America Supports You: 'Little Patriots' Embrace Military Families

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2005 - A Missouri-based nonprofit organization uses the power of teddy bears to comfort young military family members with one or both parents deployed in the war against global terrorism.

Little Patriots Embraced Inc. was incorporated in 2004 "to show support from the American people to the immediate family members of military personnel," according to the organization's Web site.

The group solicits donations from individuals and corporate sponsors to buy and assemble gift packages, including teddy bears, that are distributed to service families at military bases, said Michelle Williams, president of Little Patriots Embraced for about a year.

"It's just very important to let the children know and the families know that they're not left behind--that there are people out here who truly do appreciate the sacrifices that they go through each and every day," Williams said.

Williams, an Army veteran who lives in St. Louis, noted that her father also served in the military. She joined Little Patriots after meeting Mary Frost, one of the group's co-founders.

"We just got into a great conversation about Little Patriots Embraced," Williams said, "and her passion for the organization was such that I told her I wanted to do whatever I could do."

Williams said her group sends care packages containing teddy bears, blankets, compact discs of soothing music, writing journals, patriotic quilts and other items to young military family members adjusting to the absence of a military parent who's serving overseas. Little Patriots just sent 10 care packages to the U.S. Marine Base at Cherry Point, N.C., she said.

"There's nothing that's going to give comfort like a teddy bear," Williams said. "It's kind of like having a friend there."

Donations are also used for the group's Military Dependent-Tuition, Emergency, and Childcare fund, Williams said. This enables military spouses to pursue educational goals, as well as providing funds for family financial emergencies.

Williams said the group's vice-president, Kimberly Sexton, recently visited the White House and the Pentagon to spread the word about Little Patriots Embraced.

And, "we're hoping to get a lot of the bigger corporations--the Toyotas, the Wal-Marts--to really take Little Patriots as one of the charities they want to give to," she said.

Anyone wishing to contribute to Little Patriots Embraced can do so via the organization's Web site. The family members of deployed servicemembers deserve the support, Williams said.

"We just want to say: 'Thank you so much,'" she said.

Related Sites:

Little Patriots Embraced Inc. [http://www.littlepatriotsembraced.com]

America Supports You [http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/]

_______________________________________________________
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/20051217_3691.html.

====================================================

Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

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Visit the Defense Department's Web site for the latest news
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Gainey Shares Leadership Insights With Senior NCOs

By Tech. Sgt. Sean P. Houlihan, USAF
Special to American Forces Press Service

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii, Dec. 17, 2005 - Responsibility, authority, accountability and assistance are the four things all servicemembers are looking for in their leaders, the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here Dec. 16.

"Regardless of service, each one of us is looking for these four items out of our leaders," Army Command Sgt. Maj. William "Joe" Gainey told senior noncommissioned officers from across Headquarters Air Force Pacific Command.

"And as leaders you must ensure that that each of you does that," Gainey said. "You owe it to them."

Senior NCOs have a responsibility to coach and mentor junior servicemembers as they develop their own leadership skills, he said. "You will throw them a rope and assist them up the hill. They will fall, and when they do, you must tug on the rope to stand them back up," he said.

"Once they have arrived on the top of the hill, dust them off, shake their hand and, as a leader, you will head down the other side of the hill," Gainey continued. "Why? Because, as a leader, your work is done and the futures of our services are in capable hands."

The sergeant major explained how he works with senior enlisted advisors to the services and the combatant commands as the "eyes and ears" of Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, the top U.S. military officer.

While working to strengthen these NCO relationships, Gainey said he also focuses on improving the Joint Staff; Joint Enlisted Professional Military Education, safety throughout the force and quality of life for servicemembers and their families.

To help him accomplish these goals, Gainey travels to combatant commands to meet enlisted members and officers and learn firsthand about their priorities and concerns. To date, he has visited four combatant command headquarters.

"When I am out traveling, being an 'integrator,' seeing things that one service is doing that could be good for the others," he said. "I will bring that back to the five service senior enlisted advisors to see how we can incorporate it across the board."

Gainey told the group that he knows the importance of the military service family and has strong military ties throughout his family.

His son, Army 1st Lt. Ryan J. Gainey, is stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., and served in Iraq. His stepfather, who he said he considers his father, is a former Marine, and a nephew is an Air Force captain at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. In addition, a cousin who served in the Navy is a Medal of Honor recipient. Gainey jokingly vowed to have a niece or nephew join the Coast Guard before he leaves office.

During the Pacific visit, Gainey received mission briefings on Pacific Air Force and the George C. Kenney Warfighting Headquarters and met with airmen at the Pacific Air Operations Center Combat Operations Division.

Earlier in the day, Gainey spent time with sailors assigned to the Pacific Fleet. He toured USS Lake Erie and USS Honolulu and shared lunch with crewmembers of the Honolulu, a Los Angeles class fast-attack submarine.

Gainey was in Hawaii for the first U.S. Pacific Command Senior Enlisted Leader conference, Dec. 14 and 15, where he addressed the leaders. More than 100 senior NCOs filling enlisted leadership positions across the command attended.

(Air Force Tech. Sgt. Sean P. Houlihan is assigned to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Office.)

Biography:

Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, USA [http://www.jcs.mil/bios/bio_gainey.html]

_______________________________________________________
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/20051217_3692.html.

====================================================

Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

====================================================
Visit the Defense Department's Web site for the latest news
and information about America's response to the war against terrorism: "Defend America" at http://www.DefendAmerica.mil.

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Prison Stands as Testament to Saddam's Evil

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq, Dec. 17, 2005 - Saddam Hussein, sitting in a defendant's chair, looks harmless and slightly ridiculous. But his deserted facilities at this base are testament to his evil.

The Americans moved onto the grounds of what was Saddam's Directorate of Internal Security. At its center is a prison that could comfortably hold 500. At times, it had 3,000 people jammed into it.

The prison had no name and is surrounded by the high-rise quarters that once housed the torturers and their families. One corner of the prison - the area with the guard's offices - was hit by a precision-guided bomb.

Now the area is the headquarters of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division. The Marne Division soldiers use cells as storage areas and arms rooms.

"We have local nationals who still won't walk near it," said Army Capt. Melissa Ringhisen, a military intelligence officer who is the "mayor" of this base. "People would disappear from the streets and end up here. There is a whole system of tunnels under the base leading from the prison to the hospital to the headquarters. Once the prisoners went in, they didn't see the sun again."

Saddam built a house just over the wall from the prison and could watch as guards tortured high-interest prisoners. Many were tortured to death. "The soldiers here before us said there was a wood chipper in the prison to dispose of the bodies," Ringhisen said.

The cells themselves are little more than closets into which four or five people would be jammed. Prisoners hooked up rags and buckets to try and catch moisture from the cooling vents. Many prisoners wrote verses from the Koran on the walls or scratched their names into the paint along with a date so that someone, somehow could learn their fates.

Other cells had bunks for eight, but typically the guards would jam in 20 people.

The 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment - the U.S. unit that first occupied the forward operating base - once offered tours of the prison for Iraqis, but stopped the practice because of the force protection situation.

Ringhisen said she doesn't know if it would be better to raze the structure or preserve it as a museum and a remembrance of those who died there.

_______________________________________________________
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/20051217_3693.html.

====================================================

Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

====================================================
Visit the Defense Department's Web site for the latest news
and information about America's response to the war against terrorism: "Defend America" at http://www.DefendAmerica.mil.

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