our military: Harry Gifford - World War II Veteran - United States Army!! - 11/11/11 05:42 PM
On this Veterans day of 11/11/11 I am writing this post to honor my Dad Harry Gifford. My Dad was drafted in to the Army prior to Pearl Harbor and served through the entire war. It has only been in the last few years that I have been able to get my Dad to talk about his war time experiences and I was amazed to find out that the draft was going on before Pearl Harbor happened. I had always thought the draft started after Pearl Harbor but that is not the case.
After getting drafted he called his 4 brothers … (22 comments)
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our military: How to send flat rate packages to our troops! - 12/09/10 11:54 PM
I have sent the following post out every year that I have been on the rain and I'm sad to say that I almost forgot this year. I have to admit it was easier to remember when it was our son that was deployed. I'm not sure what jogged my memory tonight but I'm glad I remembered as there's still time to get packages to our troops before Christmas.
Below are specific instructions on how to send flat rate packages to our troops. Truth be told this is information that you can use all year as our troops love getting packages. As you can see last year I won a … (15 comments)
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our military: Happy Thanksgiving- The Lord's bounty from around the world!! - 11/25/10 10:35 AM
As we celebrate this Thanksgiving day I thought it would be a good time to share the Lord's bounty from around the world. When I say around the world I mean it literally. Our daughter is a flight attendant for a Charter company and mainly flies Internationally. As she travels the world she takes pictures and puts them on her Flickr site. These are an array of pictures from her site. The company she works for has one of the contract to move our troops so most of the places in the pictures are places where we have troops.
I hope you have … (21 comments)
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our military: Soldier reunited with his wife at Titan Game- A Thanksgiving surprise! - 11/24/10 08:42 PM
I saw the video below tonight on Special Report. Be prepared to cry as this is what Thanksgiving is all about!! As many of you know our son got our of the Army a year ago June after two tours of Iraq. This will be the second year that we get to spend Thanksgiving with him. We are going over to his girlfriends parents! What a relief to have him home safe and sound.
This video made me realize how now that my son is safe I forget to pray on a daily basis for those that put their lives on the line … (24 comments)
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our military: I'm Proud to be an American - A tribute to the American GI!! - 07/05/10 10:40 AM
The video below touched my heart this morning. As the first Gulf War was starting we went to some air races in Denver. There were not many military planes present as most of them had been sent over to the middle east. There was however one F-15 that shot straight in to the sky as they played "I'm Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood. I have never forgot hearing the song as I saw the jet soaring straight up in to the sky. It just made me so proud to be an American.
Since then I have seen many videos using Lee … (16 comments)
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our military: Speechless Sunday - Flag Day June 14th - 233rd Birthday of the Stars and Stripes! - 06/13/10 05:00 PM
Flag Day is celebrated on June 14th. This was the day in 1777 that the Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Star and Stripes as America's offical national flag with the simple instruction:
Resolved, that the Flag of the Thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.
The picture above was take from our recent Memorial Day celebration at Houston National Cemetery. As you can see they are carrying our modern flag with all 50 states and the original flag with the constellation of 13 states.
In … (21 comments)
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our military: Houston National Cemetery - Memorial Day 2010!! - 05/31/10 10:05 PM
Again this year I attended the Memorial ceremony at Houston National Cemetery! Again it was an incredible experience. You will notice in the pictures that I have a lot of pictures from the Gold Star Moms. As most of you know our son got out of the Army a year ago after two tours of Iraq. I can't even imagine being a Gold Star Mom as this means you have lost a son or daughter.
The ceremony was again a beautiful tribute to our fallen soldiers. It was somber yet meaningful! This year Governor Rick Perry delived the key not speech. Governor Perry … (12 comments)
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our military: Houston National Cemetery 2010 - Memorial Celebration - plan to attend!! - 05/28/10 04:36 PM
Last year was my first time to attend the Memorial Celebration that is held at Houston National Cemetery. Last year was also one of the most meaningful Memorial Days that I ever remember. I just wish I had made this a family tradition when my children were small. I an planning on going again this year with a neighbor as both of our husbands have to work that day. The pictures below are from last years ceremony. I'm sure I will have a new batch of pictures after Monday.
The ceremony is a beautiful tribute to our fallen soldiers. It was somber yet … (22 comments)
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our military: Saying Goodbye to a Fallen Tomball TX Marine! - 05/19/10 05:01 PM
Yesterday when I attended my monthly meeting of the Tomball Business and Professional Women I found out that a young Tomball marine had been killed by an improvised explosive device while on tour in Afghanistan. They mentioned that a motorcade would be bringing his body to Klein Funeral home that afternoon. As I was driving home I saw everyone lined up so parked my car and with my flip mino in one hand and a flag I carry in my trunk in the other hand I waited to pay my respects.
A marine helicopter followed the hearse as it traveled from … (29 comments)
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our military: Soldier's suprising their loved ones - Welcome home!! - 03/28/10 06:53 PM
As many of you know our son got our of Iraq from his second tour just a little over a year ago. He got out of the Army this last June and is now a college student. I still can get all teary eyed when I watch the post I made about his welcome home celebration. I just received this you tube video about Soldier's surprising their loved ones this morning and I was all teary eyed again.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I could probably watch that video 100 times and I would still cry … (10 comments)
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our military: Online computer backup – Don’t leave home without it! - 03/21/10 02:36 PM
A few years ago we had a computer crash and I learned about losing pictures that you can never recover. I now only have memories of our son's advanced training graduation in the Army. Shortly after that experience we decided to spend the money with Carbonite to keep our computer backed up.
