A Review of "Taking Chance"

The movie, "Taking Chance" is a must see!! It is an HBO film based on a moving true story. To be honest, whenever I hear that a movie is done by HBO, I'm pretty skeptical. The reason being that HBO is pretty good at putting out liberal propaganda pieces. That said, this is not the first time I've been pleasantly surprised. The first time was when I was wowed by Iron Jawed Angels.

Lieutenant Colonel Michael R. Strobl made a journey in 2004 that was so moving, he decided to write an article about it. Even though it was unusual for someone of Strobl's rank to escort a fallen soldier's body home, Strobl volunteered to do just that. He didn't even know Pfc. Chance Phelps, but he noticed that he was from a hometown right next to Strobl's own hometown.

Since, Strobl himself helped write the screenplay for the movie it ended up being very accurate. The neat thing about the movie also is that everyone can watch it and be moved whether they are for or against the war. There is nothing political about it.

Below are some excerpts from Strobl's article that show what big hearts Americans have in this country for our men and women who are putting their lives on the line for our freedoms:

On this day there were some civilians doing construction on the mortuary grounds. As each hearse passed, they would stop working and place their hard hats over their hearts. This was my first sign that my mission with Pfc. Phelps was larger than the Marine Corps and that his family and friends were not grieving alone.
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The woman behind the counter already had tears in her eyes as I was pulling out my government travel voucher. She struggled to find words but managed to express her sympathy for the family and thank me for my service. She upgraded my ticket to first class.

After clearing security, I was met by another Northwest Airlines employee at the gate. She told me a representative from cargo would take me to the tarmac to observe the movement and loading of Pfc. Phelps. I hadn't really told any of them what my mission was, but they all knew.

When the man from the cargo crew met me, he, too, struggled for words. On the tarmac, he told me stories of his childhood as a military brat and repeatedly told me that he was sorry for my loss. I was starting to understand that, even here in Philadelphia, far away from Chance's hometown, people were mourning with his family.

On the tarmac, the cargo crew was silent expect for occasional instructions to each other. I stood to the side and saluted as the conveyor moved the container to the aircraft. I was relieved when he was finally settled into place. The rest of the bags were loaded, and I watched them shut the cargo bay door before I headed back to board the aircraft.

One of the pilots had taken my carry-on bag himself and stored it next to the cockpit door so he could watch it while I was on the tarmac. As I boarded the plane, I could tell immediately that the flight attendants had already been informed of my mission. They seemed a little choked up as they led me to my seat.

About 45 minutes into our flight, I still hadn't spoken to anyone expect to tell the first-class flight attendant that I would prefer water. I was surprised when the flight attendant from the back of the plane suddenly appeared and leaned down to grab my hands. She said, "I want you to have this, " as she pushed a small gold crucifix, with a relief of Jesus, into my hand. It was her lapel pin, and it looked somewhat worn. I suspected it had been hers for quite some time. That was the only thing she said to me the entire flight.

Bottom line: I give the movie 2 thumbs up and recommend it for all to see. I only caution you to have a box of kleenex close by.

Additional links:
A Marine's Journey Home
Taking Chance
HBO Films’ Taking Chance - Kevin Bacon, Michael Strobl Interview

Nick Vujicic!

A friend posted this on Facebook. This man's life is a testament to us all and an inspiration! If you've fallen down and feel like you can't get up, take courage! Never give up!! It makes me think of all the people that succeeded only because they didn't quit! May we take heart and be encouraged!

A Review of "Valkyrie"

While on vacation my parents and I watched Valkyrie with Tom Cruise. I have to say that it exceeded my expectations and is probably the best character role I've ever seen Cruise play.

Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who was one of the key players in what was known as the July plot (Operation Valkyrie) to assassinate Hitler. What was fascinating is that it was more than just an assassination attempt, it was a plan to take over the whole German government. I was wondering how accurate the movie was to history and found this:

Peter Hoffmann, professor of history at McGill University and a leading authority on the German Resistance, was a consultant for the filmmakers. Hoffmann spoke of the film's accuracy, "[Valkyrie] gives a fundamentally accurate portrait of Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators. There are details which must be counted as liberties. But, fundamentally, the film is decent, respectful and represents the spirit of the conspiracy."

My Mom and I were amazed that we had never heard more about the July plot or how widespread the German resistance was. There were a total of 15 assassination attempts on Hitler's life by the time the war ended.

