-and-a-half years in captivity.

Celebration broke out aboard the first aircraft -- nicknamed the "Hanoi Taxi" -- as it lifted skyward and the POWs experienced their first taste of freedom.

Historian Andrew H. Lipps captured the magnitude of the moment in his account, "Operation Homecoming: The Return of American POWs from Vietnam."

"Imagine you're imprisoned in a cage; imagine the cage surrounded by the smell of feces; imagine the rotted food you eat is so infested with insects that to eat only a few is a blessing; imagine knowing your life could be taken by one of your captors on a whim at any moment; imagine you are subjected to mental and physical torture designed to break not bones but instead spirit on a daily basis. That was being a prisoner of North Vietnam," Lipps wrote.
"Then imagine one day, after seemingly endless disappointment, you are given a change of clothes and lined up to watch an American plane land to return you home. That was Operation Homecoming."

Aeromedical teams assigned to each aircraft tended to the former POWs during the two-and-a-half hour flight to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, the first stop on their trip home. Meanwhile, many of the POWs joked and smoked American cigarettes as they caught up on all they'd missed while in captivity: fashion trends and the women's liberation movement, among them.

"Everything seemed like heaven," recalled Air Force Capt. Larry Chesley, who, after being shot down over North Vietnam, spent seven years in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton" and other POW prisons. "When the doors of that C-141 closed, there were tears in the eyes of every man aboard," he said.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Ed Mechenbier, the last Vietnam POW to serve in the Air Force, recalled the emotion of his own journey out of North Vietnam on Feb. 18, 1973. "When we got airborne and the frailty of being a POW turned into the reality of freedom, we yelled, cried and cheered," he said.

The POWs arrived to a hero's welcome at Clark Air Base, where Navy Adm. Noel Gayler, commander of U.S. Forces Pacific, led their greeting party. Joining him were Air Force Lt. Gen. William G. Moore Jr., who commanded 13th Air Force and the homecoming operation at Clark, and Roger Shields, deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/MIA affairs.

Speaking to the crowd that lined the tarmac to welcome the aircraft, returning POW Navy Capt. Jeremiah Denton -- who would go on to earn the rank of rear admiral and later was elected to the U.S. Senate, representing Alabama -- elicited cheers as he thanked all who had worked for their release and proclaimed, "God bless America."

Air Force Lt. Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, who spent almost eight years as a POW after being shot down over North Vietnam, joined the many other POWs who echoed that sentiment. "My only message is, 'God bless America,'" he said, dismissing assertions in the media that the POWs had been directed to say it.
"With six, seven or eight years to think about the really important things in life, a belief in God and country was strengthened in every POW with whom I had contact," he said. "Firsthand exposure to a system which made a mockery of religion and where men are unable to know truth made us all appreciate some of the most basic values in 'God bless America.'"

Air Force Col. Robinson Risner, the senior Air Force officer at the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" honored today by a statue in his likeness at the U.S. Air Force Academy, choked back emotion as he arrived on the second C-141 flight from Hanoi.
"Thank you all for bringing us home to freedom again," he told the crowd.

After receiving medical exams and feasting on steak, ice cream and other American food, the former POWs received new uniforms for their follow-on flights home. Their aircraft made stops in Hawaii and California. The first group of 20 former POWs arrived at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., on Feb. 14, 1973.

News clips of the arrival reveal the deep emotion of the freed POWs as they arrived on the U.S. mainland. Navy Capt. James Stockdale, who went on to become a vice admiral and vice presidential candidate, was the first man to limp off the aircraft.

Stockdale paused to thank his countrymen for the loyalty they had showed him and his fellow POWs. "The men who follow me down that ramp know what loyalty means because they have been living with loyalty, living on loyalty, the past several years -- loyalty to each other, loyalty to the military, loyalty to our commander-in-chief," he said.

Of the 591 POWs liberated during Operation Homecoming, 325 served in the Air Force, 138 in the Navy; 77 in the Army and 26 in the Marine Corps. Twenty-five of the POWs were civilian employees of U.S. government agencies.

