Despite US President Obama's flowery (empty) words of support of Israel, anybody paying attention over time has seen that Obama's actions tell a very different story. Long time watchers also know that Obama has loose lips when it comes to sharing information publicly that he should not be sharing.
Since Obama became POTUS, he has often shared information on allies that he has no business sharing. He has more than earned my title for him: Mouth In Chief. His latest almost defies belief.
US Declassifies Document Revealing Israel's Nuclear Program Obama revenge for Netanyahu's Congress talk? 1987 report on Israel's top secret nuclear program released in unprecedented move. By Ari Yashar, Matt WandermanMarch 25, 2015 In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel's nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent.
But by publishing the declassified document from 1987, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel's nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth.
The timing of the revelation is highly suspect, given that it came as tensions spiraled out of control between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama ahead of Netanyahu's March 3 address in Congress, in which he warned against the dangers of Iran's nuclear program and how the deal being formed on that program leaves the Islamic regime with nuclear breakout capabilities.
Another highly suspicious aspect of the document is that while the Pentagon saw fit to declassify sections on Israel's sensitive nuclear program, it kept sections on Italy, France, West Germany and other NATO countries classified, with those sections blocked out in the document....
Israeli Soldiers Mother has a few comments on this outrageous - totally unacceptable - move.
Thursday, March 26, 2015So, hey, yeah...we have nuclear weapons
Years ago, my mother was speaking in front of a high school class of Austrians contemplating their final year in school and not so very interested in a little country in a far off place. Most years, the graduating class chose to go to nearby Italy and explore the Alps.
My mother found the class a bit inattentive, a bit distracted and perhaps even a bit condescending about the message she was sharing. Midstream, she decided to change course.
"Israel has nuclear weapons," she told the suddenly-interested class, "and we aren't afraid to use them if we have to." She looked around, aware that they were quieter than they had been, "Does that frighten you?" she asked.
Several nodded and she added, "good."
Israel has nuclear weapons. Unlike the United States, which has had nuclear weapons for more than 70 years and betrayed our trust by releasing documents that confirm this, we've never used nuclear weapons to kill anyone. Unlike Iran, which doesn't have nuclear weapons (yet), Israel has never threatened to blow a nation off the face of the map.
For the past 24 hours, after hearing that the United States, under the leadership of Barack Hussein Obama, deliberately stabbed Israel in the back by releasing documents that confirm what most of the world has known or suspected for decades, I was rendered mute with anger. Every post I thought of making usually included at least one four letter word and often many of them....
I always marvel at how Israeli Soldiers Mother avoids using any four letter words when she writes about Obama. Go read the rest of her latest here.
For me, the most succinct response to Obama's latest betrayal of an ally comes in the comments on that post - from Israeli Soldiers Mother:
I agree that there are many "secret" things in Israel that are not secret - but the telling was for us, not for the US. We chose not to acknowledge them and have never used them as a threat. Thus, when other nations come and say we have to sign a treaty that would put us at a disadvantage or suggest that others have a right to nuclear weapons because we have them, the fallback has always been very simple...a smile and a "what nuclear weapons." In openly declaring we have them, Obama broke faith, once again, with Israel.
Palestinian 'victim-hood' is well documented. What is also well known is the goal of Israel's neighbours to paint that nation as blood-thirsty killers, only worthy of total annihilation.
Another video has surfaced and is going the rounds showing clearly how the Palestinians are at the mercy of those big bad Israeli Soldiers. Take a look.
Nov 6, 2012 by idfnadesk This video, filmed in Nabi Saleh this past Friday, shows Palestinians parents pressing their children to provoke IDF soldiers -- a side of the demonstrations not usually talked about, despite it being a frequent occurrence.
I don't know what I would do other than be deeply ashamed. Certainly,
these children are further examples of the manipulation of their
society; mere objects to be videotaped as they play their role.
I am proud of our soldiers in this video - deeply proud that they were
able to smile. I loved their smiles; I loved their laughing. These
children represent so much of what is wrong with Palestinians society.
