to the family and friends of captain benjamin a. sklaver

our thoughts and our prayers are with you.

we (i think i can speak for EVERYONE here) are so very sorry for your loss. we are so very grateful for captain sklaver's service.

pic: dover afb. ap

Hamden Native Killed In Afghanistan
By PETER MARTEKA The Hartford Courant

HAMDEN - When the flag-draped casket of U.S. Army Capt. Benjamin A. Sklaver arrived at Dover Air Force Base Saturday, he was not only mourned by his parents and fiancee, but also by thousands of people in Uganda who simply knew him as "Moses Ben," the man who brought them clean and sustainable drinking water.

Sklaver, a 32-year-old Hamden native, was killed in an ambush, possibly by a suicide bomber, while on patrol Friday in Muscheh, Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. Major Charlie Jaworksi, a spokesman for the Army, declined comment on how Sklaver was killed during Operation Enduring Freedom since the Department of Defense had not officially released details early Sunday afternoon.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell ordered the state's flag to half-staff in honor of Sklaver. In Hamden, Benjamin Sklaver's father Gary Sklaver was awaiting the arrival of relatives and friends from across the country and world who are coming for his son's funeral that has tentatively been scheduled for Tuesday. He said his son was a "very bright and ethical man" and was getting married to Beth Segaloff in June. ..


 

saw this in the courant the other day

and i thought it was a great story. i'm sorry mr tinsley got shot (more than sorry) but i am so very happy he's not only found work, but been kicking butt at his job. shout out to the va and mike wolf for helping mr tinsley and giving mr tinsley a chance, along the way

Disabled Veteran In Bloomfield Builds Bikes As He Rebuilds His Life

By STEVEN GOODE |The Hartford Courant

BLOOMFIELD — - Brian Tinsley lost a lot that day in Afghanistan.

The bullet that entered one of his temples and exited the other took away his sight, his sense of smell and part of his sense of taste.

But it didn't take away his ability to find a silver lining.

"Someone else might not have survived," said Tinsely.

Tinsley, 25, joined the Army after graduating from Bloomfield High School in 2001. His goal was to serve his country, learn to be a mechanic and take that skill with him back to civilian life. Tinsley was doing both, providing special forces support in 2003, when he was shot.

The bullet also took away his memory of that day.

"I don't have any recollection," he said. "I regained consciousness in Walter Reed Hospital about a month later."

But Tinsley didn't lose his desire to live an independent, productive life.

Tinsley went to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Center in West Haven to learn how to maintain his mobility and read Braille, and even helped Habitat for Humanity build a house in Hartford.

"It'll drive you nuts if you just sit and do nothing," he said.

Tinsley eventually found his way back to a local bicycle shop he frequented in his youth when he rode stunt bikes. But this time around, he wasn't looking for parts, he was looking for work. Specifically, he wanted to build bikes...........

photo: BRIAN TINSLEY, 25, of Bloomfield, was shot in the head while in Afghanistan on military duty in 2003 and lost his eyesight. Tinsley now works at the Bloomfield Bicycle and Repair Shop in Bloomfield and was hired by Mike Wolf, left, owner of the store, who said, "We hope that he'll be with us a long time." (ROSS TAYLOR / HARTFORD COURANT / November 13, 2008)

to the family and friends of Christian Cotner

i am so very sorry for your loss. my heart (and soul) goes out to you

State Marine Dies In Iraq
Waterbury Man Remembered For Positive Attitude

DAVE ALTIMARI And SHAWN R. BEALS Courant Staff Writers
WATERBURY — - A former Wilby High School student who talked about going into the Marines all through high school died in his first tour of duty in Iraq.The military notified 21-year-old Christian Cotner's family on Friday that he had died. Details about how he died have not been released, and the military has not publicly announced his death.Cotner is the 42nd person with ties to Connecticut to die in either Afghanistan or Iraq.The news of his death came the same day U.S. officials announced that the number of military deaths had plunged in May to the lowest monthly level in more than four years. U.S. officials said 21 American service members were killed in May, one more than the lowest monthly figure for the war set in February 2004............

important request

the west hartford police (officers association) are collecting donations (of personal items) and notes for two of their own. one will be deployed to iraq (officer samuel ferrucci ) and one is in afghanistan (lieutenant daniel coppinger)

so, if you live in town, why not drop a few items off? i have adopted a few soldiers over the past few years from soldier's angels. i know how much care packages mean to someone who is deployed.
you can bring non-perishable food items (NO pork products though - beef jerky is good, powdered drink mixes, candy, etc). toiletries (deodorants, baby wipes, hand cream, etc. please put them in a ziplock bag though - just in case.......). magazines and books and puzzle, sudoku books are good. dvds and cds.how about playing cards, cribbage boards....
if you need more ideas, go to the soldier's angels website. they have a BUNCH of good ideas for care packages.