I really have not given it much thought. I always see the little Carbonite Icon and so I figure it is working. My story now springs forward to the present day. This time it was not a computer crash but Windows 7. I finally had enough of Vista and … (27 comments)
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our military: Happy New Year - Fireworks in Spring TX!! - 12/31/09 09:36 PM
I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year from Spring TX. Having moved here from the north I still find it weird when I see the fireworks stands opening before Christmas. I'm thinking the fireworks stands must be doing a GREAT business this evening as our dog is cowering at my feet as we hear fireworks in all directions.
2009 has been a wonderful year; of course capped by our son getting out of the Army in June and becoming a college student here locally. What a blessing it has been having him here this holiday season. My heart goes out to those whose loved ones … (34 comments)
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our military: New GI Bill is NOT WORKING!!!!! - 12/14/09 03:28 PM
Our son recently got out of the Army. He was an Intelligence Analyst and served 4 years and 10 months with two tours of Iraq. He actually signed up for 4 years but got the stop lost and ended up doing an extra tour of Iraq and served an extra 10 months. We were very proud of his attitude about the extra time in the Army.
He got out officially in June and immediately started college. We sprang for his summer classes and decided he would start on the new GI Bill in the fall semester. With the new GI Bill … (32 comments)
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our military: How to send flat rate packages to our troops!! - 12/04/09 07:47 AM
It is hard for out troops being away from friends and family during the holiday season. This makes it an ideal time to send them a flat rate package. Last year at this time our son was in the middle of his second tour of Iraq and he loved getting goodies from home. With him doing two tours I learned the ins and outs of sending him flat rate packages. On our son's first tour he was based at a town called Hit just northwest of Ramadi; the base was so small they really didn't even have a PX to speak of. For 6 months … (52 comments)
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our military: Veterans Day 2009 – My thoughts on the Fort Hood massacre! - 11/11/09 03:21 PM
This Veterans Day I have not been able to get the events that happened in Fort Hood out of my mind. We love flying our flags here in Texas and all these flags at half mast are a somber reminder of what happened at Fort Hood this last Thursday. The picture I have posted is from the entrance to our subdivision and as I drive by my heart just cringes for the loved ones who were left behind.
As most of you know our son just got out of the Army this last May. While in the Army he was an … (28 comments)
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our military: Memories at Active Rain - My AR point memories! - 09/23/09 10:54 PM
I have always judged the passing of time by the age of my children. As they have become young adults I have found that a little harder to do. I would never have thought that Active Rain points would be a way to keep track of important moments. In a weird way that is just what has happened.
Most of these AR moments happened to do with our son's military deployments. The first one happened when I hit 50,000 points. My post read 50,000 points and our son back in the United States. I was excited as he had been based … (79 comments)
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our military: Houston National Cemetery - Memorial Day 2009 - 05/25/09 09:56 PM
I am going to call this post part two of a two part post. Part one was on my evolving thoughts on the Memorial Day holiday. This post just continues that journey.
With this new appeciaton of Memorial Day I had thought about going to the Houston National Cemetery Memorial Day Ceremony. I thought about it but had talked myself out of it; as my husband had to work. I had some clients call late yesterday and they wanted to look at a house early this morning. When I realized the ceremony was just a 15 minute drive from the house I was showing I just felt I was meant … (20 comments)
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our military: Welcome Home to Texas - 4th Infantry!! - 03/09/09 12:02 AM
The 4th Infantry currently based out of Fort Hood - Killeen Texas has been arriving home from a year long deployment in Iraq all week. Our son Sergeant Tarren Peterson's plane arrived yesterday. We went to Fort Hood for the Welcome Home Ceremony and to pick him up for 4 days of R & R. This is his second deployment but our first time to be able to attend a welcome home ceremony as his first deployment he was based in Germany.
We really did not know what to expect. We were told the approximate time of the day before the ceremony … (75 comments)
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our military: 300,000 points and our son out of Iraq! - 03/06/09 05:31 PM
Hooray I did it; I hit 300,000 points on the same day that our son is getting out of Iraq from his second tour with the Army as an Intelligence Analyst! I just got the call that his welcome home ceremony will be at 3:00 this Saturday. Okay I have to be honest 300,000 points pales in comparison to getting our son out of Iraq but I am going to discuss both in this post.
I started Active Rain 2 years ago in January. My friend Mary Warren had been talking to me about blogging and I actually started on a … (128 comments)
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our military: 50,000 points and our son back in the United States - 05/28/07 05:18 PM
This post is going to put me over 50,000 points which is way cool but our son getting back to the United States today is even cooler.
Our son has been stationed in Germany as an Intelligence Analyst with the Army for the past two years. One of those years was spent in Hit Iraq and the rest was in Friedberg Germany. He just flew back to the states today, Memorial Day and come June 11th will be reporting to Fort Hood. I can't tell you how thrilled we are to have him back in the states and in Texas at … (26 comments)
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