Even though I knew how the movie would end and that the plot would fail, I still found it all to be very inspirational. These men and women put their lives on the line for a cause they believed in, they stood up against evil when they knew it could cost them their lives, and it did. Thats what I call courage. I marveled at the thought of how differently Germany would be viewed to this day if they could've taken back their own country from a mad man.

Gilmore Girls!

Several friends and I are watching the show Gilmore Girls on DVD right now. It is an amazing show. I have several great quotes that I will add to this post later when I get a chance.

Gerald Ford Presidential Museum

My thanks to Mike and Rivka for the great guest blogging while I was gone. I want to weigh in on numerous issues this week but I'll start off with something I did while on my trip.

I always go and visit family in Michigan every summer. While I was there this time, my Mom and my 2 youngest kids and I went to the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum. Ford wasn't one of my favorite presidents, but my goal is to make it to all of the presidential museums. So, Ford's was a lot easier than Clinton's will be, and I'm not sure I will even be able to bring myself to go to Carter's.

What I liked about the Museum:

--It was a very nice museum overall
--They had a really nice set-up covering Ford's funeral. They had recordings of the speeches at his funeral and you could hear each of them by pushing different buttons. I was able to hear Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld's comments.
--A re-creation of what the Oval Office looked like during Ford's term
--They had a temporary exhibit of Caroline Kennedy's Doll Collection which was fascinating.

Interesting Facts that I learned:

--Ford was on the Warren Commission and he wrote a book on it
--Ford's vast experience
--That Rockefeller was his initial VP but because he was such a liberal Republican Ford dumped him for Bob Dole when he ran for President because of the challenge by the conservative Ronald Reagan

Some of my Thoughts:

--I always have to buy fun stuff at the Presidential Museum gift shops. I bought the book to the left by Betty Ford. Although, I didn't choose to get the autographed copy which was $50.
--While Ford and Dole are 2 of the most patriotic and experienced men to be on a ticket, I can't think of 2 more boring men. Is there any wonder why they lost? The best thing they did was deliver us Jimmy Carter who in turn gave us Ronald Reagan.

I'm Out of Here!

I'm going on vacation! Be nice to my guest bloggers, Rivka and Mike while I'm gone!

Optimism, Anger and Protesting in Iran!

Patrick asked, Who are the Protesters in Iran?

He then linked to Laura Secor's column over at The New Yorker entitled, Optimism and Anger in Tehran. Secor was able to contact a friend in Tehran and here is some of what she found out:

She was one of the millions in Azadi Square on Monday. The energy, she told me, was indescribable. You could not feel afraid; the sense of common purpose was too powerful, and it had left her with a profound and nearly serene certainty that this movement would succeed.

Later on her friend said this:

The worst they can do is execute me. I have prepared myself for that. If I am worried, it is not for myself. It’s for the Iranian people, for young people, today’s generation and future generations. My freedom and my life, and those of one or two people like me, don’t matter.”)

Gateway Pundit has done an excellent post on Iranian Hero Kianoosh Sanjari. Sanjari had this to say,

"The people of Iran will not forgive Obama for siding with the Regime."

And Mike says, U.S. May Have to Apologize for Obama as He Picks Wrong Side in Iran. Mike mentions that when it comes to foreign policy Obama is already starting to look worse than even Jimmy Carter. It is amazing the scary similarities that I was seeing between the 2 men way back when Obama started running for president.

The people of Iran need to know the U.S. supports them in their desire for freedom, but with Obama they are out of luck!!

65th Anniversary of D-Day!

You can't remember D-Day without Ronald Reagan! An excerpt from "The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc" speech on the beach of Normandy on the 40th Anniversary:

Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought -- or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4 a.m., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.

Something else helped the men of D-day: their rockhard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer he told them: Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do. Also that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: ``I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.''

These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.

Later in the day, Reagan made another D-Day speech where he concluded with these moving words:

It is enough for us to say about Private Zanatta and all the men of honor and courage who fought beside him four decades ago: We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

Mike remembers in 2 posts...

President Regan's Tribute at the U.S. Cemetery Above Omaha Beach

and
Reagan's D-Day Speech "The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc".

A Review of "The True Story of Black Hawk Down!"

"Winston Churchill said, 'We'll fight them in the air, we'll fight them in the water, we'll fight them on the beaches, we'll fight them from the cliffs. And we'll never, never surrender.'

