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'STARS AND STRIPES SALUTES `AMERICA` ON MEMORIAL DAY` 2O11`

Repost/Request/'STARS&STRIPES SALUTES` US INDEPENDENCE DAY`04/JULY/2011`

`STARS&STRIPES SALUTES USA VETERANS ON MEMORIAL DAY`

`MONIQUE OF PP AND MEMBERS`THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF STARS&STRIPES SITE`

COPY OF US VETERANS HOME PAGE TRIBUTES FOR CD DISC RECORDING



`STARS&STRIPES` SALUTES VETERANS ON NOV11/10 AS WARRIOR HEROES!

STARS&STRIPES SALUTES VETERAN'S CHRISTMAS POEMS`

'IN THE NEWS TODAY~DEADLY TOLL CASUALTIES'

STARS AND STRIPES SALUTES `NEWSWEEK'S US MILITARY TROOPS UP`DATE'

`STARS AND STRIPES SALUTES US MILITARY WITH `THANKS`!`

`STARS&STRIPES` SALUTES `WAR-TIME VIETNAM VETERANS WITH VIDEO`BEFORE THEY GO!

'STARS AND STRIPES SALUTES US ARMY & UP`DATES POETRY POEM SALUTES!

`STARS&STRIPES SALUTES`~`Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall

`STARS&STRIPES UPDATE` `SALUTING USA VETERANS` 02/17/2010`

`STARS&STRIPES` SALUTING USA VETERANS `UPDATE`02'13'10`~Revised`

("Revised")STARS & STRIPES ` SALUTING USA VETERANS!`UPDATES

STARS&STRIPES: ATTENTION /IMPORTANT NOTICE! TO ALL USA VETERANS

' `*`STARS&STRIPES '`*`SALUTES `UPDATE OF NEW SALUTES TO USA VETERANS AND HONORS !USA AIR FORCE VETERANS!

' `*`STARS&STRIPES '`*`SALUTES `UPDATE OF NEW SALUTES TO USA VETERANS AND HONORS !USA AIR FORCE VETERANS!

`STARS&STRIPES SALUTES US`MILITARY MEDICAL HAITI AIRLIFTS`

STARS & STRIPES SALUTE OUR DEAR BROTHER `THOMAS SAMOTH`

`STARS&STRIPES SALUTES ALL USA VETERANS!

`STARS AND STRIPES TO SALUTE USA VETERANS!

REPLY TO ANNAGALLYSANDJAMES ON NAME REMOVAL

'IN THE NEWS TODAY~DEADLY TOLL CASUALTIES'

**********************************************************************
`IN GOD WE MUST TRUST`!PhotobucketPhotobucket
Stars&Stripes Salutes US Veterans AND `All War Engaging Troops`
With Christmas and New Year Blessings!
'12/30/2010'

FROM: military.com..IN THE NEWS TODAY:

War Takes Deadly Toll on 101st Airborne
December 27, 2010
Associated Press

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- The 101st Airborne Division, a force in America's major conflicts since World War II, is seeing its worst casualties in a decade as the U.S. surge in Afghanistan turns into the deadliest year in that war for the NATO coalition.

The Army division known as the Screaming Eagles, formed ahead of the 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, has lost 104 men this year -- or about 1 in 5 American deaths in Afghanistan. That is close to a toll of 105 divisional deaths in Iraq during a 2005-2006 deployment that was its deadliest year in combat since Vietnam.

The 20,000-strong division from Fort Campbell has been fighting in two of Afghanistan's most violent regions, the south and the east, since it began deploying in February under President Obama's plan to roll back the Taliban with more troops. It is the first time the 101st has deployed in its entirety since Gen. David Petraeus led the division during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Few are as directly involved in dealing with each Soldier's death as Kimberley McKenzie, the chief of Fort Campbell's casualty assistance center.

Among the first to be notified after a combat death, McKenzie and her nine staffers ensure families are informed quickly, helping them over the ensuing weeks and months to navigate a maze of paperwork and decisions.

"We can get the calls at 2 o'clock in the morning, and that happens seven days a week," she said.

In her office, signs of the somber work are everywhere. Electronic bugles -- which now replace live renditions of "Taps" at many military funerals -- are lined up in cases. A folded American flag, ready to be presented to a wife or a mother, sits on a desk. Wooden ceremonial display cases for a Soldier's awards and decorations are stored atop filing cabinets. A large whiteboard on one wall displays the names of dozens of Soldiers who have died this year.

McKenzie, 46, has been doing this job at Fort Campbell on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line since the 1990s, through the Desert Storm and Desert Shield operations in Iraq in 1990 and 1991 to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I have been here so long, which can be a blessing and a curse because you know so many of the Soldiers," she said.

After the initial call, her team hurries to find a Soldier's family. From the moment the death of a Soldier is confirmed with the Department of the Army, regulations give them just four hours to notify the primary next of kin.

Often, it's a nationwide search for parents or spouses who are far from Fort Campbell. A family may have moved and not told the Army, listed information may be incorrect or the Soldier may be estranged from relatives. Too often, she says, a family member is listed as "address unknown."

She relies on counterparts at other military installations nationwide for help.

The notification process is highly regulated. Word must be delivered in person. Scripts are memorized and read exactly, because there's no room for error when giving the saddest news to a Soldier's family. Even a simple typo or an incorrect rank is disrespectful, she says.

"At that moment, we have either gained their trust, or we have lost it forever," she said. "They need to be able to trust us from the time we knock at the door until they don't need our assistance anymore."

Once family is notified, her staff helps arrange for relatives to meet the body at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The military is responsible for preparing the body, securing a casket and transporting the remains for the funeral. Within about seven to 10 days after the death, the family visits Fort Campbell to be briefed on what is afforded survivors, including benefits, life insurance payments, social security and health insurance.

Her staff is also responsible for non-combat deaths, such as auto accidents or illness and sometimes suicides or homicides.

She has learned to set aside her own pain over the loss of so many young men and women. Her focus, she said, is on supporting the widows and parents and children.

"We have a job to do for those families and we owe it to them and the commander," McKenzie said.

Still, she says she cannot ignore the large numbers of Soldiers who have died, and the sorrow she bottles up sometimes spills over. On average, 11 Fort Campbell Soldiers have died each month in combat since March.

"At the end of the month, it's almost sickening to me as a person," she said.

This month, the division lost six Soldiers in a building leveled by an explosives-packed vehicle at a southern Afghanistan base. In November, six other Soldiers were shot and killed by a gunman from the Afghan Border Police during a training mission in eastern Afghanistan.



RE~VIEWED DEC/27/2010
BY:Stars&Stripes
© 2010
End of year!

GOD BLESS EVERYONE IN THE COMING YEARS!
IN GOD WE MUST PLACE OUR TRUST AND PRAY FOR WORLD PEACE!
DO NOT TAKE GOD OUT OF OUR GOVERNMENT OR LIVES!





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'IN THE NEWS TODAY~DEADLY TOLL CASUALTIES'


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