So-called adults using their children, hiding behind them.
The inability to talk - rather to shout and scream.
The antagonism - blind hatred in the face of nothing. These soldiers are just standing there...throughout.
Hostility and violence - the only time the soldiers come close to
reacting is when the children come close to their guns. They take their
ranting, screaming, hysterics. They even take being pushed around a bit.
And through it all, they realize that this is a show put on for the cameras....
She goes on to say that some are trying to get this video banned, but as I show above, the IDF posted this copy.
As long as children are taught to behave and think as these are being taught, there will be no peace.
We all rejoiced when we saw pictures like this yesterday, and the msm covered this good news story. As is usual, the msm manipulated what we all saw. As is also usual, all was not as it appeared.
I've spent most of the day watching and listening to the news as Gilad came home. It was an interesting day, accompanied most of the way by fellow Twitter friends, people in the store, my family. We watched as there was a glimpse of Gilad finally leaving Palestinian hands for Egyptian ones.
He looked so weak. He walked so stiffly. They pulled at him and I wanted to scream and tell them to get their hands off of him. His body language was clear - he looked bullied, almost indifferent. It was as if he had gone somewhere else and only his body was there, doing what the Palestinians were telling him to do. Move this way; walk this way. Stand here.
More time as we wait...and then an interview with an Egyptian woman. I won't waste the word "journalism" on her. The interview was a shock to Israel, as it was unplanned on a day when everything was supposed to be scheduled carefully.
Worse, the interview was asinine and rude. Anyone could see that Gilad was not well. ...
As always, Israeli Soldier's Mother cuts through the msm bafflegab and bs, and shares the actual events. Go read more on Gilad's homecoming here.
More op/eds out of Israel; you know, the people most impacted by the recent decisions:
In the midst of all the usual msm noise this past few days, five horrific murders - by terrorists - in Israel are again showing the blatant media biases against Israel. From The Algemeiner:
I don’t own a television and I don’t buy newspapers. I do so mainly to save money, but also because I think that I end up better informed by seeking out information on the internet. A particularly striking example of this happened this week. Like many people I heard about the grizzly murders in Itamar on motzei Shabbat and I assumed that, since the brutal stabbing of children is something of a rarity, and matters Israeli are a veritable obsession for the British press, everyone else would have too. However, two conversations on Sunday with people who are neither ignorant nor apathetic quickly produced the response: ‘what murders?’
So I did some scouting. The killings were reported by some newspapers, though by no means all and always far from the front page. Nowhere on the news or in print were any pictures of the deceased shown, which is unusual for a media usually so keen to get footage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that they accept fairly obvious fakes. However, things only got really bad when I went onto the BBC website. Almost unbelievably, ‘Aunty’ (as people insist on calling it) reported the story as ‘Israel approves new Jewish settler homes in the West Bank’, mentioning down in paragraph three that this had followed the murder of the Fogels. It’s sometimes darkly joked that the world is more concerned with Jews building houses than Iranians building bombs, but it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Britain’s state-funded broadcaster is more concerned with Jews building houses than Arabs breaking into a house and stabbing a three month old girl to death....
Thus far, I have chosen not to add my own commentary, because the outrage I feel for this butchery prevents me from being any sort of articulate. Israeli Soldier's Mother wrote from her outrage, and her eloquence in the midst of this latest atrocity battering the Israeli family, is a must read:
A Choking Anger
"Did you hear?" Elie said when I came to the table moments after the Sabbath had ended.
"No, what?" I asked.
"Bad news," he said. And then he told me. "Two parents and three children. Stabbed. Itamar."
"Killed?" I asked, already feeling the horror starting to mount inside me.
"Yes," he answered quietly...
[...]
The anger, the rage that comes is almost more than I can stand. It chokes you. It fills you, infuriates you....
[...]
There are no words that can adequately describe the anger and the rage I am feeling and so there is no comfort. The world will forget, as it always does - each orphan, each infant. It sickens me beyond words....
Right now I have NO words to describe MY anger, my sorrow, at this latest evil, so go read the rest of Israeli Soldier's Mother's column here.