In addition, 69 POWs the Viet Cong had held in South Vietnam left aboard flights from Loc Ninh. Nine other POWs were released from Laos, and three from China.

Forty years after their release, two of the former POWs serve in Congress: Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas.

A dinner and ceremony being planned for late May at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in California will honor the POWs, recreating the dinner the president hosted for them at the White House in 1973.

Related Sites:
Operation Homecoming Fact Sheet
U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration

... "In this context, sequestration will upend our defense strategy," he said. "It will put the nation at greater risk of coercion. And it will require us to break commitments to our men and women in uniform and their families, to our defense industrial base, and to our partners and allies." ...

By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2013 - Sequestration will force a drawdown "more difficult and decidedly different" than any other in the nation's history, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the House Armed Services Committee today.

Its deep, across-the-board spending cuts, combined with a dangerous and uncertain security environment, aging equipment and rising health care costs, place the nation squarely on the verge of an unprecedented readiness crisis, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said.

In a hearing that lasted nearly four hours, Dempsey, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and the Joint Chiefs of Staff all spoke of the dangers posed to national security by sequestration and the possibility that the continuing resolution now funding the government in lieu of a budget will be extended.

Sequestration was delayed until March 1 by a bill passed in January. If implemented, it would mandate about $500 billion in across-the-board defense spending cuts over 10 years in addition to cuts mandated over that period by the 2011 Budget Control Act.

"We are facing the prolonged specter of sequestration while under a continuing resolution, while we are just beginning to absorb $487 billion worth of cuts from 2011, and while we're still fighting and resourcing a war," the chairman said.

"There is no foreseeable peace dividend," Dempsey said.
"In this context, sequestration will upend our defense strategy," he said. "It will put the nation at greater risk of coercion. And it will require us to break commitments to our men and women in uniform and their families, to our defense industrial base, and to our partners and allies."

The new defense strategy formed last year could execute and absorb $487 billion in spending cuts over the next decade Dempsey said. "I can't sit here today and guarantee you that if you take another $175 billion that that strategy remains solvent."

The Defense Department is committed to fulfilling its role in the nation's economic recovery, the chairman said. But, he added, this requires budget certainty, time to implement reductions in a responsible manner and flexibility to transfer and reprogram money.
When parts of the defense budget are deemed untouchable by Congress, Dempsey said, readiness loses. "Everything needs to be on the table," he said.

Congress must ask itself what it wants of the military, Dempsey said. "If you want it to be doing what it's doing today, then we can't give you another dollar. If you want us to do something less than that, we're all there with you, and we'll figure it out."

Failure to act to avert sequestration eventually will require the department to reduce its international security commitments, Dempsey said, and to become less proactive about protecting national interests.

"When I testified before this committee last year, I said that if we fail to step up properly on the budget, we will reduce our options, and therefore increase our risk," he said. "Our military power will be less credible, because it will be less sustainable. Now, we're only a few days away from making that risk a reality."

Biographies:
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey

Related Articles:
Sequestration 'Wolf' Eats at Nation's Readiness, Carter Says
Service Chiefs Detail Sequestration Consequences
Sequestration Will Force Moral Dilemma, Dempsey Says
Carter Warns of Readiness Crisis, Urges Delay in Cuts
Dempsey: Budget Factors Place Defense Strategy in Jeopardy

WAKE UP, FELLOW AMERICANS!

If you do not think that Sequestration has anything to do with you or your lifestyle, think again!
There have been several warnings by those who are in the business of protecting our country about this very issue. This is not our first article on the dangers of Sequestration. But still it is almost here!

For those of you who only think about your immediate neighborhood and what you like to do day to day, think about this one. Our National Guard will see numerous cuts in the numbers of members who can serve. Think hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, mudslides, earthquakes, just about any natural disaster (and not so natural) in this country and who are usually the first to arrive to help - our National Guard! Well, you may have to learn how to take care of yourselves once Sequestration takes place. And read on, because this is not going to impact just you - our entire country will be in the most perilous position it has ever experienced.

