ChuckSimmins's blog, page 1

Online nowChuckSimmins: Chuck is a 52 year old married guy from Rochester, New York, USA.; Likes 65 pages, 6 photos • 5 fans • Received 2 reviews; Member since Feb 13, 2008

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The Marketing Masters Series Is Finally Launched: Jul 14, 11:15am 1 review internet, social-media, start-up, social-marketing
http://websuccessdiva.com/2008/07/14/the-marketing-masters-series-is-finally-...; Interesting group of people trying to leverage social marketing into money making

Tiger Woods will miss the rest of the 2008 golf season (Wizbang): Jun 18, 10:39am 1 review sports
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2008/06/18/tiger-woods-will-miss-the-rest-of-t...; Great post about Tiger Woods playing through his pain at the US Open

Instapundit.com -: May 26, 8:16am 1 review guns, girls, heels
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/019693.php; Hot girls at a NYC gun range

Pajamas Media & Iraq Hunts Al-Qaeda in Its Last Urban Stronghold: May 19, 6:48pm 2 reviews iraq, security, al-qaeda, mosul
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/iraq-hunts-al-qaeda-in-its-last-urban-stronghold/; From an Iraqi, the story of the start of the Mosul campaign.

May 19, 6:26pm: My blog has been up and down all day. The ISP has been having problems with the server that I'm on for some time. It's becoming tiresome.

AFP: Basra residents welcome Iraq army crackdown: Apr 15, 12:58pm 1 review iraq, security, basra, sadr, mahdi-army
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jau8cyaqusv7BMEs2SCe0aFbTabA; Looks very good, compared to the usual drivel from the press.

Apr 11, 4:33pm: Silver Star

Though she won't know it until she's a bit older, Juliannah Roedema owes a lot to Lance Cpl. Moses Cardenas.

That's because Cardenas, a scout with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, gave her the best birthday gift: her father's life.

Cardenas was awarded the Silver Star medal during a ceremony March 29 at Camp Las Flores, pinned by LtCol. Scott D. Leonard, commanding officer of 1st LAR, and LtCol. Kelly P. Alexander, former 1st LAR commanding officer during the battalion's most recent deployment.

"I'm honored. My lieutenant was just telling me about the magnitude of this award," said Cardenas, 20, a Fullerton, Calif., native. "Not a lot of people get it, and a lot of people have died for it. So, I'm a pretty lucky man to be alive and receive it."

Luck may have had some part. More likely, though, was the training instilled in Cardenas and the sense of brotherhood developed by the Marines in his fire team.

Cardenas and Sgt. Randy M. Roedema were on a routine early morning zone reconnaissance patrol with the quick reaction force last year in Western Anbar province in Iraq. They happened upon a vehicle which crossed their sector, so they moved in to check it out, according to Cardenas.

After repeated attempts to get the driver and passengers of the truck to submit to a search, three men burst from the top of the vehicle and opened fire. The Marines quickly attempted to bound back to their vehicles for cover, and to allow their turret gunners an open line-of-fire.

Three Marines were hit. Lance Cpl. Christian Vasquez was killed, and Cardenas was hit in the neck. After he hit the deck, he looked up and saw that Roedema was on the ground.

"I saw my sergeant laying down and I said, `Not today,'" Cardenas recounted after the ceremony.

Already injured, Cardenas began dragging Roedema to safety, but they had more than 50 meters to cover, so Cardenas alternated dragging Roedema with applying suppressive fire with his squad automatic weapon.

"'You're going to see you're daughter,' that's what he said when he was pulling me," said Roedema, 25, from Denver, Colo. "He saved my life."

Cardenas was again hit with a round from the insurgent's weapons, but he continued pulling Roedema until they we both safely behind cover, and only later, after a corpsman arrived, did Cardenas receive attention for his wounds.

Asked why he risked his life for Roedema, Cardenas answers simply, "He's my sergeant; he's the chief scout; it really didn't register how dangerous it was. After sleeping, eating, and laughing with my fire team everyday, you get really close, like brothers."

Roedema was treated and taken to medical facilities. Even better than the diagnosis that he was going to recover from his wounds was the news that he had just become a father, after his wife, Sharla, gave birth to baby Juliannah.

"Without [Cardenas], I'd never be able to see my daughter," Roedema said. "Words don't explain what he means to me and my family."

Cardenas' family watched the young Marine receive his medal from the front row at the ceremony, and couldn't be happier with their son.

"I'm very proud of him," said Raymundo Cardenas, Moses' father. "Since he was 15 or 16, he said he wanted to go to the Marines.

"It was a sad day when they left on their last deployment," Raymundo continued. "We didn't know if he'd come back or not. We won't be as worried this time; he knows what he went through."

Cardenas and 1st LAR are scheduled to deploy back to Iraq in the Fall. When he returns, he'll have with him a token of the Roedema family's gratitude: a dogtag and cross inscribed with protective scripture.

"He's a role model for fighting men in all services around the world," said Alexander, Cardenas' former CO. "We all want to be that guy."

Cardenas was meritoriously promoted to corporal Apr. 2 at Camp Las Flores.
Marine Corps
By Sgt. M. Trent Lowry, 1st Marine Division
Photos by Cpl. Chris Mann

Apr 8, 7:50pm: The President wept openly as the ceremony to honor Navy SEAL PO2 Michael Monsoor proceeded at the White House today.

Here are his remarks on this occasion:

The Medal of Honor is America's highest decoration for military valor. Over the years, many who have received the medal have given their lives in the action that earned it. The name of Petty Officer Michael Anthony Monsoor will now be among them.

In September 2006, Michael laid down his life for his brothers in arms. Today, we remember the life of this faithful Navy SEAL. And on behalf of a grateful nation, we will present Michael Monsoor's family with the Medal of Honor that he earned.

I welcome the Vice President. Secretary of Defense Gates, thank you for coming. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Peake; Secretary Don Winter of the Navy; Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and wife, Deborah; General James Conway, Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Annette; Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations, and wife, Ellen; Senator John McCain; Congressman Ed Royce; Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.

Previous Medal of Honor recipients, thank you for joining us.

I appreciate Chaplain Burt; Navy SEALS -- the finest warriors on the face of the Earth; the Monsoor family, and everybody else.

The Medal of Honor is awarded for an act of such courage that no one could rightly be expected to undertake it. Yet those who knew Michael Monsoor were not surprised when he did. This son of Orange County, California, grew up in a family where helping others was a way of life. Mike's father was a Marine; his mother a social worker. Together, they raised their four children to understand the meaning of service and sacrifice.

From a very early age, Mike showed the strength of his own convictions. Apparently going to kindergarten wasn't one of them. Mike had no complaints after the first week of school -- until someone broke the news to him that he had to go back the next week. (Laughter.) Many mornings, Mike refused to put on the nice clothes for school. Instead, he insisted on wearing mismatched outfits. Mike's mother soon discovered there was no stopping the determined young boy from mixing plaids and stripes. And years later, there would be no stopping an even more determined young man from donning a uniform of Navy Blue.

In some ways, Mike was an unlikely candidate for the Navy. He suffered from terrible asthma as a child. On some nights, his coughing fits would land him in the hospital. But Mike would not lie low for long. He strengthened his lungs by racing his siblings in the swimming pool. He worked to wean himself off his inhaler. He built himself into a superb athlete -- excelling from sports like football to snowboarding.

After enlisting in the Navy, he began preparing for the ultimate test of physical endurance: SEAL training. Less than a third of those who begin this training become SEALs. But Mike would not be denied a spot. In September 2004, he earned the right to wear the Navy SEAL trident. More at this link