As you read, remember this: the innocent people of Israel live with these atrocities every.single.day. The msm is a willing accomplice in their part of the willful ignorance about the lives - the deaths of innocents - of the people of Israel.
And the world shrugs.
[Update:
As the world shrugs, and looks away, Israel National News is reporting on Yamar, the Fogel's 12 year old daughter.
"I Will Be Their Mother" Says 12 Year Old Tamar Fogel
by Uzi Baruch
The eldest daughter of the Fogel family, 12 year old Tamar, promised her relatives: "I will be strong and succeed in overcoming this. I understand the task that stands before me, and I will be a mother to my siblings". The orphaned youngster's words were quoted in the Hebrew daily Yisrael Hayom.
In their home in the town of Neve Tsuf in Samaria, Tsila and Chaim Fogel, parents of Udi, are sitting on low benches for the traditional “shiva” week of mourning alongside his three brothers and sister. There is a constant stream of comforters going in and out of the house, VIP's and ordinary citizens from all over Israel, whose hearts go out to the bereft family that lost son, daughter-in-law, and three young grandchildren in a barbaric terrorist slaughter on Friday night.
Chaim Fogel continues to retell the story of terrible hours from 3 a.m. on, when he received the horrific news, drove to Itamar, met his 12 year old granddaughter and then entered the family’s home. The authorities were forced to ask her to tell what she saw when she returned from her youth group activity to find her family’s bloodsoaked bodies at 12:30 a.m. Chaim himself had the heartbreaking task of identifying the bodies.
"We came to take the surviving grandchildren out of the Valley of Death, he said. I don’t wish on anyone in the world the sight I saw. It is horrendous, beyond description, beyond comprehension".
The grandparents recalled the last time they saw Udi, Ruti and the children, a week and a half ago on Saturday night. They celebrated the start of the month of Adar Bet in Itamar, danced, sang and laughed....
Katy Soulas addresses students at Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School on Sept. 11. Her husband died in the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
Photos by Johanna Ginsberg (read more here or here)
Most of us take our families for granted, expecting them to always be here, a part of our lives every day. For the families pictured above, their lives changed forever on September 11, 2001. In the aftermath of 9/11, the loved ones of those above were rightly hailed as heroes. I originally wrote about Diane and Ken's precious son Keith here, and Lisa Beamer's husband Todd became a very visible face of the loss we all suffered. Katy Soulas, mother of six and wife of Tim - also lost on 9/11 - has also been written about here.
What all of these families share, but what I have not seen written about, is that they are all HEROES, every single day. I saw Diane quoted somewhere (or maybe she said it to me ;) ) as saying that heroes are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Looking at those pictures, you could - perhaps - be excused for thinking you are looking at ordinary people, but they ARE heroes. On that morning eight years ago, each of the family members of the 9/11 heroes could have no idea of how the events that unfolded would change their lives. And since that day, Diane and Ken, Lisa Beamer, Katy Soulas and so many more, have daily proved that heroes do always walk among us. Having been priviledged to hear the hearts of Diane and Ken, for instance, I know that none of the families would have chosen to be forever linked to 9/11, but it is how they have chosen to live their lives, in honour of their loved ones, that shows such heroism. In the face of such enormous tragedy and loss, it would have been so easy for them to crawl into a hole and shut out the world, and who could judge them for that? Not I.
A friend of mine said recently that this era of heroism began on 9/11, and so it did, but there are many other heroes in this Global War on Terror. Daniel Pearl's parents are also heroes. Their hearts broke as they watched, with all of us, their son being murdered and that heinous act was broadcast around the world.
Judea and Ruth Pearl formed a foundation to promote those values which Daniel lived.
Check that out here. Many of the family heroes have worked on a daily basis to be a voice for the values that their loved ones lived. To the mainstream media, the heroes we have lost are just statistics, or fodder for the 15 second soundbite on the evening news, but for these families - heroes every one - every day sees new opportunities to ensure that the emphasis is on how their loved ones LIVED. They are the keepers of the legacy, and the living embodiment of the difference their loved ones made in the world.