For those of you who do think in terms of OUR country and what we as AMERICANS can do, please read the following article at least once. The first time to get the shock out of the way and the second time to really absorb what these military leaders are saying about the very safety of our country and the very unsure position in which this places our United States of America.

No longer can we afford to walk around thinking that "someone else is taking care of business". Been there, done that - and no one was taking care of business. We stand to lose our country, our freedom and everything that we treasure here in the USA.

PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE! PLEASE BECOME INVOLVED IN SAVING OUR COUNTRY, OUR FREEDOM AND OUR AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE...
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Service Chiefs Describe Sequestration Worries

By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2013 - The Joint Chiefs of Staff joined Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey today in describing to the House Armed Services Committee the effects sequestration will have on the services.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told the committee that 48 percent of the Army's budget goes to personnel costs. Budget cuts mean personnel cuts, he said. "And that starts to reduce our capabilities and abilities to respond," he added.
It also means a reduction in the number of brigade combat teams, support units and civilian personnel, Odierno said.

"I began my career in a hollow Army. I am determined not to end my career in a hollow Army," the general said. "We cannot allow careless budget cuts to bring us there again."

The Army's fiscal outlook is dire, Odierno said. In the remaining seven months of this fiscal year, the Army faces an about $17 billion to $18 billion shortfall in its operations and maintenance accounts, and an additional $6 billion cut to other programs, the general said. This is due to the combination of the continuing resolution, a shortfall in overseas contingency operations funds and sequestration, Odierno said.

The result is that the Army has been forced to curtail training for 80 percent of its ground forces, implement a servicewide hiring freeze and terminate about 3,100 temporary and term employees, Odierno said. The Army's 251,000 permanent civilian employees will be furloughed for up to 22 days, he said.
Base maintenance funds will be cut by 70 percent, Odierno said. Routine maintenance will stop, meaning that eventually buildings will fail faster than they can be repaired, he said.

In addition, he said, cuts to flying hours mean the Army will be short 500 pilots by the end of the fiscal year, creating a backlog at flight schools that will take more than two years to reduce.

In fiscal year 2014, Odierno said, sequestration will result in the loss of at least an additional 100,000 soldiers from the active Army, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve.
"Combined with previous cuts that have already been approved, this will result in a total reduction of at least 189,000 personnel from the force, but it'll probably be higher than that," he added.

The Navy is in a similar situation, said Navy Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, chief of naval operations. Its role as the nation's sea force is at great risk, he said.
Sequestration will have an irreversible and debilitating impact on the Navy's readiness through the rest of the decade, Greenert said. Already, the Navy has delayed the deployment of one carrier, delayed the overhaul of a second, and delayed construction on a third, he said -- decisions that came with significant consequences to naval personnel, the defense industry and local economies.

An $8.6 billion shortfall in operations and maintenance "has compelled us to cancel ship and aircraft maintenance, reduce operations, curtail training for forces soon to deploy, and plan for the furlough of thousands of civilians," Greenert said.

"Sequestration threatens to carve crucial capability from our Air Force as well," said Air Force Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Air Force chief of staff.
"Sequestration represents the potential $12.4 billion top-line budget reduction for fiscal year '13 for the Air Force," he said. "It affects every account and every program."
The Air Force's 180,000 civilian employees face a 22-day furlough, Welsh said, a loss of 31.5 million hours of productivity in fiscal y2013 alone.

Sequestration will cut 30 percent of the Air Force's remaining weapons systems sustainment funds, he said, creating a maintenance backlog that will last for years.
"Sequestration will have an almost immediate effect on our ability to respond to multiple concurrent operations around the globe, something that we've been asked to do, along with our sister services, many times in the past," Welsh said.

