Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home
U.S. Army Pfc. Stephen Martin cleans his weapon inside a small shelter at an observation post near Combat Outpost Munoz in Paktika province, Afghanistan, Nov. 15, 2009. Martin is assigned to Company B, 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Smith.Saw this photo at Blackfive and had to share.Which reminds me, Soldiers' Angels has about 1500 service members

Swapping patches in Ramadi
An Iraqi commando, Ahmed, and U.S. Army Spc. Patrick Cullen trade unit patches during joint air assault training between Iraqi commandos and scouts, and U.S. paratroopers on Camp Ramadi, Iraq, Nov. 15, 2009. During the exercise, Iraqi and American soldiers inspected equipment, discussed warfighting techniques and traded uniform patches. Cullen is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd

Gary Sinise, Mensch
He was here again yesterday. Not sure how many times he's been here all together now. You just can't help being impressed with his low key visits and how much time he spends with the patients and staff. I was sitting with a patient in the ICU when I noticed a bit of a hubbub and looked up to see him walk by looking into each room. They didn't bring him in to see "my" patient because of the

Linda's "Blanket Ladies"
Linda and some of the "Blanket Ladies".Readers of this blog are familiar with Linda Ferrara and her Blanket Ladies. There are many more than pictured here, including one group called the Sunshine Club. The groups meet regularly to make blankets for the patients coming through Landstuhl.So they were very excited recently when they spotted one of their blankets in the longer version of the video in

Expecting the unexpected
Oregon National Guard Sgt. Zach Holden, Portland, Ore., a Task Force 38 crew chief with Company C, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment loads a box of blood during a contingency aeromedical staging facility flight Thursday, Nov. 12. The CASF flight moved up due to an earlier medevac flight to deliver blood. The Oregon Guard company conducted CASF flights and medevac flights in support of