Since 9/11, many other families have lived heroic lives with courage, grace and such dignity. From where I sit, it is the families of our fallen heroes who deserve enormous credit as heroes. In England, families of the fallen are now being given the Elizabeth Cross, which I wrote about here. All the American 9/11 families were given the Medal of Valor by President George W Bush - the civilian equivalent of the military Medal of Honor. Yes, that is appropriate recognition, but merely a small token of the heroic lives the families must now live minute by minute, day by day, for the rest of their lives.
I have been blessed to meet and come to love more than a few family heroes. I have shared their lives here on occasion. Robert and the Stokely family spring to mind:
I have had the priviledge of meeting Robert, who humbles me by calling me his 'friend.' Robert daily proves to me what a hero he is, as he heads up the Mike Stokely Foundation here, which works to maintain the legacy that his beloved son Mike lived for. You really should go and read about Mike's life at that link. Mike's sister, Abbey, is also a hero every single day.
Do not ever doubt, Abbey, that Mike is so proud of you. Never, ever, doubt that that you are a hero to me.
Deborah and Dave Tainsh are heroes to me, every single day. Yes, I have written about their son Patrick, and it is how Deb and Dave choose to honour Patrick's life that makes them heroes to me. Rather than quietly live their memories of Patrick, Deb and Dave honour the life of Patrick. Deb and Dave are extraordinary as they generously share their journey since Patrick's loss in Iraq on 2/11/04. Deb is a writer, public speaker and an advocate for all grieving families. You can find a list of some of her writings on Military.com here.
I have had the priviledge of sharing some of Deb's writing with you, and you can find those by putting her name in my search thing above, or going over to Tanker Bros (my first milblog 'home') here.
Deb and Dave, you are heroes to me, and I am always humbled by you calling me your friend.
I would be remiss if I did not share David Jeffers with you. I 'met' this Gold Star Father quite by 'coincidence', and how blessed I was. Back in September, 2007, I heard about his son Eddie who was killed serving his country. I felt compelled to write a public letter to Eddie, which said in part:
Dear Eddie,
Dear Eddie:
You didn't know me in the 23 years you were here, but I have been thinking a lot about you the last few days. Really, I have. This is not the first time I have thought of you, been aware of you. I remember back when your piece "Hope Rides Alone" became famous all over the internet. I know that piece of fine writing from the sandbox gave insights to many of how amazing all of you are, who are fighting today. I remember. I remember smiling because your words put the lie, yet again, to the notion that all soldiers are just killing machines, ignorant hick Rambos gone wild. And you kept fighting, and you kept writing, as the rest of us went on about our everyday business, doing whatever it is we all do, that is SO (sarcasm here) important.
And now? This last week has seen your work, again, all over the internet, and there has been much weeping and sorrow. I have read a lot of the stuff written about you and I feel as if I know you. I read with great sadness that you had died in Iraq. This human heart was heavy. But, as I have talked to people, re-read your writing, I have been so grateful to have been given a glimpse of you.
I got an email from your dad David, in response to an email I had sent to him, and I KNOW you are smiling down on him. Oh Eddie, I know you know the human dad is struggling with this loss, but you also know that he has faith to sustain him as he continues on his human path. Like you, he knows he is a child of God and he knows, as do I, that 'death' is no finality. I remember a long time ago reading somewhere that a way of looking at 'death' as we know it in our human realm, is that those gone before have just stepped into the next room; never far away. My prayer for your dad and all your family is that they always feel you close by. I know that the love we share, one with another in this classroom called "life", never dies, but lives on forever. I hope your family holds on to this truth in the times ahead.....(read the rest here, and meet Eddie's mum, dad and sisters)
David and Tina, you ARE heroes to me.
The list of my family heroes is long. Most of them will never be known to the general public, but I am honoured to be in some of their lives, albeit in a small way. There is Deborah Iverson May, widow of Don, and if you don't know who he is, you should. Again, head over to Tanker Bros and look at his picture on the left sidebar here. I have had the honour of writing about Don and Deborah a few times. Check out one such column here. Deborah is raising their three children, and make no mistake, those children are also heroes. As I have often said, the children also serve.