Well, this episode sent the message that we'll fight them on the beaches, we'll fight them on the hills, but if they kill a few of our soldiers we'll give up and go away."--Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

During the Battle of Mogadishu, on October 3-4, 1993, 18 American soldiers were killed and 73 were wounded. Mark Bowden wrote a book about the battle entitled, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. The book was quickly turned into a movie by Jerry Bruckheimer and Ridley Scott and called, Black Hawk Down.

I own, and have seen the movie numerous times. Yet, it wasn't until this past week that I got a chance to watch the History Channel's, The True Story of Black Hawk Down. It was well done and showed that the movie had been, for the most part, accurate and it made me want to read Bowden's book even more.

It drove home how ruthless the Warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid was in using starvation as a weapon against his own people. President Bush Sr. sent in 20,000 Marines in December of 1992 that were literally able to end the famine. The problems started again when the Marines were replaced by the UN national force.

Finally, it became evident that Aidid needed to be taken care of, but it was taking awhile to get to him. On October 3rd, Task Force Ranger took place and consisted of:

...an assault force made up of US Army Delta Force, Ranger teams, an air element provided by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, four Navy SEAL operators from SEAL Team 6, and members of the Air Force Pararescue/Air Force Combat Controllers, executed an operation which involved traveling from their compound on the outskirts of the city to capture tier one personalities of the Habr Gidr clan, headed by Aidid.

Aidid had the whole city of Mogadishu ready for them. They were able to shoot down 2 of the Black Hawk helicopters and damaged 3 others. Aidid's soldiers also set up numerous blockades so that the American Soldiers were trapped, many of whom were wounded.

When "Nightstalker Pilot" Michael Durant was trapped in a downed helicopter, unable to walk, Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart voluntarily went in to help. Gordon and Shughart literally fended off thousands of Somali's by themselves until they died. They were both posthumously awarded the medal of honor. After watching "The True Story" documentary, I re-watched the movie. When I saw Gordon and Shughart facing all of those Somali's to protect Durant, knowing they wouldn't make it, I got teary eyed. Especially, when I realized that their deaths were in vain because Clinton never allowed the other soldiers to finish the mission.

Mark Bowden said that he's often asked if any of the soldiers are bitter about being a part of the battle. He said they aren't bitter about having been a part of it but, "they're bitter about the fact that the day after this battle, their mission was called off."

Also, U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Dan Schilling had this to say about Clinton's unwillingness to finish the mission and actually go back in and get Aidid:

As the Commander-in-Chief, and leader of this country, which is always the same person, you absolutely have the the obligation to be as strong as the people you send out to die.

OUCH!!

In conclusion, one of Bowden's quotes:

One of the things that struck me working on the story of 'Blackhawk Down' was the tremendous courage and nobility of these young men. None of these young men who were trapped on the streets of Mogadishu, being shot at, wounded and killed had any part in the decision that put them there. They were there representing you and me as American citizens.

Memorial Day 2009--Thank-You!!

"People across this country are praying."

"We thank God that Liberty found such brave defenders."

"I want you to know that our nation appreciates your commitment and your sacrifice in the cause of peace and freedom."--President George W. Bush

"Let us not mourn for those who have died fighting but rather let us be glad that such heroes have lived."

Video Hat Tip: Wake Up America

The above video is one of the most moving Memorial Day tributes that I've seen.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."--John Stuart Mill

This video tribute is set to the song Amazing Grace sung by LeAnn Rimes.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."--Ronald Reagan

Taylor Hicks - Do I Make You Proud

I've posted this one before but it is so good I had to post it again. Our soldiers make me extremely proud to be an American and to live in a free country.

"Freedom is never free."


I've linked to this one and posted it numerous times because it makes me tear up every time I see it. I pray this would happen every time a U.S. soldier would come home.

May we never forget what our military men and women do for us. May we be patriots who show our love for our country and for our soldiers, not just on Memorial Day, but every day. U.S. soldiers sacrifice a lot for our freedoms and all they want is our thanks, love and appreciation. May they feel it in abundance today!!

I will declare right now my thanks, love and appreciation for all those who have served and are serving. THANK-YOU!!! I am and will always be a cheerleader for you.

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**This is a re-posting of my 2007 Memorial Day post. I liked it so much I thought it was worth re-posting, with the addition of the Thank-you video by Rebecca St. James and the quotes that go with it.