from the west hartford news:
West Hartford Police Officers Association putting together care packages

The West Hartford Police Officers Association is currently putting care packages together which will be sent to department members Officer Samuel Ferrucci and Lieutenant Daniel Coppinger who are currently serving our country overseas.Ofc. Ferrucci is being deployed to Iraq where he will be training Iraqi Citizens to be police officers and Lt. Coppinger is currently stationed in Afghanistan. The West Hartford Police Officers Association is donating the care packages of various personal items to be used by the soldiers in Lieutenant Coppinger's and Officer Ferrucci's units.Any citizen who would like to include a note of thanks for our soldiers/ West Hartford Police Officers or donate personal items is asked to send or drop them off at
the West Hartford Police Officers Association,
103 Raymond Rd.,
West Hartford, CT 0610.
Please have any notes or donations in by Jan. 15. The packages will be sent out after this date.

the thing is, i really don't see any great contrasts

between these vets. now or then. they're all heroes

thank you ALL for serving

War Talk Exposes Contrasts
New Vets Strangers To Older Vets' Trials

By JESSE HAMILTON Courant Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - The distance between the gray-haired men in the audience and the young men at the head of the room was maybe 25 feet, but the gulf between their experiences of war was vast.Four men in their 20s sat before an audience in the rear of the Russell Library on Wednesday night, speaking the new language of war, the vocabulary of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. They came to relate their fresh war memories, to tell people what they saw and did, and how they felt.Two of those who came to listen were Vietnam veterans, and their comments exposed the great contrast between America's wars and what a difference three decades made. From Jack Coyle, who wore a Vietnam veteran's cap: Did you get enough food and water over there? What's the real morale level? In Vietnam, the firefights were less frequent than the troubles with disease and vermin; how was it this time? And what about post-traumatic stress disorder?........

welcome back to the 102nd infantry out of new haven

we're all happy you're home! of course our thoughts were (and are) with the family and friends of sgt phaenuf

Warm welcome home for Conn. troops

by News Channel 8's Jamie Muro

(Windsor Locks-WTNH) _ Members of the 102nd Infantry Battalion of New Haven returned home Saturday after a one-year tour in Afghanistan.
Grandmother Lenor Rodriguez was waiting for her son and her grandson, Luis and Joshua Amaro. They are possibly the first father to follow son into service since the Civil War.
"I'm just thankful to God that they're here. They had a victory," said Lenor............

................One father is absent to hug his son and the rest of his family. Staff Sergeant Joseph Phaenuf was killed in action in December.
"His efforts did not go forgotten, he paid the ultimate sacrifice. The reason why they are here today, he's part of it," said Lt. Col. John Whitford..............

tonight on pbs

two hour long documentaries
(note: most stations are going to edit operation homecoming - thank the threat of fines from the fcc for that)

warriors
Filmed in 2005 in some of the most dangerous areas in and around Baghdad, WARRIORS profiles a handful of Army soldiers: five men and one woman.
They range from a squadron leader just weeks into his first combat command to a seasoned sergeant on a night raid in an insurgent hotspot.
WARRIORS opens a compelling, harrowing, and at times humorous, window on some less familiar sides of a soldier’s life: a look at who they are, what they do and why.
and

operation homecoming
OPERATION HOMECOMING is a unique documentary that explores the firsthand accounts of American servicemen and women through their own words. The film is built upon a project created by the National Endowment for the Arts to gather the writing of servicemen and women and their families who have participated in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

cptv in connecticut
and
wgby in western mass

a connecticut unit, keeping the peace

a rather nice story out of afghanistan. hurry home 102nd! we miss you and WE THANK YOU for your service.
(and thanks to the students of ms troy's and other classes at mathewson elementary school for the clothing drive!!! wicked cool)

Trained To Kill, Instead They Give For State Troops Returning From Afghanistan, Helping Children Made All The Difference

By JESSE HAMILTON, Courant Staff Writer
When U.S. soldiers settle into a strange land, such as the rocky borderlands of Afghanistan's eastern side, you can bet their best friendships will be with the smallest of the locals: the children.In Iraq and Afghanistan, the outposts and bases become suns in the orbits of area children, hoping for handouts and excitement and maybe an education about the armored strangers living in their neighborhoods

Some troops from Connecticut who have been in Iraq have learned a special wariness of children, who have sometimes been deadly, grenade-carrying pawns of the insurgency. But for a few Connecticut soldiers now in the Jalalabad area of Afghanistan, the bond with Afghan children is what they will take away from their year at war..........

............"You're trained to be aggressive, to fight, to kill. The hardest thing coming here is they're trying to win over the hearts and minds of the people of Afghanistan, so you have to take your aggression down a couple of notches," Troy said by phone from Afghanistan. His group has only been in a single long firefight, he said, and none of the soldiers was hurt."We came over here expecting to fight a war when what we're actually doing is trying to keep the peace.".........