This picture is Don and Jack in April 2001, and yes, Jack has turned into quite the super star in his own right (Sorry, Deb! Threaten him with Aunty Brat.....)
Mickey Arnette Bryant is another one of my heroes. Mum of Jason, every single day she honours the life her son chose.
I last wrote about Mickey and her son Jason on the occasion of a local bridge being renamed the
SSG JASON R ARNETTE MEMORIAL BRIDGE. You can read more about that here.
Take a look at this video. Jason is the first face you see, and yes, every single person here has a family of heroes standing for them:
Be sure to go over to the site of the creator of this video here and read what he has to say. Mickey, you ARE a hero to me, every single day.
Cat Brooks is a hero of mine. You probably have no idea who she is, unless you are a regular reader of mine. Cat is the aunt of Sgt John Rode, who was remembered as part of the Run Forthe Fallen in 2008. Cat is also a Soldiers' Angel (which is how I first met her.) Cat is another family hero, who continues to work with our troops and their families as a way to honour her precious nephew. Back in August 2008, Cat graciously allowed me to share her thoughts and memories of her nephew John. Back then, I wrote - in part - :
Run for the Fallen is today remembering - and honouring - Sgt. John David Rode, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. A hero among heroes. As with all our heroes, John is not only a hero to all of us; he is also the precious son of Cheryl and Tom Rode; beloved nephew to Cat and Eddie Brooks, and most gentle, awesome uncle to the children. John's family graciously shared their stories, their pictures of John, and it is my honour and priviledge to be allowed to share with you, through those who love John the most.
...
I am so sorry it has taken so long for me to get back to you...the real reason is every time I sit down to write I have so many memories flooding back and I don’t know where to begin....
Through his serious and tough exterior that he had adopted, he let us see the big kid he was still inside. He absolutely loved my kids with abandon and was not afraid to show it, often rolling on the floor and chasing them on the playground. His gentleness and awe of the little vulnerable baby that was presented to him when he met his little niece Izzy for the first time was precious. To see this big strong tough Soldier hold that baby with such tenderness and love was a glimpse into his soul. ..
I have often heard the question asked: Where do we find such heroes? I know the answer to that: it is in the families who raise these fine men and women; they each are a product of those who love them the most.
Family heroes - my heroes of this year, or any year - come from outside America, too. Judith Budd, mother of Shane Keating, is a Canadian. From Saskatoon, she held a news conference after her beloved son was killed in September 2006, serving his country:
A Saskatoon mother devastated by the loss of her soldier son in Afghanistan can also find meaning in his death.
Judith Budd spoke with reporters Thursday about Cpl. Shane Keating, who was killed along with three other Canadian soldiers at Kandahar when they were attacked by a suicide bomber earlier this week.
Judith Budd. (CBC)
"Nothing, nothing is worth the loss of a son, but everything, everything is worth a man actually being willing to take that risk and die for what be believes in," Budd said as family members stood next to her.
Budd said she fully supports Canada's role in Afghanistan. Her son was aware of the dangers and he knew how afraid she was for him, but he strongly believed in why he was going over there, she said.
"He said you can't just look at the individual because most of us will come home and the ones who don't have made a difference and it's worth it."
Cpl. Shane Keating was one of four Canadian soldiers killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan on Monday. (Canadian Press)
There is a video of Shane's mum speaking, and I urge you to watch it. Yes, it is painful to watch this mother's grief, but it IS absolute heroism in its finest form: I cannot embed it, but follow this link and spend some time with Judith Budd. Judith Budd is one of my heroes. One of the things she said that has always stuck with me?
"Those who love the world serve it in action..."
And these families all continue to serve the mission their loved ones served. Whether you see them on the front pages of the msm, be sure that these families all honour their loved ones. They serve in action, for the love of their family members.