Despite its role as the nation's crisis response force, the Marine Corps costs the government less per service member than any of the other branches, said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos.
"Under continuing resolution, I have kept deploying units ready, but only by stripping away the foundations of the long-term readiness of the total force," Amos said.

If sequestration goes forward, by the end of the year more than 50 percent of Marine tactical units will be below minimum acceptable readiness levels for combat deployments, he said.

"The most troubling and immediate risks are those that sequestration imposes on our people," Amos said. "Sequestration does not hurt things, it hurts our people. The qualitative edge that the American service member takes to the battlefield is the fundamental advantage that differentiates our forces from our enemies.

"This qualitative combat edge will be severely eroded by the impacts of sequestration," he continued, "leaving America's men and women with inadequate training, degraded equipment, and reduced survivability."

The National Guard provides dual-mission capability -- serving both the nation and its communities, said Army Gen. Frank J. Grass, chief of the National Guard Bureau. Sequestration jeopardizes that capability by reducing the funds the Guard's active-duty partners have available for institutional procurement, training, education and depot-level maintenance, he said.

Were sequestration to occur, "in a matter of months, our readiness as an operational force for the nation's defense and as an immediate homeland response capability will be eroded," he said.

"With the inability to transfer funds between programs, sequestration and the possibility of a year-long continuing resolution will further degrade our overall readiness," Grass said. "If we face a full sequestration scenario, the National Guard may have to furlough soldiers and airmen serving as military technicians, as well as other government civilians,"

"In the final analysis, sequestration potentially asks the most [of those] who have borne the greatest sacrifice," Amos said.

"The effects of sequestration over the next 10 years will threaten the foundations of our all-volunteer force, putting the nation's security on a vector that is potentially ruinous," he continued. "It will dramatically shape perceptions of our government as both an employer and as a customer, thereby reducing confidence throughout our nation's institutions. These are strategic matters that demand our immediate attention and action."

Biographies:
Army Gen. Ray Odierno
Navy Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert
Marine Corps Gen. James F. Amos
Air Force Gen. Mark A. Welsh III
Army Gen. Frank J. Grass

Related Articles:
Chairman Outlines Sequestration's Dangers
Sequestration 'Wolf' Eats at Nation's Readiness, Carter Says
Service Chiefs Detail Sequestration Consequences
Sequestration Will Force Moral Dilemma, Dempsey Says
Carter Warns of Readiness Crisis, Urges Delay in Cuts
Dempsey: Budget Factors Place Defense Strategy in Jeopardy

United We Roll World Tour Show
Stardust Radio www.stardustradio.com
Tuesday 02/12/13 1:00pm- 2:30pm Central (Live)
Wednesday 02/13/13 6:00pm- 7:30pm Central (Repeat)

Welcome Stardust Listeners -
We thank you for joining us on Tuesday, February 12th of 2013.

This Tuesday, we bring 2 new visits with 3 deployed members, from two different Armed Forces and two different countries. Our first visit is from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan with two Air Force members of the AFCENT band called "Total Force". Our second conversation is from Afghanistan with an Army officer who is the OIC (Officer In Charge) of the unit's FET or Female Engagement Team.

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United We Roll at Stardust Radio Network, Inc
www.stardustradio.com - click Listen Live button

SHOW SCHEDULE
Tuesday 2/12/13

1:00pm - Introduction / Announcements

376th Air Expeditionary Wing

Interview #1 (appr 1:14pm) - SSgt Joshua Byrd & TSgt Frances Kness
AFCENT Band "Total Force"
Afghanistan

Combined Task Force 4-2

Interview #2 (appr 1:47pm) - 2LT Lindsay Whitney
2-23 IN, CTF 4-2 - FET
Afghanistan

Show ends at appr 2:30pm Central

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If you are not able to stay through the show this afternoon,
it will repeat on Wednesday 02/13 evening at 6:00pm Central.
After the repeat show has been broadcast, an MP3 copy will be posted on the
Stardust Radio Network Inc Archive site at www.stardustradio.info.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL & MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!