I introduced you to Mishelle Brown last March. I wrote:
Mishelle Brown, widow of slain Warrant Officer Dennis Raymond Brown, holds a news conference in St. Catharines, Ont., on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. (Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
My regular readers all know how much respect I have for the families of our troops. They also serve. I have just listened to a sound bite of a press conference Mishelle Brown did. She is the now widow of WO Dennis Brown who was killed by an IED in Afghanistan. (See my previous post.)...
We talked about everything . . . some people say, 'I wish I had one more thing to say to them,' but I said everything, I don't have to say one more thing, I said it all when he was alive," she told reporters in St. Catharines, Ont. "Everyday I spoke to him I reminded him how important he was to me and how lucky I was to have him."
She said they spoke only about the possibility he would die in Afghanistan.
"Dennis was a realist . . . he made me prepare for his death," she said, adding that they discussed with their four children what they would do if he died in the line of duty. "And boy, did we prepare."...
Brown's wife said she was told he was a hero, but that he was always "her hero."
Mishelle Brown said she wanted "the whole world to know what an amazing man he was."
"That's what's keeping me strong, I met my dream come true. Nobody can take that away from me. No roadside bomb can take that away from me. "(source: CTV.ca) (read the rest of that column here)
Mishelle, you ARE - and will always be - a hero to me.
Another Canadian you may never have heard about, but she is a hero nevertheless, is Maureen Eykelenboom. She is the mother of Andrew, "Boomer."
Through personal acts of kindness and compassion, Andrew and his comrades made a positive difference in the lives of men, women and especially children.
Today, Andrew's humanitarian spirit lives on through Boomer's Legacy.
Boomer's Legacy is an amazing ongoing homage to a truly special young man. Be sure and check out their site. Learn more about Andrew, and the work his family does to honour his memory here.
Maureen, you are a hero.
Just in these last few days, Canada has borne witness to yet another family hero. Private Garrett Chidley is one of the four fallen Canadian heroes on his way home to his loving family, and yes, grateful nation.
Cam Chidley said his son was proud to be in Afghanistan as part of the Canadian combat and reconstruction effort.
"He was proud and happy to go there. He worked hard to get there. He was proud of his buddies, proud of what he was up to," he said...
In November 2007, I wrote about some of these heroes who blog. You may have missed my column:
The Girl Behind the Man behind the Gun
The Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun
by MacDonald, Wilson Pugsley, (b. 1880)
You have seen the line of khaki swinging grandly down the street,
You have heard the band blare out Britannic songs;
You have read a ton of papers and you've thrown them at your feet,
And your brain's a battlefield for fighting throngs.
You have cheered for Tommy Atkins, and you've yelled for Jack Canuck;
You have praised the French and Belgians, every one.
But I'm rhyming here a measure to the valor and the pluck
Of the Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun.
There's a harder game than fighting; there's a deeper wound by far
Than the bayonet or the bullet ever tore.
And a patient, little woman wears upon her heart a scar
Which the lonesome years will keep for evermore.
There are bands and bugles crying and the horses madly ride,
And in passion are the trenches lost or won.
But SHE battles in the silence, with no comrade at her side,
Does the girl behind the man behind the gun.
Fact is, in every war there are women left behind on the homefront. In WW2, most of those women worked in munitions factories (Rosie Riveter anyone?) and in England, many of those "girl[s] behind the man ..." joined the Women's Land Army to make sure that food was still produced to feed a nation at war. The women in my family have shared many stories of their escapades in the WLA!
In this current war, women are - again - playing a vital role contributing to the war effort. Yes, women now are in the frontline combat roles, but there is also a group of women whose war efforts are every bit as critical as their sisters commanding tanks, machine guns, in the sandbox.
They are the wives, the mothers, the bloggers. Seems fitting to me that in this war, being fought on two fronts at home, (the msm and the rest of us..lol) women are writing about their lives as connected to the military. These women have a unique perspective, that the rest of us do not. Their contributions to the GWOT are every bit as vital as the man with the gun. I suspect the men with the guns would agree with me!... (read more about some of my family heroes - who continue to serve - here on Tanker Bros)
Another family member who is a hero to me is Mike "Moon" Mullens. I have shared his work with you all a few times. Mike is a friend, a Vietnam veteran, a writer, and the proud father of a son who is serving in the US military. Mike has graciously shared much of his own Vietnam experiences through his writing with me, and I have posted them here. He also has written about his experiences of being the home front hero as his son now serves:
Thank YOU, Mike. I don't think I have ever told you, but you are a hero to me in so many ways.
Another family hero recently came to my attention. Leila Hunt-Willingham is the sister of J D Hunt.. Jason Hunt was one of the 14 murdered in Ft Hood last month, and I gave a brief profile of him here:
Spc. Jason Dean Hunt,
Tipton, Oklahoma
As a boy, Jason Hunt once had to wear silver caps on his front teeth. When he was too timid to smile, his sister, playing on his love for video games, asked him to show his Ninja Turtle teeth.
"He was so embarrassed and such a shy boy," recalled his sister Leila Willingham, 30, of Frederick, Okla. "That was the only way I could make him smile." In high school, Hunt refused to dissect a cat for a class assignment. He was so upset that his mother had to pick him up from school.
But Hunt's shy and sensitive side was transformed, his family said, when he joined the military. His already caring nature bloomed into something brave, selfless and fearless, they said. He hoped to save somebody's life someday....
In August, he got married in Okalahoma City. "He had a blue tie and he was so happy to have his family there and to be becoming part of a family," his sister recalled through sobs.
Willingham recalled her brother once likened his feelings for his military family to the love a parent feels for their children.
"He said, 'I would die for your children.' He said, 'I would die for a stranger to save them.' And he said he would dive in front of a bullet for a soldier."...(here)
His sister is now writing her own blog. In her first post, she writes:
You may know about me. I'm a mom of 2 bright lights. A wife. A sister. A child of God. After my sweet (and only) brother was killed at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, I sit here, feeling compelled to write about him.
My baby brother, Jason. JD is what I call him. But for the purpose of this blog, I am writing for "J." Sometimes I will be writing about my brother. Sometimes I will be writing to him. Sometimes I will be writing to and about the other "J" in my life - the most important. My savior, best friend and Comforter - Jesus.
This blog is not to creep people out or to attract any negativity. Just to heal. To grow. To listen to my Lord and find comfort in the darkest hour or joy in the brightest, and share it.
Thanks for visiting.
Yours and His,
~Leila
Leila has written a few great columns about her brother, and her own journey of healing. Go check it out here.
Even though the mainstream media will not tell you this, there are many families who are daily heroes. These are the families of those who are currently serving, who have deployed, or who are in the various sandboxes. More than a few of them I now number as friends: there is Donna (whose son Butch I profiled as one of my Every Day Heroes when he returned to Iraq on a second tour); Melinda, who is raising her children as her husband is deployed, Emily, whose husband CJ serves in oh so many ways; Deb, whose daughter signed on to serve her country; Mrs Master Gunner, whose husband first introduced me to milblogging (and look where it got us all....); Mrs Toy Soldier, who married into the Hooah family; Connie, whose family also serves; Carla and Janet, mum and mum-in-law of RJ, whose wife Lisa is another of my heroes.
Another Canadian military wife was also added to my list of heroes this past year. If you don't know Louise, you really should go and read her site: From The Home Front is a personal, oh so eloquent journal of this young wife and mother's challenges as her husband served in Afghanistan. Louise, you ARE a hero to me. Paula is an Israeli Soldier's Mother who shares her words and insights from the heart of a home front hero. Paula: Thank YOU! The list of family heroes, serving on the home front, would fill more than a few volumes, and I cannot list them all here.
When the history books are written of today's Global War on Terror, you may not see any of the family members I have introduced you to above. However, for me, every one of them is my hero, and their courage, grace and dignity is engraved on my heart - inspires me - and I will always honour them, as my Heroes of the Year, every year, forever. I WILL remember them, with gratitude, respect and love. Will you?
